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Full Freeview on the Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps52.600,-1.835 or 52°36'1"N 1°50'5"Wsa_postcodeB75 5JJ

 

The symbol shows the location of the Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) transmitter which serves 1,870,000 homes. The bright green areas shown where the signal from this transmitter is strong, dark green areas are poorer signals. Those parts shown in yellow may have interference on the same frequency from other masts.

Are there any planned engineering works or unexpected transmitter faults on the Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) mast?

Sutton Coldfield transmitter - Sutton Coldfield transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 25/03/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels Digital tick


Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name
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Which Freeview channels does the Sutton Coldfield transmitter broadcast?

If you have any kind of Freeview fault, follow this Freeview reset procedure first.

Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 H max
C43 (650.0MHz)433mDTG-200,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) West Midlands, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 19 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C46 (674.0MHz)433mDTG-200,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Central (West micro region)), 4 Channel 4 (SD) Midlands ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 Midlands ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Central west),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C40+ (626.2MHz)433mDTG-200,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD West Midlands, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Central West), 104 Channel 4 HD Midlands ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 107 BBC Three HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others

COM4
SDN
 H max
C42 (642.0MHz)433mDTG-8200,000W
Channel icons
20 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 30 others

COM5
ArqA
 H max
C45 (666.0MHz)433mDTG-8200,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others

COM6
ArqB
 H max
C39+ (618.2MHz)433mDTG-8200,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! romance mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others

LB
 H -13dB
C48 (690.0MHz)433mDTG-1210,000W
Channel icons
from 31st October 2014: 7 Big Centre TV,

DTG-8 64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
DTG-12 QSPK 8K 3/4 8.0Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)

Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Sutton Coldfield transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Midlands Today 2.9m homes 10.9%
from Birmingham B1 1RF, 15km south-southwest (200°)
to BBC West Midlands region - 66 masts.
regional news image
ITV Central News 2.9m homes 10.9%
from Birmingham B1 2JT, 15km south-southwest (201°)
to ITV Central (West) region - 65 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 80% evening news is shared with Central (East)

Are there any self-help relays?

Burton (shobnall)Transposer1 km W Burton-on-Trent60 homes
CoalvilleTransposer18 km NW Leicester600 homes
SolihullTransposerLand Rover building400 homes

How will the Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1950s-80s1984-971997-981998-20112011-137 Mar 2018
VHFB E TB E TB E TB E K TW T
C4BBCtvwaves
C33com7
C35com8
C36LOCAL2
C39+ArqBArqB
C40BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2waves+BBCBBBCB
C42SDNSDN
C43ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesBBCABBCA
C45ArqAArqA
C46BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesD3+4D3+4
C48_local
C50tv_offC4wavesC4wavesC4waves
C51tv_offLB
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offCOM8tv_off

tv_off Being removed from Freeview (for 5G use) after November 2020 / June 2022 - more
Table shows multiplexes names see this article;
green background for transmission frequencies
Notes: + and - denote 166kHz offset; aerial group are shown as A B C/D E K W T
waves denotes analogue; digital switchover was 7 Sep 11 and 21 Sep 11.

How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?

Analogue 1-4 1000kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 200kW
com7(-10.5dB) 89.2kW
com8(-10.7dB) 86kW
LB(-20dB) 10kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*(-21dB) 8kW

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Sutton Coldfield transmitter area

Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated TeleVision†
Feb 1956-Jul 1968Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1981Associated TeleVision
Jan 1982-Feb 2004Central Independent Television
Feb 2004-Dec 2014ITV plc
Feb 1983-Dec 1992TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014ITV Daybreak•
• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only. Sutton Coldfield was not an original Channel 3 VHF 405-line mast: the historical information shown is the details of the company responsible for the transmitter when it began transmitting Channel 3.

Comments
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

10:37 AM

SUTTON COLDFIELD transmitter - ton Coldfield Transmitter group works on 26 and 27 April 2011: Engineering transmitter work will take place between 09:30hrs and 18:00hrs on 26 and 27 April 2011 TV services that will be disrupted: Analogue services - BBC1, BBC2, ITV and Channel 4 will be subject to periods of shutdown and reduced power between 09:30 and 18:00. Digital services - Mux1, Mux2, MuxA, MuxB and MuxC will be subject to periods of shutdown and reduced power between 09:30 and 18:30. [DUK] Over the next week Sutton Coldfield main transmitter: TV (analogue) Liable to interruption, TV (digital) Liable to interruption, Radio (analogue) Possible weak signal, Radio (digital) working normally. [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
Transmitter engineering
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

10:37 AM

SUTTON COLDFIELD transmitter - ton Coldfield Transmitter group works on 26 and 27 April 2011: Engineering transmitter work will take place between 09:30hrs and 18:00hrs on 26 and 27 April 2011 TV services that will be disrupted: Analogue services - BBC1, BBC2, ITV and Channel 4 will be subject to periods of shutdown and reduced power between 09:30 and 18:00. Digital services - Mux1, Mux2, MuxA, MuxB and MuxC will be subject to periods of shutdown and reduced power between 09:30 and 18:30. [DUK] Over the next week Sutton Coldfield main transmitter: TV (analogue) Liable to interruption, TV (digital) Liable to interruption, Radio (analogue) Possible weak signal, Radio (digital) working normally. [DUK]

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Transmitter engineering's 149,799 posts xx flag
P
Peter Spencer
11:40 AM
Nottingham

My post code is NG5 6QX. I have lost all 4 of the HD channels on HD BBC1HD ITV1HD Channel 4HD and BBCHD. Have tryed several times to retune but still no luck. Any ideas

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Peter Spencer's 1 post EU flag
Peter's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

12:56 PM

Peter Spencer: There seems to be a fault on the Nottingham transmitter that the BBC and Digital UK can't see. Please report it to them via BBC - Reception problems .

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
A
AlvinF
10:51 AM
Birmingham

Thanks for the Transmitter info, that has answered ny question as to why I have lost ITV1 and numerous other channels completely and BBC1 & 2 are so pixelated its impossible to watch I am at B37 6BT approx 6/7 miles from Sutton and usaualy have excellent reception.

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AlvinF's 19 posts GB flag
AlvinF's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:56 AM

AlvinF: You're very close to a very high-power transmitter. If you have a roof aerial, it's possible that you have too much signal. If you have any amplifiers or boosters, try removing them.

My expectation is that they're moving services from one antenna to another (though I thought they'd finished this already). The antennas and transmitters are constructed in halves for redundancy. It's likely that they're powering down one half of the first antenna, moving that connection to the first half of the second, then powering down the second half of the first, turning on the first half of the second, then repeating with the other half.

A reduction to half power is not actually all that significant, and would only cause problems if your reception was already marginal - but it doesn't seem likely at such a short distance from such a major transmitter.

You've mentioned a loft aerial before - for tips on siting a loft aerial see http://www.wrightsaerials.tv/articles/whatsat-201007.pdf . I would strongly recommend a roof-top aerial, particularly if, as it appears from Google StreetView, the aerial might have to point through neighbouring properties.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
N
N Omara
12:56 PM
Tamworth

My post code is B79 0dp. I have lost all 4 of the HD channels on HD BBC1HD ITV1HD Channel 4HD and BBCHD. Have tryed several times to retune but still no luck. Any ideas

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N Omara's 2 posts GB flag
N's: mapN's Freeview map terrainN's terrain plot wavesN's frequency data N's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
John Allen
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

1:37 PM

The reported maintenance for today appears to be in the form of a low flying helicopter which has been going round in circles since 1100 and according to Birmingham Air Traffic Control will be there for another 2 hours.

Who will be watching digital TV from 1500 feet??

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John Allen's 53 posts GB flag
P
Philip Evans
10:13 PM
Birmingham

missed whole of mux A and mux 2 for 2 hours plus from 7:30- 10pm so far. still not happening B23
usually excellent reception, aerial on roof

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Philip Evans's 4 posts GB flag
Philip's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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