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

first published this on - UK Free TV
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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
Thursday, 23 May 2013
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:03 PM

Peter Hedges: I suggest that the reason for your difficulty, and the reason that Digital UK suggests such poor reception of the COMs from Sutton Coldfield, as against its PSBs, is down to the fact that Hannington's PSBs are co-channel.

The channels allocated to the COMs result in inferior coverage to the PSBs because they are re-used by other transmitters within closer proximity.

If you can move your aerial you may find that you can reduce the level of interference (without one of the other channels being affected). That said, you don't know how seasonal changes might affect reception. Or perhaps your aerial can be mounted somewhere where Sutton Coldfield's reception is good, but where the signal from Hannington is block, such as by fitting it on one side of your building.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:49 PM

Peter Hedges: I think that the reason for that it has been suggested that you can't have a mixture of channels from different transmitters is down to EPG data and particularly the starting of timed recordings where they are linked to the EPG (so that the recorder starts when the programme starts).

The EPG data for all services are carried by all multiplexes from any one transmitter. So, for example, the EPG data for BBC One is carried by all multiplexes.

Different transmitters can be of differing regions and therefore may carry different EPG data.

I write here as a technical-bod and not a professional, so this is where my understanding is a bit woolly. Personally I would be trying it out to see if it works!

Oxford carries different BBC and ITV regions. I don't know whether the EPG data carried by Sutton Coldfield and Oxford are the same. Perhaps it (using two transmitters) is only likely to be an issue when recording regional programming. I would be interested to find out what the answer is and reasons behind it.

In any case you may not be able to combine the feed from Oxford and Sutton Coldfield and receive all channels because COM4 from Oxford is moving to C50 on Wednesday. If a C51 diplexer is used to combine feeds then COM4 will fall below that and hence be picked up by the Sutton Coldfield-facing aerial.

That said, if it is only Sutton Coldfield's COM5 that you are having difficulty with then COM5 from Oxford won't be affected by the change on Wednesday.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:55 PM

Peter Hedges: I now see that you have your loft aerial pointing to Sutton Coldfield, but are managing to receive COM5 from Oxford with it.

Perhaps then, the answer is to look at relocating it in the loft so as to reduce the level of unwanted signal from Hannington.

Hannington is at 154 degrees, so consider where may be better screened from it, but which will get a good signal from Sutton Coldfield.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Saturday, 25 May 2013
P
Peter Hedges
1:56 PM
Cheltenham

Dave Linsay: Thanks for your interest and comments.

My main reason for posting was that having cleared all of the stored channels as was suggested I am now able to tune in a mix of Sutton Coldfield and Oxford channels whereas before my receiver concentrated on one transmitter. Now I have been able to fill in the gaps caused by poor reception of the COM5 from Sutton Coldfield by receiving the mux from Oxford. I can do this with just the one aerial, no diplexer.

That being the case the possible co-channel reception is not causing me any loss of services.

Regarding the EPG, with a mixture of Sutton Coldfield and Oxford my guide shows both Midlands Today on the TV's channel 1 and South Today on channel 800.

You might wonder why I am interested in Sutton Coldfield when I am close to Oxford and could receive its transmissions without too many problems. I am from the Midlands and am not really interested in news about Brighton and the Isle of Wight.

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Peter Hedges's 2 posts GB flag
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Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:42 PM

Peter Hedges: I'm not one to judge! You've come on here with a technical query and I've offered a hypothesis based on what I can see.

If receiving from two different transmitters does cause an issue then perhaps the answer is to use Oxford as your 'main' one with Sutton Coldfield tuned in the 800s for use when regional programming is being broadcast.

I suspect that in some situations it may cause difficulty with recordings starting automatically where they rely on the EPG data (i.e. a signal sent out by the broadcaster) as opposed to one that is timed and whose start time cannot be altered by the broadcaster.

Let's say you are watching a programme on BBC One but have programmed something on ITV. The programme on ITV starts early but your recorder switches channel (assuming it has only one tuned). It stands to reason that the EPG signal that 'told' the recorder that the broadcast time had been brought forward must be carried on the BBC multiplex because the device can only physically receive one multiplex at a time.

I suspect that sometimes a combination of two transmitters may mean that the EPG data for the timed programme (on another channel from another transmitter) may not be carried by the transmitter/channel being viewed.

As I say, I think it's a "try it and see" sort of thing, being mindful of the possible issue. I don't think that what Samsung told you should forbid you from trying it. It may be that it only affect certain recordings at certain times; as I say I don't know the ins and outs of how it works so can't say with any certainty.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Monday, 27 May 2013
J
Jill Phillips
8:58 PM
Warwick

My post code is CV34 4JD and I receive free view on my free view box/recorder on Channel 43 for BBC 1 & 2 and Channel 50 for ITV, Channel 4 and 5.
During the last 4-6 weeks I have experienced awful problems with ITV and Chanells 4 and 5. At approx 9pm 2 or 3 nights per week I get "this channel is scambled or not available" I have missed many of my favourite programmes and even worse I have missed the last episode or part of the last episode of several serials e.g. last week Life of Crime.

I would like to know why this keeps happening I have not had this problem before, only in extreme weather conditions when the change over was first taking place, until this last few weeks.


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Jill Phillips's 1 post GB flag
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J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:48 PM

Jill Phillips: The last time you carried out an auto-scan on your box it stored Leamington Spa's ITV1 on Ch50 rather than Sutton Coldfield's ITV on Ch46, this of course being said on the assumption that you use Sutton Coldfield for reception? which of course you will do if you can receive ITV3.

If you do receive ITV3 then you could try "manually tuning" in mux Ch46 and storing same as this "might" take up ITV1's EPG3 position, if not then you should carry out another auto-tune whilst observing the progress bar then pulling the aerial connector out as soon as you see Ch47 being passed, this action killing the possibility of reception from Leamington Spa.

If neither of these procedures work then remove the aerial and carry out an auto-scan as this will delete anything stored, then go into your TV or boxes "manual" tuning menu and enter Sutton Coldfield's mux channels one at a time, storing the results after each scan before moving on to the next channel.

43(BBC) - Ch46(ITV1) - Ch40(HD) - Ch42(ITV3) - Ch45(ArqA) - Ch39 (ArqB)

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 29 May 2013
I
ian from notts
sentiment_satisfiedSilver

9:15 PM
Nottingham

Dave Lindsey/Peter Hedges- On the EPG recrding problem ? If recording BBC1 and choosing ch800 surely the recorder will follow the Oxford transmitter EPG as this will be the one shown on the guide?
just a side thought?

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ian from notts's 253 posts GB flag
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Thursday, 13 June 2013
G
Gillian Crosswell
5:51 PM
Worcester

HELP please. Over last 2 weeks all BBC(CH43) channels not tuning in properly or no signal/service at all!! All other channels fine. Am told our transmitter is Sutton Coldfield. Postcode WR7 4AU, Crowle Worcester. Lived here 28yrs and "NEVER" had this problem before. It's def. not tv or box.
What's going on as it's getting very frustrating. Pls sort this signal out someone.
Many thanks

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Gillian Crosswell's 2 posts GB flag
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Sunday, 16 June 2013
Ian
sentiment_satisfiedGold

10:10 PM
Hinckley

Why is the temp mast still up at Sutton Coldfield?

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Ian's 497 posts GB flag
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