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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, 22 September 2011
R
Ryan
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

7:42 AM

Watched two programmes last night, ran perfectly (touchwood).

I was just curious whether it might be too early to get a Freeview + box? As, can it be confirmed that the signal should be fine when it rains and thunders etc?

link to this comment
Ryan's 39 posts GB flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

7:45 AM

Ryan: The digital service should provide a 100% stale service during all weather conditions, assuming you have

a) a rooftop aerial;

b) a prediction for "good" reception.

If the signal goes bad during rain, this is caused by rainwater entering the aerial cable, if this is the case it should be replaced.

link to this comment
Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
R
Rob Houlston
8:02 AM

Hi brian,

I am having problem with my freeview, please help it's getting on my nerves now. All services work fine on full reinstallation but then all disappear/signal becomes too weak after tv is turned off or put on standby...any ideas? I live in Solihull so it's the Sutton coldfield transmitter, and the freeview is via a Philips tv. I was having the problem last week before full switchover but it was only on the BBC channels which I believe were the first to be switched. The problem is now with all channels.

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Rob Houlston's 2 posts GB flag
P
Pararasa
8:17 AM

I live in the city centre of birmingham, after the first retune on the 7th September, no channels were lost, but after yesterday I cannot recieve channels on COM4, 5, or 6. The TV has an in built freeview tuner and is about 2 years old, any advice

link to this comment
Pararasa's 1 post EU flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

8:23 AM

Rob Houlston : I would give My Freeview box has no EPG, is blank on FIVE, ITV3, ITV4, ITV2+1, has no sound or the channel line up is wrong | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice a go. It might be you have one of the sets with the "100 maximum channels", if that is the case, clear out the channel list and do a manual add on the frequencies listed at the top of the page.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
R
Rob Houlston
8:35 AM

Many thanks Brian will give it a try. Rob

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Rob Houlston's 2 posts GB flag
J
Jon
9:01 AM

Thanks Brian for the link clarifying teh difference between HD Ready and Freeview HD. I don't consider myself a luddite in these matters, but I was utterly unaware that there were two types of digital signal, DVB-T and DVB-T2, and that even newer hardware is required to receive the latter.

Imagine if they stopped petrol overnight. Everyone goes out and buys gas powered cars in preparation, to find that alongside the gas pumps there are electric charging points. And that eventually you'll have to replace your gas powered car with an electric one.

It feels a bit like DVB-T2 has been snuck in.

How long until DVB-T2 becomes the norm? Will I need to sign up to something like Sky to receive it? Or even go as far as replace my not very old telly?

I don't think that the retailers and the Digital Switchover Folk have been very clear on this point.

The message has been throughout, "analogue is switching off, you need a digital telly or receiver." Not, "we're switching analogue off and introducing a further type of digital signal."

Not impressed.

But thanks again Brian.

link to this comment
Jon's 2 posts EU flag
S
Sid
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

9:02 AM

Matt:

Can confirm similar findings regarding the Sutton HD Multiplex as showing 20% less strength compared to the other Multiplexes which are showing as 100% here in Worcester WR.

link to this comment
Sid's 33 posts GB flag
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

9:08 AM

Jon: As I said, just need a Freeview HD banded box connected to an existing HD-Ready TV and an HDMI cable.

Expecting digital technology to not progress on is rather like the actions of King Canute and the tide.

It's hardly "snuck in" - The "secret" Ofcom plan for Freeview HDTV: DVB-T2 | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice - was posted on 21st October 2007, four years ago.

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Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
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