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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
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

2:27 PM

Ali: If your aerial is pointing W to Sutton Coldfield the frequency for the BBC channels should be C43. Do a check on your receiver for the actual frequency being received, as C61 (Waltham) and C27 (Sandy Heath) are also possible at your location. Also check in the 800s of the channel list for another BBC1 that works correctly. If incorrect tuning is a problem, clear the channel list then do a manual tune for the correct set of frequencies. If manual tuning is not an option, start the scan with the aerial unplugged, then, for Sutton Coldfield, plug it in around C35 then unplug it again after C47. This should leave out any unwanted channels.

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KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
Thursday, 12 January 2012
A
avril
9:11 PM

hi ive checked everything and for the last two days ive had no tv im in newbold rugby area can anyone help ive tried three different tvs and they have three different ariels can anyone help

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avril's 1 post GB flag
Sunday, 15 January 2012
Saturday, 21 January 2012
B
b smith
2:56 PM

I have a panasonics txl32c4e non freeview ,its tuned to my needs,
however I cant tune the 4 uk HD
cannels.Can you tell me how?

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b smith's 1 post GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:18 PM

b smith: I checked the specifications of that model which indicates that it only has a DVB-T tuner fitted, and not DVB-T2 as is necessary for HD reception of any channels in the UK.

You will be able to tell by channels 51 - 54 being missing in the EPG list.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Sunday, 22 January 2012
Chris Onion
6:32 PM
Derby

Is there a problem today because of the weather. All the channels on 674 (ITV1 in particular but all the others on that frequency) and 642 seem to have signal quality down to 15% and a signal strength of about 25%? The picture keeps freezing and pixelating and then states the Freeview signal is of twoo poor a quality. Have disconnected and reset the box but the fact the BBC isgnals are fine, I can't see it being a problem with my equipment or surely all the challens would have some sort of interference.

It is a pain as the programs are impossible to watch.

This seems to be happening a lot since the digital switchover.

We have had new aerials - the HA came out and put them in. Seriously why on earth can't they sort these problems out - isn;t that what we pay TV licences for????

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Chris Onion's 12 posts GB flag
Chris's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Monday, 23 January 2012
Saturday, 28 January 2012
P
Phil
11:31 PM
Pershore

Postcode WR10 2BP. Tuned to the Sutton Coldfield transmitter, and signal strengh is an average 51% on nearly all channels. What I want to know is why, when watching some channels, the sound and vision go completely out of syncro? It starts off OK but after a while you can sense the syncronisation is out of phase with the picture. Switching channel off, then back on again solves the problem for a while, but surely one should not need to do this to digital TV. Never had this problem with analogue, and yet they say digital is better. If I set my PVR to record a programme whilst I am in bed, how can I correct the sound syncronisation? At the end of the programme it would be out by as much as 5 minutes.

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Phil's 3 posts GB flag
Phil's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
B
barry lloyd
7:15 PM

i have a loft aerial that was fitted brand new about 12 months ago,my lounge TV is analogue and i have a PVR hard drive recorder,for some reason over the last 2 months it keeps freezing, and will not let you record or change channels,i have sent it to a company who specialise in these PVRs, and they tell me there is nothing wrong with it,if i connect it to my bedroom TVs [we have two] both with freeview built in it works fine, can any one tell me what to do im at my wits end.

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barry lloyd's 1 post GB flag
C
c/s GBXZ
8:49 PM

barry lloyd:

A couple of main things spring to mind -

1/ THE USUAL CULPRIT IN MOST HOUSES - Overheating in the lounge, but not in the bedroom??? Allow plenty of ventilation around and under it. Don't put it in a cabinet for example, even if it's an open-fronted one (+on top of a TV is a _very_ bad place, both old CRT/glass TVs (heat, strong magnetic fields and static) and new "flat" ones (mainly heat)

To improve ventilation, stand it on 4 empty matchboxes or similar small blocks and make sure the vents aren't blocked with dust.

NEVER cover things like this with ANYTHING. Even a TV remote left on top can make some consumer-grade kit overheat nowadays.

If it lasts longer when better ventilated, prove it by blowing a desk fan over it for a few hours and see if it still locks up.

2/ Some PVR things might get very confused if can't get it's channels correctly - a bad signal corrupting the EPG can sometimes cause the software to hang (*)
Check your wiring - coax leads to the wall aerial socket for example.

Other factors:

3/ occasionally (quite rare nowadays) florescent lights interfere with the infra-red remote control codes. Sometimes the remote control command meant for the TV or VCR/DVD/HIFI might get confused and cause a software hang (*) This fault sucks.
To try to rule this out, tape a piece of card over the infrared sensor on the PVR t shade it from the room light but NOT from the remote. This is almost unheard of nowadays but I've had to do this for a couple of mates recently.

4/ Power glitches can cause lockups - things like kettles, washing machines/dryers, welders and other heavy loads on the same ring-main sockets can cause glitches that may not affect upstairs so much. A "transient protector" can sometimes help, but in some cases a house rewire is in order (!). Very drastic but I have seen it.

5/ Some weird interaction due to leakage currents from the various switch-mode PSUs in the TV/DVD/VCR/etc etc downstairs. Try a different socket, or try a 4-way or 6-way strip and plug everything into it (eg: all TV kit on one socket) to see if it makes a difference. This problem is sometimes manifested by a little electrical "tickle" shock when you plug aerial and audio cables into set-top boxes and PVR/DVD kit whist plugged in, even if on standby. It's a nightmare to explain to a layman, never mind sort out.

(*) this is bad programming, the software _shouldn't_ "lock up" on errors like this. Dream on.

My first guess is heat/ventilation problem, given a change in room helps. Next guess is a confused EPG dues to bad connection in aerial lead downstairs

Good luck.

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c/s GBXZ's 9 posts GB flag
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