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

Brian Butterworth first published this on 1st May 2004 at 08:20 - UK Free TV

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52.600,-1.835 or 52°36'1"N 1°50'5"W

B75 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 22/05/2023 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels

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.

Mux	H/V	Frequency	Height	Mode	Watts
PSB1 BBCA	H max	C43 (650.0MHz)	433m	DTG-	200,000W
	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, 250 BBC Red Button, plus 18 others
PSB2 D3+4	H max	C46 (674.0MHz)	433m	DTG-	200,000W
	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, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Central west),
PSB3 BBCB	H max	C40+ (626.2MHz)	433m	DTG-	200,000W
	56 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD (England no regional news), 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, 109 BBC Three HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others 66 TBN UK,
COM4 SDN	H max	C42 (642.0MHz)	433m	DTG-8	200,000W
	20 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! movies action, 46 Channel 5 +1, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 CBS Reality, 74 Dave ja vu, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 89 ITV4 +1, 203 CITV, 208 Pop Player, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, plus 15 others
COM5 ArqA	H max	C45 (666.0MHz)	433m	DTG-8	200,000W
	11 Sky Arts, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 pick, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 57 Smithsonian Channel, 60 Drama +1, 70 Quest +1, 75 Yesterday +1, 83 Together TV, 233 Sky News, plus 9 others
COM6 ArqB	H max	C39+ (618.2MHz)	433m	DTG-8	200,000W
	12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 71 Quest Red +1, 73 HobbyMaker, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 88 Classic Hits, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 19 others
LB	H -13dB	C48 (690.0MHz)	433m	DTG-12	10,000W
	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?

BBC Midlands Today 2.9m homes 10.9%
from Birmingham B1 1RF, 15km south-southwest (200°)
to BBC West Midlands region - 66 masts.

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)	Transposer	1 km W Burton-on-Trent	60 homes
Coalville	Transposer	18 km NW Leicester	600 homes
Solihull	Transposer	Land Rover building	400 homes

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

	1950s-80s	1984-97	1997-98	1998-2011	2011-13	7 Mar 2018
	VHF	B E T	B E T	B E T	B E K T	W T
C4	BBCtv_waves
C33						com7
C35						com8
C36						LOCAL2
C39					+ArqB	ArqB
C40		BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	+BBCB	BBCB
C42					SDN	SDN
C43		ITV_waves	ITV_waves	ITV_waves	BBCA	BBCA
C45					ArqA	ArqA
C46		BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	D3+4	D3+4
C48						_local
C50_{tv_off}		C4_waves	C4_waves	C4_waves
C51_{tv_off}						LB
C55_{tv_off}						com7_{tv_off}
C56_{tv_off}						COM8_{tv_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

Local transmitter maps

Sutton Coldfield Freeview Sutton Coldfield DAB Sutton Coldfield TV region BBC West Midlands Central (West micro region)

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

Feb 1956-Jul 1968	Associated TeleVision†
Feb 1956-Jul 1968	Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1981	Associated TeleVision
Jan 1982-Feb 2004	Central Independent Television
Feb 2004-Dec 2014	ITV plc

Feb 1983-Dec 1992	TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010	GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014	ITV 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.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

P

Philip
9:47 AM

We NEVER had any problems previously. Since the last week we can't view HD 106-115, Vintage 82, the new Freeview Channels and others maybe. Not only here, but also my Mum's and Sister's and neighbours all at different addresses covered by the . I've exhausted all the retune options several times over. Usually pull in 147 channels, very occasional 155 or 173 channels... across nine TV sets we've tried without success.Signal strength between 95 and 100% on all other channels with 100% . If the above channels do actually pull into the guide, the screen is either blank or pixelated. I rang Freeview and emailed twice... NO RESPONSE... they indicate 'no service issues' yet it seems many people are having same problem without them taking any notice? What's happening?

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Philip's 2 posts

P

Philip
9:51 AM
Birmingham

Whoops I forgot to add postcode of B92 0DT x 2 = 1 on , 1 aerial in and B37 7DE aerial in loft and to stress no issue prior to last week's retuning..

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Philip's 2 posts

K

Keith Cunliffe
7:25 PM

I like the above comment re:- adverts, but I go one better, (but I have time on my hands) is to record on a hard drive ALL ITV and those on the which carry adverts, and then spend a little time editing out the adverts, so you have a complete programme,..
Eg. I am watching a rerun of the bill on earlier in the day I set the recorder on a series link to record each day, I then edit in the afternoon, and the missus and me watch it later, an hours programme actually edits to 44minutes., No edverts,..!

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Keith Cunliffe's 6 posts

K

Keith Cunliffe
7:31 PM

Returned on 7:03:18 all exactly where they should be, no problems whatsoever post code DY148UF only the local 48 is slightly low , strength 7 , 8 , all others 10/10 inc 55/56 HD channels All from . From our bedroom =. Line of sight, can see lights up the on a clear night

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Keith Cunliffe's 6 posts

M

MikeB

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

10:42 AM

Keith Cunliffe : Or you could just fast forward through the adverts, often in 30sec or 1min steps. Its much quicker.

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MikeB's 2,579 posts

L

Lesley
12:17 PM

Some boxes have a skip button that you can set to specific time, 4 minute interval works great for main .

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Lesley's 6 posts

D

Dave Woods
10:00 PM
Oldbury

What has happened to channel B69 1EL area

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Dave Woods's 1 post

MikeP

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

12:13 PM

Woods:

is on Logical Channel Number 95. It is being broadcast from on the COM8 found on Channel 35 (586.00 MHz) and that requires a device that is fitted with a DVB-T2 tuner (a Full HD Freeview device, either TV or PVR).

Check that you can get the COM8 and that you have a DVB-T2 device.

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MikeP's 3,056 posts

S

StevensOnln1

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

3:30 PM

MikeP: COM8 moved to UHF 56 at on 7th March.

Woods: Have you tried retuning since the change on 7th March?

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StevensOnln1's 3,510 posts

D

Daniel
10:09 PM

Has anyone had problems with the talk sport on 723? Currently using a BT box and for well over a month the channel seems dead. No splash logo and no sound. If I pause the live channel and press play, the sound comes back. If I change channel or turn off, then sound is gone again. I've tried retuning and factory resetting the box. Our second box in the bed room is also having the same issue.

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Please post a question, answer or commentIf you have Freeview reception problems before posting a question your must first do this Freeview reset procedure then see: Freeview reception has changed, Single frequency interference, and Freeview intermittent interference.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

If you have other problems, please provide a full (not partial) postcode (or preferably enter it in box at the top right) and indicate where if aerial is on the roof, in the loft or elsewhere.

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