Full Freeview on the Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 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 
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Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
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 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.
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 | BBCtvwaves | ||||||||
| C33 | com7 | ||||||||
| C35 | com8 | ||||||||
| C36 | LOCAL2 | ||||||||
| C39 | +ArqB | ArqB | |||||||
| C40 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | +BBCB | BBCB | ||||
| C42 | SDN | SDN | |||||||
| C43 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | BBCA | BBCA | ||||
| C45 | ArqA | ArqA | |||||||
| C46 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||||
| C48 | _local | ||||||||
| C50tv_off | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | ||||||
| C51tv_off | LB | ||||||||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | COM8tv_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
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Saturday, 27 June 2020
C
Chris.SE6:14 PM
Roy:
There was never any final decision by OFCOM to close COMs 7&8 this June, Arqiva wanted a later date, and a lot of websites, this included hadn't corrected their information. There's also a lot of inaccurate information about COMs 7&8. Have a read of this more factual info -
Sandy Heath (Central Bedfordshire, England) Full Freeview transmitter | free and easy
The Channel 4 losses are commercial decisions by them!
What the BBC intends to do remains to be seen, there's supposedly some sort of review gong on now? with a decision in November? Haven't checked for myself.
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R
Roy7:17 PM
Chris.SE - thanks for that info. It's interesting but about as clear as mud really. Nobody at the consumer end seems to know what's going on. It's just a matter of waiting and seeing. Given the huge market of Freeview TV viewers, I'd really have expected something firmer and more widely accessible, but from what I've learned here, I can't say I'm surprised. I'll just wait for channels to go dead. Thanks again.
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A
Aerialman9:55 PM
Com 8 is closing Com 7 is continuing for the time being.
For example BBC 4 HD and Quest HD has migrated to Com 7.
As of today Com 8 is still producing a signal from Sutton Coldfield,but with no broadcast programmes.
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R
Roy10:46 PM
Aerialman - interesting, but BBC4 HD is listed as being Com8 at Sutton Coldfield, but has nevertheless worked all week. Meanwhile the 'still working' Com7 has lost Channel4+1 HD and 4Seven HD, according to Chris.SE that was a voluntary Channel 4 decision. How does the ordinary viewer have any clue if the channels he sets to record programmes on at the start of the week will still exist, or else have moved elsewhere, by the end of it?
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Sunday, 28 June 2020
S
StevensOnln110:35 AM
Roy: The owner of this website has not been able to keep the 1,100+ transmitter listings up to date with all of the changes taking place due to the 700MHz clearance programme. There have been on screen notices on all of the affected channels advising viewers of their closure, or the need to retune to continue receiving relocated channels (although many TVs will handle the retune automatically).
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Roy12:14 PM
StevensOnln1: I am absolutely not blaming the owners of a private website like this for the lack of detailed/current info. I am impressed that this site comes up No.1 when googling such transmitter queries, but equally unimpressed that the owners of the stations or the Freeview organisation themselves do not come way before ukfreetv does as a source of web info. We are talking about large, high cost commercial ventures operating in the communications industry after all; a simple website kept uptodate with what changes are happening and exactly when, as a matter of plain fact not gifted speculation, should be well within the capabilities of these other organisations.
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S
StevensOnln11:43 PM
Roy: Upcoming frequency changes and planned engineering work is listed under Platform Management on the Corporate section of the Freeview website, along with a full up to date list of channel number allocations.
Platform management | Freeview
Channels moving from one multiplex to another is a commercial decision taken between the broadcaster and multiplex operator, which does not involve Freeview or Digital UK Limited. Such moved tend to be announced by the broadcasters themselves via onscreen messages and in most cases on the broadcaster's own websites, which generally get reported on various broadcasting news websites.
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C
Chris.SE4:55 PM
Roy:
I'm sorry you didn't find the information in my post that I linked to on the Sandy Heath page clear, I thought it was.
It explained that
1) OFCOM have actually got round to updating the Arqiva licence in preparation for the forthcoming auction selling off the 700MHz frequencies for mobile use
2) The fact that COM8 was closing now was a commercial decision by Arqiva with an explanation of the reasons
3) A bit of speculation about closure of COM7 not until well into 2021 at the earliest because of the factors mentioned, but in any event by 30th June 2022 as stated in the updated licence.
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R
Roy6:11 PM
Chris.SE - your post was clear thanks, in as much as it can be with some timings still uncertain such as when exactly COM7 will finish for example. Likewise the Freeview info linked to by StevensOnln1 is fine as far as it goes, e.g. confirming COM8 goes on 30 June this year. But the problem for the ordinary user is that they don't record (or typically even know of) multiplexes, they record channels & programmes. So when I read that COM8 is about to go for commercial reasons, the first thing to cross my mind is what will happen to BBC4 HD currently there?. Elsewhere you say that C4+1 HD and 4Seven HD are quitting COM7 for commercial reasons. Does that mean BBC4 HD can move into that vacated COM7 bandwidth for the time being, or does it not work like that? This may be obvious to those working in these industries, but for those simply wanting to record the week ahead in the best definition our lovely big TV's can handle, it is not clear.
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C
Chris.SE6:31 PM
Roy:
As per the various pages on Platform management | Freeview and help pages, that is precisely what BBC4 HD have done.
In addition to the pop-ups that have appeared on each COM8 channel that was moving, telling you to retune to continue to receive them -
See Platform management | Freeview /channel-listings
See also 22 Jun 2020 - Important channel broadcast changes | Freeview
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