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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
Saturday, 27 August 2011
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

5:09 PM

Scott: Overlaps are likely to get worse with full power, not better. There is nothing to fix. Digital would actually require 100 times less power than analogue to cover the same area, if propogation - the way the signal travels from the transmitter to you - was consistent. Unfortunately, it isn't, it changes with weather conditions, so they have to use far more power to allow for that variation - about 20 times more power.

This means that for at least some of the time, the distant transmitters will come in loud enough for your box to detect and store.

Unfortunately older equipment wasn't designed to compare the quality or signal strength of whatever it finds, or to offer you the choice of what to receive. It just stores the first version it finds at the channel numbers advertised, then might store any other copies somewhere else (typically 800 onward).

You either have to tune in manually (and turn off any automatic retune feature), find a way to block the transmissions that you don't want (e.g. reduce signal levels with an attenuator, use a grouped rather than wideband aerial, add a filter) or replace your box or TV with one that actually asks which region you want to store.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
Monday, 29 August 2011
K
kate
9:00 AM
Stourport-on-severn

How do i find out which transmitter i am recieving? i live in stourport , am i on kidderminster or sutton? cheers
If Iam on kidder can i move my aerial to recieve sutton?

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kate's 3 posts GB flag
kate's: mapK's Freeview map terrainK's terrain plot wavesK's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

10:40 AM

kate: If your are receiving from Sutton Coldfield your aerial will point East and be mounted with the rods horizontal. To receive the Kidderminster relay the aerial points Northwest and is mounted with the rods vertical. If the aerial has a green plastic stopper in the end of the boom it will be a group C/D type, designed to work best on the frequencies in use at Kidderminster. In that event you would be best advised to have a replacement aerial for reception of Sutton Coldfield. You are predicted to have good reception on all muxes from Sutton Coldfield after 21st September 2011 (DSO stage 2), when using a suitable aerial.

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KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
J
john attrill
5:21 PM

Can anyone tell me why I can receive BBC news through digital but not other channels like sky news. It says no signal.
I have tried recanning and even rotating my ariel, but always the same, except in winter when I get a signal.
It is coming from the same transmitter at the end of the day.

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john attrill's 1 post GB flag
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
P
Pete B
1:36 PM

Hi,
I live in Coalville, Leics (served by Sutton Coldfield) and was hoping to be able to get East Midlands news after Sept.
Will this be possible?

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Pete B's 2 posts GB flag
Wednesday, 31 August 2011
B
Billy
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

1:23 PM

John possible, though not checked yet that the BBC ones are pushing more power than the Sky one, with water, can travel further, hence winter though likely perhaps trees losing their leaves in winter could also extend the range enabling you to get the Sky News one.

After switchover, when boost the signal like mad, you should be fine, the worry for many then might be too much power, but this can be reduced as many have said before at your end, and hopefully with them all being on same power won't effect other multiplex channels.
I hope that helps some.


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Billy's 50 posts GB flag
B
Billy
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

1:32 PM

To John, (see previous post first :)
Okay, duh, lol, of course on this very page, signal power the same, thinking some years back when I know they were different, certainly Waltham was anyway.

Not sure applies to Digital as much Analogue ones, but notice BBC News on 41 and Sky News on 52, depending on antenna type, group or wide, the lower the frequency the better really.

However like I said in previous post, likely, as you said, giving the game away, that you get it in winter and not summer, that it could be trees causing a drop down in signal, have you tried a booster of sorts, not worth buying one if not already got one now, wait until after switch over.
But just a thought, cause unlike trouble I had many years back, glitch glitch, things have changed, and should be less prone to interference using such devices.
Hope that helps and you get sorted, but try, and I know it is hard, if like me, lol, being patient, waiting, time soon flies, nearly there now, see on 21st Sep 2011 if it picks up big time, likely then be complaining BBC one playing up, too much power, lol.

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Billy's 50 posts GB flag
P
Phil
2:48 PM
Pershore

Why is it that a friend whose postcode at Romsley Halesowen is B62 0PL can receive 85 non blocky Freeview channels prior to switch over using a bog standard mini aerial, and yet I who have a top of the range ultra high gain 52 element aerial can only receive 42 channels at postcode WR10 2BP? And of those 42 channels, BBC 4 is the only one that does not go blocky?

At the moment my digital signal strength is showing around about 37%, will that increase after switch over on 7 Sep? I am locked onto the Sutton transmitter. (B62 0PL)

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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
M
Mike Dimmick
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:59 PM

Phil: You're twice the distance from the Sutton Coldfield transmitter and there's terrain blocking line-of-sight, so the signal will be reduced for that reason. Your friend could also be using the transmitter on The Wrekin, which has already switched over, though Sutton Coldfield is more likely.

Reception is expected to be substantially better on BBC channels after the 7th of September, and on all channels after the second stage on the 21st. You will need to do a complete wipe and retune (first time installation, full reset, full retune, default setting: different manufacturers call it different things) on *both* days.

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Mike Dimmick's 2,486 posts GB flag
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