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 21/04/2025 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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Monday, 14 April 2025
Tuesday, 15 April 2025
C
Chris.SE1:07 AM
Mr Kevin Greenhill:
Your postcode was one of the random ones I checked in your locale. You should have no problem with reception from Sutton Coldfield in normal circumstances. Unfortunately there is still engineering work going on which might affect your signal from time to time.
I have read a few reports of similar issues others have had with a Humax box and ITV channels BUT that is supposedly now resolved. Do check that your Humax has the latest firmware/software.
Aerial location and whether you have any booster/splitter to feed more than one TV/box can also affect reception. Is your aerial external on a chimney? Do you have a booster/amp/splitter?
As mentioned previously, you can receive more than one transmitter in certain circumstances, albeit with poorer unreliable signals, which is why I said you should try and check you are correctly tuned to the PSB2/D3&4 multiplex on UHF Channel 46 for Sutton Coldfield (go into your TV Tuning section to check). If you attempted to do a retune at any point when you had no or very poor signal - badly pixelated etc, then this is when you may get mistuned. You cannot tune to signals that aren't there or can't be decoded, so the correct tuning is often cleared or you end up tuned to one of those weak unreliable signals.
Now despite https://restoretv.uk/postcards-not-sure/ saying your particular postcode has not had postcards, there are at least 3 mobile masts within 0.75 km of you, so I think it's quite possible that interference could be a cause if the issue persists and if so, if I were you, I'd be contacting Restore TV for a Free Filter.
Please post back with information about your aerial installation, it should be pointing roughly WSW, with its rods (or squashed Xs) horizontal. Do look and see if it seems intact and points correctly and the coax isn't flapping around in the wind.
Also tell us if you've checked your tuning. If you are incorrectly tuned you can always manually tune the correct UHF channels.
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Sunday, 20 April 2025
J
jack12:29 PM
FWIW
All the channels I reported on the previous page (sorry) are still crashing including
the ITV one (Sun 20th Apr)
Does anyone know what frequencies radio hams and Birmingham airport are allowed to use ?
jack
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Tuesday, 22 April 2025
C
Chris.SE7:30 AM
jack:
As I've noted that you haven't given a full postcode at any point during any of your posts, so it wouldn't have been possible to comment on your predicted reception, you may be in a location that doesn't have the best of reception. I was suspecting that it may simply related to poor signals or issues related to your Humax etc.
I have however just thought, that since you mentioned an amplifier at some point, and your recent comment which suggests you may be suspecting some interference to be the cause, the most obvious possibility might be interference from a mobile mast near you.
Have you ever received a postcard from Restore TV?
Put your postcode in on here https://restoretv.uk/postcards-not-sure/
If it says yes, then certainly I'd be in touch with Restore TV for a Free Filter. If you have a masthead amp, then they should be sending an engineer free of charge to fit an external filter on the mast (all filters must be fitted before any amplification).
Even if it doesn't say yes (we've known cases where postcards haven't been sent), it could still be interference from a mobile mast, so I'd still contact them anyway, they can be quite helpful judging by some feedback people have posted here.
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J
jack1:13 PM
Hi Chris
pcode B346TE
You did check this out for me with full details even of the spec of the amp some time ago.
(I've always had an issue with 1 channel since freeview started - it used to be RT then moved on to
GBnews )
The current issues all started the week they did engineering works just before xmas.
I don't think that a coincidence.
Yes it really does seem related to the Humax but I have 3 of them (only 2 in normal use) and all
have the same issue whether using the amp or not. Thats a 1000+ worth of kit when new.
I suspect something technical in the broadcast that isn't compatible and I have seen
some pretty "experimental" interlacing (as I would see it) so maybe there's something else
perhaps in the data stream.
It would be good to rule out the airport ( I do get picture loss this time of year as they seem
to use a different air corridor and the bigger planes totally block the signal for a second )
so I thought maybe a frequency they use - and yes there is a whip aerial down the road
but that's been there for years - still I thought it worth checking ham frequencies again
But I did think we ruled that out as it was only the one channel
at the time (if I remember rightly).
What is puzzling is the 60 second delay before the crash - which I can stop if I change to a safe
channel quickly enough. (surfing is very tricky) It's as if some channels are sending something
others are not on a regular 60second ish basis.
Note the BBC channels have never had an issue at all - or some others.
It doesnt seem related to power levels I can read on the boxes (I dont have meters etc)
or to fluctations. All have good Q reading for whatever thats worth on these things.
Also I thought I'd ruled out such hard problems by using deliberately old TV's from early
freeview days - these have no issue. - so again source v Humax compatability.
If its interference I wouldn't expect it to be permanent and hard - which it is 24/7.
The more I think the more I'm thinking data-stream.
This is mostly curiosity now - but I'm interested to get to the bottom of it.
jack
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C
Chris.SE7:07 PM
jack:
Hi jack, I must have missed that post with the checkout before. Anyway, no harm in looking at this at bit more.
Humax issues (especially older boxes), I've seen a variety of reports over time where people have these sorts of issues. The impression gained is that there are some weird incompatibility issues and Humax don't seem too interested in solving them on older boxes.
Problems with just one channel as opposed to one multiplex would likely be a Humax bug of some sort, if it were interference, it would affect all the channels on the same multiplex!
As far as interference goes, I think it highly unlikely that it's radio amateur stuff, because you nearby amateur is highly unlikely to be on ait 24/7.
Do you know the amateur? They should be fairly clued up on interference type issues from amateur transmissions, it might be worth introducing yourself and explaining that you are having some weird Freeview reception problems which although you don't think is radio amateur originated, you thought they may have some knowledge on other things. They may even have the same Freeview problems and be able to say what (if anything) they've been able to do
As far as the airport goes, again I doubt it's radio transmission, it's more likely to be signal reflection off the bigger aircraft which causes brief multipath reception which the TV receivers can't handle! This could be especially difficult as the airport (and it's runway directions) seem to be roughly on a line with the back of your aerial and the direction it points to the SC transmitter, so guessing the flight paths some of the time will be right over you. Do any of your neighbours have similar issues?
What type of aerial have you got and have they got?
Aerial amp/splitters will certainly add to interference problems if the interfering signals aren't filtered out. You should have had a postcard from Restore TV, so mobile mast interference is a strong possibility. Follow the link I gave and then the "Contact Us" on the site and get onto them.
If you have a masthead amp tell them (even if you can readily get to it yourself) because they would normally send an engineer free of charge to install an external filter on the mast before the amp BUT the big advantage of this is that the engineers they send have ALL the kit for looking at the interference issues etc. They have even been known to replace aerials if the need arises!
If I've repeated anything you've already looked at, let me know.
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