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 24/03/2025 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, plus 19 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, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Central west), 71 That's TV 3,
PSB3 BBCB	H max	C40+ (626.2MHz)	433m	DTG-	200,000W
	46 5SELECT, 57 U&Eden, 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, 203 CBBC HD, 204 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others 66 TBN UK,
COM4 SDN	H max	C42 (642.0MHz)	433m	DTG-8	200,000W
	20 U&Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 58 ITV3 +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 61 GREAT! mystery, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 74 U&DaveJaVu, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 91 WildEarth, 93 ITVBe +1, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 251 Al Jazeera English, 255 FRANCE 24 (in English), 265 ROK, plus 21 others
COM5 ArqA	H max	C45 (666.0MHz)	433m	DTG-8	200,000W
	11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 U&Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 U&Drama 1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 76 That's Dance, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others
COM6 ArqB	H max	C39+ (618.2MHz)	433m	DTG-8	200,000W
	12 Quest, 25 U&W, 27 U&Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 63 GREAT! player, 73 HobbyMaker, 75 That's Melody, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 207 POP UP, plus 10 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 AM/FM 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?

C

Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

11:57 PM

M Mitchell :

As per the very top of this page, thr HD is on UHF Channel 40 (626Mhz) with a + offset. TV sets that tune by UHF channel automatically cope with the +offset If you have a device that has to tune by , you may have to tune to 626.1666MHz.
The TV channel LCN (EPG) numbers for the HD are 101-107, 204 & 205.
SD channels 46 & 66 are also carried on this multiplex.

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StevensOnln1

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

11:59 PM

M Mitchell : The PSB3 carrying HD is broadcast on UHF channel 40 (with a +166KHz offset which won't affect tuning on most TVs).

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William Wood
5:08 PM

is it easy to manually input 82 (TPTV) any would be gratefully received

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StevensOnln1

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5:21 PM

William Wood: Talking Pictures is carried on the ArqB/COM6 , whis broadcast on UHF 39+ from . Most receivers have a manual tuning option in the menu somewhere, let us know the make and model if you can't find it.

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Mr Kevin Greenhill
4:22 PM

I live in Ibstock, Leicestershire and I an constantly getting issues with recordings on my Humax box. The usual are Ok, so BBC1, ITV1 and the HD versions, but ITV4 and some of the less popular stations are constantly failing to record.

Can anyone with this?

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Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

10:25 PM

Mr Kevin :

Have you checked that your Humax box has the latest firmware?

As noted towards the top of this page, is still undergoing Planned which has been so for a few weeks. Exact details of the work are not provided but different multiplexes may be affected at different times.

As you haven't given a full postcode we can't check your predicted and whether any particular multiplexes may be more vulnerable to reception issues during engineering work.
Nor can we check if you may be potentially vulnerable to problems from any new/upgraded phone masts in your immediate area.

Some information about your installation could also be helpful. Where is your and roughly how old is it?
Do you have an aerial pre-amp or an amp/splitter to feed more than one TV/Box?

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Chris.SE

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3:11 AM

Mr Kevin :

In addition to my previous comment, do check that your Humax is correctly tuned to 's UHF , as depending on your postcode it can be possible to pickup one of two other main transmitters which could have much weaker and unreliable signals.
In order BBCA/PSB1, D3&4/PSB2, BBCB HD/PSB3, SDN/COM4, ArqA/COM5, ArqB/COM6ll the UHF channels are , , +, , , +
For which TV channels are carried on which multiplex see
https://www.freeview.co.uk/corporate/platform-management/channel-listings-industry-professionals

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Chris.SE's 4,328 posts GB flag

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Mr Kevin Greenhill
11:12 AM

I am really frustrated with the fact that I cannot successfully record ITV4 on my Humax box. It almost always fails. My recordings are pixelated or fail completely. Can the for this be boosted?

I live in the Ibstock area. northwest Leicestershire..

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Chris.SE

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

2:01 PM

Mr Kevin :

If this was anything to do with (because of say works - currently there are some) then you'd be having problems with most of the ITV sister , likewise Ch4 and Ch5, which you did briefly remark on previously but without any detail.

Any poor signal could also be related to your installation and certain problems can affect individual multiplexes without having any obvious effect on others. We need some more detail to give some constructive advice.

If you go into your TV set tuning section, did you check you are correctly tuned? But also give us the Signal Strength and figures for each 's UHF channel. That may help identify what could be happening.

You may also be suffering from a new/upgraded phone , have you had a postcard from Restore TV? As you still haven't give a full postcode we can't check that or advise on signal strength in your specific locale. Some postcodes in your locale will have had a from Restore TV.
You can check at https://restoretv.uk/postcards-not-sure/

If/when the engineering works are not affecting the D3&4/PSB2 multiplex signals it cannot be "boosted" in any event. powers are determined by international agreements.

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