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.
This transmitter has no current reported problems
The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) transmitter._______
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, 10 September 2022
C
Chris.SE12:24 AM
Simon F.:
The other channel for the Local mux is beaned South West (towards Birmingham) and you would not get it.
In your location your aerial should be pointing at a bearing of 142 degrees, that's - 7 degrees S of SE and it's rods (or squashed Xs) should be horizontal.
Lower quality can occur when there is interfering signals as well as when the signal is very low and just affected by weather. If you see quality varying with or without signal strength variation, it could be due to weather conditions.
Current Weather conditions are causing Tropospheric Ducting - causing interference from more distant transmitters in Europe or the UK. This can be very variable and is usually short term at any instant but conditions have been persisting for several days, different parts of the UK are being affected at different times. Not all multiplexes will be affected at the same time or at all.
Both Freeview and the BBC have issued warnings about short term interference to reception.
Again do NOT retune if you have badly pixellated pictures or no signal.
For you to have coax outlets in more than one location, the aerial downlead needs a splitter, sometimes an amp/splitter. Look for where the downlead goes and look for a "box" where there is more than one cable out. Check all the connections there.
If you have signal strengths in the 90% range on the main muxes then any amplification runs the risk of too much signal.
If the splitting is done correctly and strengths are OK on the shorter run(s) but much lower on the longer run, you might be able to consider some amplification only on the long run BUT you should use one with a variable gain control so it can be adjusted to avoid overload. It should be inserted just after a split rather than the TV end.
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Thursday, 10 November 2022
S
Steve Beresford2:06 PM
Belper
What aerial type do I need for receiving Freeview TV from Sutton Coldfield ?
Freeview TV from Sutton Coldfield A, T,
K, W, etc?
My location is DE56 4EZ
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Steve's: mapS's Freeview map terrainS's terrain plot wavesS's frequency data S's Freeview Detailed Coverage
C
Chris.SE2:39 PM
Steve Beresford:
You are about 49km from Sutton Coldfield, Aerial needs to point at compass bearing ~207 degrees - fractionally west of SSW with rods (or squashed Xs) horizontal.
A Group K would probably be better than a Group B as it should give some protection from any mobile masts that may be nearby operating in the 700MHz band.
It'll probably need to be medium-high gain, but maybe a high gain K Group Log periodic may be best.
There is a Local multiplex on C36 which you aren't "predicted" to get, it's beamed N towards the Lichfield area and you are a bit off-beam as well as some distance away.
Have a look at your neighbours aerials just to see what the newer more shiny ones are to give you some idea.
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Sunday, 13 November 2022
D
Dave9:56 AM
Can someone with EXPERIENCE and knowledge answer a simple question for me please.
If the power goes out due to shortage of electricity, will my local tv/radio still be broadcasting or do they loose power like the rest of us?
Thanks, an email reply would be much appreciated.
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S
StevensOnln111:19 AM
Dave: That would depend on whether the studios, transmitter and everything in the chain between them still have power. Major broadcasters will have standby generators which would start automatically in the event of a power cut, as do main transmitters. Smaller broadcasters and transmitters which only cover limited area/population may not have these facilities in place.
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S
Steve Beresford12:27 PM
Chris. SE
Thank you for your detailed and welcome reply to my query.
you are spot on with your recommendatio to install a high gain
log period antenna which has been installed and is providing a
strong signal and faultless reception plus it is not noticeably
affected by strong winds.
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C
Chris.SE10:19 PM
Steve Beresford:
Yes log periodics have a low wind loading so with some of the winds we've seen lately that's good news. I haven't done a survey recently of how many manufacturers are now making Group K versions, if yours wasn't a Group K and you have a problem in the future from mobile interference then you can get free filters from restoretv.uk (check their website).
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Sunday, 12 March 2023
A
Andy 5:36 AM
Hi mate, I'm located in Burton on Trent approximately 22 miles from the SC transmitter. I order an ANTIFERENCE TCX18BK AERIAL 18 ELEMENT BK, from Amazon, but their seller sent me a group K (grey end) instead. My question is will now not get all the programs that I would have got if they had sent me a group B like asked for?
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S
StevensOnln110:55 AM
Andy : Group K covers the entire UHF band that is in use for Freeview. Unless you have a very weak signal it should be fine.
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C
Chris.SE5:17 PM
Andy :
According to Antiference's data sheet the Group K has 0.7dBi more gain which is practically insignificant, but it should also help with rejection of interference from any unwanted mobile signals unlike the Group B which goes above C48 to C53. Mobile operators can now use frequencies above C49.
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