Full Freeview on the Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) transmitter
Are there any planned engineering works or unexpected transmitter faults on the Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) mast?
SUTTON COLDFIELD transmitter - Over the next week Sutton Coldfield main transmitter: TV (digital) Liable to interruption, Radio (analogue) Possible weak signal, Radio (digital) Liable to interruption.
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The symbol shows the location of the Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) transmitter which serves 1,870,000 homes.
What do the colours on the map mean?
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.List by multiplex|
List by channel number|
List by channel name|
See terrain plotWhich 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 | Aerial position | Frequency | Height | Mode | Watts |
PSB1
BBCA | horizontal max | C43 (650.0MHz) | 433m | 64QAM 8K 2/3
24.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2 | 200,000W |
| 
1 BBC One West Midlands, 2 BBC Two England, 7 BBC Three, 9 BBC Four, 70 CBBC Channel, 71 CBeebies, 80 BBC News, 81 BBC Parliament, 301 BBC Red Button 1, plus 12 others 200 BBC Red Button, 700 BBC Radio 1, 701 BBC Radio 1Xtra, 702 BBC Radio 2, 703 BBC Radio 3, 704 BBC Radio 4, 705 BBC Radio 5 Live, 706 BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, 707 BBC Radio 6 Music, 708 BBC Radio 4 Extra, 709 BBC Asian Network, 710 BBC World Service,
|
PSB2
D3+4 | horizontal max | C46 (674.0MHz) | 433m | 64QAM 8K 2/3
24.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2 | 200,000W |
| 
3 ITV (Central (West micro region)), 4 Channel 4 Midlands ads, 5 Channel 5 Part Network ads, 6 ITV 2, 13 Channel 4+1 Midlands ads, 14 More 4, 28 E4, 33 ITV +1 (Central west),
|
PSB3
BBCB | horizontal max | C40+ (626.2MHz) | 433m | 256QAM 32KE 2/3
40.2Mb/s DVB-T2 MPEG4 | 200,000W |
| 
101 BBC One HD (England no regional news), 102 BBC Two HD (England), 103 ITV HD (ITV Central West), 104 Channel 4 HD Midlands ads, 303 BBC Red Button HD, plus 1 others 232 The Space,
|
COM4
SDN | horizontal max | C42 (642.0MHz) | 433m | 64QAM 8K 3/4
27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2 | 200,000W |
| 
10 ITV 3, 20 G.O.L.D. (not free), 25 Dave ja vu, 26 Home (not free), 27 ITV 2 +1, 30 5*, 31 5USA, 34 ESPN UK (not free), 38 Quest, 39 The Zone, 44 Channel 5 +1, 72 CITV, plus 21 others Bluebird 1, ADULT Playboy, 16 QVC, 23 Bid TV, 49 The Jewellery Channel, 170 ADULT Section, 171 Television X, 180 XxXpanded TV, 201 Teletext Hols, 202 Rabbit, 203 Gay Rabbit, 204 1-2-1 Dating, 228 Christian, 229 CONNECT 2, 230 VISION2, 234 CONNECT 4, 235 God TV, 236 Sony SAB TV Asia, 724 Capital FM, 727 Absolute Radio, 728 Heart,
|
COM5
ArqA | horizontal max | C45 (666.0MHz) | 403m | 64QAM 8K 3/4
27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2 | 200,000W |
| 
11 PICK TV, 12 Dave, 17 Really, 29 E4+1, 32 Movie Mix, 46 Challenge, 48 Food Network, 82 Sky News, 87 Community Channel, 302 BBC Red Button 2, plus 9 others 36 Create and Craft, 37 Price Drop TV, 43 Gems TV 1, 173 ADULT smileTV3, 175 ADULT PARTY, 176 ADULT Blue, 177 Babestation Xtra, 206 SkyText, 723 talkSPORT,
|
COM6
ArqB | horizontal max | C39+ (618.2MHz) | 433m | 64QAM 8K 3/4
27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2 | 200,000W |
| 
15 Film 4, 18 4Music, 19 Yesterday, 21 VIVA, 24 ITV 4, 41 Sky Sports 1 (not free), 42 Sky Sports 2 (not free), 47 4seven, 83 Al Jazeera English, 85 RT English , plus 22 others heat, 0 Argos TV, 22 Ideal World, 35 QVC Beauty, 40 Rocks and Co 1, 172 ADULT smileTV2, 174 Babestation, 199 ADULT Section, 225 VISION, 226 CCTV, 227 Sports, 231 Racing TV , 306 Channel Zero, 711 The Hits radio, 712 Smash Hits!, 713 Kiss, 714 KISSTORY, 715 Magic, 716 Q, 717 Kerrang!, 718 Smooth radio, 725 Premier Radio,
|
Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Sutton Coldfield transmitter?
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?
| years | 1950s~85 | 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2011 | 2011-13 | 2013-18 | 2013-18 | |
| aerial group | VHF | B E | B E | E | B E K | B E K | W | |
| C4 | BBCtv | | | | | | | |
| 600 | C33 | | | | | | | com7 | |
| C35 | | | | | | | com8 | |
| C39 | | | | | +ArqB | +ArqB | +ArqB | |
| C40 | | BBC2 | BBC2 | BBC2 | +BBCB | +BBCB | +BBCB | |
| C41 | | | | +1 | | | | |
| C42 | | | | | SDN | SDN | SDN | |
| C43 | | ITV | ITV | ITV | BBCA | BBCA | BBCA | |
| C44 | | | | +2 | | | | |
| C45 | | | | | ArqA | ArqA | ArqA | |
| C46 | | BBC1 | BBC1 | BBC1 | D3+4 | D3+4 | D3+4 | |
| C47 | | | | +A | | | | |
| 700 | C50 | | C4 | C4 | C4 | | | | |
| C51 | | | | +B | | | local | |
| C52 | | | | +C | | | | |
| C55 | | | | D | | | | |
| orange background for multiplexes names more | green background for transmission frequencies | lilac background for power levels in watts | 800MHz band: 4G mobile to start in 2013 | 700MHz band: possible 4G in 2019 more | 600MHz band: new or moved digital TV services more |
Notes:
+ and
- denote 166kHz offset; aerial group are shown as
A B C/D E K WItalics for
analogue, digital switchover was Wednesdays 7th September and 21st September 2011.
- Ofcom have projected that a local television service for Birmingham including Greater Birmingham area, part of Wolverhampton, Walsall, Dudley could use an Interleaved Frequency on the Sutton Coldfield transmitter using C51
- COM7, COM8 projected for 2013-16. COM7 and COM8 to operate as Bromsgrove,Sutton Coldfield, The Wrekin SFN.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-4 | 1000kW | |
| SDN, ARQA, ARQB, com7, com8, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7dB) 200kW | |
| 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 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.
Your comments: most recent posts are at the bottom
First comments 
Earlier comments ◊ Your comments are always welcome. Please use the form below to add your thoughts or questions to this page. We will get back to you as soon as we can.
M
Mike DimmickFriday 5 April 2013 6:44PM
The mast is, as far as I know, temporary. Arqiva recently applied for, and were granted, a variation of the planning permission under which they extended the permanent mast. That variation (number 2012/05959/PA) says they must remove the temporary mast and its access road by 28 February next year. In practice that means it will come down this summer.
Arqiva asked for the extension of time basically because Ofcom are threatening to reorganize the TV spectrum once again, which could mean further changes to the antennas on the permanent mast. The current plan for launching the interim multiplexes in the 600 MHz band does not require any changes, however. 
http://www.arqiva.com/cor….pdf J
jackThursday 11 April 2013 3:06PM
Birmingham
for about 2 weeks we've been getting random break-ups on multiple channels
This morning every mux except 1 went dead for about 2 minutes - no signal nothing
is freeview EVER going to be a service that can be relied on?
What are they playing around with now?
S
Sally ClaytonThursday 2 May 2013 1:04PM
Leicester
My mother gets wonderful reception all day then at 7pm her picture breaks up for the rest of the night this has just started happening 3 nights ago. There is nothing new in the house that switches on at that time. It is really maddening as she relys on her TV. It is always 7pm on the dot.
She has an ariel on the roof that has been checked. We have also taken her Freesat box off to see if that makes any different.
Do you have any suggestions?J
jb38Thursday 2 May 2013 7:41PM
P
Peter HedgesThursday 23 May 2013 2:48PM
Cheltenham
I tried the suggestion of removing all channels and then retuning. I now have Dave at 100% from Oxford on a loft aerial in Stow on the Wold pointing at Sutton Coldfield. Good suggestion, thanks.
Samsung have told me I can't have a mixture of channels from different transmitters!Peter Hedges: I suggest that the reason for your difficulty, and the reason that Digital UK suggests such poor reception of the COMs from Sutton Coldfield, as against its PSBs, is down to the fact that Hannington's PSBs are co-channel.
The channels allocated to the COMs result in inferior coverage to the PSBs because they are re-used by other transmitters within closer proximity.
If you can move your aerial you may find that you can reduce the level of interference (without one of the other channels being affected). That said, you don't know how seasonal changes might affect reception. Or perhaps your aerial can be mounted somewhere where Sutton Coldfield's reception is good, but where the signal from Hannington is block, such as by fitting it on one side of your building. Peter Hedges: I think that the reason for that it has been suggested that you can't have a mixture of channels from different transmitters is down to EPG data and particularly the starting of timed recordings where they are linked to the EPG (so that the recorder starts when the programme starts).
The EPG data for all services are carried by all multiplexes from any one transmitter. So, for example, the EPG data for BBC One is carried by all multiplexes.
Different transmitters can be of differing regions and therefore may carry different EPG data.
I write here as a technical-bod and not a professional, so this is where my understanding is a bit woolly. Personally I would be trying it out to see if it works!
Oxford carries different BBC and ITV regions. I don't know whether the EPG data carried by Sutton Coldfield and Oxford are the same. Perhaps it (using two transmitters) is only likely to be an issue when recording regional programming. I would be interested to find out what the answer is and reasons behind it.
In any case you may not be able to combine the feed from Oxford and Sutton Coldfield and receive all channels because COM4 from Oxford is moving to C50 on Wednesday. If a C51 diplexer is used to combine feeds then COM4 will fall below that and hence be picked up by the Sutton Coldfield-facing aerial.
That said, if it is only Sutton Coldfield's COM5 that you are having difficulty with then COM5 from Oxford won't be affected by the change on Wednesday. Peter Hedges: I now see that you have your loft aerial pointing to Sutton Coldfield, but are managing to receive COM5 from Oxford with it.
Perhaps then, the answer is to look at relocating it in the loft so as to reduce the level of unwanted signal from Hannington.
Hannington is at 154 degrees, so consider where may be better screened from it, but which will get a good signal from Sutton Coldfield. P
Peter HedgesSaturday 25 May 2013 1:56PM
Cheltenham
My main reason for posting was that having cleared all of the stored channels as was suggested I am now able to tune in a mix of Sutton Coldfield and Oxford channels whereas before my receiver concentrated on one transmitter. Now I have been able to fill in the gaps caused by poor reception of the COM5 from Sutton Coldfield by receiving the mux from Oxford. I can do this with just the one aerial, no diplexer.
That being the case the possible co-channel reception is not causing me any loss of services.
Regarding the EPG, with a mixture of Sutton Coldfield and Oxford my guide shows both Midlands Today on the TV's channel 1 and South Today on channel 800.
You might wonder why I am interested in Sutton Coldfield when I am close to Oxford and could receive its transmissions without too many problems. I am from the Midlands and am not really interested in news about Brighton and the Isle of Wight.Peter Hedges: I'm not one to judge! You've come on here with a technical query and I've offered a hypothesis based on what I can see.
If receiving from two different transmitters does cause an issue then perhaps the answer is to use Oxford as your 'main' one with Sutton Coldfield tuned in the 800s for use when regional programming is being broadcast.
I suspect that in some situations it may cause difficulty with recordings starting automatically where they rely on the EPG data (i.e. a signal sent out by the broadcaster) as opposed to one that is timed and whose start time cannot be altered by the broadcaster.
Let's say you are watching a programme on BBC One but have programmed something on ITV. The programme on ITV starts early but your recorder switches channel (assuming it has only one tuned). It stands to reason that the EPG signal that 'told' the recorder that the broadcast time had been brought forward must be carried on the BBC multiplex because the device can only physically receive one multiplex at a time.
I suspect that sometimes a combination of two transmitters may mean that the EPG data for the timed programme (on another channel from another transmitter) may not be carried by the transmitter/channel being viewed.
As I say, I think it's a "try it and see" sort of thing, being mindful of the possible issue. I don't think that what Samsung told you should forbid you from trying it. It may be that it only affect certain recordings at certain times; as I say I don't know the ins and outs of how it works so can't say with any certainty. J
Jill PhillipsMonday 27 May 2013 8:58PM
Warwick
During the last 4-6 weeks I have experienced awful problems with ITV and Chanells 4 and 5. At approx 9pm 2 or 3 nights per week I get "this channel is scambled or not available" I have missed many of my favourite programmes and even worse I have missed the last episode or part of the last episode of several serials e.g. last week Life of Crime.
I would like to know why this keeps happening I have not had this problem before, only in extreme weather conditions when the change over was first taking place, until this last few weeks.
J
jb38Monday 27 May 2013 9:48PM
If you do receive ITV3 then you could try "manually tuning" in mux Ch46 and storing same as this "might" take up ITV1's EPG3 position, if not then you should carry out another auto-tune whilst observing the progress bar then pulling the aerial connector out as soon as you see Ch47 being passed, this action killing the possibility of reception from Leamington Spa.
If neither of these procedures work then remove the aerial and carry out an auto-scan as this will delete anything stored, then go into your TV or boxes "manual" tuning menu and enter Sutton Coldfield's mux channels one at a time, storing the results after each scan before moving on to the next channel.
43(BBC) - Ch46(ITV1) - Ch40(HD) - Ch42(ITV3) - Ch45(ArqA) - Ch39 (ArqB) I
ian from nottsWednesday 29 May 2013 9:15PM
Nottingham
just a side thought? G
Gillian CrosswellThursday 13 June 2013 5:51PM
Worcester
What's going on as it's getting very frustrating. Pls sort this signal out someone.
Many thanks Ian: Perhaps they are going to use it for the extra Freeview HD services between 2013 and 2018? IanMonday 17 June 2013 4:32PM
Hinckley How did they get round the planing application for that then? If it was to be temporary and now permanent? What about all the other transmitters, will they be up to the weight of the extra arrays of will they have to have new masts?S
SidMonday 17 June 2013 7:48PM
WorcesterSid: That's good...that they are starting at the top. IanTuesday 18 June 2013 9:33AM
Hinckley Lol yes it would make a terrible mess if they started from the bottom.S
SidTuesday 18 June 2013 9:27PM
Worcester
IanTuesday 18 June 2013 9:57PM
Hinckley Would still need a good tidy up after.updates
Automatic update every 1 minute
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