Freeview: Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) full-Freeview transmitter
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Freeview on the Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) transmitter

Google StreetviewGoogle mapBing mapGoogle Earth52.600,-1.835 or 52°36'1"N 1°50'5"WB75 5JJ

Transmitter fauls and engineering works

SUTTON COLDFIELD transmitter - Over the next week Sutton Coldfield main transmitter: TV (digital) working normally, Radio (analogue) Possible weak signal, Radio (digital) working normally. Digital tick
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The symbol shows the location of the Sutton Coldfield transmitter which serves 1,870,000 homes.

Other maps:Sutton Coldfield DABSutton Coldfield AM/FMSutton Coldfield regionBBC West MidlandsCentral (West micro region)

Radiation patterns

Radiation patterns withheld

Map key

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.

Sutton Coldfield transmitter Freeview broadcasts

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. The rating shown takes in account the output power level and the various Freeview transmission modes and do not indicate an ongoing fault.

MuxEffective power level, aerial positionRatingModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 horizontal
Maximum64QAM 8K 2/3
24.1Mb/s
DVB-T MPEG2		200,000
Channel icons
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, 301 301, plus 12 others
• as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C43 (650.0MHz) from 433m datum.
PSB2
D3+4
 horizontal
Maximum64QAM 8K 2/3
24.1Mb/s
DVB-T MPEG2		200,000
Channel icons
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),
• as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C46 (674.0MHz) from 433m datum.
PSB3
BBCB
 horizontal
Maximum256QAM 32KE 2/3
40.2Mb/s
DVB-T2 MPEG4		200,000
Channel icons
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, plus 1 others
• as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C40+ (626.2MHz) from 433m datum.
COM4
SDN
 horizontal
Maximum64QAM 8K 3/4
27.1Mb/s
DVB-T MPEG2		200,000
Channel icons
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 22 others
• as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C42 (642.0MHz) from 433m datum.
COM5
ArqA
 horizontal
Maximum64QAM 8K 3/4
27.1Mb/s
DVB-T MPEG2		200,000
Channel icons
 TV News,  TV Stars, 11 PICK TV, 12 Dave, 17 Really, 29 E4+1, 32 Movie Mix, 46 Challenge, 48 Food Network, 82 Sky News, 87 Community Channel, plus 9 others
• as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C45 (666.0MHz) from 403m datum.
COM6
ArqB
 horizontal
Maximum64QAM 8K 3/4
27.1Mb/s
DVB-T MPEG2		200,000
Channel icons
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 21 others
• as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C39+ (618.2MHz) from 433m datum.


Regional news from the Sutton Coldfield transmitter


BBC Midlands Today 2.9m homes 10.9%
from Birmingham B1 1RF, 15km south-southwest
to BBC West Midlands region - 66 masts.

ITV Central News 2.6m homes 9.9%
from Birmingham B1 2JT, 15km south-southwest
to ITV Central (West) region - 46 masts.

Self-help relays

Burton (shobnall)Transposer1 km W Burton-on-Trent60 homes
CoalvilleTransposer18 km NW Leicester600 homes
SolihullTransposerLand Rover building400 homes

How the transmission frequencies change over time

years1950s~851984-971997-981998-20112011-132013-182013-18
aerial groupVHFB EB EEB E KB E KW
C4BBCtv
600C33com7
C35com8
C39+ArqB+ArqB+ArqB
C40BBC2BBC2BBC2+BBCB+BBCB+BBCB
C41+1
C42SDNSDNSDN
C43ITVITVITVBBCABBCABBCA
C44+2
C45ArqAArqAArqA
C46BBC1BBC1BBC1D3+4D3+4D3+4
C47+A
700C50C4C4C4
C51+Blocal
C52+C
C55D

orange background for multiplexes names moregreen background for transmission frequencieslilac background for power levels in watts800MHz band: 4G mobile to start in 2013700MHz band: possible 4G in 2019 more600MHz band: new or moved digital TV services more
Notes: + and - denote 166kHz offset; aerial group are shown as A B C/D E K W
Italics 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.

Comparison of old analogue and current digital signal levels

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

History of Channel 3 in the Sutton Coldfield transmitter area

• 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

firstFirst comments prevEarlier comments  ◊  Later commentsnext Latest commentslast

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.

Rosa
Wednesday 7 September 2011 7:49PM
Re tuned our TV and have lost BBC1, 2, 3 and BBC news channel. We're in Worcester. It's been like that all day, retuning made no difference. :(
jordan
Wednesday 7 September 2011 7:55PM Wolverhampton
try manual retune c43
Phil
Wednesday 7 September 2011 7:59PM
TV in kitchen, attached to roof aerial - fine.

TV in bedroom with attic aerial - keep losing BBC1,2 and3. I keep retuning and they appear temporarily. No problem in digital reception before the change today.
B13
WA4
Wednesday 7 September 2011 8:09PM
I retuned both my sets this afternoon and lost yesterday and film four. I received these without problem before the retune so hope it rectifies on Wednesday 21st.
sid
Wednesday 7 September 2011 8:33PM
dont retune....do a factory reset or first time installation.
Briantist
Wednesday 7 September 2011 8:40PM
ALL: From www.ukfree.tv link icon Switchover starts in 4 million homes in Yorkshire, West Midlands 7th September | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice :

From 6am Wednesday 7th September 2011, you must to a perform a "first time installation" retune (sometimes "Factory Reset" or "Shipping Condition") on your Freeview box or television set.

If you don't know how to do this - do this - www.ukfree.tv link icon My Freeview box has no EPG, is blank on FIVE, ITV3, ITV4, ITV2+1, has no sound or the channel line up is wrong | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice instead.

You MAY find that old pre-Freeview equipment will no longer work - see TVs and boxes that do not support the 8k-mode

On Wednesday 21 September 2011 will see the second stage of switchover, which provides the final Freeview configuration, including Freeview HD for all transmitters in these two regions.

Scott
Wednesday 7 September 2011 8:59PM Dudley
Lost all bbc channels :( not happy
Briantist
Wednesday 7 September 2011 9:00PM
Scott: Please see the above comment.
Bish
Wednesday 7 September 2011 9:14PM
so after the 21st I will get channel 4 etc? At the moment I have BBC and nothing else.
Briantist
Wednesday 7 September 2011 9:15PM
Bish: Yes.
terry
Wednesday 7 September 2011 10:10PM
i have lost bbc2 on normal tv not that it matters as ive got the free view just wondered thats all
Briantist
Wednesday 7 September 2011 10:12PM
terry: Yes, it is the digital switchover. BBC TWO has closed on analogue.
terry
Wednesday 7 September 2011 10:13PM
sorry forgot too say ime from oldbury b69
terry
Wednesday 7 September 2011 10:18PM
briantist thanks just wonted too no where it add gone by the way ive got an old ariel in the loft put it too an old freeview box and now it works brill got over 100 chanels
charles
Wednesday 7 September 2011 10:40PM
I have just retuned today and I find I now have ONLY the BBC channels (plus some home shopping and other garbage) - the opposite of what many others are saying!
But looking at the details on this page maybe that is what should be happening from now until Sep 21, is that correct?

Scott
Thursday 8 September 2011 8:40AM Dudley
Could someone point me towards how i manual tune my channels? channel numbers etc ? Thankyou.
Briantist
Thursday 8 September 2011 9:44AM
Scott: Please look at the top of the page.
Briantist
Thursday 8 September 2011 10:09AM
charles: No, that is not correct. If you had all of the Freeview services before yesterday, you should have them all today. If you had none, you should only have the BBCA multiplex.
Wendy Wheeldon
Thursday 8 September 2011 10:46AM Derby
Thanks jb 38. I may try manual tune but otherwise will wait until 21st and see what happens
Bec
Thursday 8 September 2011 11:21AM
In Tamworth we actually use the Hints transmitter, not Sutton Coalfield, so after the recent DSO there has been no difference. So I was wondering when Hints will be upgraded ... I phoned up the people who allegedly know, and they'd never even heard of the Hints transmitter.
Briantist
Thursday 8 September 2011 11:39AM
Bec: No, I have never heard of a "Hints transmitter" either, but I suspect you mean Lichfield.

If you mean Lichfield, this mast was was only used for Channel 5 on analogue and the pre-DSO Freeview HD service. There were no other channels on it.

If you could provide a postcode, it might be possible to assist further.
Dennis
Thursday 8 September 2011 11:44AM
Bec,the HD service from Hints will not be upgaded,on full DSO on the 21st of this month,all services,incuding HD, will come from the Sutton Coldfield site.
Right now the transmitter power for HD service is 4KW from Hints,when it starts from Sutton this will go to 200KW,as will all the remaining MUXs.
Dennis
Thursday 8 September 2011 11:52AM
Hints,it's the local name for the site Briantist,I am from Tamworth as well :) I can see how asking about Hints would confuse people though :)
Gemma Haran
Thursday 8 September 2011 1:43PM
I'm not getting any channel 3 or 4 channels anybody help?
samantha
Thursday 8 September 2011 1:46PM Redditch
Following yesterday's re-tune I am now missing BBC 1 ,2 and 3 anyone else in the Alcester area having difficulties?
Briantist
Thursday 8 September 2011 2:05PM
Gemma Haran: If you are missing those channels:

First, try this - www.ukfree.tv link icon My Freeview box has no EPG, is blank on FIVE, ITV3, ITV4, ITV2+1, has no sound or the channel line up is wrong | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice

Second, you may have too much signal. If you have a booster or amplifier, remove it from your system, if you don't you might have to fit an attenuator, which cost about five pounds.

Third, there is an outside chance that you have a box that does not support the 8k mode. If you do you will need a new box.
gbhall
Thursday 8 September 2011 2:17PM
Ref Briantist
on this page, where you list the frequency changes from 1950, you omit to fully describe the period from 5th to 21st September 2011, where there were channel changes on the 5th - the principle one for Sutton Coldfield is BBCA to C43 apparemtly - virtually impossible to find out, but I did find it in Wikipaedia of all places once, and cannot find it again !
Briantist
Thursday 8 September 2011 2:29PM
gbhall: There is ONE change for digital and it's listed above next to yesterday's date: "BBCA starts on C43".
Bec
Thursday 8 September 2011 3:20PM
Regarding the Hints transmitter, everyone (I assume) in Tamworth has their aerials pointing at Hints, Sutton Coalfield is in the opposite direction, and I've never seen an aerial pointing that way.

When I put my postcode into the Freeview checker it says Sutton Coalfield, just as the man on the end of the phone said, but that's plain wrong ... Maybe Hints is just a relay transmitter, and if so, does that need upgrading?
Dennis
Thursday 8 September 2011 3:35PM
Bec,if you live in Tamworth your aerial should point towards the Sutton Coldfield mast,this has always been the case.
If you get Freeview now the signal comes from Sutton,NOT Hints/Lichfield,the only TV transmissions from Lichfield now are low power HD and the old analogue channel 5.

On the 21st of this month,there will be no TV at from the Lichfield mast,trust me that is true,Lichfield is not a relay,or a local mast for Tamworth. The Sutton Coldfield mast covers some thirty miles,or so from that site.

Once again if your aerial is pointing at the Hints mast,its looking the wrong way.
If you get Freeview ok, its because it just happens to pick up Sutton,because the capture angle of you aerial allows this.
Briantist
Thursday 8 September 2011 3:39PM
Bec: That transmitter will be no longer in TV service in 13 days, no it not a relay, never was, only carried channel 5 on analogue, before that it was the ITV VHF transmitter.

As it never provided 1, 2, 3 and 4, it is impossible for you to have used it for those channels.
Dennis
Thursday 8 September 2011 3:45PM
Bec,just thinking about this,I am in Tamworth,my aerial pointing at Sutton,butI would only have to turn it by about fifteen degrees to point at Hints/Lichfield. So I feel you think it's looking at Hints,when,in fact,its locked on Sutton.
This is certainly the case if every TV aerial around you is pointing the same way as yours,they are not all going to be wrong.
ezrapound
Thursday 8 September 2011 4:03PM
GBHALL I recon 2 Analogue and 2 digital changes happened on the 7th :-

BBC2 Analogue on channel 40 Turned off permanently
ITV-1 Analogue on Channel 43 moves to Channel 40
MUX-1 Digital on Channel 41 moves to Channel 43
MUX-A Digital on Channel 47 Moves to Channel 41
Dave Davies
Thursday 8 September 2011 6:54PM
I seem to be receiving all the channels fine here in Rugby but with most of the channel bouquets being given over to either cooking, game shows or late nite pornography I don't feel I would be missing much if I couldn't.
dutchman
Thursday 8 September 2011 7:55PM
Mux A is definitely on Ch41, not Ch47

Also here in Coventry Mux 1 is now subject to random breakup, it was perfect before.
Briantist
Thursday 8 September 2011 9:21PM
dutchman: Yes, thus "Between the first and second stages of switchover at Sutton Coldfield, SDN will use channel 41 (8kW)." I will make a manual change to the page to reflect it at the top, rather than just in the footnotes.
Briantist
Thursday 8 September 2011 9:27PM
ezrapound: Yes, it says this above

"Wednesday 7th September 2011
ITV-1 swaps to C40. BBC TWO C43 closes. BBCA starts on C43. "

and

After switchover frequency notes (¶):
Between the first and second stages of switchover at Sutton Coldfield, SDN will use channel 41 (8kW).
dutchman
Thursday 8 September 2011 9:28PM
Thanks Briantist :o)

Can someone with a 'proper' signal strength meter (ie: not an STB readout) confirm that BBC A is now at full power because there is very little evidence of it here?
Briantist
Thursday 8 September 2011 9:32PM
dutchman: At *ALL* transmitters, BBCA operates at full power, now 200kW up from 8kW, that's +14dB.

Most set-top boxes will show a "signal overload" looking more-or-less like a "low signal" condition.
Briantist
Thursday 8 September 2011 9:45PM
samantha: Please check your equipment is not on the www.ukfree.tv link icon TVs and boxes that do not support the 8k-mode | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice list.

If is isn't you may have a signal overload, if you have you will need to remove any boosters or amplifiers from your system.
dutchman
Thursday 8 September 2011 10:20PM
Thanks Briantist :o)

My Pioneer STB is showing 91% signal strength across all active channels, exactly the same as before DSO. Not saying it's accurate mind. There are no boosters in the system other than the distrib-amp for the communal system (10 flats).

Our contractor might be reluctant to make adjustments to every block on the estate for something which may only last two weeks.

Will try a makeshift attenuator later to see if that helps.
Briantist
Thursday 8 September 2011 10:37PM
dutchman: You sometimes find that a communal system is "channelised", and contains a number of boosters for each of the require channels.

If these have changed at switchover (which they have) then the communal system will need changing to reflect the new channel allocations.
ezrapound
Friday 9 September 2011 12:59AM
Briantist:

I think this line is missing from above :-

MUX-A Digital on Channel 47 Moves to Channel 41
Briantist
Friday 9 September 2011 7:36AM
ezrapound: It does say

"After switchover frequency notes (¶):
Between the first and second stages of switchover at Sutton Coldfield, SDN will use channel 41 (8kW)."

at the top of the page.
ezrapound
Friday 9 September 2011 10:07AM
Briantist :- Sorry, I expected it to be between 7th Sept and the 21st Sept in your listings
mark bennett
Friday 9 September 2011 10:45AM
i can't pick up any channels in group 2! do i need a new aerial?
KMJ,Derby
Friday 9 September 2011 11:56AM
mark bennett: If you have good reception of the BBC channels on MuxBBCA just wait until 21st September 2011 when MuxD3+4 (ITV1/2, C4, C5 etc) will start high power transmission. If you had these channels before 7th September try a manual tune on C44+ in order to restore reception of the present low power Mux2.
Graham
Friday 9 September 2011 1:12PM Coventry
Since switchover (part 1), the new BBC signal is showing as 100% strength and 97% quality which isn't bad considering the aerial is in the loft pointing directly at the partition wall between our house and the rest in the row of terrace houses. (3 walls total).

What I do not understand is why the Thompson Top-up TV box shows a signal strength of 6/10 and a quality of 8/10. The signal goes through this box before it gets to the TV. Are the tuners measuring different things?

Sitting in the garden with a 15cm pole aerial gets me perfect picture on the Laptop so the signal is fastastic.
Paul
Friday 9 September 2011 1:14PM
After being told to wait for the switch over on the 7th Sept, why is it I Still can not receive any Freeview HD channels.
I live in Sutton Coldfield and use the Sutton Coldfield transmitter.

Any news on when they will be turned on..
Mike Dimmick
Friday 9 September 2011 2:49PM
Graham: There are no standards in the UK specification for what these meters actually mean.

*Usually*, the strength meter is a percentage or proportion of the actual range that the box can accept, but the upper limit is typically the *combined* level of all received transmissions; with six high-power multiplexes, plus overlaps from other transmitters, it may be necessary to ensure that each received signal is quite a bit below 100%.

Different boxes will have different upper and lower limits on what they can accept.

The 'signal quality' meter on a lot of equipment shows you the proportion of data that was received without error, *after* all error correction was applied. Therefore it stays at 100% until signal quality actually drops enough for the error correction to fail, which you will be able to see or hear, making it useless for diagnostics.

Other equipment shows the Bit Error Rate, the number of bits that were corrected by either the first or second stage of error-correction. Really the best information for diagnosis is the pre-Viterbi BER, but many chipsets don't make this available. Professional meter equipment re-encodes the decoded data stream and compares it to what was received, to produce the Modulation Error Ratio (MER), but that does require extra hardware specifically for measuring, so I wouldn't expect consumer equipment to include it.

The Scandinavian standard, NorDig, now does standardize what these displays mean. Ireland's Saorview standard is based on NorDig 2.0 although with the UK's MHEG 5 profile for interactive content rather than NorDig's.
Dave
Friday 9 September 2011 3:55PM
Im in Stafford and have a freeview HD TV and although i have re-tuned i cant get HD channels. I have never had these previously but was hoping that i would get them following the DSO. The DSO website says i should be able to get them? Any ideas as would really like to get the full benefits?
Dennis
Friday 9 September 2011 4:04PM
Paul,the Freeview HD service starts from the second retune,we have to do,on the 21st of this month.
It is already being transmitted from the Lichfield site,but on low power,but this will stop then,and the high power HD signal will come from Sutton.

The above assumes that you have a TV or PVR that can receive HD in the first place,there has been a lot confusion about that,people thinking they have a HD set,when it's only HD ready,not the same thing.



Please post a question, answer or commentIf you have Freeview reception problems before posting a question your must first do this Freeview reset procedure then see: Freeview reception has changed, Single frequency interference, and Freeview intermittent interference.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

If you have other problems, please provide a full (not partial) postcode (or preferably enter it in box at the top right) and indicate where if aerial is on the roof, in the loft or elsewhere.

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