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Full Freeview on the Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) transmitter

52.600,-1.835 or 52°36'1"N 1°50'5"W

B75 5JJ

Transmitter faults 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.

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The symbol shows the location of the Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, England) transmitter which serves 1,870,000 homes.

Other maps:

Sutton Coldfield DAB

Sutton Coldfield AM/FM

Sutton Coldfield region

BBC West Midlands

Central (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.

List by multiplex|List by channel number|List by channel name|See terrain plot

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.

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, 301 301, plus 12 others
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, 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 22 others
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, plus 9 others
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 21 others

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)	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 the 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 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

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.

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Transmitter engineering
Tuesday 28 June 2011 3:34PM

SUTTON COLDFIELD transmitter - Analogue BBC ONE Weak Signal from 12:26 yesterday to 18:43 yesterday BBC ONE Weak Signal; DSO related from 10:27 today BBC ONE Weak Signal; DSO related from 10:18 on 24 Jun to 13:45 on 24 Jun BBC TWO Weak Signal from 17:54 yesterday to 19:08 yesterday BBC TWO Weak [BBC] Over the next week Sutton Coldfield main transmitter: TV (analogue) Possible weak signal, TV (digital) working normally, Radio (analogue) Possible weak signal, Radio (digital) Liable to interruption. [DUK]

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