Freeview Light on the Otford (Kent, England) transmitter
 | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 51.321,0.199 or 51°19'16"N 0°11'55"E |  | TN14 5RS |
The symbol shows the location of the Otford (Kent, England) transmitter which serves 1,400 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 Otford (Kent, England) transmitter._______
Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
The Otford (Kent, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: U&Yesterday, 4seven, 5Action, 5STAR, 5USA, Al Jazeera Eng, Al Jazeera English, Blaze, Blaze +1, Challenge, Channel 5 +1, DMAX, E4 Extra, YAAAS!, Film4 +1, Food Network, FRANCE 24 (in English), GREAT! action, GREAT! christmas, GREAT! movies, GREAT! romance mix, HGTV, HobbyMaker, ITV2 +1, ITV3 +1, ITV4 +1, ITVBe +1, Legend, PBS America, Quest +1, Quest Red, Really, Sky Mix, Sky News, Talking Pictures TV, That's 90s, That's TV 2, Together TV, TRUE CRIME, TRUE CRIME XTRA, U&Dave, U&Dave ja vu, U&Drama +1, U&W.
If you want to watch these channels, your aerial must point to one of the 80 Full service Freeview transmitters. For more information see the will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? page.
Which Freeview channels does the Otford 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 | V max | C29 (538.0MHz) | 206m | DTG- | 6W |
 1 BBC One (SD) London, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 16 others | |||||
| PSB2 D3+4 | V max | C31 (554.0MHz) | 206m | DTG- | 6W |
 3 ITV 1 (SD) (London), 4 Channel 4 (SD) London ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 London ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (London), 71 That’s 60s, | |||||
| PSB3 BBCB | V max | C37 (602.0MHz) | 206m | DTG- | 6W |
 46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD London, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV London), 104 Channel 4 HD London ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 107 BBC Three HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others | |||||
Are you trying to watch these 44 Freeview channels?
The Otford (Kent, England) mast is a public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these commercial (COM) channels: U&Yesterday, 4seven, 5Action, 5STAR, 5USA, Al Jazeera Eng, Al Jazeera English, Blaze, Blaze +1, Challenge, Channel 5 +1, DMAX, E4 Extra, YAAAS!, Film4 +1, Food Network, FRANCE 24 (in English), GREAT! action, GREAT! christmas, GREAT! movies, GREAT! romance mix, HGTV, HobbyMaker, ITV2 +1, ITV3 +1, ITV4 +1, ITVBe +1, Legend, PBS America, Quest +1, Quest Red, Really, Sky Mix, Sky News, Talking Pictures TV, That's 90s, That's TV 2, Together TV, TRUE CRIME, TRUE CRIME XTRA, U&Dave, U&Dave ja vu, U&Drama +1, U&W.
If you want to watch these channels, your aerial must point to one of the 80 Full service Freeview transmitters. For more information see the will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? page.
Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Otford transmitter?
BBC London 4.9m homes 18.4%
from London W1A 1AA, 32km northwest (312°)
to BBC London region - 55 masts.
ITV London News 4.9m homes 18.4%
from London WC1X 8XZ, 31km northwest (315°)
to ITV London region - 55 masts.
How will the Otford (Kent, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2012 | 2012-13 | 21 Mar 2018 | |||||
| C/D E | C/D E | C/D E | C/D E T | A K T | |||||
| C29 | BBCA | ||||||||
| C31 | D3+4 | ||||||||
| C37 | BBCB | ||||||||
| C53tv_off | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | BBCB | |||||
| C57tv_off | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | D3+4 | |||||
| C60tv_off | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | BBCA | |||||
| C63 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves |
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 4 Apr 12 and 18 Apr 12.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-4 | 31W | |
| BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7dB) 6.2W |
Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Crystal Palace transmitter area
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Saturday, 12 November 2011
C
Chris4:49 PM
Sevenoaks
Ref OTFORD TV transmitter digital switchover:
Q1: Why is the power output of this transmitter being reduced at digital switchover? I live on the A225 with a clear view of this transmitter and regardless of using a high gain external aerial, or portable internal aerial, receive a poor analog signal. I am worried about reception after digital switchover (My TVs are analog/digital - freeview so on in April I will find out if I have wasted my money)
Q2: Why will only three digital multiplexes be available when there are currently four analog channels? (As this will limit the number of freeview channels available)
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Chris's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Chris:
1. The power of most transmitters is being reduced in the same way (-7dB). This amounts to the same coverage on digital as analogue.
2. Each multiplex carries a number of channels. From Otford there will be three muxes: one for BBC channels, one for ITV/C4/E4/More4/C5 and one for HD channels.
The reason that Otford won't carry alot of the other channels such as Dave and Yesterday is explained here:
Will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice
As for your analogue picture being poor; it could be that your TV has tuned to the Crystal Palace signal which is predicted by the Digital UK website (even though your aerial points at Otford). (DN31NJ)
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Thursday, 28 June 2012
A
Andy, otford12:11 AM
Sevenoaks
I was watching Dave earlier tonight when I got signal interference, this got so bad I finally lost signal completely. I have retuned my tv and also performed a factory reset onit and still can't pick up the multiplex that dave etc is on,post code is TN14 5NJ. Any advice would get appreciated, I am using an aeriel on the roof with a booster in the loft
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Andy,'s: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Andy, otford: You've posted on the page for the Otford transmitter. If your aerial is directed at it, then it's a wonder you ever received Dave anyway because it doesn't broadcast it. In which case you need to look at getting an aerial on Crystal Palace.
If your aerial points to Crystal Palace, then I suggest that it could be the Inversion effect in play. By retuning you have shot yourself in the foot because you will now not know when the effect has lifted and you will need to keep retuning until it comes back. Had you left it then you would have simply been able to select Dave.
For Dave you need to manually tune to UHF channel 22, if your receiver allows.
Otford transmitter is north east from you on Otford Mount. Aerials are vertical.
Crystal Palace is west north west from you and aerials are horizontal.
See this picture for a photo of aerials polarised horizontally and vertically:
http://farm5.static.flick….gif
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Friday, 21 December 2012
P
Phil5:21 PM
Sevenoaks
I've read through the many comments and helpful info, but I'm still not clear. I've just moved to Otford, I have a transmitter nearby, I don't understand why I can't pick up all the digital only channels via Freeview. What do I have to do?
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Phil's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb386:11 PM
Phil: On checking your location in relation to the Otford transmitter you appear to reside at only half a mile away from it, and although the transmitter is only rated at 6 watts at that distance it will appear as far more powerful and might be killing reception by overloading the tuner in whatever you are using.
Maybe you could indicate what type of aerial you are using plus the model of your TV or box you are using, but if you are using a roof top aerial then unplug it and try a short length of wire (about 4 feet or so) connected into the aerial socket and then carry out an auto tune.
If though you have access to a set top aerial then use that instead of the wire, but the point of this test is to provide a weaker signal for the receiver, because if it works in a fashion then an attenuator in line with the main aerial is required.
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K
KMJ,Derby6:22 PM
Phil: To receive all the available muxes on Freeview you need to receive signals directly from Crystal Palace. Use a group "A" aerial ( or a log periodic at your location) set for horizontal polarisation for reception of Crystal Palace. The Otford relay transmitter is only intended to be used by viewers who are unable to receive Crystal Palace directly. It only carries the PSB muxes, as part of the requirement for BBC/ITV/C4 to serve all populations over, say, 500 homes. Smaller communities came to be included towards the end of the analogue relay building program, most of these sites were converted to carry the three PSB muxes at digital switchover. The COM muxes do not transmit from these smaller sites as there is no legal requirement to do so, and the mux owners declined an invitation to serve more sites as transmission costs would have increased out of proportion to the number of extra viewers served.
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J
jb388:06 PM
Phil: On re reading your posting I feel that I misinterpreted what you were meaning insomuch that I thought that you could not receive anything at all, whereas KMJ obviously sussed out that your query was in relation to the number of stations missing rather than my initial interpretation, so please ignore the content of my reply.
Thanks / JB.
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Thursday, 10 January 2013
P
Phil5:30 PM
Sevenoaks
Many thanks for your replies. Yes, sorry for not being clear, I have just the basic channels but no digital, so will ask for my aerial to be pointed to Crystal Palace.
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Phil's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Friday, 11 January 2019
S
Sandra Welham3:02 PM
HELP. Since yesterday, 10th Jan 2019, I have no BBC channels, tv or radio. There was un update yesterday for film 4 which I updated and then I was left with no bbc. I have done a factory reset 3 times now and still nothing. The same thing happened in March 2018 but the factory reset worked. What do I do now?
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