Full Freeview on the Crystal Palace (Greater London, England) transmitter

Brian Butterworth first published this on 1st May 2004 at 08:20 - UK Free TV

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51.424,-0.076 or 51°25'26"N 0°4'32"W

SE19 1UE

The symbol shows the location of the Crystal Palace (Greater London, England) transmitter which serves 4,490,000 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.

Are there any planned engineering works or unexpected transmitter faults on the Crystal Palace (Greater London, England) mast?

Crystal Palace transmitter - Crystal Palace transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 11/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels

Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name

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Which Freeview channels does the Crystal Palace 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	H max	C23 (490.0MHz)	324m	DTG-	200,000W
	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	H max	C26 (514.0MHz)	324m	DTG-	200,000W
	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	H max	C30- (545.8MHz)	324m	DTG-	200,000W
	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 66 TBN UK,
COM4 SDN	H max	C25 (506.0MHz)	314m	DTG-8	200,000W
	20 U&Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 U&Dave ja vu, 58 ITV3 +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 91 WildEarth, 93 ITVBe +1, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 251 Al Jazeera English, 255 FRANCE 24 (in English), 265 Rok Sky +1, plus 29 others
COM5 ArqA	H max	C22 (482.0MHz)	321m	DTG-8	200,000W
	11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 U&Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 U&Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 &UYesterday +1, 76 That's TV 2 MCR, 233 Sky News, plus 13 others
COM6 ArqB	H max	C28- (529.8MHz)	321m	DTG-8	200,000W
	12 Quest, 25 U&W, 27 U&Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 63 GREAT! romance mix, 73 HobbyMaker, 75 That's 90s, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others
LW	H -10dB	C35 (586.0MHz)	324m	DTG-12	20,000W
	from 31st March 2014: 8 LONDON LIVE,

DTG-8 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 Crystal Palace transmitter?

BBC London 4.9m homes 18.4%
from London W1A 1AA, 12km north-northwest (335°)
to BBC London region - 55 masts.

ITV London News 4.9m homes 18.4%
from London WC1X 8XZ, 11km north-northwest (345°)
to ITV London region - 55 masts.

Are there any self-help relays?

Charlton Athletic	Transposer	Redeveloped north stand Charlton Athletic Football Club	130 homes
Deptford	Transposer	south-east London	100 homes
Greenford	Transposer	12 km N Heathrow Airport	203 homes
Hendon	Transposer	Graham Park estate	50 homes
White City	Transposer	9 km W central London	80 homes

How will the Crystal Palace (Greater London, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

	1950s-80s	1984-97	1997-98	1998-2012	2012-13	21 Mar 2018
	VHF	A K T	A K T	A K T	A K T	W T
C1	BBCtv_waves
C22					ArqA	ArqA
C23		ITV_waves	ITV_waves	ITV_waves	BBCA	BBCA
C25					SDN	SDN
C26		BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	BBC1_waves	D3+4	D3+4
C28					-ArqB	ArqB
C29						LW
C30		C4_waves	C4_waves	C4_waves	-BBCB	BBCB
C33		BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves	BBC2_waves		com7
C35						com8
C55_{tv_off}						com7_{tv_off}
C56_{tv_off}						COM8_{tv_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 4 Apr 12 and 18 Apr 12.

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	(-13.7dB) 43.1kW
com8	(-14dB) 39.8kW
Mux 1, Mux 2, Mux A, Mux B, Mux C, Mux D, LW	(-17dB) 20kW

Local transmitter maps

Crystal Palace Freeview Crystal Palace DAB Crystal Palace AM/FM Crystal Palace TV region BBC London London

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Crystal Palace transmitter area

Sep 1955-Jul 1968	Associated-Rediffusion†
Sep 1955-Jul 1968	Associated TeleVision◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1992	Thames†
Jul 1968-Feb 2004	London Weekend Television♦
Jan 1993-Feb 2004	Carlton†
Feb 2004-Dec 2014	ITV plc♦
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. Crystal Palace 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.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

M

mike
9:56 AM
Brentwood

Brentwood (CM13)
Can't get HD
aligned with tried manually tuning our Samsung UE40D5000
Crystal palace - HD on - - (545.8MHz)
- HD on - (682.0MHz)
- HD on - (626.0MHz)
and still can't pick up HD everything but
Maps suggest we are in a black hole for except perhaps Bluebell hill. Any suggestions eg realign aerial to Bluebell Hill and retune - but that means getting on the ! Don't want ! anything else we can do eg getting a better signal ?

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mike's 2 posts GB flag

mike's: M's Freeview map M's terrain plot M's frequency data M's Freeview Detailed Coverage

K

KMJ,Derby

_{sentiment_satisfied}Gold

10:32 AM

mike: The Samsung UE40D5000 is fitted with a DVB-T ( definition) tuner. To receive the you will need a Freeview HD box incorporating a DVB-T2 tuner.

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KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag

M

mike
6:46 AM

Thanks KMJ - seems some descriptions do say it has an HD Tuner but others says it lacks an HD tuner. I guess that explains it.

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mike's 2 posts GB flag

A

Andrew
3:22 PM
Ashford

Is the CP currently undergoing servicing or something. The in TW15 is terrible for a transmitter. And, before you suggest it, I have had good to fair , before. Do I need an attenuator for a too high signal strength or is the signal just lousy ?

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Andrew's 12 posts GB flag

Andrew's: A's Freeview map A's terrain plot A's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage

BillNick
11:23 AM
Chislehurst

Hi,
I have fitted a brand new 48 element High into my . I am pointing to from BR7 6PT. All other aerials are pointing in same direction.

I have a 2-way f-plug splitter just after the aerial serving 2 rooms in my flat using new grade .

One TV will only tune into the BBC (new Sony) and the other TV (Samsung) will rarely tune to any channels, but occasionally picks up the ITV group. Never gets BBC though.

Someone said to me that my may be too strong being so close to Crystal Palace and of course a high gain aerial would not.

Anyone offer me any trouble shooting please apart from the usual checks of connections etc.

Thanks
Bill

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BillNick's 5 posts GB flag

BillNick's: B's Freeview map B's terrain plot B's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Dave Lindsay

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

1:44 PM

BillNick: On the face of it, unless the area is known for issues such as because there is a building in the way, then too high a signal level does appear to be a likely possibility. Generally speaking, aerials used for former should be fine.

See:

Freeview signals: too much of a good thing is bad for you | ukfree.tv - 10 years of independent, free digital TV advice

If the high- is a one, then it won't be so "high" gain on the used by Crystal Palace. This is because the gain of an aerial varies across the range of frequencies/channels and for yagi types (which it is likely to be) the gain is always lower on lower channels.

See:

Crystal Palace Transmitter

Crystal Palace Transmitter #WrongAerialForCrystalPalace

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag

BillNick
8:03 PM

Thanks Dave.
I have looked into the levels using the manual tune function on my telly.
CH22 and CH23 are coming through over 75 level and 100 .
CH25 wont tune
CH26 is at 60 level and zero quality
CH28 is under 10 level and around 20 quality.

Any suggestions having seen these results? I am using a sideband high pointing to . (51.4529,0.0972)

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BillNick's 5 posts GB flag

K

KMJ,Derby

_{sentiment_satisfied}Gold

9:01 PM

BillNick: The problem could be the position of the is one where the is messy, that is subject to multiple reflections which the is unable to decode. Try moving the aerial a short distance to either side if space permits. Also try pointing it the wrong way, so the signal is received from behind the aerial and observe the signal strength/ for each mux.

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KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag

Dave Lindsay

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

10:29 PM

BillNick: You could try the suggestion by KMJ,. Or it could be too high strength, in which case you need an attenuator.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag

BillNick
10:22 AM
Chislehurst

Thanks guys. I think I may have 'messy' . I woke up this morning and BBC, which was up to 100% signal last night, was only at 40% level and under 10% this morning!

Is the only thing I can do here, move the ? Would it to swap out the aerial I got to a dedicated A group aerial?

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BillNick's 5 posts EU flag

BillNick's: B's Freeview map B's terrain plot B's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Page 142

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