Full Freeview on the Crystal Palace (Greater London, England) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 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 15/04/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels 
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Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
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 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.
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 | BBCtvwaves | ||||||||
| C22 | ArqA | ArqA | |||||||
| C23 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | BBCA | BBCA | ||||
| C25 | SDN | SDN | |||||||
| C26 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||||
| C28 | -ArqB | ArqB | |||||||
| C29 | LW | ||||||||
| C30 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | -BBCB | BBCB | ||||
| C33 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | com7 | |||||
| C35 | com8 | ||||||||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | COM8tv_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 LondonWhich companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Crystal Palace transmitter area
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Saturday, 7 January 2012
AD: TV signals get bounced around, reflected and refracted when they hit and pass through objects, just like light. It could be that something has moved that was blocking the signal or perhaps that it is that something else has moved and is now reflecting signal. Really, it's difficult to say because you can't see it.
Crystal Palace is a main transmitter and therefore throws out a higher power signal than Reigate and Croydon. These are relay transmitters and are intended as filler-inners. They broadcast to smaller areas that Crystal Palace doesn't reach, perhaps because those areas can't "see" it due to the topography.
Retuning is necessary at switchover. The reason for jb38 saying that you shouldn't retune if you loose the signal is because it is not the tuning which is at fault. It is the fact that your receiver isn't getting the signal fed into it from the aerial.
HD channels are broadcast by Crystal Palace. It was one of only four transmitters in the country to carry HD before switchover. It is also the case that the HD signal from Crystal Palace is on lower power than the current standard definition services. Also, the frequency it uses is the same as is used by Reigate which means that the strength of its HD signal will be restricted in that direction, so as to try to prevent interference with people receiving from Reigate. As you are in the line between Crystal Palace and Reigate, my guess is that Crystal Palace isn't throwing out as much HD signal in your direction. Also, couple that with the fact that your aerial isn't at roof level and therefore doesn't have direct line of sight.
You could try to pick up HD services. To do so you will need to manually tune to Ch31.
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J
jb388:15 PM
AD: As Dave Linsay has explained everything it enables me to somewhat shorten my reply, insomuch that all I would like to add is that on checking DRG's trade view reception predictor using the info provided still indicates Crystal Palace as your main source of a signal, as although its located at 10 miles away with Reigate only being 5, Crystal Palace is on 20Kw compared to Reigate's 200w.
As far as HD is concerned, many have problems picking up HD from Crystal Palace as it temporarily transmits on even lower power than BBC1, namely 10Kw, plus it prone to occasional interference from Sandy's SDN mux as its on the same frequency.
Maybe though you could mention the model number of the TV you are using, this to enable its spec to be checked.
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Sunday, 8 January 2012
R
Rose11:11 AM
Sevenoaks
For the last few days I have lost all ITV channels on my Freeview (TV and DVD player both have receivers and both have lost them). Analogue is still fine, and also BBC channels. I have a roof aerial. I have tried retuning my DVD but to no good effect. Any ideas?
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Rose's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
N
Neil8:09 PM
Hello - we're in the Chelmsford CM1 area with an aerial pointing to Crystal Palace that is suitable for picking up freeview. All has been well until New Year when the signal from Channel 22 is no longer of sufficient quality for our freeview tuners to display correctly.
Nothing else has changed in our setup and I can confirm we could pick up a good enough signal to watch/record Channel 4 on 30/12/2011 - a few days later and digital signal on Channel 22 is not of sufficient quality to even display. Analogue signal is watchable but very poor.
Is this likely to remain our position until mid-April 2012 when digital signals are given more power?
After reading all other posts and advice on your site nothing seems to make sense to me aside from a change external to us i.e. weather issues or changes at Crystal Palace affecting channel 22.
We'd appreciate anyones help in advice to allow us the possibility of watching stations on channel 22.
Thank you for reading and any time spent/advice offered.
Neil
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A
Avril8:59 PM
Horsham
I live in a ground floor flat - the aerial is on the roof and has been upgraded in the last 6 months.
Can you tell me if the aerial was redirected to Midhurst would we get a better picture.
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Avril's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Neil: Firstly, this is the nature of reception of digital signals. With analogue, the picture gets gradually worse (more grainy) as the signal gets weaker.
With digital the picture works, up until a particular point (known as the "cliff edge") when it doesn't work. There isn't much inbetween where it "sort of" works.
Of course, there is no saying that the signal won't return, as whatever has changed to put it just below the threshold could go in the opposite direction.
Before switchover, different multiplexes use different modes. 16QAM is more resiliant than 64QAM at the same transmission power. Ch22 which carries ITV1, C4 and others broadcasts in 64QAM mode. Whether this explains why it has gone and not the others, who knows.
I suggest that you check your connections, perhaps swapping leads to see if they make any difference. Rather than using digital TV to determine whether there is any improvement, I would use analogue (looking carefully to see if there is any improvement).
Waggle the cables about at each of their ends and look for immediate changes to the analogue picture. Any such symptoms suggest poor connection, either the plug not making a good contact or (some of) the conductors in the cable are broken.
The centre terminal of female coax sockets can be tightened, but obviously don't put too much stress on it.
Crushed coax should also be avoided as it can have an adverse effect on the signal it carries.
It is all about ensuring that everything within your power that can be done is done.
If you don't have much joy, another possibility is to try tuning to another transmitter that has switched over and is therefore on its post-switchover full power.
Looking at the map, Sudbury might be your best bet. It is in the opposite direction to Crystal Palace, so you might be able to receive it, depending on your aerial.
This is a bodge, and may, of course not be faultless due to the aerial not being pointing in the right direction. But it might be better than Crystal Palace.
It's a try it and see kind of thing.
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J
jb389:18 PM
Neil: A test code used in the reception predictor indicated that reception of the first four multiplexes (BBC - ITV - BBC HD - SDN) is far superior from Sudbury (@ 23 mls / 34 degrees) rather than Crystal Palace (@ 32mls / 225 degrees)
I therefore suggest you try a manual tune test on Sudbury's ITV mux Ch41 and see what transpires, as you might receive it on the rear of your aerial, albeit being 10 degrees out.
I will say that this type of test is always best carried out after have factory re-set your TV or box, as if you don't and just carry out the manual scan anything it does pick up from Sudbury (ITV1 etc) will be pushed up in the EPG 800 ranges.
If though the reception from Sudbury proves better than from Crystal Palace then you could also tune in the BBC from Sudbury, it being on Mux Ch44.
Further info supplied on the result of your test.
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J
jb389:31 PM
Neil: Just a small addition, when I mentioned about any channels picked up from Sudbury being pushed up into the EPG 800 ranges it doesn't actually matter, that is so long as you remember to check up there for a second ITV1.
The only other snag that might occur if a factory re-set is not done beforehand is that some TV (or boxes) do not have a massive programme memory as far as storing anything received is concerned, and if this type of test is carried out on a device with a lower storage capacity anything found can be lost on switching off the set at the end of the evening, other than that it doesn't matter.
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Monday, 9 January 2012
T
tinytoes2:54 AM
London
Hi all,
I wonder if anyone can help. I live near Finsbury Park, N4 and have just got a digital stream. The first time I scanned for channels it found 116. The next morning most of them had gone (including all the HD ones). I have rescanned/factory reset and sometimes get 45 or 65 and now in the early hours of the morning 116 again (with amazing quality). I have edited the channels to 50 and hope they all remain tomorrow. Any idea what could make the channels disappear and reappear. My aerial is not moving could it be interference from next door (I live in a terrace house).
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tinytoes's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
CRYSTAL PALACE transmitter - Analogue BBC ONE Weak Signal from 16:00 on 04 Jan BBC TWO Weak Signal from 10:00 on 04 Jan [BBC]
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