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 04/11/2024 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?

S

Steve
10:24 AM

Hi. I live in Sevenoaks, Kent and have always received good from - both before and after . My main TV is connected to a rooftop digital which is boosted and pointing at CP and I have another TV connected to an indoor aerial which is also boosted and pointing at CP. I'm currently getting excellent from both TV's. However, yesterday I received a message on my main TV telling me that I would have to retune on 9th May? - else I'd lose some . I only received this message on the TV connected to the rooftop aerial - not on the other TV connected to the indoor aerial. Interestingly, while retuning on the 18th April, my main TV showed some channels were apparently coming from ? Is there a transmitter in the Cambridge area which is about to be switched over during May? - and could I be receiving channels through my rooftop aerial to my main TV from two transmitters?

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Steve's 10 posts EU flag

T

Tim

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

11:28 AM
Radlett

Steve, your must be receiving signals from as there is a retune event in May, if you go to the Sandy Heath page on this site the details are list.

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Tim's 32 posts GB flag

Tim's: T's Freeview map T's terrain plot T's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage

S

Steve
11:53 AM

Thanks Tim. Question is - If I retune as message suggests will I then get local news etc? I would much rather stick with news from .

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Steve's 10 posts EU flag

K

Kevin Hodges

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

11:58 AM
Chelmsford

Steve, look on your menus for the manual tune option. is on 23,26,25,22,28 (plus HD is on ch30)
Good luck

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Kevin Hodges's 27 posts GB flag

Kevin's: K's Freeview map K's terrain plot K's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage

T

tim

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

12:21 PM
Radlett

I agree with Kevin do a manual tune otherwise you will get
/ Anglia news no use to you in Kent.

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tim's 32 posts GB flag

tim's: T's Freeview map T's terrain plot T's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage

Dave Lindsay

_{sentiment_very_satisfied}Platinum

12:32 PM

Steve: Your most likely Anglia would seem to be Rouncefall and (which operate on the same ). These are higher up that , so run the automatic tuning and unplug the when it gets to 30%. If it's that you're picking up, then its Public Service channels are 27, 24 and 21, so the unplugging aerial trick won't avoid these if they are able to be picked up with your aerial.

What I would say is that, presumably, Crystal Palace is the "main" transmitter and Sudbury or maybe Sandy Heath is/are in the 800s. If this is so, then what you've experienced suggests that the TV displays messages applicable to all transmitters to which it is tuned and not just the "main" one.

It "may" be that the message relating to the Sandy Heath retune is also broadcast by Sudbury and relays of the two. I wonder if this is the case as if it weren't, then there would need to be a way of "inserting" this message for Sandy Heath broadcasts and not Sudbury ones.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag

S

Steve
1:20 PM

Thank you all for your suggestions - Something else I might try is to turn down the on my rooftop - It occurs to me that I wasn't getting this problem before and the digital ouput was increased. The Triax amp gain is currently set on max (around 22 db I think) So perhaps I can reduce the sensitivity towards the other more distant transmitters and just home in on . Interesting problem though - I wonder if anyone else is experiencing this overlap?

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Steve's 10 posts EU flag

K

Kevin Hodges

_{sentiment_satisfied}Bronze

1:35 PM
Chelmsford

Steve, it may well be the case that there's now no need for an amp at all, bearing in mind that you also get a good from at indoor . The other thought I had is your aerial still aimed at CP?

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Kevin Hodges's 27 posts GB flag

Kevin's: K's Freeview map K's terrain plot K's frequency data K's Freeview Detailed Coverage

K

Katie
1:37 PM

Got a problem with my Bush. Was fine before the but now it just won't settle.

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Katie's 1 post GB flag

S

Steve
2:28 PM

Kevin. I did wonder if it might need a tweak - but since it's attached to the top of the chimney, I will only try it as a last resort if other suggestions fail to cure problem. I think the still "sees" CP as the prime because traditional (BBC1, 2, ITV1, CH4 & 5) are still all "", so perhaps a retune will only juggle the other channels? Can but try it in May! Thanks again.

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Steve's 10 posts EU flag

Page 117

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.

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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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