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Full Freeview on the Craigkelly (Fife, Scotland) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps56.071,-3.234 or 56°4'17"N 3°14'1"Wsa_postcodeKY3 9HW

 

The symbol shows the location of the Craigkelly (Fife, Scotland) transmitter which serves 430,000 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 Craigkelly (Fife, Scotland) mast?

Craigkelly transmitter - Craigkelly transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 25/03/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels Digital tick


Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name
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Which Freeview channels does the Craigkelly 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.

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 H max
C27 (522.0MHz)311mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) Scotland, 2 BBC Two Scotland, 7 BBC Alba HD, 23 BBC Three, 24 BBC Four (Scotland SD), 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 13 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C24 (498.0MHz)311mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
3 STV (SD) (STV Central (Edinburgh micro region)), 4 Channel 4 (SD) Scotland ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 Scotland ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (STV Edinburgh), 35 STV+1 (STV Edinburgh),

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C21+ (474.2MHz)311mDTG-20,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD Scotland, 102 BBC Two HD Scotland, 103 ITV 1 HD (STV West), 103 STV HD (STV West), 104 Channel 4 HD Scotland ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 108 BBC Scotland HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others

COM4
SDN
 H -3dB
C29 (538.0MHz)311mDTG-810,000W
Channel icons
20 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 30 others

COM5
ArqA
 H -3dB
C31 (554.0MHz)311mDTG-810,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others

COM6
ArqB
 H -3dB
C37+ (602.2MHz)311mDTG-810,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! romance mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others

LEH
 H -6dB
C32 (562.0MHz)311mDTG-125,000W
Channel icons
from 30th June 2014: 8 STV Edinburgh,

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 Craigkelly transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Reporting Scotland 2.4m homes 9.2%
from Glasgow G51 1DA, 70km west-southwest (252°)
to BBC Scotland region - 230 masts.
regional news image
STV News 0.5m homes 1.7%
from Edinburgh EH3 9QG, 14km south (174°)
to STV Central (Edinburgh) region - 8 masts.

Are there any self-help relays?

DullaturTransposer20 km NE Glasgow40 homes
EdinburghTransposerSighthill area167 homes

How will the Craigkelly (Fife, Scotland) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20112011-133 Oct 2018
A K TK TK TK TW T
C21C4wavesC4wavesC4waves+BBCBBBCB
C24ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesD3+4D3+4
C27BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBCABBCA
C29SDN
C30LEH
C31BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesArqA
C32_local
C33com7
C34com8
C37ArqB
C39+ArqB
C42SDN
C45ArqA
C48C5wavesC5waves
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offCOM8tv_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 1 Jun 11 and 15 Jun 11.

How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?

Analogue 1-4 100kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 20kW
com7, com8(-9.7dB) 10.8kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 10kW
LEH(-13dB) 5kW
Analogue 5, Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*(-14dB) 4kW
Mux C*, Mux D*(-17dB) 2kW

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Craigkelly transmitter area

Aug 1957-Jun 1997Scottish Television
Jun 1997-Dec 2014STV plc
Feb 1983-Dec 1992TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014ITV Daybreak•
• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only. Craigkelly 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.

Comments
Saturday, 10 September 2016
R
Richard Cooper
sentiment_satisfiedGold

9:21 AM

JohnFleming: Hi, John. I'm pleased to inform you that there are no reported problems on the Craigkelly transmitter this morning. Check your barometer for high pressure and also check your aerial lead connections for tightness and good contacts, but be careful not to 'overtighten' them, because just like overwound clocks, overtightening coaxial plugs can do more harm than good. Richard, Norwich.

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Richard Cooper's 466 posts GB flag
Monday, 12 September 2016
J
JohnFleming
1:31 PM

Richard - many thanks, no, it was me, failure of a signal amplifier, failed from one instant to the next. Repair now in hand.

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JohnFleming's 2 posts GB flag
Sunday, 18 September 2016
N
Nick Wallace
9:52 AM
Burntisland

Hi. We are in Burntisland, Fife, postcode is KY3 9JF. I presume we would use Craigkelly transmitter. We seem to have two loft aerials but both seem to be facing in the wrong directions. Is there an app that can show the correct alignment. I bought new coaxial connectors from B&Q but they seem like poor quality with the co-axial cable itself being far thinner than I remember from days of old. Does anyone have any ideas, other than getting a guy in? Thanks.

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Nick Wallace's 1 post GB flag
Nick's: mapN's Freeview map terrainN's terrain plot wavesN's frequency data N's Freeview Detailed Coverage
R
Richard Cooper
sentiment_satisfiedGold

10:14 AM

Nick Wallace: Hi, Nick. You don't need an app, just ask on here and we'll give you the answer! The Craigkelly transmitter site is near enough North West from Spence avenue, Burntishead, so make sure that the loft aerial you wish to use is pointing more or less in that direction. When aligning a loft aerial, it's an idea to have one person in the loft gently rotating the aerial whilst another person is down in your tv room, watching the tv and calling up to the person in the loft stating things like,"better, worse, much better, perfect", etc., as the loft person rotates the aerial either side of North West. The aerial also needs to have its little rods (elements) going horizontally. One more thing: the downstairs viewer needs to try all of the different channels your family members would watch whilst calling to the person in the loft, because it's possible - indeed 'probable' that some channels will be received better wit the aerial on one alignment, whereas other channels will 'come in better' on a slightly different alignment, so you are after the 'best compromise across the whole range of channels you'd normally watch. Note that your local Edinburgh tv service is transmitted at a much lower power than other channels and the following are also at lower power: the Com 7 & Com 8 channels which carry the HD programmes not carried on the PSB3 HD group of channels - see UKFree.TV web page on Craigkelly. Hope all of this info helps. Richard, norwich.

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Richard Cooper's 466 posts GB flag
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:25 AM

Nick Wallace:

Further to that said by Richard Cooper, you could buy a small DVB-T finder unit. They are available from the likes of Amazon for just a few pounds, see Labgear 27866R DVB-T Signal Strength Finder Freeview HD: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics for an example. There are other makes available from a number of sellers.

The advantage being that you can do the alignment entirely from the vicinity of the aerial, followed by a 'sanity check' by testing on the TV all the channels you want to watch.



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MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:26 AM

Nick Wallace: If you click the Digital UK Trade link under your post it will provide the compass bearings of the Craigkelly and Black Hill transmitters which are both predicted as having good reception at your location.

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StevensOnln1's 3,605 posts GB flag
Friday, 20 January 2017
J
JamieT
5:34 PM

Hi, looking for help with choosing the right aerial. Managed to find out that Craigkelly is the best transmitter for me but the aerial groups are confusing me so I've no idea what to go for. I'd like to install the aerial in the loft, could someone point me in the right direction please?

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JamieT's 3 posts IE flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:29 PM

JamieT: We need to know how far you are from the transmitter (please provide a postcode) in order to advise on what type of aerial would be suitable. Log periodic type aerials are generally the best in areas with strong signal but we don't know if you'll get a strong signal or not.

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StevensOnln1's 3,605 posts GB flag
Saturday, 21 January 2017
J
Jamie T
9:48 AM

StevensOnln1: Hi, it's 25km (eh224fh)

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Jamie T's 3 posts GB flag
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:15 PM

Jamie T: A Log36 such as the one linked below would probably be fine. You might get away with a smaller one but I would stick with something bigger if you have space for it (it needs to be mounted so that it is not pointing through any metal objects like hot water tanks or neighbouring lofts etc).

Online FM DAB TV Aerial sales

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StevensOnln1's 3,605 posts GB flag
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