Full Freeview on the Craigkelly (Fife, Scotland) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 56.071,-3.234 or 56°4'17"N 3°14'1"W |  | KY3 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 25/11/2024 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 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.
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?
BBC Reporting Scotland 2.4m homes 9.2%
from Glasgow G51 1DA, 70km west-southwest (252°)
to BBC Scotland region - 230 masts.
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?
| Dullatur | Transposer | 20 km NE Glasgow | 40 homes |
| Edinburgh | Transposer | Sighthill area | 167 homes |
How will the Craigkelly (Fife, Scotland) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2011 | 2011-13 | 3 Oct 2018 | |||||
| A K T | K T | K T | K T | W T | |||||
| C21 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | +BBCB | BBCB | ||||
| C24 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||||
| C27 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | BBCA | ||||
| C29 | SDN | ||||||||
| C30 | LEH | ||||||||
| C31 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | ArqA | |||||
| C32 | _local | ||||||||
| C33 | com7 | ||||||||
| C34 | com8 | ||||||||
| C37 | ArqB | ||||||||
| C39 | +ArqB | ||||||||
| C42 | SDN | ||||||||
| C45 | ArqA | ||||||||
| C48 | C5waves | C5waves | |||||||
| 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 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
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Tuesday, 1 November 2022
A
Alan Goodall6:44 PM
Can it be confirmed that Craigkelly is now entirely a GroupA transmitter? I get sketchy reception on many channels from Craigkelly and am thinking about swapping to a Group A aerial from a Group K on the belief that it will boost Group A reception. But won't do this if it means dropping some channels.
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S
StevensOnln111:35 PM
Alan Goodall: A group A aerial would potentially loose reception of COM6 on UHF channel 37. If you provide a full postcode we can take a look at your predicted reception and may be able to offer advice.
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Wednesday, 2 November 2022
C
Chris.SE12:08 AM
Alan Goodall:
As StevensOnln1 has pointed out, COM6 is on UHF channel 37
Unfortunately the channel listing at the top of the page has an error as well as the "change over time" section not being updated as the site owner has not had time to do all he changes since the 700MHz Clearance and COM7 closure.
See Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview for which channels are carried on which multiplex.
In the multiplex order BBCA/PSB1, D3&4/PSB2, BBCB HD/PSB3, SDN/COM4, ArqA/COM5, ArqB/COM6, Local
The UHF channels for Craigkelly are C27, C24, C21, C29, C31, C37 & C32.
It would be helpful if you stated which channels you were having "sketchy reception" on, as well as providing that full postcode.
A decent Group K aerial shouldn't really give you problems, do you know what make and model it is?
How old is the aerial and coax?
Do you have any Amp/splitters to supply more than one TV/Box?
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Friday, 4 November 2022
A
Alan Goodall3:11 PM
Kinross
StevensOnln1:
I am north of Craig Kelly at KY13 0LG. Local transmitter is Kinross but does not carry as many channels.
Thanks.
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Alan's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
S
StevensOnln15:22 PM
Alan Goodall: Craigkelley is only 17km away and you are predicted to get good reception of all 6 PSB & COM multiplexes. You are also predicted to get good reception from Angus, 51km away. The Kinross relay isn't predicted to be receivable at all. How old is the installation? The cables and connections may have degraded somewhere, particularly if they are exposed to the weather.
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C
Chris.SE11:42 PM
Alan Goodall:
Whilst you may get some signal for the Local multiplex from Craigkelly in your location, it's predicted to be poor as the transmission is beamed southwards towards Edinburgh. Your aerial should be pointing at a compass bearing of 130 degrees (almost SE) for Craigkelly with its rods (or squashed Xs) horizontal.
It could also be helpful for StevensOnln1, myself or others to give helpful advice if you posted the additional information I mentioned in my previous reply.
Quote
"It would be helpful if you stated which channels you were having "sketchy reception" on, as well as providing that full postcode.
A decent Group K aerial shouldn't really give you problems, do you know what make and model it is?
How old is the aerial and coax?
Do you have any Amp/splitters to supply more than one TV/Box?"
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Saturday, 5 November 2022
StevensOnln1:
We have a relatively new aerial, installed by one of the nationwide installers. It is a cheap, bottom of the range one. Single central pole with about a dozen elements, and no wingflap things on the end. It was installed about 2 years ago. It is installed on the chinmey stack on top of a two floor house.
The line of sight to Craigkelly is complicated by landscape, big hills between us and the transmitter, but we maybe just "sneak" round the edge of the hill. That said, I cant see the transmitter from ground level outside our house. We are on a farm and get pixelation occurring when a large tractor passes outside (at 90 degrees to, and about 10 feet below the line of the aerial).
The signal passes through an amplifier in the roof then feeds two rooms. The Sony TVs present the picture well enough on all channels, but we route through a Humax Aura DVR which cannot reliably present a watchable signal on Dave, Quest, itv3 and others
There is nothing wrong with the hdmi cabling, it is just that the Humax seems to have a less efficient/less powerful signal utilisation. The aerial connects to the humax box, then from there to the TV. There is also an hdmi link from Humax to the TV.
The Humax shows both poor signal strength and quality on the affected channels, which is why I ponder getting a higher gain aerial.
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Sunday, 2 July 2023
P
Peter Cannon9:48 AM
We moved in to our house in Harper Walk, Edgelaw (EH17 8BX) in June of last year and could receive no freeview reception from our aerial in the loft so I returned it. An engineer told us that this was because we received no reception given the position of the house and would need a twenty foot high mast. Has this situation changed? If it has and I know I will get reasonable reception I will buy another aerial. The coverage checker is telling me that I should get good reception but this wasn't the case last year.
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C
Chris.SE2:41 PM
Peter Cannon:
The situation has not changed (per se), whilst the reception predictor is only a guide, it is not normally that inaccurate. But no predictions can take account of very local obstructions etc. which may cause a problem, other than that, as you say, you are predicted to get a good (& generally reliable) signal.
The Craigkelly transmitter was listed for Planned Engineering during the last part of May and a couple of weeks into June last year, so this may have had an effect on reception depending on the work being done.
An aerial should be pointing at compass bearing 342 degrees (that's approx. NNW) with its rods (or squashed Xs) horizontal. Your are only 20km from the transmitter.
Having a look on street view, I don't see a single property that has an external TV aerial, never mind on a 20ft mast !! I did spot some that had a satellite dish.
What reception do your immediate neighbours get? Do they have loft aerials?
There are potential problems you have with loft aerials, I spotted that all properties seem to have solar panels. An aerial must have the clearest line-of-sight in the direction of the transmitter.
Any aerial pointing through a solar panel will likely get no reception. Likewise with thick solid walls signals can be severely reduced, any metal roof flashing may affect signals if nearby or on the line of sight, also water tanks etc. If you can otherwise get a clear line-of-sight, standard roof tiles will reduce the signal a bit but shouldn't be a major issue.
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C
Chris.SE3:11 PM
Peter Cannon:
Just a further thought, having eventually managed to look at some other factors from an adjacent postcode (trouble with newish builds all postcode data isn't always available).
You should use a Group A aerial NOT any Wideband/Group T and preferably not a Group K which goes upto C48
Group A covers UHF channels 21-37. (No UK TV transmitter now uses any channels above C48). Craigkelly's highest channel is C37.
There are several Mobile phone transmitters roughly on the line-of-sight around just over 1km away. If any of these are now using the 700MHz band, they could give interference to your TV signals if your aerial can pick up the 700MHz band (ie. above C48).
A Group A aerial will significantly reduce such signals but if they happened to be still strong enough to give a problem you can get a Free filter from https://restoretv.uk to add to your system.
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