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 18/11/2024 Screen may go black 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, 2 November 2013
LouiseB: By resetting you are simply deleting what is stored and then carrying out a scan of what is available. As the channels ceased to be available to you before resetting then how can the act of resetting ever make them available?? The answer is that resetting will only result in loss of the channels from the receiver, or them coming back, in which case they would have come back anyway because the receiver will give you the best picture it can for the signal being fed into it.
I wonder why you aren't using Bluebell Hill, which would also give you BBC South East and ITV Merdian, rather than their London variants from Crystal Palace. The only thing I can think, other than maybe you prefer London news, is that the hospital is in the way.
I suggest that you don't have line-of-sight to Crystal Palace. I can't say with absolute certainty, but I think the brow over which you are receiving is somewhere around Shorne Wood Country Park. Anything on that brow that might change, such as trees, and anything that is in or near the line-of-sight that changes could affect your reception.
I then looked at the satellite image your area, as published by Google. To the north of the hospital, in the direction of Crystal Palace is a field which has outlines of roads. It looks as if there is a development which has appeared since the photograph was taken. If this is the case, and buildings have gone up this year then there must surely be suspicion that this is the cause for anyone experiencing degrading TV reception from Crystal Palace to the area's east.
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LouiseB4:26 PM
Dave: Thanks for the reply. I had only been having intermittent problems with ArqA and ArqB for the last few months, which could be explained by the development (which is a new/rebuilt school that was finished in August). The last few weeks had been ridiculous though - ArqA and ArqB got much worse at times, to the point that a booster made no difference. And then since the storm on 28th October all channels on ArqA, ArqB and BBCA went completely blank and reported weak or no signal. I decided to retune to see if it would help (bit of an old analogue mentality, I know). I was surprised to find that the transmitter didn't have storm damage as that's the only explanation I could think of.
I have also posted on the Bluebell Hill transmitter as I turned my loft aerial the other day to see if it was any better from there (last time I tried was before the area switched over), but that is proving just as problematic with little or no signal on ArqA, no signal what so ever from ArqB and since this afternoon (weather has got windy) serious break up on BBCA & SDN, incidentally channels received via D3+4 are all fine.
Just for reference; in the analogue era we used to get too much interfence from the hospital to receive much from Bluebell Hill, I grew up watching Thames and LWT (same house) because of it.
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MikeB4:32 PM
LouiseB: Reading through your posts, something suddenly occurs. Have yo actually checked the quality of your connection to the aerial?
You've suddenly lost all channels (no matter which transmitter), so that might signify a break or waterlogging in the cable. The decreasing amount of signal quality could also be down to the same problem - a gradually degrading coax, etc, until the storm finally killed it.
A frayed coax, corroded box or aerial can all cause such problems.
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LouiseB4:56 PM
MikeB: I don't see how a loft aerials cables etc could have corroded because of the storm when they are all internal. I might look into replacing the cabling though as some of it must be 30 years old - as is the aerial. When having a quick look at it all when I turned the aerial to Bluebell Hill, all the cable seemed fine, with no lose connections. None of the cabling is recessed into walls etc. which makes it easy to check. Still doesn't quite connect (in my brain at least) as to why it got worse after the storm.
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Chris5:18 PM
Hi, I have a similar problem as mentioned by LouiseB, very weak signals over the last few weeks, and literally can't even find any channel today.
I am using a sony tv, and previous posts suggests to reset it to France, this didn't help.
I live in a new built with tv and sat sockets on the wall. I have tried tuning with both sockets but no luck. I live near Paddington. Post code is W2 1AJ. Would love to hear if anyone has got a similar problem.
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MikeB7:39 PM
LouiseB: A loft aerial shouldn't get water into the cabling, nor should it be damaged by a storm, yet that would seem to be the case. However, it might be a matter of coincidence, with the near final loss of signal coming at the same time as the storm.
The way in which your signal has degraded (and your only 7km from Blubell Hill, so you should have too much signal, if anything) points to a cause other than the transmitter, which is generally fine. Even though R & T Investigations reports weak signal from Bluebell Hill today, its only for less than two hours, and of course that signal is almost certainly stronger than the pre-switchover signal.
Your setup is thirty years old, and although one of the pros here can give us the kind of timescale that coax does last, a frayed cable, gradually falling, might result in exactly the loss of signal that you've experienced.
As a test, see if you can find an old portable aerial. They are normally rubbish, but your so close to the transmitter, that might be fine. Point it roughly due south, and see what happens. If you get a decent signal, then you know that its something to do with the wiring or aerial.
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MikeB8:01 PM
Chris: Firstly, only Sony PVR's were hit by the EPG problem (I know, I own one!), but your TV has no need to be reset to France. Also ignore the sat. (F fitting) socket - its only for Freesat/Sky, and completely incompatable with your Sony. A modern Sony (unless its a W5810) only has Freview, and so you looing for the classic push-in aerial socket.
Your only 11.5km from Crystal Palace (which is on a bearing of 146 degrees) and just 3km from Kensal Town (278 dgrees). Sony's have a nice sensitive tuner, but also pretty solid. In other words, you should have no problem getting a decent signal.
Looking at Google maps, your in a nice tall new building as well, which makes me wonder about something. Check whether the lead from your socket up to the aerial (probably via some sort of distribution system) is connected properly! Its a new build, and not everything gets spotted in the snagging....
OK - the other way to check (and to at least get you some sort of signal) - get a cheap portable aerial (again, normally rubbish, but your close to transmitter, up high, etc). It might be all that you need. If it works fine, then go and shout to whoever you need to shout to, to get things fixed! If nothing else, you could always get a cheap Freesat tuner (just £49.95 for a Manhattan) and use that with the sta. socket, but there is no reason why that should work either!
Let us know how you get on.
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jb389:05 PM
LouiseB: I would second MikeB's suggestion with regards to trying a test using a set top aerial for the purpose of finding out exactly what is received, because unless you reside in some horrendously screened location its nearly impossible "not" to receive a signal of sorts from a 20Kw transmitter at a distance of only 4 miles away.
The other point I wondered about being, have you as yet made any enquiries with a neighbour or anyone else nearby to find out if they are being similarly affected? because much as many are loath about having to do this, and I fully appreciate that in many cases with good reason! but it can sometimes save on the inconvenience of needlessly carrying out a series checks in situations where a reception problem, and the possible cause of, is actually widespread in the area thereby being outwith a viewers control.
I am not saying that it definitely applies in your situation, but in cases where a preliminary investigation has not turned up anything obvious then its always the best policy to verify if the problem is confined to your own installation, or possibly not as the case may be!
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Chris9:57 PM
London
MikeB: Many thanks for the help. My TV is actually quite new, just under 3 years, so I would imagine (hope) its not the problem with my TV as well.
But one thing I want to point out is that I have been using the SAT socket for the last 2 yrs, with a coax to fibre optic cable. I had all the channels including HD. Don't ask me why I used that, I really have no idea.
With the recent problems, I bought a coax cable to plug into the TV socket, it did have slightly better SD signal for the last few days, no signal for HD though. But today the signals completely gone.
Its possibly some problem with the aerial or the lead from the aerial to socket, which I think I should call the building manager. I think this would be the cost-free option for me, so let me give it a try first.
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Chris's: mapC's Freeview map terrainC's terrain plot wavesC's frequency data C's Freeview Detailed Coverage
NICK ADSL UK
10:36 PM
10:36 PM
JB i always go round my estate to make sure everyone's broadband is up to par
overall most of the 200 residents think i do well in keeping them up to date in a field of technical knowledge they don't know very well' but that's the risk i take to be a leader' as i cant stand by when people just sit in silence and suffer
for me I go out and fix it for free and lead
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