menuMENU    UK Free TV logo Freeview

 

 

Click to see updates

Full Freeview on the Crystal Palace (Greater London, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps51.424,-0.076 or 51°25'26"N 0°4'32"Wsa_postcodeSE19 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 11/11/2024 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
_______

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.

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 H max
C23 (490.0MHz)324mDTG-200,000W
Channel icons
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)324mDTG-200,000W
Channel icons
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)324mDTG-200,000W
Channel icons
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

COM4
SDN
 H max
C25 (506.0MHz)314mDTG-8200,000W
Channel icons
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)321mDTG-8200,000W
Channel icons
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)321mDTG-8200,000W
Channel icons
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)324mDTG-1220,000W
Channel icons
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?

regional news image
BBC London 4.9m homes 18.4%
from London W1A 1AA, 12km north-northwest (335°)
to BBC London region - 55 masts.
regional news image
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 AthleticTransposerRedeveloped north stand Charlton Athletic Football Club130 homes
DeptfordTransposersouth-east London100 homes
GreenfordTransposer12 km N Heathrow Airport203 homes
HendonTransposerGraham Park estate50 homes
White CityTransposer9 km W central London80 homes

How will the Crystal Palace (Greater London, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1950s-80s1984-971997-981998-20122012-1321 Mar 2018
VHFA K TA K TA K TA K TW T
C1BBCtvwaves
C22ArqAArqA
C23ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesBBCABBCA
C25SDNSDN
C26BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1wavesD3+4D3+4
C28-ArqBArqB
C29LW
C30C4wavesC4wavesC4waves-BBCBBBCB
C33BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavescom7
C35com8
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 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

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Crystal Palace transmitter area

Sep 1955-Jul 1968Associated-Rediffusion†
Sep 1955-Jul 1968Associated TeleVision◊
Jul 1968-Dec 1992Thames†
Jul 1968-Feb 2004London Weekend Television♦
Jan 1993-Feb 2004Carlton†
Feb 2004-Dec 2014ITV plc♦
Feb 2004-Dec 2014ITV plc†
Feb 1983-Dec 1992TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014ITV 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.

Comments
Saturday, 7 July 2018
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:41 PM

Martin R:

There is a very well known and documented atmospheric phenomenon often referred to as 'tropospheric lift' though there are other names used as well. This gives rise to signals travelling far farther than is usual, sometimes extending the range to more than 200 miles! It is a perfectly natural occurrance so nobody can prevent it. It affects UHF signals rather more than VHF or short/medium/long wave signals.

The effect on UHF signals is often frequency selective, so it may only affect a single multiplex at a time, but it is highly variable and hence rather unpredictable. Plus the area affected will differ across the country, partly depending on local weather conditions.

It tends not to affect satellite transmissions as they use much higher frequencies, usually in the 10-12 GHz range, and they are very much more directional, hence the need to use a dish with an LNB aimed at the satellite.

Note that Freeview is terrestrial TV nowadays there are no other terrestrial (ground based) TV transmissions in the UK. All other TV services are either via satellite or internet.



link to this comment
MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Sunday, 8 July 2018
C
Colin R
1:20 AM

Martin R:

Further to MikeP's reply, trophospheric lifts are not usually linked to air temperature. They tend to mostly occur when there is a slow decline in atmospheric pressure following a prolonged period (a few days or more) of high pressure. This can happen at any time of the year, but the probability of prolonged high pressure in the UK is higher in the summer, so there tend to be more 'lifts' in the warmer summer months.

If you have been suffering reception problems in the hot weather then it may well be due to a troposperic lift that has caused co-channel interference from other transmitters some way away. Transmitter frequencies are mostly selected to ensure that re-use of the same channels is by transmitters that are located sufficiently far apart that their coverage areas don't overlap. However, lift conditions can temporarily cause your aerial to receive a signal from more than one transmitter on the same channel, causing interference or loss of reception. One exception to this is the use of channels 55 and 56 for the Com7 and Com8 Muxes nationwide as part of the so-called 700MHz band clearance transmitter changes, which has for some caused co-channel interference even without troposperic lift conditions.

So if you are experiencing reception problems in the hot weather that you haven't experienced before then that old adage 'do not adjust your set' is appropriate, because it will most likely go away within a day or two.

link to this comment
Colin R's 5 posts US flag
M
Martin R
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

1:23 PM

Thanks guys. I have had occasional breakup on HD channels, but more importantly I have lost the Red Button service on BBC stations except radio. However that maybe down to my YouView box.

link to this comment
Martin R's 83 posts GB flag
Monday, 9 July 2018
D
Dominic Redgewell
5:59 PM
Dunstable

I cannot get the London channels at all. The aerial is on the roof. I live in Toddington LU5 6ER.
I can get the tv channels on the Sandy Heath transmitter. I have retuned the TV to get the London channels back, but no joy. Any help will be gratefully received. Thank you.

link to this comment
Dominic Redgewell's 2 posts GB flag
Dominic's: mapD's Freeview map terrainD's terrain plot wavesD's frequency data D's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 10 July 2018
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

3:30 PM

Dominic Redgewell:

If you look at the predicted reception as shown on the Digital UK Coverage Checker, at Coverage Checker - Detailed View and on the blue box below your posting. It shows you should be getting pretty good reception from Sandy Heath but variable and even very poor reception from Crystal Palace.

If your aerial is aimed at Sandy Heath, it will not 'see' Crystal Palace at all well as it is in a completely different direction.

So your aerial will need to be adjusted to receive any decent signals from Crystal Palace, but even then reception of all bar the BBC A and D3&4 is expected to be acceptable but the reception of all other multiplexes multiplexes is expected to be poor and variable. So using Crystal Palace is not recommended.



link to this comment
MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Thursday, 12 July 2018
A
A Farlow
8:21 PM

London reception on all commercial channels is appalling. Picture breaks up or freezes. No recording possible, of course, and re-tuning makes no difference at all.

link to this comment
A Farlow's 12 posts GB flag
Friday, 13 July 2018
S
StevensOnln1
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:54 PM

A Farlow: Have you checked for any loose or damaged cables or connections behind your TV? Please provide a full postcode so that we can see where you are in relation to the transmitter and your predicted coverage etc.

link to this comment
StevensOnln1's 3,670 posts GB flag
Saturday, 14 July 2018
H
Hayley
7:27 PM

Hi. Lost almost all channels. 're tuned and reset. Makes it worse. All tvs are showing break up in picture etc. 3 days now.. Any help please.

link to this comment
Hayley's 1 post GB flag
Sunday, 15 July 2018
MikeP
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

4:00 PM

Hayley:

The worst thing to do was a retune! It will never bring back the channels under the conditions you describe. You will now need to do a manual tune using the actual channel numbers being used by the transmitter. To find those, put your post code into the Digital UK Coverage Checker at Digital UK - Coverage checker Then use the channel number listed to retune your TV set to each of the multiplexes.

There can be a number of reason for the loss of signals, the main one at present being the warm weather. That causes inteference by signals fro other transmitters travelling further than usual, which the TV can't cope with and you loose the channels. The other posibility is a bad connection in your aerial feed. So check all the connections you can safely reach, starting at the back of the TV and working as far up to the aerial as you can get.



link to this comment
MikeP's 3,056 posts GB flag
Monday, 16 July 2018
D
Dominic Redgewell
6:36 PM

Ok, thanks. We have had on screen announcements to retune tomorrow, due to alterations to signalling. I will have to find out if I get the London channels back.

link to this comment
Dominic Redgewell's 2 posts GB flag
Select more comments

Your comment please
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.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

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.

UK Free TV is here to help people. If you are rude or disrespectful all of your posts will be deleted and you will be banned.








Privacy policy: UK Free Privacy policy.