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 27/11/2023 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 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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Friday, 21 June 2013
John V Osborne: Judging by the fact that there are houses with aerials pointing at either transmitter, and in some cases an aerial on each, and looking at the size of those aerials I suggest that perhaps reception from each is about the same.
You don't have line-of-sight to either because you live in a dip. This is probably the reason for higher gain aerials, as at 30 miles from Crystal Palace you aren't that far away, considering its power.
You may find that reception from Crystal Palace varies over time because your aerial is facing the wrong way.
If you are able to pick up the PSB channels from Sandy Heath well with your Group A aerial then perhaps you would be able to pick up the COMs with a suitable aerial.
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J
jb386:27 PM
John V Osborne: Just in addition to that said by Dave Lindsay, insomuch that as you are located in an almost perfect position for reception of these two stations via both ends of the aerial (only 2 degrees out), then provided that Crystal Palace is "not" being received via its signal being bounced back onto the front of the Sandy facing aerial from some distant object between Sandy and you I would say that its probably worth while swinging your aerial around 180 degrees.
My reason for saying this being, that when a signal is being received on the rear of an aerial the reflector is partially blocking the signal from reaching the active element, and of course with this being coupled to the fact that the aerial is performing almost exactly as would a rabbit ears set top aerial if positioned in the same spot by the fact that there aren't any directors to focus the signal onto the active element.
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Sunday, 14 July 2013
R
Rob3:45 PM
Hi there just want abit of advice... I have very old wideband aerial which ia 20 years old... I want to know will i be better off with a proper group A for Crystal Palace transmitter... I am in RG8 8DB (51.4816,-1.0490)
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jb384:19 PM
Rob: Yes, up to a point anyway although for future proofing a "K" group aerial is preferable, the reason being that should COM8 transpire it will be using Ch35 and although a group "A" aerial's upper limit is Ch37, which obviously covers Ch35, in reality its generally found that most of these dedicated group aerials has a tapering off in efficiency starting a few channels before the extent of their published coverage range.
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jb385:04 PM
Rob: Having had further thoughts on your situation and triggered by the fact that you are located at approximately 42 miles away from the transmitter, I think it best NOT to make any allowances for the proposed COM7/8 on Ch's 33 & 35 and stick by the maximum efficiency of using a group "A" aerial.
I say this based on the fact that you might not be able to receive these COM's anyway when taking your location into account as well as the coverage range expected from whats expected to be relatively low powered transmitters used for the purpose of operating as a single frequency network along with Reigate and Guildford.
Just a little point concerning the aerial presently used, I realise that you stated it being a wideband type wideband but are you positive about that? if you have a pair of binoculars kicking around have a look up the very front of the aerial and note if you see a red plastic plug on the end of the horizontal cross boom that holds the elements, if you do then its already a group "A" aerial.
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Rob: I bow to jb38's judgement here as he is the professional and I'm not, but the Group A gain curves published by ATV suggest that C37 may have a higher gain than C21:
Gain (curves), Again
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Monday, 15 July 2013
R
Rob9:21 PM
Reading
thanks to Jb38.. Yes the old aerial has black ends i have seen red ends in the neighbour hood... i saw a few triax 52's and blake high gain aerials with red ends for Crystal palace. seems to be alot black ends pointing for oxford and hannington. I only asked as widebands are pretty poor at the lower end gains... so thats why i asked about getting group A. many thanks guys.. just got to decide triax or blake? which one eh? thank you
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Rob's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 16 July 2013
J
jb389:19 AM
Rob: Well as far as replacement aerials are concerned, I would suggest that either a Blake DMX10A or alternatively a Triax Unix 52 group "A" aerial should prove as being satisfactory for your requirements.
That said, I have to admit that I am always slightly hesitant about recommending high gain aerials for use in reasonably distant non line-of-sight situations (such as applies in your case) for the simple reason that these type of aerials are "only" high gain when precisely aligned on the signal source, this being something which cannot really be guaranteed to last in non line-of-sight situations and where the signal being received from Crystal Palace is only being done so through diffraction (signal bending), this being due to the signal path from CP being affected from approx 20 miles prior to your location and completely obstructed from 5 miles, as seen illustrated on the undermentioned link.
In any non line-of-sight situation and especially so at longer distances, the angle that the signal is being received at can change slightly over the year through a variety of reasons including the atmospheric conditions prevailing at the time, but also to a greater extent through changes to the surface of the terrain, e.g: wet /dry, vegetation, man made structures etc, all of having an effect on the reflective properties of the ground.
When taking my previous statement into account with regards to high gain aerials, anything that causes a slight change in the signal angle reaching the aerials directors, the sole purpose of being to focus the signal onto the aerials "active" element, can result in these hitherto focussing elements partially restricting the signal, this being why that if an aerial that was installed early on the year is alignment checked late autumn its frequently found to require slight trimming.
Needless to say that this sort of thing is generally responsible for people with high gain aerials suffering from higher levels of picture glitching under adverse conditions over those who use lower gain aerials in conjunction with a booster, lower gain aerials having a wider acceptance angle thereby not being quite so critical where angle is concerned.
Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location
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Rob1:27 PM
Reading
Hi Jb38 My area is very difficult area for tv reception as i live down the valley very close to river thames and behind my house there is a rail way line viaduct. I will go for Blake DMX10A... my old aerial is pretty rusted away thats why i want to change it.
Now a tip. if you suddenly get noisy pix elation picture... check your loft booster mine went today was red hot...... took it out put new one in got really good reception from Oxford.... Jb38... can i combine the two aerials together so i can get bbc south and london?
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Rob's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Wednesday, 17 July 2013
J
jb388:26 AM
Rob: With regards to boosters fitted in lofts, the transformers used in these devices are fitted with a thermal fuse (non resetting type) strapped to the windings just under the protective covering, and any time these devices fail its nearly because this fuse has tripped through excessive heat.
On the subject of combining aerials, yes you can combine any station provided that its mux channels are all within the same group, but are you sure that you are picking up Oxford? as this is not indicated as being possible to receive at your location, Hannington is though and it transmits BBC South, you should carry out a signal check on the BBC channel in question and note the mux channel being indicated, Oxford is Ch53 (ITV Ch60) and with Hannington's BBC being on Ch45 (ITV Ch42).
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