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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 04/11/2024 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
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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
Sunday, 8 January 2012
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:15 PM

Neil: Firstly, this is the nature of reception of digital signals. With analogue, the picture gets gradually worse (more grainy) as the signal gets weaker.

With digital the picture works, up until a particular point (known as the "cliff edge") when it doesn't work. There isn't much inbetween where it "sort of" works.

Of course, there is no saying that the signal won't return, as whatever has changed to put it just below the threshold could go in the opposite direction.

Before switchover, different multiplexes use different modes. 16QAM is more resiliant than 64QAM at the same transmission power. Ch22 which carries ITV1, C4 and others broadcasts in 64QAM mode. Whether this explains why it has gone and not the others, who knows.


I suggest that you check your connections, perhaps swapping leads to see if they make any difference. Rather than using digital TV to determine whether there is any improvement, I would use analogue (looking carefully to see if there is any improvement).

Waggle the cables about at each of their ends and look for immediate changes to the analogue picture. Any such symptoms suggest poor connection, either the plug not making a good contact or (some of) the conductors in the cable are broken.

The centre terminal of female coax sockets can be tightened, but obviously don't put too much stress on it.

Crushed coax should also be avoided as it can have an adverse effect on the signal it carries.

It is all about ensuring that everything within your power that can be done is done.


If you don't have much joy, another possibility is to try tuning to another transmitter that has switched over and is therefore on its post-switchover full power.

Looking at the map, Sudbury might be your best bet. It is in the opposite direction to Crystal Palace, so you might be able to receive it, depending on your aerial.

This is a bodge, and may, of course not be faultless due to the aerial not being pointing in the right direction. But it might be better than Crystal Palace.

It's a try it and see kind of thing.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:18 PM

Neil: A test code used in the reception predictor indicated that reception of the first four multiplexes (BBC - ITV - BBC HD - SDN) is far superior from Sudbury (@ 23 mls / 34 degrees) rather than Crystal Palace (@ 32mls / 225 degrees)

I therefore suggest you try a manual tune test on Sudbury's ITV mux Ch41 and see what transpires, as you might receive it on the rear of your aerial, albeit being 10 degrees out.

I will say that this type of test is always best carried out after have factory re-set your TV or box, as if you don't and just carry out the manual scan anything it does pick up from Sudbury (ITV1 etc) will be pushed up in the EPG 800 ranges.

If though the reception from Sudbury proves better than from Crystal Palace then you could also tune in the BBC from Sudbury, it being on Mux Ch44.

Further info supplied on the result of your test.

link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:31 PM

Neil: Just a small addition, when I mentioned about any channels picked up from Sudbury being pushed up into the EPG 800 ranges it doesn't actually matter, that is so long as you remember to check up there for a second ITV1.

The only other snag that might occur if a factory re-set is not done beforehand is that some TV (or boxes) do not have a massive programme memory as far as storing anything received is concerned, and if this type of test is carried out on a device with a lower storage capacity anything found can be lost on switching off the set at the end of the evening, other than that it doesn't matter.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Monday, 9 January 2012
T
tinytoes
2:54 AM
London

Hi all,

I wonder if anyone can help. I live near Finsbury Park, N4 and have just got a digital stream. The first time I scanned for channels it found 116. The next morning most of them had gone (including all the HD ones). I have rescanned/factory reset and sometimes get 45 or 65 and now in the early hours of the morning 116 again (with amazing quality). I have edited the channels to 50 and hope they all remain tomorrow. Any idea what could make the channels disappear and reappear. My aerial is not moving could it be interference from next door (I live in a terrace house).

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tinytoes's 2 posts GB flag
tinytoes's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
N
Neil
11:28 AM

Dave Lindsay/jb38 - thank you very much for your input. Will follow your advice as soon as I'm able and will report back findings here.

Thanks again, Neil

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Neil's 3 posts EU flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:26 PM

tinytoes: See here for some ideas:

Freeview reception has changed? | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice

I would put one of the analogue channels on (not Channel 5 though) and move the cables and connections about to see if there's any immediate change in the quality of the picture which might indicate a poor connection.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
T
tinytoes
11:40 PM
London

Thanks for the reply Dave

I have changed the aerial cable but have noticed the hdmi cables may be a problem 3 different cables seem to make the reception worse with my panasonic tv, at the moment I have unpluged my blu-ray and have had to tape one hdmi cable to the side of the tv running to the pvr (if it moves I get interference). At the moment the SD freeview channels are stable the HD are bad again but I'm not retuning. I have ordered a shielded hdmi

link to this comment
tinytoes's 2 posts GB flag
tinytoes's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

12:24 AM

tinytoes: Hopefully you have tracked down the source of the problem.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
A
Adrian
10:16 AM

I pick my signal from Crystal Palace. Yesterday my reception for most digital channels other than BBC were unobtainable. Today they are back, but a bit weak. Clearly something happened.

Perhaps some one from the technical team that support Crystal Palace would like to say what happened and why most of the non BBC channels are weak.

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Adrian's 1 post GB flag
R
Rose
11:06 AM
Sevenoaks

Adrian: I have exactly the same, since early this month (see my post 8th Jan). Many others are experiencing the same.

link to this comment
Rose's 2 posts GB flag
Rose's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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