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 30/09/2024 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 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, 2 March 2012
D
David3:14 PM
Just as a follow-up to my previous post, it is also worth mentioning that the current state of denial has resulted in a number of people buying new set top boxes because they think something is wrong with their equipment. This needless expense and aggravation is due entirely to the lack of information and accountability being shown in the switch-over process.
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T
Tim4:47 PM
Radlett
here's a story that's about the Digital switchover help scheme.
My Aunt who is 86 lives in the SE9 area of London a very strong signal area and who has been using Freeview for a number of years using an internal aerial which 99.9% of the time works fine. She has a PVR connected to her TV enabling her to record one channel whilst viewing another, After I told her about the £40 help scheme she applied and an aerial contracted was sent out to check the system and give her a STB for her 2nd set in her bedroom.
As I live some 40 miles from her I was unable to be there when he called, I spoke to her on the phone that evening to ask how it went she told me that the man was there for 20 mins had check the installation and connected the free STB to the TV. This is when alarm bells started to ring!
I saw a copy of the check list tick sheet he had completed, this is what it show. Aerial face plate fitted, YES, Benchmark cables use, YES, Aerial checked, YES. The answer to all these questions is NO in her installation. What the man had done was remove her PVR leave a basic Freeview box under the TV and charge £40 for a box that I could have got from Tesco for £20. I made a complaint to the scheme and another appointment was made that I could attend, the whole idea was to get her an basic outside aerial which the scheme provides not for some aerial guy to make a quick £40 doing little or nothing!
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Tim's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
G
Graham5:59 PM
Camberley
David, as I have said before, it seems there is a common thread to a number of recent posts regarding loss of signal level from Crystal Palace? I now have only Muxes 1, B, and C, with zero signal levels on the others, having enjoyed 104 channels on Freeview before. Nothing has changed at my end, so it must be either the Tx or the transmission path. I have suggested as others have that the engineering works are affecting the output, but as you have seen before - the answer is apparently interference. I can only agree with you that denying something is being affected at the transmitter is not helpful. Ironically I now have to use the analogue rx to get an ITV/Ch4/5 signal. Progress!
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Graham's: mapG's Freeview map terrainG's terrain plot wavesG's frequency data G's Freeview Detailed Coverage
D
David10:56 PM
Graham,
Thanks very much for your comments. I know exactly what you mean. If people were given honest information, they could at least understand what was happening and why (and how long it would last). Because this "process" is being administered by people who ram their heads into buckets of sand whenever a complaint is made, we will have to enlist other help.
As a matter of formality (not because I expect any positive outcome) I am writing to Ofcom pointing out their lack of any useful assistance via their web site, and asking them to give me a means of escalating this matter. Their normal response is to say "ring us on our helpline", but I won't be doing that as it gives me nothing in writing. So far, Ofcom have been as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike. No change there.
I have also written (as another formality) to the Digital UK website at Digital UK - Home (the one with the vapid, smiley robot). In essence I have made the same comments as I did to Ofcom, but truncated as they restrict users to 500 characters.
Of more potential use, I have logged a case with BBC Watchdog, as there are a lot of people who have been paying out for new equipment and engineer visits needlessly because of the culture of denial during switch-over. This is a rip-off any anyone's language (see especially Tim's comments further up the page about his aunt's experience). Obviously if Watchdog start getting a lot of complaints about the problems we have been having, they are in a much better position to do something about it.
For anyone interested in taking it further, the Watchdog URL is:
BBC - Watchdog - - Got a story
or, if you prefer, you can email your complaint to them at:
watchdog@bbc.co.uk.
or write to them at:
Watchdog, MC4 C5, Media Centre, Wood Lane, London W12 7TQ.
Hope this helps.
(W12 7TQ)
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Saturday, 3 March 2012
M
Martin Rosen12:03 PM
Hi. I am living in London (Crystal Palace transmitter). I recently bought a digital tv with Freeview and it brought in 115 channels.
Yesterday I purchased Digital recorder and it has only '83' channels. Those that are missing include the HD channels.
Any thoughts?
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F
FJC Farrar12:06 PM
Camberley
Graham: Whatever the reasons for your now poor Freeview reception; you are almost bound to be OK after the main switchover which will take signals well above threshold. Unless you live at the topographically High end of Camberley; your Freeview signal right now is at best likely to be barely large enough & will be susceptible to every conceivable cause of drop-out or channel loss.
David: I agree that reporting absolutely definite, confirmed transmitter faults or questioning their possibilty continue as always to be like talking to the dead. It is virtually impossible to connect with anybody who has the slightest idea what they are talking about - which is infuriating. Nevertheless I still think it is premature to pursue your issue unless the technical problems persist after the Switchover process is completed & may even divert attention away from matters much worse than official obfuscation.
Tim: I do hope when you say the installer removed your Aunt's PVR, this didn't mean he took it away (ie stole it). Such schemes sadly have plenty of potential for rip-offs.
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FJC's: mapF's Freeview map terrainF's terrain plot wavesF's frequency data F's Freeview Detailed Coverage
F
FJC Farrar1:00 PM
Camberley
Interference: DTV is inherently less susceptible than Analog. However DTV receivers & PVRs have much greater flat-out sensitivities than Analog TVs & CAN work well with signals only a fraction of a microvolt. However, we are surrounded with a whole world of things splurging out RF, and in lowish signal situations, these (such harmonics from a nearby pub's tills & fruit machines etc) can very easily produce in-band signals much larger than the TV signal. This has the effect of swamping DTV receivers by turning down their sensitivity by AGC action. So an interfering signal which in itself would not affect DTV reception simply "deafens" the receiver to the wanted DTV signals. Even the existing massive analog signals can "deafen" DTV receivers in this way.
Because DTV is "all or nothing" & atmospheric conditions also vary the received TV signal a bit; reception already affected by interference can be variably lost with weakest MUXes/channels most to be lost.
When transmitter powers substantially increase after switchover & the analog signals disappear; DTV receivers find the wanted signals are much larger compared with all interfering signals - the interference is then submerged under the TV signal. Everything in the garden is then lovely......
UNLESS the new big signal just too much for sensitive DTV receivers - simply cured with attenuators but will surely trap the unwary.
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FJC's: mapF's Freeview map terrainF's terrain plot wavesF's frequency data F's Freeview Detailed Coverage
D
David1:37 PM
I have just done another re-scan (at approx 13:25 on 3rd March) and pulled in 111 channels instead of the 53 I was getting previously. How long this will last until the switchover is complete is anyone's guess. As FJC Farrer warned in an earlier post, signal levels can be up and down like a fiddler's elbow, and that has certainly been my experience.
I will pursue the issue regarding lack of information and accountability, however, because we should have been kept properly informed about what was happening. As usual, the people at the receiving end of a service are being made to serve the needs of the bureaucracy who are running it.
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F
FJC Farrar4:42 PM
Camberley
David: Best of luck. I fear your quest is fighting against the tide of an endemic cost-cutting Call-Centre Approach to everything:
Decent but deliberately totally untutored staff are cheaply employed to give human voice to FAQ & the blindingly obvious - confined by rigidly controlled scripts which sadly often force them to appear to be high-functioning cretins. They are also very forcefully discouraged from escalating anything to "waste the time" of a minimised number of expensive technicians & experts who - perhaps I am being cynical in suggesting this - could blurt out unpalatable or actionable truths whilst addressing genuine enquiries. Websites erect barriers/obscure useful contact information for similar reasons.
This has to be almost impossible to rectify. It has spread because it successfully & cheaply copes with a numeric majority of issues, which organisations can then loudly boast about - leaving only the detailed or major problems of a minority whose effect on the balance sheet is diddly-squat.
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FJC's: mapF's Freeview map terrainF's terrain plot wavesF's frequency data F's Freeview Detailed Coverage
M
Mr G Hyman11:21 PM
My digital freeview channels have all gone.
I live in London NW5.
I have done full resets and rescans several times.
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