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

first published this on - UK Free TV
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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 25/11/2024 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, 4 March 2012
D
darren
6:03 PM

I have to say folks if this is what freeview is going to be like then blow this for a lark, my new video only as freeview in it so really i have lost all my channels i dare not watch any programme that says 1 of 2 or 1 0f such programmes coz when i turn the box back on theres no channels i am not pleased at all ! I live in Southend-on-sea so we have 3 BBC and ITV stations to pick from, its a nightmare !

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darren's 16 posts GB flag
Monday, 5 March 2012
A
Ashley
1:27 PM

For some reason from today I have lost all freeview hd channels done a rescan now it don't even pick them up I live in the sidcup area has anyone else noticed this

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Ashley's 1 post GB flag
L
LesG
2:07 PM
Reading

Thanks to David and FJC Farrar for some useful input. As an update to my situation issues have continued. It starts to look as if its mainly happening during morning TV, then clears for the afternoon and early/ peak evening, then starts again after about midnight or 1 a.m. As an ex IT systems person this looks suspiciously like scheduled work to minimise the disruption to (presumed) main viewers. Not much use if you are a shift worker, or (like me) record stuff on BBC3 and 4 in the early hours. I agree with David that we should raise this wherever possible. I have written to Watchdog, BBC reception and Digital UK. The BBC have trotted out the usual "help" and I have contacted Digital UK on their advice. I have been given a case number by the Beeb at least and will follow up with them depending on the DigitalUK response. I am not expecting much comeback, but I feel I should follow all avenues before escalating further. The irony is that all the engineering reports talk of weaker signals on analogue BBC 1 and 2, but mine (on my old Panasonic CRT TV) have never seemed better!

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LesG's 6 posts GB flag
LesG's: mapL's Freeview map terrainL's terrain plot wavesL's frequency data L's Freeview Detailed Coverage
F
FJC Farrar
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

5:05 PM
Camberley

LesG: What you describe is also typical of the effects of the RF reflective sky-layers, which tend to move up & down around dusk & dawn, affecting "skip-distances". If you are already in an area with lowish signals, you will either get drop-out periods twice in 24hrs - or just as likely only have good periods only twice a day. Again, when power is increased (and it is going to increase signal levels a lot!) at final switchover, most such effects will disappear. Be patient.

Incidentally, why Crystal Palace when Reading is smack in the middle of Hannington's coverage?


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FJC Farrar's 25 posts GB flag
FJC's: mapF's Freeview map terrainF's terrain plot wavesF's frequency data F's Freeview Detailed Coverage
F
FJC Farrar
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

5:31 PM
Camberley

As a rider relating to the lack of information etc. leading to people buying new equipment:
Since if reception fails anywhere, there seems to be no way of directly reporting this; I fail to see how DUK can state Transmitters are working normally. Surely they can only report that as far as they are aware nothing has been done which has changed reception.
The clue is "as far as they are aware" since there seems no possible way in which they could be aware if reception had changed. Maybe if they had stated that DTV reception COULD be affected during the lead-up to final switchover we would have been satisfied?

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FJC Farrar's 25 posts GB flag
FJC's: mapF's Freeview map terrainF's terrain plot wavesF's frequency data F's Freeview Detailed Coverage
P
Pat Brock
6:53 PM
Bishop's Stortford

Hi, am going to have to be a bit vague with my question, but would appreciate any help you could give me.

My daughter has moved to Bishops Stortford, taking a Logik Digital TV, (previously used in Worcester). She tried to set it up yesterday but could get nothing, just messages saying how poor the signals were. She has tried resetting the TV and tuned the TV several times, with no result. I notice from previous posts that there seem to have been a few problems in the South East, so was wondering if there are still problems with the signal, which will be rectified at the time of the changeover, or is it more likely to be due to an inadequate or faulty aerial? She is currently having to use the analogue signal, which is quite poor. Please help!

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Pat Brock's 3 posts GB flag
Pat's: mapP's Freeview map terrainP's terrain plot wavesP's frequency data P's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:22 PM

Pat Brock: In general terms, the digital signals for Public Service Broadcasters (PSBs) after switchover will match that of the current analogue.

Transmitters serving the Worcester area have switched fully to digital whereas those in Bishop's Stortford have not and are therefore on low pre-switchover power or, in the case of the Bishop's Stortford relay transmitter, does not carry digital at all yet.

One thing is for sure and that is if your daughter's aerial is directed at the Bishop's Stortford relay transmitter which is on Rayners Road Industrial Estate (the aerial will be vertical), then she will not be able to receive (certainly reliable) Freeview before switchover and after switchover will only receive PSB channels.

If analogue reception is poor, then this could be because the TV has tuned to the wrong transmitter. That is, if the aerial points at Bishop's Stortford it could be tuned to Crystal Palace (or another transmitter) or vice versa.

If your daughter's aerial is on Crystal Palace, then hopefully it will be OK. I would suggest that it is best to wait until April because the current aerial may work fine come switchover.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
A
andy
8:41 PM
Benfleet

hi is crystal palace tranmitter a full freeview tranmmiter or are we going to be lie to again like sudbury please rely cheers

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andy's 16 posts GB flag
andy's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:00 PM

andy: From 18th April Crystal Palace will be a full Freeview transmitter. There will be no services on low power to protect against interference from other areas (that have not switched over yet) as has happened with Sudbury.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 6 March 2012
D
David
1:31 AM

I'm genuinely indebted once more (as always) for the technical explanations advanced by FJC Farrar. I have no doubt they are all sound, and you appear very well informed. My question remains, why since 25th Feb (or thereabouts) have people scattered all over London been losing their Freeview channels if nobody had any hint that this might happen? (mine are down again this evening). The switchover process has been under way for some time throughout the UK, and unless each team that carries it out treats it like a state secret, there will be a body of information borne of experience, that shows them to expect that some people will be affected adversely during the process.

A while ago Digital UK sent out a leaflet to my address titled "Is your flat ready for the TV switchover in April 2012?" I have every reason to believe this is a national campaign, not something they have just favoured me alone with. On it they listed two points to check. An extra line of text as point three could have warned people that they might experience erratic reception as they approach switchover, so don't rush out and buy new equipment until the process is complete. It isn't quantum physics to do this, but there appears to be an attitude prevalent that this is "nothing to do with us, Guv". Oh, and if you happen to buy new equipment needlessly because you lose Freeview access and don't realise it is temporary, hard luck.

Science marches on.

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David's 7 posts GB flag
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