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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.

This transmitter has no current reported problems

The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Crystal Palace (Greater London, England) transmitter.

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),

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 Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 Dave ja vu, 58 ITVBe +1, 59 ITV3 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 78 TCC, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 89 ITV4 +1, 91 WildEarth, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 267 Al Jazeera English, plus 30 others

COM5
ArqA
 H max
C22 (482.0MHz)321mDTG-8200,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 Yesterday +1, 75 That's 90s, 233 Sky News, plus 11 others

COM6
ArqB
 H max
C28- (529.8MHz)321mDTG-8200,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 W, 27 Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! romance, 56 That's TV (UK), 61 GREAT! movies extra, 63 GREAT! romance mix, 71 That’s 60s, 73 HobbyMaker, 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, 6 May 2012
T
Tony
9:02 AM

I use Windows Media Center to access freeview digital services (Crystal Palace) and, since switchover, I'm finding that all of the channels, apart from the HD channels are giving signal qualities of 100% - the HD channels are giving SQs of 60%. Is there any explanation for this variance?

Also, since switchover, I am noticing certain channels, for example BBC News (80), will lose its signal periodically. WMC disables any channels that lose signal quality to zero automatically. So, ,I have to manually re-enable that channel quite often - a real pain.

When I re-enable lost channels and tune in to the channels manually, the signal quality returns to 100%. Go figure. This may be an issue with WMC, but I also think this has something to do with the digital signal after switchover, because this behaviour didn't happen before then.

Has anyone else noticed this or can anyone explain why this might be happening?

link to this comment
Tony's 9 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:44 AM

Tony: As you haven't actually given your location (pref post code or one from nearby) the signal levels expected in your locality cannot be checked on, but in general terms if when after switch over any person then finds the SD channels to be OK but not when on HD, this is nearly always caused by the signal received being excessively high and which will always affect HD before SD, so if you reduce your signal level on SD to about 90% or so that should correct the HD problem, should it be caused by what's been mentioned.

If you can access one then for a test try a set top aerial, or even a short piece of wire (about 12") pushed into the inner part of the aerial socket, as if you can still receive a signal by doing that then you are in a high signal level area, and so for a permanent cure you will have to fit a variable attenuator (0-20dB) in line with the aerial socket.

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

10:54 AM

Tony: I also intended to say, that when excessively high signal levels are in existence then the indications displayed on a receiver cannot be trusted as being accurate and frequently indicate low, or in some cases zero quality, this is because of the circuitry that samples / measures the level being corrupted by being overloaded.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
H
hunny
11:22 AM
London

Mark Fletcher: Yes, I have tried everything including the coathanger, using antena attenuator to reduce the signal, used the cheapest aerial bought, but still scrambled. the retune I did was also following the freeview procedures, unplug the main power and the aerial cable, etc. etc. I'm really puzzled with whats going wrong now.

link to this comment
hunny's 3 posts GB flag
hunny's: mapH's Freeview map terrainH's terrain plot wavesH's frequency data H's Freeview Detailed Coverage
B
Big Mart
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

6:12 PM

jb38: Just to say that I am away for the weekend so obviously cannot do any tests. Hopefully I will be able to try on Tuesday.

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Big Mart's 83 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

6:58 PM

Big Mart: No problem, and will look out for your next update Tuesday onwards.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 8 May 2012
B
Big Mart
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

4:54 PM
London

jb38: Been searching around and found an old indoor aerial. Would you believe I used it to connect an old BBC B computer for teletext !!! Plugged that in, and no reception on any channels. I also found an old aerial lead, but it is male / female, whereas I need male / male.

Finally I tried a coat hanger (wire!). No reception on any station. The only thing I haven't tried is a piece of wire (not sure I have any that is not connected to something ... but I am dubious that would work).

I think I should just give up wanting to record off the HD channels and stick to SD. I can view HD with the tv and the recorder off.

Thank you, and others for your help.

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Big Mart's 83 posts GB flag
Big's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
T
Tony
7:26 PM
Chelmsford

jb38: Sorry. I should have mentioned that I live in Chelmsford, CM1 6SS. Thank you for your comments.

I have a Horizon HDTM meter and it is showing a signal increase of about 3db (from ~27db to ~30db. I had been expecting a greater increase than that.

I have a 0-20db attenuator built into my system. Do you have an optimal db value in mind?

Thanks in advance. I'll get back to you to report my findings.

Tony

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Tony's 9 posts GB flag
Tony's: mapT's Freeview map terrainT's terrain plot wavesT's frequency data T's Freeview Detailed Coverage
T
Tony
10:31 PM

jb38: I tried attenuating my input signal and the HD channels immediately froze and came back when I reduced the attenuation to zero.

Am I right in thinking that the signal is not overloading? Maybe I need a better aerial for HD?

I have had my current setup for over three years.

Tony

link to this comment
Tony's 9 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

11:47 PM

Tony: If your meter is HT-DM Plus then that wont respond to DVB-T2 signals, so its a bit strange why you see anything being indicated.

You are located at 34 miles away from Crystal Palace and 21 miles away from Sudbury, and although its about 40 degrees out from the rear pick up of your aerial it would be interesting to know the result if you tried a manual tune test on Sudburys HD transmitter, this operating on mux Ch47.

A little point I did wonder about though was, that when you had originally reported that the SD quality was indicated as about 100% or so, what was the signal strength seen associated with that quality? as sometimes if a signal being received is of a very stable nature then the actual strength of the signal can be quite low, and should this be applicable in your case then it might be on the verges of being too low for reliable HD reception, just like a signal on the opposite end of the scale (excessively high) will always cause problems on HD before SD, so strengths as well as quality has to be known.

What you have mentioned about you aerial might well apply, but the only real way for anyone to verify if their aerial system can be excluded from being the cause of a problem is by trying another TV on it, as PC card tuners and indications obtained from same tend to be a bit non-standard and therefore the readings obtained cannot be used for assessment purposes in exactly the same way as done with normal TV or boxes tuners.

If you have the type / model of tuner card fitted in the WMC maybe you could give an update on this.

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
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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.

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