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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
Tuesday, 27 November 2012
A
Andrew
3:22 PM
Ashford

Is the CP transmitter currently undergoing servicing or something. The signal in TW15 is terrible for a London transmitter. And, before you suggest it, I have had good to fair reception, before. Do I need an attenuator for a too high signal strength or is the signal just lousy ?

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Andrew's 12 posts GB flag
Andrew's: mapA's Freeview map terrainA's terrain plot wavesA's frequency data A's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Monday, 3 December 2012
BillNick
11:23 AM
Chislehurst

Hi,
I have fitted a brand new 48 element High Gain aerial into my loft. I am pointing to Crystal Palace from BR7 6PT. All other aerials are pointing in same direction.

I have a 2-way f-plug splitter just after the aerial serving 2 rooms in my flat using new satellite grade cable.

One TV will only tune into the BBC channels (new Sony) and the other TV (Samsung) will rarely tune to any channels, but occasionally picks up the ITV group. Never gets BBC though.

Someone said to me that my signal may be too strong being so close to Crystal Palace and of course a high gain aerial would not help.

Anyone offer me any trouble shooting please apart from the usual checks of connections etc.

Thanks
Bill

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BillNick's 5 posts GB flag
BillNick's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:44 PM

BillNick: On the face of it, unless the area is known for signal issues such as because there is a building in the way, then too high a signal level does appear to be a likely possibility. Generally speaking, Crystal Palace aerials used for former analogue should be fine.

See:

Freeview signals: too much of a good thing is bad for you | ukfree.tv - 10 years of independent, free digital TV advice

If the high-gain aerial is a wideband one, then it won't be so "high" gain on the channels used by Crystal Palace. This is because the gain of an aerial varies across the range of frequencies/channels and for yagi types (which it is likely to be) the gain is always lower on lower channels.

See:

Crystal Palace Transmitter

Crystal Palace Transmitter #WrongAerialForCrystalPalace

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
BillNick
8:03 PM

Thanks Dave.
I have looked into the signal levels using the manual tune function on my telly.
CH22 and CH23 are coming through over 75 level and 100 quality.
CH25 wont tune
CH26 is at 60 level and zero quality
CH28 is under 10 level and around 20 quality.

Any suggestions having seen these results? I am using a sideband high gain aerial pointing to Crystal Palace. (51.4529,0.0972) 

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BillNick's 5 posts GB flag
K
KMJ,Derby
sentiment_satisfiedGold

9:01 PM

BillNick: The problem could be the position of the aerial is one where the signal is messy, that is subject to multiple reflections which the receiver is unable to decode. Try moving the aerial a short distance to either side if space permits. Also try pointing it the wrong way, so the signal is received from behind the aerial and observe the signal strength/quality for each mux.

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KMJ,Derby's 1,811 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

10:29 PM

BillNick: You could try the suggestion by KMJ,Derby. Or it could be too high signal strength, in which case you need an attenuator.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 4 December 2012
BillNick
10:22 AM
Chislehurst

Thanks guys. I think I may have 'messy' signal. I woke up this morning and BBC, which was up to 100% signal last night, was only at 40% level and under 10% quality this morning!

Is the only thing I can do here, move the aerial? Would it help to swap out the Wideband aerial I got to a dedicated A group aerial?

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BillNick's 5 posts EU flag
BillNick's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

1:18 PM

BillNick: I suggest that you fit an attenuator to reduce the signal level. For example, type f attenuator into eBay for attenuators with f-connectors that will fit onto your splitter.

I'm not sure what level you might need. A variable one will allow adjustment.

If the wideband aerial, which isn't as effective for Crystal Palace as on higher channels, is providing too high a signal level, then there is no real need to replace it with a Group A aerial.


With digital reception there is a lower threshold over which the signal level must be in order to show a picture (assuming good quality signal). Increasing the level doesn't make the picture quality better. For this reason, don't try to get the strength as near 100% as possible.

There is also a top threshold for the level over which it is likely to over whelm the tuner. This can produce what you've described: the signal level and quality dropping sometimes jumping up and down.

The point is that once you've got a signal that is too high, the quality is likely to go. It is a bit like turning the sound up on a hifi above that which the speakers can work at; the sound becomes hideously distorted (poor quality sound).

Of course there are slight variations that occur such as due to the weather and you don't want them to push it OTT, as perhaps could have happened with BBC this morning.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
BillNick
1:40 PM
Chislehurst

Dave: Ok I follow now. I was worried the Attenuator wouldn't help having seen poor signal/quality for BBC this morning.

I have a variable 0-20db attenuator ready to go. Fitting is easy, but How do I go about tuning and choosing the right attenuation? Should I start at -20db, do a tune and see what I get?

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BillNick's 5 posts EU flag
BillNick's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
BillNick
1:46 PM
Chislehurst

Also some do and do not allow DC power pass....does this affect my choice of attenuator?

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BillNick's 5 posts EU flag
BillNick's: mapB's Freeview map terrainB's terrain plot wavesB's frequency data B's Freeview Detailed Coverage
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