Freeview Light on the Chelmsford (Essex, England) transmitter
This transmitter has no current reported problems
The BBC and Digital UK report there are no faults or engineering work on the Chelmsford (Essex, England) transmitter.
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The symbol shows the location of the Chelmsford (Essex, England) transmitter.
What do the colours on the map mean?
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.List by multiplex|
List by channel number|
List by channel name|
See terrain plotWhich Freeview channels does the Chelmsford 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.
| Mux | Aerial position | Frequency | Height | Mode | Watts |
PSB1
BBCA | infdB | C (306.0MHz) | 0m | 64QAM 8K 2/3
24.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2 | 0W |
| 
1 BBC One London, 2 BBC Two England, 7 BBC Three, 9 BBC Four, 70 CBBC Channel, 71 CBeebies, 80 BBC News, 81 BBC Parliament, 301 BBC Red Button 1, plus 12 others 200 BBC Red Button, 700 BBC Radio 1, 701 BBC Radio 1Xtra, 702 BBC Radio 2, 703 BBC Radio 3, 704 BBC Radio 4, 705 BBC Radio 5 Live, 706 BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, 707 BBC Radio 6 Music, 708 BBC Radio 4 Extra, 709 BBC Asian Network, 710 BBC World Service,
|
PSB2
D3+4 | infdB | C (306.0MHz) | 0m | 64QAM 8K 2/3
24.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2 | 0W |
| 
3 ITV (London), 4 Channel 4 London ads, 5 Channel 5 London ads, 6 ITV 2, 13 Channel 4+1 London ads, 14 More 4, 28 E4, 33 ITV +1 (London),
|
PSB3
BBCB | infdB | C (306.0MHz) | 0m | 256QAM 32KE 2/3
40.2Mb/s DVB-T2 MPEG4 | 0W |
| 
101 BBC One HD (England no regional news), 102 BBC Two HD (England), 103 ITV HD (ITV London), 104 Channel 4 HD London ads, 303 BBC Red Button HD, plus 1 others 232 The Space,
|
Are you trying to watch these 27 Freeview channels?
The
Chelmsford (Essex, England) mast is a
public service broadcasting (PSB) transmitter, it does not provide these
commercial (COM) channels: 4Music, 4seven, 5*, 5USA, Al Jazeera English, BBC Red Button 2, Challenge, Channel 5 +1, CITV, Community Channel, Dave, Dave ja vu, E4+1, Film 4, Food Network, ITV 2 +1, ITV 3, ITV 4, Movie Mix, PICK TV, Quest, Really, RT English , Sky News, The Zone, VIVA, Yesterday.
If you want to watch these channels, your aerial must point to one of the 80
Full service Freeview transmitters. For more information see the
will there ever be more services on the Freeview Light transmitters? page.
Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Chelmsford transmitter?
How will the Chelmsford (Essex, England) transmission frequencies change over time?
| years | | 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2011 | 2011-13 | 2013-18 | 2013-18 | |
| aerial group | | A B C/D E K VHF | C/D E | C/D E | A B C/D E K VHF | A B C/D E K VHF | A B C/D E K VHF | |
| 800 | C63 | | | C5 | C5 | | | | |
| orange background for multiplexes names more | green background for transmission frequencies | lilac background for power levels in watts | 800MHz band: 4G mobile to start in 2013 | 700MHz band: possible 4G in 2019 more | 600MHz band: new or moved digital TV services more |
Notes:
+ and
- denote 166kHz offset; aerial group are shown as
A B C/D E K WItalics for
analogue, digital switchover was Wednesdays 6th July and 20th July 2011.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Crystal Palace transmitter area
| Sep 1955-Jul 1968 | Associated-Rediffusion† |
| Sep 1955-Jul 1968 | Associated TeleVision◊ |
| Jul 1968-Dec 1992 | Thames† |
| Jul 1968-Feb 2004 | London Weekend Television♦ |
| Jan 1993-Feb 2004 | Carlton† |
| Feb 2004-Dec 2014 | ITV plc† |
| Feb 2004-Dec 2014 | ITV plc♦ |
| | Feb 1983-Dec 1992 | TV-am• |
| Jan 1993-Sep 2010 | GMTV• |
| Sep 2010-Dec 2014 | ITV Daybreak• |
|
• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only. Chelmsford 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.
Your comments: most recent posts are at the bottom
Your comments are always welcome. Please use the form below to add your thoughts or questions to this page. We will get back to you as soon as we can.
S
stephen j smithSaturday 19 May 2007 11:16AM
Chelmsford
you have listed it showing 4 channels?
also when digital starts you are showing we are to recieve more digital channels this will be good but no channel 5 from a transmitter that was put up especally for the coverage of channel 5?A
astley blakeWednesday 2 March 2011 7:45PM
Chelmsford
every night its the same thing we have to live with very poor or no picture at all????
my post code is cm3 5jnF
FieldFriday 22 April 2011 4:32PM
BillericayT
T MartinFriday 22 April 2011 10:32PM
WickfordB
Bill KettMonday 20 June 2011 6:58PM
Chelmsford
Regards,
Bill KettM
Mike DimmickTuesday 21 June 2011 7:30PM
Still, I'd normally expect break-up rather than complete failure. Check that the aerial is pointing in the correct direction and that all cables are still intact.
You say that the aerial is new. How new? Was there a guarantee? I'd recommend calling out the installer and getting them to remedy it.M
Mike DimmickTuesday 21 June 2011 7:41PM
Some boxes do get confused with a mixture of 2K and 8K mode transmissions, in the interim period between Sudbury and Crystal Palace switchovers, and it can be difficult to get some boxes to store the services you want at the preferred numbers. Most would likely store Crystal Palace services at the published channel numbers as they are on the lowest frequencies.
CP may be stronger now, but Sudbury shows a slightly higher probability of reliable reception once the switchover programme is completed. Both are ultimately good, though (except Crystal Palace Mux C/Arqiva A drops to 'variable' in 2013, possibly due to changes overseas as the UK programme should be complete by the end of 2012.)
However, you have to wait almost another year for Crystal Palace to switch over, while Sudbury starts in a couple of weeks. That said, only the PSB multiplexes change to final channels and power levels. The COM multiplexes (A/SDN, C/Arqiva A and D/Arqiva B) stay at low power from Sudbury until after Dover switches over in a year's time.B
Bill KettFriday 24 June 2011 6:13AM
J
James DonnellyMonday 27 June 2011 12:45PM
Chelmsford
Just moved to Chelmsford and looking for information about what will happen as part of the Anglia switch over next month.
Will the Chelmsford transmitter be defunct following this? Will the signal from Sudbury be the preferred one? My neighbors have their roof aerials pointed SW, so I assume they're all pointed at Crystal Palace.
I would just like to know if it's worth waiting for the switch over, or whether I will have any luck bunging an aerial in the loft (I know, how long is a piece of string)
ThanksM
Mike DimmickMonday 27 June 2011 4:48PM
I believe Chelmsford UHF TV transmissions will be switched off completely when Sudbury is switched over, despite Chelmsford technically being a relay of Croydon. I'm not sure what purpose the Chelmsford C5 transmitter serves - possibly the fact that Sudbury's C5 transmitter was one-fifth the power of the other four channels meant that another transmitter was needed to serve this area, if the aerial was pointed to Sudbury.
Croydon's transmission power for C5 is the same as the analogue power level for the other four channels from Crystal Palace.
The prediction for your postcode from Sudbury is for reliable results on the PSB muxes (Mux 1/BBC A, Mux 2/D3&4, and Mux B/BBC B/HD) and Mux A/SDN, but variable, poor, or no prediction for Mux C/ArqA and Mux D/ArqB, immediately after switchover. This will continue until after Dover and Bluebell Hill switch over next June, when the Sudbury COM muxes move to final channels and power levels.
From Crystal Palace, all multiplexes are good *now* except for Mux 2 and the early HD service, which are both shown as variable. At switchover in April, everything goes up to good, over 95% probability.
The ultimate predictions are about the same from both transmitters.
If you're currently using Crystal Palace, don't bother retuning in July. Nothing changes for you. CP will get to its final configuration slightly sooner as well. Look out for adverts for the London TV region switchover, rather than Anglia.E
ewan fennWednesday 6 July 2011 8:07PM
ChelmsfordJ
John VincentThursday 7 July 2011 5:26PM
Chelmsford
Is this my best option?S
SueFriday 8 July 2011 9:06PM
Chelmsford
ManySu thanks.Mike Dimmick: Thanks, I have corrected the database. ewan fenn: Basically, the answer is yes. John Vincent: You will get the best service in the long run from Sudbury, as your reception from Crystal Palace will always be "marginal". However, you will have to wait for 27th June 2012 to receive all the commercial multiplexes from Sudbury, whereas you will get some - but not reliable - reception of these from Crystal Palace now. G
GARYSaturday 16 July 2011 5:42PM
updates
Automatic update every 1 minute
12:31
http://licensing.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/tv/sup_dso/dso-timetable-v2.pdf . 
