Freeview: Crystal Palace (Greater London, England) full-Freeview transmitter
Site settings
For an enhanced Freeview reception
prediction please enter your
full postcode, a national grid reference or
a UK latitude and longitude pair. 
Most popular
On other sites

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

Google StreetviewGoogle mapBing mapGoogle Earth51.424,-0.076 or 51°25'26"N 0°4'32"WSE19 1UE

4G at 800MHz (at800) Freeview reception issues

When 800MHz 4G mobile broadband services start there will be 3 multiplexes in the higher risk range (C21-23, C30, C59-60): C22: ArqA, C23: BBCA, C30: BBCB
See How do I know if the 4G broadband will overload my Freeview? and Full UK map of 4G issue areas for details.

Transmitter fauls and engineering works



map is loading, please wait...

The symbol shows the location of the Crystal Palace transmitter which serves 4,490,000 homes.

Other maps:Crystal Palace DABCrystal Palace AM/FMCrystal Palace regionBBC LondonLondon

Radiation patterns

Radiation patterns withheld

Map key

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.

Crystal Palace transmitter Freeview broadcasts

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. The rating shown takes in account the output power level and the various Freeview transmission modes and do not indicate an ongoing fault.

MuxEffective power level, aerial positionRatingModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 horizontal
Maximum64QAM 8K 2/3
24.1Mb/s
DVB-T MPEG2		200,000
Channel icons
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, 301 301, plus 12 others
• as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C23 (490.0MHz) from 324m datum.
PSB2
D3+4
 horizontal
Maximum64QAM 8K 2/3
24.1Mb/s
DVB-T MPEG2		200,000
Channel icons
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),
• as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C26 (514.0MHz) from 324m datum.
PSB3
BBCB
 horizontal
Maximum256QAM 32KE 2/3
40.2Mb/s
DVB-T2 MPEG4		200,000
Channel icons
101 BBC One HD (England no regional news), 102 BBC Two HD (England), 103 ITV HD (ITV London), 104 Channel 4 HD London ads, plus 1 others
• as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C30- (545.8MHz) from 324m datum.
COM4
SDN
 horizontal
Maximum64QAM 8K 3/4
27.1Mb/s
DVB-T MPEG2		200,000
Channel icons
10 ITV 3, 20 G.O.L.D. (not free), 25 Dave ja vu, 26 Home (not free), 27 ITV 2 +1, 30 5*, 31 5USA, 34 ESPN UK (not free), 38 Quest, 39 The Zone, 44 Channel 5 +1, 72 CITV, plus 22 others
• as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C25 (506.0MHz) from 314m datum.
COM5
ArqA
 horizontal
Maximum64QAM 8K 3/4
27.1Mb/s
DVB-T MPEG2		200,000
Channel icons
 TV News,  TV Stars, 11 PICK TV, 12 Dave, 17 Really, 29 E4+1, 32 Movie Mix, 46 Challenge, 48 Food Network, 82 Sky News, 87 Community Channel, plus 9 others
• as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C22 (482.0MHz) from 321m datum.
COM6
ArqB
 horizontal
Maximum64QAM 8K 3/4
27.1Mb/s
DVB-T MPEG2		200,000
Channel icons
15 Film 4, 18 4Music, 19 Yesterday, 21 VIVA, 24 ITV 4, 41 Sky Sports 1 (not free), 42 Sky Sports 2 (not free), 47 4seven, 83 Al Jazeera English, 85 RT English , plus 21 others
• as a digital multiplex transmitted on frequency C28- (529.8MHz) from 321m datum.


Regional news from the Crystal Palace transmitter


BBC London 4.9m homes 18.4%
from London W1A 1AA, 11km north-northwest
to BBC London region - 55 masts.

ITV London News 4.9m homes 18.4%
from London WC1X 8XZ, 11km north-northwest
to ITV London region - 55 masts.

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 the transmission frequencies change over time

years1950s~851984-971997-981998-20122012-132013-182013-18
aerial groupVHFA KA KA KA KA KA K
C1BBCtv
C22-2ArqAArqAArqA
C23ITVITVITVBBCABBCABBCA
C25-1SDNSDNSDN
C26BBC1BBC1BBC1D3+4D3+4D3+4
C28-B-ArqB-ArqB-ArqB
C29-Dlocal
C30C4C4C4-BBCB-BBCB-BBCB
600C32-A
C33BBC2BBC2BBC2com7
C34+C
C35com8

orange background for multiplexes names moregreen background for transmission frequencieslilac background for power levels in watts800MHz band: 4G mobile to start in 2013700MHz band: possible 4G in 2019 more600MHz band: new or moved digital TV services more
Notes: + and - denote 166kHz offset; aerial group are shown as A B C/D E K W
Italics for analogue, digital switchover was Wednesdays 4th April and 18th April 2012.

  • Ofcom have projected that a local television service for London including Greater London area could use an Interleaved Frequency on the Crystal Palace transmitter using C29
  • COM7, COM8 projected for 2013-16. COM7 and COM8 to operate as Crystal Palace,Guildford, Reigate SFN.

Comparison of old analogue and current digital signal levels

Analogue 1-4 1000kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB, com7, com8, BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 200kW
Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*, Mux D*(-17dB) 20kW
PreDSO-BBCB*(-20dB) 10kW

History of Channel 3 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†
• 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.


Your comments: most recent posts are at the bottom

firstFirst comments prevEarlier comments  ◊ 

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.

martyh
Monday 11 February 2013 6:50PM
Hi Jb38. Would you care to give your opinion on the link that follows, under the heading: '4G to affect TV reception in two million homes'? www.bbc.co.uk link icon BBC News - 4G to affect TV reception in two million homes (BBC News Website). Regards, martyh.
jb38
Monday 11 February 2013 9:35PM
martyh: Well I look at this potential problem in various ways, and putting aside my sense of outrage that something has actually been sanctioned that is already known (or suspected) beforehand as having the potential to affect a mode of reception (Freeview) that by its very nature is already vulnerable to being interfered with by a number of things, including of course nature. (inversion effect etc)

That said, I feel that this issue is being somewhat over hyped to a certain extent by a number of well placed non-technical types (in the practical sense) but with the means to be extremely vocal, and this is causing many people to panic quite unnecessarily about this issue, although I do admittedly feel that anyone within a couple of hundred yards or so from one of these masts could well experience problems "if" the Freeview signal they receive is sitting at a lower than ideal level for reception, this automatically making the receivers tuner more vulnerable to interference from any RF sources nearby.

The whole thing is really a wait and see game, because when dealing with RF signals other than microwaves its quite impossible for anyone to accurately predict exactly what will happen as so many variables exist with peoples installations, coupled to the fact that its notoriously difficult to predict exactly what level of interference (if any) that viewers will suffer from if they reside anywhere near to a mast, as RF predictions, whether for reception or expected levels of interference, are up to a point educated guesswork unless on site tests are carried out.
jb38
Monday 11 February 2013 11:13PM
martyh: On reading over my reply I feel that I should clarify part of a statement made, insomuch when I referred to non-technical types with the means to be extremely vocal, I was mainly meaning media types who consider themselves to be an authority on technical matters.
Steve Flynn
Tuesday 12 February 2013 10:36PM Haslemere
Crystal Palace - answering my own question and asking another.
I replaced all internal cabling and fitted a new distribution amp and have restored my missing channels.

However although I now have good signals on BBC-A, D3+4 and BBC-B I don't get any signal at all from SDN, ArqA or ArqB multiplexes from Crystal Palace.

Digital UK tradeview does not show these channels as being available but they are listed here as being broadcast from CP at the same power as the other multiplexes. Why can't I receive them from CP? I can get them from Hannington but they are at a lower level and I am on the outer edge for good reception from there.
Dave Lindsay
Tuesday 12 February 2013 10:41PM
Steve Flynn: I think we covered this one when you made your posting before DSO. Haslemere relay transmitter is co-channel with Crystal Palace's COMs.

Not sure whether a phased array might help:

www.wrightsaerials.tv link icon http://www.wrightsaerials….pdf
Steve Flynn
Tuesday 12 February 2013 11:08PM Haslemere
Dave Lindsay: Thanks, I had forgotten about co-channel interference which in this case is 100% effective in the worst way. Predictions around DSO seemed to change on a daily basis so I wasn't sure what I would eventually get.

I don't think I want yet another aerial on my pole so phased array isn't an option. A local installer suggested switching my CP aerial to vertical but I may look at a better aerial for Hannington instead.

Thanks again, at least I know there is little I can do now.
Dave Lindsay
Wednesday 13 February 2013 9:50AM
Steve Flynn: At switchover we had a posting from someone off Grayswood Road who had lost access to Haslemere transmitter and therefore BBC South/ITV Meridian programming because of this. Understandably he wasn't happy because he wanted these regional services rather than the London ones. His location was on the fringes of the Haslemere transmitter and, evidently, its signal is no match at that location for Crystal Palace's.
Steve Flynn
Wednesday 13 February 2013 1:55PM Haslemere
Dave Lindsay: Maybe I should swap houses with the man from Grayswood :)

My Hannington aerial is Group E and I see that the transmitter is now listed as Group B. I think the theoretical difference in gain between otherwise similar B and E group aerials is about 2dB but would this make enough of a difference for those lower powered Mux's?
Dave Lindsay
Wednesday 13 February 2013 2:30PM
Steve Flynn: Interestingly, Hannington's four former analogue channels were not within a single third of the band Group, but semi-wideband Group E so I guess this might be how come your aerial is an E.

I'm not a professional, so can only give you theory. Here are some example gain curves:

www.aerialsandtv.com link icon Gain (curves), Again

An aerial's gain is simply at the expense of "loss" in other directions. So a higher gain aerial focuses the signal into a narrower beam. The gain of yagi aerials drops off on lower channels hence they are less directional on lower channels than on higher ones.

However, your amplifier will increase the amplitude of the signals. Getting a higher gain aerial doesn't necessarily improve matters as it has a narrower acceptance angle. As you are trying to pick it up at the bottom of a drop, having your aerial receiving on a finer beam isn't necessarily a better thing because the quality may suffer. You can increase the amplitude of a signal with an amplifier, but if you don't have the quality (digits in order) then you might as well pack up. See:

www.aerialsandtv.com link icon Television Aerial Boosters / Amplifiers, Splitters, Diplexers & Triplexers

What sort of reception of the Hannington COM channels do you get? If it is poor at times, is it strong but poor quality?
martyh
Wednesday 13 February 2013 8:38PM
jb38 re: '4G' reply - thanks.
Steve Flynn
Wednesday 13 February 2013 9:47PM Haslemere
Dave Lindsay: Reception varies, at present COM5 is pretty good with quality at 8-9 out of 10 but COM 4 & 6 are only at quality 1-2. Strength is around 7-8 on all.

The gain curves on your link seem to show that a B Group aerial would be a better bet but I guess I should check that my current aerial is giving the best it can first.

My amplifier is in circuit to diplex TV and FM as well as distribute to different rooms but I don't think it is causing any problems with too strong a signal - I bypassed it just to check.
KMJ,Derby
Sunday 17 February 2013 8:34PM
Steve Flynn: The poor quality on some muxes is indicative of the signal either being subject to interference from another transmitter (including an RF modulator) or the signal is corrupted due to multiple reflections or partial obstructions such as trees in the signal path. The Digital UK postcode checker does not make a prediction for the Hannington COM muxes at your location and significantly shows the PSB mux on C42 as being less reliable than the other two. This makes me wonder if Heathfield signals could be present at a very low level, but sufficient to cause problems to reception from Hannington. Heathfield shares C41, C42, C44 and C47 with Hannington. If this is the case careful positioning of the aerial to find a null for the Heathfield signals will be required.
Tony Putner
Monday 18 February 2013 6:15PM
Hi, Please could you tell me why there is no ITV3 transmission from the London tansmitter at East Grinstead West Sussex? Also the number channels transmitted is low compared with other transmitters. Thank you.
KMJ,Derby
Monday 18 February 2013 6:58PM
Tony Putner: ITV3 is carried on the SDN mux which is only transmitted from main transmitters and a number of former relay sites which serve relatively large numbers of viewers. The reason for this is based on economics, as additionally serving all the other relays would double the transmission costs whilst only adding about 8% more viewers. The owners of the COM muxes therefore declined when invited to consider serving additional sites. Crystal Palace is your nearest main station for reception of the full six mux service.
Dave Lindsay
Monday 18 February 2013 7:00PM
Tony Putner: Because the Commercial networks operate purely for profit and so choose those sites where they can cover the most viewers for least cost:

Londonderry (Northern Ireland) digital TV transmitter | ukfree.tv - 10 years of independent, free digital TV advice

The only thing you can do is investigate the possibility of receiving from another, full-service, transmitter.
Transmitter engineering
Thursday 21 February 2013 1:31PM
CRYSTAL PALACE transmitter - Freeview: BBC Digital TV Off Air from 12:24 today. [BBC]
Transmitter engineering
Wednesday 6 March 2013 7:31PM
CRYSTAL PALACE transmitter - Freeview: HD Digital TV Off Air from 16:27 today to 16:28 today. [BBC]
Transmitter engineering
Thursday 7 March 2013 4:31AM
CRYSTAL PALACE transmitter - Freeview: HD Digital TV Off Air from 16:27 yesterday to 16:28 yesterday. [BBC]
Ann
Tuesday 12 March 2013 4:52PM Dartford
Although in Kent I can only get London from CP on Freeview, whereas a friend 100yds further down London Rd gets London on the Front room freeview and South East on the back room both with her roof arial.

My Community new Digital Dish arial is fitted at equivilant to gutter height on a house but is 1/2 way up the Block height. When it was fitted 2010, apparently if Tenants wanted Sky they could have Sky and pay tuned to this same arial.

I have just noticed on my Orange PAYG Mobile that EE is now showing so in my area already but dont use it.

My Question is should some of the occasional No Signal and pixel bands be due to 4G and have I got worse to come.

At present since Switchover Quality is shown as 100% but Signal has is constantly jumping from 80% and settles to 61% then on channel change goes back upto 80% then back to a usual 61%, or is this Digi. Box about to turn up its toes.
jb38
Tuesday 12 March 2013 5:41PM
Ann: Your friend could be picking up the signal from the Bluebell Hill transmitter located at roughly half way between Gillingham and Maidstone, it being BBC1 South East for news etc.

Not quite sure what you are meaning by "digital dish" as that is used for Sky or Freesat purposes Freeview being received via a normal aerial, and so the question would be whether or not you are using a normal aerial? or is it a communal one?
Ann
Wednesday 13 March 2013 3:26AM Dartford
Thanks jb38 I thought that may be the reason although I didnt know if Bluebell was still operating.

Yes it is a 2010 fitted Communal dish aerial and total rewiring to each flat and as mentioned in my 2nd paragraph is fitted on the side of Block 1/2 way up which is approx gutter height on a normal house. I know of a couple of Tenants who wanted Sky and the Aerial Contractor could supply and tune to this aerial instead of fixing individual dishes which are not allowed. The blocks would look like millipeds if seperate sky were fitted.
KMJ,Derby
Wednesday 13 March 2013 11:26AM
Ann: The frequencies that EE are currently using for 4G are among those already in use for mobile phones. They are not part of the former UHF TV band, which is due to be used for 4G in a few months time and has been the subject of wild speculation and scaremongering. Reception from Crystal Palace is really among the least likely to be affected, and your installation might already be fitted with filters which prevent reception of UHF signals on frequencies higher than those used at Crystal Palace. This could also be a factor in the non appearance of Bluebell Hill on your TV when scanning for channels.
Ann
Thursday 14 March 2013 1:33AM Dartford
Thanks KMJ I thought EE(Orange) had bought into the New 4G tipical con.

I dont somehow think the Council would think that far ahead, just get the Switchover rewiring job done as cheap as possible and tackle any problems when they hit. I guess it will be a case of wait and see.

Thanks guys for tempory peace of mind, I knew I would get the true picture on here.
KMJ,Derby
Thursday 14 March 2013 12:09PM
Ann: You are correct in that EE was successful in bidding for spectrum in the 800MHz block. Other companies to win spectrum are Hutchison 3G, Telefonica UK and Vodaphone. Services are expected to launch using these frequencies around the middle of this year - 2013.
Steve Flynn
Friday 15 March 2013 11:32AM Haslemere
Update:

Our local aerial installer suggested and tried a phased array to reject co-channel interference from the Haslemere transmitter but unfortunately it didn't work.

My existing aerial system was deteriorating so I had it replaced with better quality aerials and diplexer and now have excellent signals on the PSB mux's from CP and Hannington as well as much better signals from the Hannington COM mux's.

Thanks for your help in understanding all this.
andy
Friday 5 April 2013 5:42PM Benfleet
hi andyboy can tel please if london will return for 4g thanx
Michael
Friday 5 April 2013 5:53PM
andy: Presumably by "return" you mean "retune", in which case no, no retunes will be required in London.
Transmitter engineering
Saturday 6 April 2013 1:31PM
CRYSTAL PALACE transmitter - LW: Radio 4 MF Off Air from 10:51 today to 11:35 today. [BBC]
Transmitter engineering
Sunday 7 April 2013 4:32AM
CRYSTAL PALACE transmitter - LW: Radio 4 MF Off Air from 10:51 yesterday to 11:35 yesterday. [BBC]
Transmitter engineering
Monday 8 April 2013 4:32AM
CRYSTAL PALACE transmitter - LW: Radio 4 MF Off Air from 10:51 on 06 Apr to 11:35 on 06 Apr. [BBC]
andyboy
Monday 13 May 2013 3:29PM Benfleet
hi where is argos tv gone from sky please now thank you
andyboy
Monday 13 May 2013 3:30PM Benfleet
hi andyboy again will go from freeview thank you
Phil Murfet
Wednesday 15 May 2013 2:24PM
Hi,

I live right beneath the Crystal Palace transmitter tower and have recently started using Freeview after having a virgin media box for some years. However I've noticed that when there is the slightest hint of bad weather we lose quite a few freeview channels. I'm guessing that signal is not an issue as I live so close - does anyone have any ideas as to what is causing this? We live in a council tower block and have recently had a communal ariel replacement as part of major building works to the flats. The council have advised that this is working correctly.

Any ideas?
jb38
Wednesday 15 May 2013 3:57PM
Phil Murfet: Anyone living at close range under a high powered TV mast can experience a range of problems caused by the umbrella effect of being screened from the main beam of the signal, and so the next time this happens remove the aerial connector from the TV or box and replace it with a short length of bell wire or similar (about 4 feet or so) pushed into the aerial socket (the middle cup section) and check the results.

You could even try this at any time for a test.
updates
Automatic update every 1 minute



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.

If you have no satellite signal, see Sky Digibox says 'No Signal' or 'Technical fault'

If you have other problems, please provide a full (not partial) postcode (or preferably enter it in box at the top right) and indicate where if aerial is on the roof, in the loft or elsewhere.

UK Free TV is here to help people. If you are rude or disrespectful all of your posts will be deleted and you will be banned.







Privacy policy: UK Free Privacy policy.