User:FusionSub/Drafts/Crystal Palace transmitting station

Arqiva Crystal Palace

Built	28 March 1956
BBC region	BBC London
ITV region	ITV London
Local TV service	London Live
Digital switchover	18 April 2012

The Crystal Palace transmitting station, officially called Arqiva Crystal Palace, is a broadcasting and telecommunications transmitter. It is in the Crystal Palace area of the London Borough of Bromley, England.

It is on the area of the former television channel and transmitter used by John Logie Baird from 1933.

The transmitter is the eighth-tallest structure in London. It is also the main television transmitter for Greater London and areas of the Home Counties. The transmitter serves the most people in the UK. It is owned and used by Arqiva.

History

Television

When it was built, it transmitted the BBC Television's VHF 405-line service. The Croydon transmitter was made multiple months before to transmit ITV. When UHF television started in 1964, BBC2 was transmitted from Crystal Palace. Later, both BBC1 and ITV was transmitted from Crystal Palace. 405-line television was ended on 3rd January 1985.

The transmitter showed the London regions of BBC One, BBC Two, ITV1 and Channel 4 in analogue. Channel 5 in analogue was shown from Croydon. All of them had an effective radiated power of 20 kW before switchover. It was made 200 kW after switchover in April 2012. It also carried all six digital terrestrial television multiplexes.

After digital switchover finished, all services come from Crystal Palace again. Because of Crystal Palace's importance, Croydon can transmit Crystal Palace's public service multiplexes if a problem happens at Crystal Palace. Because Digital terrestrial television (DTT) needs less power than analogue to cover the same area, the transmission powers have been lowered by 7 decibels compared to analogue. The served area of roughly 60 miles (97 km) was expected to be similar after switchover.

Relay stations

The three most powerful relays of Crystal Palace are Reigate (transmitting to south Surrey and northern West Sussex), Guildford (for Guildford and south west Surrey) and Hemel Hempstead (for areas of Hertfordshire). There are also relays with lower power placed around Greater London and areas of Kent, West Sussex, Surrey, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.

Channels by frequency

Analogue (AM) radio

Frequency	kW	Station
558 kHz	1	Panjab Radio
720 kHz	0.75	BBC Radio 4 (off air)
1035 kHz	2.75	Lyca Gold (moved to west London)

The frequencies were used by the Lots Road Power Station until September 2001.

Analogue and Digital television

4 April 2012 - 18 April 2012

On 4 April, BBC2 analogue stopped broadcasting from Crystal Palace. ITV London was moved to the channel that BBC2 used for the last 2 weeks.

Frequency	UHF	kW	Service	System
481.833 MHz	22-	20	Digital 3&4	DVB-T
505.833 MHz	25-	20	BBC (Multiplex 1)	DVB-T
511.25 MHz	26	1000	BBC1 London	PAL
529.833 MHz	28-	20	BBC (Multiplex B)	DVB-T
537 MHz	29-	20	Arqiva (Multiplex D)	DVB-T
543.25 MHz	30	1000	Channel 4	PAL
554 MHz	31	10	BBC B (Multiplex HD)	DVB-T2
561.833 MHz	32-	20	SDN (Multiplex A)	DVB-T
567.25 MHz	33	1000	ITV London	PAL
578.166 MHz	34+	20	Arqiva (Multiplex C)	DVB-T