Crystal Palace transmitting station
Tower height | 219 metres (719 ft)[1] |
---|---|
Coordinates | 51°25′27″N 0°04′30″W / 51.424167°N 0.075°W |
Built | March 28 1956 |
BBC region | BBC London |
ITV region | ITV London |
Local TV service | London Live |
The Crystal Palace transmitting station, officially known as Arqiva Crystal Palace, is a broadcasting and telecommunications site in the Crystal Palace area of the London Borough of Bromley, England (grid reference TQ339712).[2] It is located on the site of the former television station and transmitter operated by John Logie Baird from 1933.[3]
The station is the
History and development
The station was constructed in the mid-1950s among the ruins of
The first transmission from Crystal Palace took place on 28 March 1956, when it succeeded the transmitter at Alexandra Palace where the BBC had started the world's first scheduled television service in November 1936. In November 1956 the first colour test transmissions began from Crystal Palace, relaying live pictures from the studios at Alexandra Palace after BBC TV had closed down for the night. In May 1958 the first experimental Band V 625-line transmissions started from Crystal Palace.
This tower was designed and built for BBC by British Insulated Callender's Construction Co. Ltd., with steelwork fabrication by
Innovations
The transmitter was the first in the UK to broadcast (experimentally) on 625 lines (UHF) in 1962–1964, which it did on Channel 44, using a modified version of the SMPTE optical monochrome test card[11] (not to be confused with the SMPTE colour bars).
On 18 July 1986, with the
Television
When built it transmitted BBC Television on the VHF 405-line system; the Croydon transmitter two miles away had been built some months earlier to broadcast ITV. When UHF transmissions started in 1964, first the new BBC2 and later both BBC 1 and ITV (Rediffusion weekdays and ATV London at weekends) were transmitted from Crystal Palace. Thames Television began in 1968 along with London Weekend which became London Weekend Television (LWT) in 1978. 405-line VHF television was discontinued at the start of 1985, and from then onwards all television broadcasts from Crystal Palace were only on UHF.
Crystal Palace did not transmit analogue Channel 5: this (alone) came from Croydon. Croydon had reserve transmitters for ITV and Channel 4, used in the event of a fault or maintenance at Crystal Palace. The BBC decided that a complete reserve was also a good idea and all four services became available from Croydon if required.
The station carried the London regions of
Radio
It is also used for FM radio transmission of local radio stations BBC Radio London, Radio X, Capital Xtra and Greatest Hits Radio London (which until March 2021 carried Absolute Radio), and a low-powered relay of the four BBC national FM services - Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 3 and Radio 4, and Classic FM. It also has medium wave transmitters on 558 kHz (Panjab Radio), 720 kHz (BBC Radio 4) and 1035 kHz (Lyca Gold). Since the tower is grounded, a wire aerial span close to it is used for the MW services.
Since 1995 the tower has been one of five London transmitters for the BBC DAB multiplex. This was joined in 1999 by the Digital One DAB service, and a further local DAB multiplex has since started transmitting, on behalf of the Klarna shopping channel.
BBC Radio 4's mediumwave frequencies from this transmitter ended on 15 April 2024 following a retune loop informing listeners to retune.[14][15]
High definition
In May 2006 it began broadcasting the first terrestrial HDTV signals in the UK to a trial group of 450 London homes to test HD broadcasts by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, to assess the viability and potential problems of future nationwide HD broadcasting. On 2 December 2009 the site entered service as one of the first DVB-T2 transmitters in the world, carrying a variant of the BBC's Multiplex B broadcasting high-definition TV services.
Digital switchover
The Government's plans for
The transmitter is only one of two (the other being the
As one would expect for the largest transmitter in the country – by population coverage – Crystal Palace transmitter, remained an A group, (which was its original analogue group) both during dual running (analogue & low power pre-DSO digital) and full power digital after DSO. However, in March 2018, during the transmitters 700 MHz clearance, the temporary MUXES 7 and 8 were moved out of group to CH55 and CH56. Thus, reception of the latter two MUXES now requires a wideband or K group aerial (see graph). MUXES 7 and 8 are, however, due to be switched off sometime before 2023.
On 18 April 2012, a public lighting display was performed from the tower to mark the last day of analogue TV broadcasts from the transmitter.[17][18][19]
Relay stations
The three most main powerful relays are Reigate (covering large area of south Surrey and northern areas of West Sussex), Guildford (for the Guildford area and parts of south west Surrey) [20] and Hemel Hempstead (parts of Hertfordshire). [21] There are also low power relays situated across Greater London and also in parts of Kent, West Sussex, Surrey, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.
Channels listed by frequency
Analogue radio (AM medium wave)
Frequency | kW | Service |
---|---|---|
558 kHz | 1 | Panjab Radio |
720 kHz | 0.75 | BBC Radio 4 (off air) |
1035 kHz | 2.5 | Lyca Gold (moved to west London) |
These frequencies were used by Lots Road until Tuesday 25 September 2001.
Analogue radio (FM VHF)
Frequency | kW | Service |
---|---|---|
88.8 MHz | 4† | BBC Radio 2 |
91.0 MHz | 4† | BBC Radio 3 |
93.2 MHz | 4† | BBC Radio 4 |
94.9 MHz | 4 | BBC Radio London |
96.9 MHz | 0.03 | Capital Xtra |
98.8 MHz | 4† | BBC Radio 1 |
100.6 MHz | 2 (V)† | Classic FM |
104.9 MHz | 2.9 | Radio X |
105.8 MHz | 3.73 | Greatest Hits Radio London |
† Relay of Wrotham.
Digital radio (DAB)
Frequency | Block | kW | Operator |
---|---|---|---|
213.360 MHz | 10C | 3 | MuxCo Surrey & South London |
216.928 MHz | 11A | 5.7 | Sound Digital |
222.064 MHz | 11D | 6.5 | Digital One |
223.936 MHz | 12A | 3 | Switch London |
225.648 MHz | 12B | 10 | BBC National DAB |
Digital television
After switchover
|
Before switchover
|
Analogue television
BBC2 analogue was shut down on UHF 33 on 4 April 2012, and ITV London was temporarily moved from UHF 23 into BBC2's frequency of UHF 33. The remaining analogue services shut down on 18 April 2012.
Frequency | UHF | kW | Service |
---|---|---|---|
487.25 MHz | 23 | 1000 | ITV London |
511.25 MHz | 26 | 1000 | BBC1 London
|
543.25 MHz | 30 | 1000 | Channel 4 |
567.25 MHz | 33 | 1000 | BBC2
|
See also
- List of radio stations in the United Kingdom
- List of tallest buildings and structures in Great Britain
- List of tallest towers in the world
- List of famous transmission sites
- Radio masts and towers
- Lattice tower
References
- ^ a b "NGW planning application". Bromley London Borough Council. 23 April 2008. Archived from the original on 19 May 2009. Retrieved 13 September 2008.
- ^ BBC Milestones. Retrieved 13 October 2008
- ^ Ray Herbert, The Crystal Palace Television Studios: John Logie Baird and British Television, accessed online 6 January 2019 Link
- ^ "War's Worst Raid". Time. 28 April 1941. Archived from the original on 1 December 2008. Retrieved 29 May 2008.
- ^ Pescod, David, FLS (10 February 2005). "Correspondence" (PDF). The Linnean. 21 (2). London: Linnean Society of London: 15. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 October 2011. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Elen, Richard G (5 April 2003). "Baird's independent television". Transdiffusion Broadcasting System. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- ISSN 1567-7745. Archived from the originalon 14 February 2008. Retrieved 29 May 2008.
- ^ Wharton, W.; Platts, G.C. (February 1959). "The Crystal Palace band I television transmitting aerial" (PDF). BBC Engineering Division Monograph. BBC: 5. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
- ^ "The BBC's Crystal Palace Television Tower". Construction Bulletin (11). British Insulated Callender's Construction Company Ltd. December 1957.
- ^ Engineering: 246. 21 February 1958.
{{cite journal}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ "Not just a pretty face..." Archived from the original on 6 May 2019.
- ^ "Crystal Palace (Greater London, England) Full Freeview transmitter". May 2004.
- ^ "Mb21 - Transmitter Information - Crystal Palace".
- ^ BBC Radio 4 ‘AM retune loop’ - 15/04/2024. Retrieved 15 April 2024 – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ "Date set for the closure of BBC Radio 4 medium wave frequencies". RadioToday. 21 March 2024. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
- ^ "700MHz-Clearance". ATV. 12 July 2017. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- ^ "Switch Over Night". Arqiva - Digital Switch Over. Arqiva. Archived from the original on 3 March 2013.
- ^ "Arqiva lights up the skies!". DSO Switch Over Night Blog. Arqiva. 19 April 2012. Archived from the original on 1 January 2013.
- ^ "Light show planned for Crystal Palace". Your Local Guardian. 30 March 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
- ^ "Full Freeview on the Guildford (Surrey, England) transmitter". UK Free TV. 1 May 2004. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
- ^ "Full Freeview on the Hemel Hempstead (Hertfordshire, England) transmitter". UK Free TV. 1 May 2004. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
Bibliography
- Burns, R. W., British Television: The Formative Years, IET (1986), ISBN 0-86341-079-0
- Evans, R. H., The Crystal Palace FM filler experiment, British Broadcasting Corporation, Division of Engineering, Research and Development Department (1996), ASIN B0018RJ1ZY
External links
- The Transmission Gallery: Crystal Palace Transmitter photographs and information
- Pictures and info on Crystal Palace, including co-receivable transmitters
- "Crystal Palace Transmitter". SkyscraperPage.
- Crystal Palace Transmitter at thebigtower.com
- Pictures (including inside the transmitter buildings) at The Triangle