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thebigtower |
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crystal palace |
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THE CRYSTAL PALACE TRANSMITTER is the UHF main station that serves Greater London and the Home Counties. In terms of coverage, it is easily the most important transmitting station in the country, with nearly 12 million people receiving it's output. It is sited in a high profile position towards the north-east corner of Crystal Palace Park and is distinguished by it's unique self-supporting lattice tower. The station broadcasts to an approximate 40-miles radius spanning the whole of Greater London and much of the surrounding counties, including large parts of Surrey, North Kent, South & East Essex, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire, with fringe reception also possible in some areas of Oxfordshire and Sussex. |
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THE TOWER |
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The Crystal Palace tower is unique for being the tallest free-standing lattice transmitting structure in the United Kingdom. The main structure stands at a height of 196 metres (640-ft) extending to an overall height of 219 metres (718-ft) when including the surmounting GRP-cylinder-contained UHF aerial system. The adjacent Croydon transmitting station is the site of the second-highest self-supporting lattice transmitting tower in the UK, standing at a height of 152.6 metres (500-ft). DIGITAL SWITCHOVER |
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The completion date for Digital Switchover at Crystal Palace has recently been confirmed as 30 April 2012. As of June 2010, no signficant re-engineering on the tower has taken place. |
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| EARLY HISTORY |
| Crystal Palace was first opened by the BBC on 28 March 1956 as replacement for their original London television transmitter at Alexandra Palace in North London, which had broadcast the world's first regular television service in 1936. Fundamentally, the Crystal Palace station with its much taller tower offered increased aerial height for significantly improved coverage. This was achieved from the opening of the station, even though at this stage the tower was only half built (with aerials hung at the highest point available) and would not be completed until December 1957. The use of a self-supporting tower instead of the usual stayed-mast was in itself a condition of planning permission for aesthetic reasons, whilst also necessary anyway in order to comply with the requirement that the station was to be confined to a small area of Crystal Palace Park, in order to minimise its visual presence and impact on public amenity. For housing the transmission equipment, the BBC constructed a single block facility, built against the north-east wall of the park and capable of housing all site operations plus room for future expansion. The site entrance was placed on the eastern end of the compound and connected to street level by an ascending driveway. The tower was grounded above the station building at street level, from which side the latter was invisible and therefore classed as semi-underground. For the purpose of 405-line transmission on VHF Band I, the station would be the first to utilise a high gain aerial system to achieve the eventual Effective Radiated Power (ERP) of 200 kilowatts. Using this principle, the aerial would multiply the actual transmitter power several-fold to achieve the desired ERP whereas earlier stations typically operated at an ERP of no more than double the actual transmitter power. As well as permanent aerials for VHF Band I transmission (on Channel 1), the completed tower was also fitted with experimental Band IV and V aerials for UHF test transmissions which commenced in 1958, whilst space was also reserved for ITV Band III aerials, even though the Independent Television Authority (ITA) established their own transmitter (Croydon) in 1955, located just over a mile away on South Norwood Hill. |
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STATION INFORMATION |
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Location: |
Crystal Palace Park, London, SE19 |
Grid Reference: |
TQ339712 |
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Landlord: |
Arqiva (Legacy: BBC/Crown Castle/NGW) |
Ground Height: |
110.3m |
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ITV Region: |
London |
Tower Height ("): |
196m |
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BBC Region: |
London |
Aerial Height (*): |
313m |
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UHF Tx Number: |
10100 |
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(") Main structure only - height including UHF cylinder is 219m |
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(*) Average UHF aerial height above sea level (a.o.d) |
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CURRENT TRANSMISSIONS |
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Analogue Television (Until 2012) |
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Analogue Radio (FM) |
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Service |
: Ch/Polarisation/e.r.p |
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Service: |
(MHz) |
(e.r.p) |
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BBC1 |
: 26 / H / 1000kW |
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BBC Radio 1: |
98.5 |
4kW |
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BBC2 |
: 33 / H / 1000kW |
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BBC Radio 2: |
88.8 |
4kW |
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ITV1 |
: 23 / H / 1000kW |
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BBC Radio 3: |
91.0 |
4kW |
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Ch4 |
: 30 / H / 1000kW |
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BBC Radio 4: |
93.2 |
4kW |
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Five |
: No Service - transmitted from Croydon |
BBC London: |
94.9 |
4kW |
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Choice FM: |
96.9 |
0.5kW |
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Classic FM: |
100.6 |
2kW |
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Absolute Radio: |
105.8 |
4kW |
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XFM London: |
104.9 |
2.9kW |
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Digital Television (Until 2012) |
Analogue Radio (AM) |
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Service |
: Ch/Polarisation/e.r.p |
Service: |
(kHz) |
(e.r.p) |
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Mux1 |
: 25 / H / 20kW |
BBC Radio 4: |
720 |
750W |
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Mux2 |
: 22 / H / 20kW |
Spectrum Radio: |
558 |
1kW |
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MuxA |
: 32 / H / 20kW |
Kismat Asian Talk Radio: |
1035 |
2.5kW |
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MuxB |
: 28 / H / 20kW |
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MuxC |
: 34 / H / 20kW |
Digital Radio |
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MuxD |
: 29 / H / 20kW |
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BBC National (Block 12B) |
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Freeview HD (Interim Service) - Channel 31 |
Digital One (Block 11D) |
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Switch London (Block 12A) |
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