Full Freeview on the Craigkelly (Fife, Scotland) transmitter
 | Google Streetview |  | Google map |  | Bing map |  | Google Earth |  | 56.071,-3.234 or 56°4'17"N 3°14'1"W |  | KY3 9HW |
The symbol shows the location of the Craigkelly (Fife, Scotland) transmitter which serves 430,000 homes. 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.
Are there any planned engineering works or unexpected transmitter faults on the Craigkelly (Fife, Scotland) mast?
Craigkelly transmitter - Craigkelly transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 22/04/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels 
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Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.
64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
DTG-12 QSPK 8K 3/4 8.0Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
Which Freeview channels does the Craigkelly 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.
64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
DTG-12 QSPK 8K 3/4 8.0Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)
Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Craigkelly transmitter?
BBC Reporting Scotland 2.4m homes 9.2%
from Glasgow G51 1DA, 70km west-southwest (252°)
to BBC Scotland region - 230 masts.
STV News 0.5m homes 1.7%
from Edinburgh EH3 9QG, 14km south (174°)
to STV Central (Edinburgh) region - 8 masts.
Are there any self-help relays?
| Dullatur | Transposer | 20 km NE Glasgow | 40 homes |
| Edinburgh | Transposer | Sighthill area | 167 homes |
How will the Craigkelly (Fife, Scotland) transmission frequencies change over time?
| 1984-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-2011 | 2011-13 | 3 Oct 2018 | |||||
| A K T | K T | K T | K T | W T | |||||
| C21 | C4waves | C4waves | C4waves | +BBCB | BBCB | ||||
| C24 | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | ITVwaves | D3+4 | D3+4 | ||||
| C27 | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBC2waves | BBCA | BBCA | ||||
| C29 | SDN | ||||||||
| C30 | LEH | ||||||||
| C31 | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | BBC1waves | ArqA | |||||
| C32 | _local | ||||||||
| C33 | com7 | ||||||||
| C34 | com8 | ||||||||
| C37 | ArqB | ||||||||
| C39 | +ArqB | ||||||||
| C42 | SDN | ||||||||
| C45 | ArqA | ||||||||
| C48 | C5waves | C5waves | |||||||
| C55tv_off | com7tv_off | ||||||||
| C56tv_off | COM8tv_off |
tv_off Being removed from Freeview (for 5G use) after November 2020 / June 2022 - more
Table shows multiplexes names see this article;
green background for transmission frequencies
Notes: + and - denote 166kHz offset; aerial group are shown as A B C/D E K W T
waves denotes analogue; digital switchover was 1 Jun 11 and 15 Jun 11.
How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?
| Analogue 1-4 | 100kW | |
| BBCA, D3+4, BBCB | (-7dB) 20kW | |
| com7, com8 | (-9.7dB) 10.8kW | |
| SDN, ARQA, ARQB | (-10dB) 10kW | |
| LEH | (-13dB) 5kW | |
| Analogue 5, Mux 1*, Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B* | (-14dB) 4kW | |
| Mux C*, Mux D* | (-17dB) 2kW |
Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Craigkelly transmitter area
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Sunday, 2 July 2023
P
Peter Cannon9:48 AM
We moved in to our house in Harper Walk, Edgelaw (EH17 8BX) in June of last year and could receive no freeview reception from our aerial in the loft so I returned it. An engineer told us that this was because we received no reception given the position of the house and would need a twenty foot high mast. Has this situation changed? If it has and I know I will get reasonable reception I will buy another aerial. The coverage checker is telling me that I should get good reception but this wasn't the case last year.
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Chris.SE2:41 PM
Peter Cannon:
The situation has not changed (per se), whilst the reception predictor is only a guide, it is not normally that inaccurate. But no predictions can take account of very local obstructions etc. which may cause a problem, other than that, as you say, you are predicted to get a good (& generally reliable) signal.
The Craigkelly transmitter was listed for Planned Engineering during the last part of May and a couple of weeks into June last year, so this may have had an effect on reception depending on the work being done.
An aerial should be pointing at compass bearing 342 degrees (that's approx. NNW) with its rods (or squashed Xs) horizontal. Your are only 20km from the transmitter.
Having a look on street view, I don't see a single property that has an external TV aerial, never mind on a 20ft mast !! I did spot some that had a satellite dish.
What reception do your immediate neighbours get? Do they have loft aerials?
There are potential problems you have with loft aerials, I spotted that all properties seem to have solar panels. An aerial must have the clearest line-of-sight in the direction of the transmitter.
Any aerial pointing through a solar panel will likely get no reception. Likewise with thick solid walls signals can be severely reduced, any metal roof flashing may affect signals if nearby or on the line of sight, also water tanks etc. If you can otherwise get a clear line-of-sight, standard roof tiles will reduce the signal a bit but shouldn't be a major issue.
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Chris.SE3:11 PM
Peter Cannon:
Just a further thought, having eventually managed to look at some other factors from an adjacent postcode (trouble with newish builds all postcode data isn't always available).
You should use a Group A aerial NOT any Wideband/Group T and preferably not a Group K which goes upto C48
Group A covers UHF channels 21-37. (No UK TV transmitter now uses any channels above C48). Craigkelly's highest channel is C37.
There are several Mobile phone transmitters roughly on the line-of-sight around just over 1km away. If any of these are now using the 700MHz band, they could give interference to your TV signals if your aerial can pick up the 700MHz band (ie. above C48).
A Group A aerial will significantly reduce such signals but if they happened to be still strong enough to give a problem you can get a Free filter from https://restoretv.uk to add to your system.
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Steve Donaldson3:23 PM
Peter Cannon: I think the Freeview predictor is quite a bit optimistic, it showing green 'good' reception (now lower than 99% served) for your postcode. I will come on to the detail of why I say this, having done some analysis.
Suffice to say that the main difficulty you face is that the ground slopes upwards in the direction of the transmitter, or to put it the other way, there is a drop downwards across the last 300m or so. This tells us why you were advised that the aerial would need to be mounted on a tall pole. Whether it would work sufficiently lower down is another question, and I'm not saying categorically that it won't. Obviously, in the loft space it is even lower down still, than had it been outside, just above the roof line.
Google Maps and Bing Maps resolve the postcode to the same point, and I have been looking to confirm that this is indeed the location of Harper Walk. Being a new estate, the road name doesn't seem to be marked on any maps, hence I have been unable to be certain that the postcode is resolving to exactly the right place, and not somewhere else on the development. Google Maps shows an unnamed cul-de-sac off O'Donnel Road, backing on to properties on Clarkson Road. It is almost on a 90 bend, so I imagine this may be Harper Walk. For the following analysis, I have taken this to be the location of Harper Walk. Apologies if this is not the case.
How are your neighbours fairing? This is often a useful guide, although the situation may vary from house to house, owing to the slope.
My analysis follows.
The Craigkelly transmitter is 342 at 12.4 miles out, so you are fairly close, being that it is so high power. However, there are a couple of observations I have made:
In your immediate vicinity, in the direction of the transmitter, the ground rises up, on which there are houses, as can be seen by the contour lines on the OS Map:
Bing Maps - Directions, trip planning, traffic cameras & more
It looks to be that your ground level is around 115m to 120m. Where your line-of-sight intersects Ravenscroft Gardens the ground height is greater than 130m and less than 135m. It intersects Ravenscroft Street about where there is a cul-de-sac of Ravenscroft Street, this called Ravenscroft Street (it doesn't have its own name). At this junction there is a big tree. As well as trees there are buildings on the ground. So all in all there is an awful lot in your immediate vicinity to cause difficulty with reception.
The second observation I have made for reception at your location can be seen in the terrain plot:
Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location
At 3 miles out there is a peak of about 253m. The line-of-sight between you and the transmitter crosses the high ground of Holyrood Park, just to the east of Arthur's Seat.
Hovering the mousepointer over the terrain plot, it shows the height above sea level, and moving left and right the height changes accordingly. The highest is point is given as 252.2m at grid reference NT278726, and if you click the mouse at that point it will load an OS map with an arrow at this point. It points to the ground at Holyrood Park.
In light of all this, I went on Google Street View along Ravenscroft Street. Where aerials point tells a story, and that some of them are pointing to Angus likely means that they decided against Craigkelly reception because of difficulty with receiving from it. Thus, if *some* of those on the same path from the transmitter (as you) have decided against it, they being higher up, then the situation won't be any better lower down.
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Steve Donaldson5:41 PM
Peter Cannon: Having done all of the above analysis on the basis that the location is somewhere off O'Donnel Road, which is where the postcode resolves, I have now discovered that Harper Walk is in fact shown on the Google Map and was passed by the Google Street View car in May this year. Thus, you are further west than I had believed you to be.
That the postcode does not yet resolve to the exact correct location on the map, it could also potentially be the case that it does not do so on the Freeview predictor, and that the prediction is therefore that of another, perhaps nearby, location. Additionally, for the predictor to be anywhere near accurate it would need to be updated to reflect the fact that there are buildings (houses) in the area and that it is no longer open ground.
Be that as it may, I drew up another terrain plot, this time for the correct location:
Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location
As you can see, Holyrood Park is still in the way. There is also a drop/slope downwards within a short distance, and this is an even greater gradient than at the location I had previously understood you to be at.
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Chris.SE6:33 PM
Steve Donaldson:
Well that's a very interesting analysis, well done.
A couple of minor points, I found Harper Walk on a google map without a problem, it's just to the SW of Harper Place.
This should show it Google Maps
A better grid reference would seem to be 290677 not that it seems to make any real difference to the LOS (not) path. (Despite the postcode that it turns up, clicking on Streetview goes to Harper Walk!).
When I looked quickly at another terrain plot it suggested there was clear LoS to the Craigkelly transmitter with aerial height of 10m. Ho hum!
But note, the predictions for Angus give a poor signal.
That all said, as I said previously, see how the neighbours are fairing as you have also mentioned. There is nothing like being there "on the ground" in the precise location with a proper professional signal strength meter. Often difficult to predict what sort of disruption a hill on the LoS at that distance would make in practice.
Frankly, I wouldn't bother with Angus, with the sort of disruptive weather conditions we get more frequently these days, I'd guess Angus would be too unreliable.
FreeSat would be the sensible option and if the TV already has a satellite tuner all that's needed would the Dish and LNB.
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Chris.SE6:36 PM
Steve Donaldson:
Ha, didn't see your updated post before I posted mine, too busy doing the analysis :)
I see we agree on the better NGR.
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Steve Donaldson6:47 PM
The next question is whether Angus can be used as a second choice, and I think the answer is, unfortunately, "no".
The terrain plot looks good. Barring nearby houses there may be line-of-sight at 46 miles on a bearing of 7:
Terrain between ( m a.g.l.) and (antenna m a.g.l.) - Optimising UK DTT Freeview and Radio aerial location
However, the predictor does suggest good reception may be possible of the three COM multiplexes, but nothing on three PSBs.
The Penicuik relay transmitter at 6 miles out on a bearing of 203 is co-channel with the PSBs of Angus, albeit that it is vertically polarised and Angus is horizontally polarised.
Further, the Google Street View car has been along Torrance Row once, in July 2022. This shows three houses with a TV aerial and a Triax satellite dish. These aerials all point to the Penicuik relay. Moving round onto Pincott Drive it is possible to see the backs of houses on Torrance Way. Three of them have a TV aerial and they are all vertically polarised and pointing at Penicuik.
There are a few houses on Bain Rigg with a Craigkelly aerial and a Triax satellite dish mounted on the same pole, so it looks like it may be the same installer.
The Penicuik relay carries only PSB channels, and therefore does not offer the full complement of Freeview channels. It might be worth enquiring with those properties that have a TV aerial to see if they can offer any more guidance.
I stress, even if you can receive from the Penicuik relay, it will give you only the PSB channels, which are BBC A (PSB1), D3&4 (PSB2) and BBC B (PSB3):
Channel listings for Industry Professionals | Freeview
There is no SDN (COM4), Arq A (COM5) or Arq B (COM6).
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Monday, 3 July 2023
S
Steve Donaldson12:33 PM
Peter Cannon: No. You can't use a terrestrial (Freeview) receiver for receiving the signal from a satellite.
As you already have a dish then you could have Freesat. The list of channels available are here:
Channels List and On-Demand Players | Freesat
Some TVs have a built-in Freesat (satellite) tuner, in addition to the Freeview (terrestrial) one. As you already have a dish then this may be the best way for you to access to more channels.
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J
js1:45 PM
Peter Cannon: SkyQ use two wideband LNB connections, one for horizontally polarised transponders and one for vertically polarised transponders.
Those connections are incompatible with most, if not all, TV satellite connections, which require connection to a Universal LNB.
Universal LNBs work by switching between H/V according to the voltage 19/13 volts and between low-band 10700-11700 MHz and high-band 11700-12750 MHz, depending on whether a 22 kHz tone is present
Unless you can access the dish yourself to change the LNB to a Universal, your best option is one of the latest Freesat boxes as these are compatible.
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