The Caerhendy television relay station was sited at Caerhendy in the Afan Valley, a few kilometres north of Junction 40 on the M4 motorway at Port Talbot. It was originally built in the 1980s as a fill-in relay for UHF analogue television. It was sited at the clubhouse of the soccer ground at Ynys Park and consisted of a mere 3 m aluminium mast carrying a vertically stacked yagi array. The transmitter served about 50 houses in Caerhendy, about 500 m across the valley to the east, which for reasons of geography couldn't get a signal from Mynydd Emroch transmitter just to the south.
Mast height | 10 metres (33 ft) |
---|---|
Coordinates | 51°36′23″N 3°46′23″W / 51.606292°N 3.773067°W |
Grid reference | SS772912 |
Built | 1980s |
Demolished | 2010 |
Relay of | Wenvoe |
BBC region | BBC Wales |
ITV region | ITV Cymru Wales |
Alltwen transmitter re-radiated a signal received off-air from Cwmafan about 2 km farther to the northeast, itself a relay of Wenvoe. It was possibly the lowest ERP officially provided TV relay in the UK, radiating just 0.5 W on each of its four UHF channels.
When it came, the digital switchover process rendered Caerhendy redundant. It is no longer in service.
Channels listed by frequency
editAnalogue television
edit1980s - March 2010
editFrequency | UHF | kW | Service |
---|---|---|---|
471.25 MHz | 21 | 0.0005 | BBC One Wales |
495.25 MHz | 24 | 0.0005 | ITV1 Wales |
519.25 MHz | 27 | 0.0005 | BBC Two Wales |
551.25 MHz | 31 | 0.0005 | S4C |