The Carmarthen transmitting station (Welsh: Gorsaf drosglwyddo Caerfyrddin) was originally built by the BBC in 1964/65 as a relay for VHF radio and television.[1] The site was built on a 135 m ridge to the north of Carmarthen itself, and entered service on 15 March 1965. The transmission station is now owned and operated by Arqiva.
  Carmarthen transmitting station (Carmarthenshire) | |
| Tower height | 37 metres (121 ft) |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 51°52′05″N 4°18′26″W / 51.868075°N 4.30715°W |
| Grid reference | SN412213 |
| Built | 1964/65 |
| Relay of | Wenvoe |
| BBC region | BBC Wales |
UHF 625-line colour television was never radiated from this site: the main transmitter at Carmel (20 km to the east) provided that service to the town from 1973 when it opened.
The 405-line VHF television service closed across the UK in 1985, but according to the BBC's transmitter list[2] and the BBC's internal "Eng. Inf." magazine,[3] Carmarthen was due to close early - in the first quarter of 1982. From that point onwards the site just relayed FM radio until 6 June 2011[4] when a single multiplex of DAB radio was added.
Channels listed by frequency
editAnalogue television
edit15 March 1965 - First Quarter 1982
editThe site provided BBC 405-line VHF television to the towns of Carmarthen and Abergwili which, being sited in a river estuary, could not reliably receive a signal from Wenvoe, 85 km to the east.
| Frequency | VHF | kW | Service |
|---|---|---|---|
| 45.00 MHz | 1 | 0.013 | BBC1 Wales |
Analogue radio (VHF FM)
edit15 March 1965 - January 1973
editAccording to the BBC's R&D report,[1] the original frequencies for the FM radio services were as shown below.
| Frequency | kW | Service |
|---|---|---|
| 88.5 MHz | 0.0065 | BBC Light Programme |
| 90.7 MHz | 0.0065 | BBC Third Programme |
| 92.9 MHz | 0.0065 | BBC Welsh Home Service |
January 1973 - May 1978
editThe three original radio services were still on their original frequencies as late as January 1973,[5] but ERPs had been slightly increased to 10 W per channel by then. By May 1978 all three transmission frequencies had been moved by 400 kHz [6] and all three were transmitting in stereo by that time.
| Frequency | kW | Service |
|---|---|---|
| 88.5 MHz -> 88.9 MHz | 0.01 | BBC Radio 2 |
| 90.7 MHz -> 91.1 MHz | 0.01 | BBC Radio 3 |
| 92.9 MHz -> 93.3 MHz | 0.01 | BBC Radio 4† |
† Radio 4 was replaced by BBC Radio Cymru when it launched in January 1977.
May 1978 - Late 1980s
editThe new frequency plan continued unchanged until Radio 1 gained its own frequency.
| Frequency | kW | Service |
|---|---|---|
| 88.9 MHz | 0.01 | BBC Radio 2 |
| 91.1 MHz | 0.01 | BBC Radio 3 |
| 93.3 MHz | 0.01 | BBC Radio Cymru |
Late 1980s - present
editRadio 1 was given its own frequency as more of Band II became available for broadcasting after the bandplan changes of 1988.
| Frequency | kW | Service |
|---|---|---|
| 88.9 MHz | 0.01 | BBC Radio 2 |
| 91.1 MHz | 0.01 | BBC Radio 3 |
| 93.3 MHz | 0.01 | BBC Radio Cymru |
| 95.5 MHz | 0.01 | BBC Radio 4 |
| 97.5 MHz | 0.01 | Radio Carmarthenshire |
| 98.5 MHz | 0.01 | BBC Radio 1 |
| 106.0 MHz | 0.02 | Heart South Wales |
Digital radio (DAB)
edit6 June 2011 - present
edit| Frequency | Block | kW | Operator |
|---|---|---|---|
| 225.648 MHz | 12B | 0.6 | BBC National DAB |
References
edit- ^ a b "TRANSMITTING AERIALS FOR THE CARMARTHEN V.H.F. TELEVISION AND V.H.F. SOUND STATION - Technological Report No. E-ll4/2" (PDF). BBC. April 1965.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-08-13. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-01-06. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "BBC - Help receiving BBC TV and radio - BBC DAB digital radio transmitters". Archived from the original on 2007-10-11. Archived 2010-09-19 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-02-27. Retrieved 2012-03-29.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "bbc-eis-1034-31b-vhf_radio_stations-197805.jpg". Archived from the original on 2015-02-27.
