The Llanwrtyd Wells television relay station is sited on high ground by the hamlet of Cefn Gorwydd to the east of the village of Llanwrtyd Wells in Powys, mid Wales. It was originally built in the 1980s as a fill-in relay for UHF analogue television covering the communities of Llanwrtyd Wells, Cefn Gorwydd and the surrounding area. It consists of a 25 m (82 ft) self-supporting lattice steel mast standing on a hillside which is itself about 240 m (790 ft) above sea level. The transmissions are beamed broadly northwest and northeast to cover its targets. The Llanwrtyd Wells transmission station is owned and operated by Arqiva.
Mast height | 25 metres (82 ft) |
---|---|
Coordinates | 52°05′47″N 3°36′29″W / 52.096411°N 3.607918°W |
Grid reference | SN899454 |
Built | 1980s |
Relay of | Carmel |
BBC region | BBC Wales |
ITV region | ITV Cymru Wales |
Llanwrtyd Wells transmitter re-radiates the signal received off-air from Llandrindod Wells which is itself an off-air relay of Carmel about 45 kilometres (28 mi) to the southwest. When it came, the digital switchover process for Llanwrtyd Wells duplicated the timing at Carmel with the first stage taking place on 26 August 2009 and with the second stage being completed on 23 September 2009. After the switchover process, analogue channels had ceased broadcasting permanently and the Freeview digital TV services were radiated at an ERP of 2 W each.[1]
Channels listed by frequency
editAnalogue television
edit1980's - 26 August 2009
editBeing in Wales, Llanwrtyd Wells transmitted Channel 4
Frequency | UHF | kW | Service |
---|---|---|---|
519.25 MHz | 27 | 0.010 | BBC One Wales |
495.25 MHz | 24 | 0.010 | ITV1 Wales (HTV Wales until 2002) |
567.25 MHz | 33 | 0.010 | BBC Two Wales |
471.25 MHz | 21 | 7.1 | Channel 4 Wales |
Analogue and digital television
edit26 August 2009 - 23 September 2009
editThe UK's digital switchover commenced at Carmel (and therefore at Llanwrtyd Wells and all its other relays) on 26 August 2009. Analogue BBC Two Wales on channel 27 was first to close, and ITV Wales was moved from channel 24 to channel 27 for its last month of service. Channel 24 was replaced by the new digital BBC A mux which started up in 64-QAM and at full power (i.e. 2 W).
Frequency | UHF | kW | Service | System |
---|---|---|---|---|
567.25 MHz | 33 | 0.01 | BBC One Wales | NTSC System I |
498.000 MHz | 24 | 0.002 | BBC A | DVB-T |
519.25 MHz | 27 | 0.01 | ITV1 Wales (HTV Wales until 2002) | PAL System I |
471.25 MHz | 21 | 0.0 | Channel 4 Wales | NTSC System I |
Digital television
edit23 September 2009 - present
editThe remaining analogue TV services were closed down and the digital multiplexes took over on the original analogue channels' frequencies.
Frequency | UHF | kW | Operator |
---|---|---|---|
474.166 MHz | 21+ | 0.002 | Digital 3&4 |
498.000 MHz | 24 | 0.002 | BBC A |
522.000 MHz | 27 | 0.002 | BBC B |
References
edit- ^ "Freeview on Llanwrtyd Wells TV transmitter". ukfree.tv. Retrieved 2012-04-20.