Long Mountain transmitting station
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 | |
  Long Mountain transmitting station (Powys) | |
| Mast height | 52 metres (171 ft) |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 52°38′43″N 3°05′11″W / 52.6452°N 3.0865°W |
| Grid reference | SJ265058 |
| Built | Late 1970s |
| BBC region | BBC Wales |
| ITV region | ITV Cymru Wales |
The Long Mountain transmitting station is sited on a 400 metres (1,300 ft) ridge about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) east of Welshpool in Powys, Mid Wales and has been broadcasting UHF terrestrial TV and VHF FM radio services since the late 1970s. The site has a self-supporting 170' (52 metre) high lattice steel mast and was fed with an SHF link from Blaenplwyf via Llangurig. Despite not taking its signal off-air, it was originally classed as a 625-line UHF TV relay of Blaenplwyf.
The transmitter originally radiated 1 kW providing TV and radio to an area including Newtown and Oswestry. Being only 400 metres (1,300 ft) from the England/Wales border, coverage extended to several towns in England – Shrewsbury included.[1]
Long Mountain became re-classed as main transmitter in its own right (albeit a very low power one) with the advent of digital terrestrial TV from the site on 4 November 2009. In addition to this, it currently transmits FM radio and a single multiplex of DAB Digital radio.
Services available[edit]
Analogue television[edit]
17 September 1976 - 1 November 1982[edit]
Long Mountain never did broadcast VHF television, and went live with the UK's original three national UHF television services.
| Frequency | UHF | kW | Service |
|---|---|---|---|
| 767.25 MHz | 58 | 1 | BBC1 Wales |
| 791.25 MHz | 61 | 1 | HTV Wales |
| 815.25 MHz | 64 | 1 | BBC2 Wales |
1 November 1982 - 4 November 2009[edit]
The UK's fourth national television service joined the set transmitted from the site. Being in Wales, the S4C variant was broadcast.
| Frequency | UHF | kW | Service |
|---|---|---|---|
| 735.25 MHz | 54 | 1 | S4C |
| 767.25 MHz | 58 | 1 | BBC1 Wales |
| 791.25 MHz | 61 | 1 | HTV Wales |
| 815.25 MHz | 64 | 1 | BBC2 Wales |
Analogue and digital television[edit]
4 November 2009 - 3 December 2009[edit]
The UK's digital switchover commenced at this site.[2] Analogue BBC Two Wales closed on channel 64 and ITV1 Wales took over on that frequency for what would be its final 3 weeks of service, vacating channel 61 as it did so. The new BBC A multiplex started up at full power in 64-QAM mode on channel 60 until 19 October 2011.[3]
| Frequency | UHF | kW | Service | System |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 735.25 MHz | 54 | 1 | S4C | PAL System I |
| 767.25 MHz | 58 | 1 | BBC One Wales | PAL System I |
| 786.000 MHz | 60 | 0.4 | BBC A | DVB-T |
| 815.25 MHz | 64 | 1 | ITV1 Wales | PAL System I |
Digital television[edit]
3 December 2009 - 19 October 2011[edit]
All the analogue television services closed and the new digital multiplexes took over on parking-frequencies (until October 2011) with name-changes, power increases and a shift to 64-QAM.[4] Unusually, for a digital TV site classed as a main transmitter, Long Mountain only radiates the three public service multiplexes of Freeview.
| Frequency | UHF | kW | Operator |
|---|---|---|---|
| 722.000 MHz | 52 | 0.4 | Digital 3&4 |
| 754.000 MHz | 56 | 0.4 | BBC B |
| 786.000 MHz | 60 | 0.4 | BBC A |
19 October 2011 - present[edit]
DSO was completed at The Wrekin, and this allowed the Long Mountain multiplexes to take up their final frequencies.[5]
| Frequency | UHF | kW | Operator |
|---|---|---|---|
| 730.000 MHz | 53 | 0.4 | Digital 3&4 |
| 762.000 MHz | 57 | 0.4 | BBC B |
| 785.833 MHz | 60- | 0.4 | BBC A |
Analogue radio (VHF FM)[edit]
For its FM radio services, Long Mountain is an off-air relay of Llangollen.
| Frequency | kW | Service |
|---|---|---|
| 89.6 MHz | 0.02 | BBC Radio 2 |
| 91.8 MHz | 0.02 | BBC Radio Wales |
| 94.0 MHz | 0.02 | BBC Radio 4 |
| 99.2 MHz | 0.02 | BBC Radio 1 |
| 102.8 MHz | 0.02 | Heart North and Mid Wales |
| 103.6 MHz | 0.02 | BBC Radio Cymru |
Digital radio (DAB)[edit]
| Frequency | Block | kW[6] | Operator |
|---|---|---|---|
| 225.648 MHz | 12B | 1 | BBC National DAB |
References[edit]
- ^ UK Free TV - Freeview on the Long Mountain transmitter
- ^ "About us" (PDF).
- ^ "About us" (PDF).
- ^ "About us" (PDF).
- ^ "About us" (PDF).
- ^ Radio Listeners Guide 2010
External links[edit]
Transmitter sites in Wales | |
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| Transmitter stations | |
| Transmitter sites |
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