The Craigkelly transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility located at Craigkelly (grid reference NT233872) north of the Firth of Forth above the town of Burntisland in Fife, Scotland. It has a 125-metre tall free-standing lattice tower.
The station came into service in 1968 to improve coverage of BBC 2 to the Edinburgh area, which has a number of hills blocking good reception from Black Hill. In September 1971 it also started broadcasting BBC1 and STV on 625 lines in colour and though considered a 'main' station, it actually rebroadcast the signal from Black Hill, like a relay. Nowadays its tower also carries antennas for many broadcasting and private radio organisations. This structure was previously used at Emley Moor.[1]
The transmitter was originally an A group but has become a K group (or wideband) with the advent of Channel 5 and Digital. Craigkelly is one of the few main transmitters which didn't return to its original group at DSO. In fact after the switchover even less of its Digital output is receivable on an A group aerial than before. The three PSB multiplexes are still receivable on an A group as this graph shows.
The tower can be clearly seen from many parts of Edinburgh across the Firth of Forth on its prominent position atop the hill known as The Binn.
Transmitted services
Analogue radio
Digital radio
Digital television
Frequency |
UHF |
kW |
Operator |
System |
474.166 MHz |
21+ |
20 |
BBC B |
DVB-T2 |
498.000 MHz |
24 |
20 |
Digital 3&4 |
DVB-T |
522.000 MHz |
27 |
20 |
BBC A |
DVB-T |
570.000 MHz |
33 |
9.3 |
Arqiva C |
DVB-T2 |
618.166 MHz |
39+ |
10 |
Arqiva B |
DVB-T |
642.000 MHz |
42 |
10 |
SDN |
DVB-T |
666.000 MHz |
45 |
10 |
Arqiva A |
DVB-T |
|
Before switchover
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |Frequency |
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |UHF |
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |kW |
style="background: #ffdddd; color: black; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; " class="table-no2" |Operator |
489.833 MHz |
23- |
4 |
SDN (Mux A) |
513.833 MHz |
26- |
4 |
BBC (Mux B) |
538.000 MHz |
29 |
4 |
Digital 3&4 (Mux 2) |
570.000 MHz |
33 |
4 |
BBC (Mux 1) |
618.000 MHz |
39 |
2 |
Arqiva (Mux D) |
642.000 MHz |
42 |
2 |
Arqiva (Mux C) |
|
Analogue television
Analogue television transmissions ceased from Craigkelly on 15 June 2011.
See also
References
External links
Television transmitter and major relay sites in the United Kingdom |
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Italics denotes a transmitter no longer used for transmitting television signals. |
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Coordinates: 56°4′19″N 3°13′59.5″W / 56.07194°N 3.233194°W / 56.07194; -3.233194