Cwmgors transmitting station

Cwmgors
Cwmgors
Height of mast 25 metres (82 ft)
Grid reference SN705123
Built 1983
Relay of Carmel
BBC region BBC Wales
ITV region ITV Wales

The Cwmgors television relay station is sited on high ground at Gwaun Cae Gurwen to the north of the village of Cwmgors in south Wales. It was originally built in 1983 as a fill-in relay for UHF analogue colour television covering the communities of Cwmgors, Gwaun Cae Gurwen and Tairgwaith. It consists of a 25 m self-supporting lattice steel mast standing on a hillside which is itself about 180 m above sea level. The transmissions are beamed broadly south to cover its targets. The Cwmgors transmission station is owned and operated by Arqiva.

Cwmgors transmitter re-radiates the signal received off-air from Carmel about 25 km to the west. When it came, the digital switchover process for Cwmgors 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 5.2 W each.[1]

Channels listed by frequency

Analogue television

Winter 1983 - 26 August 2009

Cwmgors entered service in winter 1983,[2] and (being in Wales) transmitted the S4C variant of Channel 4.

Frequency UHF kW Service
471.25 MHz 21 0.026 BBC One Wales
495.25 MHz 24 0.026 ITV1 Wales (HTV Wales until 2002)
519.25 MHz 27 0.026 BBC Two Wales
551.25 MHz 31 0.026 S4C

Analogue and digital television

26 August 2009 - 23 September 2009

The UK's digital switchover commenced at Carmel (and therefore at Cwmgors 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. 5.2 W).

Frequency UHF kW Service System
471.25 MHz 21 0.026 BBC One Wales PAL System I
498.000 MHz 24 0.0052 BBC A DVB-T
519.25 MHz 27 0.026 ITV1 Wales (HTV Wales until 2002) PAL System I
551.25 MHz 31 0.026 S4C PAL System I

Digital television

23 September 2009 - present

The 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+ 0.0052 BBC B
498.000 MHz 24 0.0052 BBC A
522.000 MHz 27 0.0052 Digital 3&4

References

  1. ↑ "Freeview on Cwmgors TV transmitter". ukfree.tv. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
  2. ↑ http://www.bbceng.info/Eng_Inf/EngInf_15.pdf

External links

Coordinates: 51°47′41″N 3°52′43″W / 51.794775°N 3.878492°W