Long Mountain transmitting station

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Long Mountain
Transmitter Masts - geograph.org.uk - 1321316.jpg
Long Mountain transmitting station is located in Powys
Long Mountain transmitting station
Long Mountain transmitting station (Powys)
Mast height52 metres (171 ft)
Coordinates52°38′43″N 3°05′11″W / 52.6452°N 3.0865°W / 52.6452; -3.0865Coordinates: 52°38′43″N 3°05′11″W / 52.6452°N 3.0865°W / 52.6452; -3.0865
Grid referenceSJ265058
BuiltLate 1970s
BBC regionBBC Wales
ITV regionITV 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[]

Analogue television[]

17 September 1976 - 1 November 1982[]

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[]

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[]

4 November 2009 - 3 December 2009[]

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[]

3 December 2009 - 19 October 2011[]

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[]

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)[]

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 3
94.0 MHz 0.02 BBC Radio 4
99.2 MHz 0.02 BBC Radio 1
102.8 MHz 0.02 Real Radio N. & M. Wales
103.6 MHz 0.02 BBC Radio Cymru

Digital radio (DAB)[]

Frequency Block kW[6] Operator
225.648 MHz 12B 1 BBC National DAB

References[]

  1. ^ UK Free TV - Freeview on the Long Mountain transmitter
  2. ^ "About us" (PDF).
  3. ^ "About us" (PDF).
  4. ^ "About us" (PDF).
  5. ^ "About us" (PDF).
  6. ^ Radio Listeners Guide 2010

External links[]

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