Cwmgors transmitting station
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 transmitting station (Neath Port Talbot) | |
Mast height | 25 metres (82 ft) |
---|---|
Coordinates | 51.794775°N 3.878492°W |
Grid reference | SN705123 |
Built | 1983 |
Relay of | Carmel |
BBC region | BBC Wales |
ITV region | ITV Wales |
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
- "Freeview on Cwmgors TV transmitter". ukfree.tv. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
- http://www.bbceng.info/Eng_Inf/EngInf_15.pdf%5B%5D