Mendlesham transmitting station

The Mendlesham transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility, situated close to the village of Mendlesham, near the town of Stowmarket, in Suffolk, United Kingdom (grid reference TM123640). It is owned and operated by Arqiva.

Mendlesham
Mendlesham transmitting station (Suffolk)
LocationMendlesham, Stowmarket, Suffolk
Mast height305.4 metres (1,002 ft)
Coordinates52.234444°N 1.1075°E / 52.234444; 1.1075
Grid referenceTM123640
Built1959
ITV regionAnglia Television (1959-1985)

It has a 305.4 metres (1,002 ft) high guyed steel lattice mast. Constructed in 1959, it came into service on 27 October of that year. It was at the time the highest television mast to be constructed in Europe and the first of six of the same height subsequently used at other Independent Television Authority stations. It was fabricated in Hereford from zinc-galvanised steel, and was erected by British Insulated Callender's Cables (BICC), now known as Balfour Beatty.

It was originally commissioned to bring ITV signals (provided by Anglia Television) to East Anglia, including Norfolk, Suffolk and parts of Essex and Cambridgeshire on 405-line VHF, using Channel 11 (Band III).

When UHF television came to East Anglia, main transmitters were commissioned at Tacolneston, near Norwich and Sudbury, near Colchester. Mendlesham was not required in the UHF plan, so when 405 line television was discontinued in the UK in 1985, the mast ceased to be used for any broadcast transmissions for over a decade.

However, in 1997, the site was chosen to be a main transmitter for new regional commercial radio station Vibe FM (renamed Kiss 105-108 in 2006), on 106.4 MHz VHF FM at a power of 20 kW. Vibe FM launched November 1997. Later in December 2001, national digital radio multiplex Digital One also added its antennas to the mast. The BBC National DAB Multiplex was added on 13 July 2010.

Channels listed by frequency

Analogue radio (VHF FM)
Frequency kW[1] Service
106.4 MHz 20 KissFMUK

Digital radio (DAB)
Frequency Block kW Operator
222.064 MHz 11D 1 Digital One[2]
225.648 MHz 12B 4.3 BBC National DAB[3]

Analogue television

VHF analogue television was transmitted from Mendlesham from its launch in 1959 until the nationwide shutdown of VHF signals in 1985.

Frequency VHF kW Service
204.75 MHz 11 200 Anglia Television
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See also

References
  1. Radio Listeners guide 2010
  2. Radio Listeners Guide 2010
  3. BBC Reception Website
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