Alltwen
Alltwen television relay station is located in Neath Port Talbot
Alltwen
Alltwen
Kilvey Hill
Kilvey Hill
Mast height17 metres (56 ft)
Coordinates51°43′10″N 3°51′34″W / 51.7195°N 3.8594°W / 51.7195; -3.8594
Grid referenceSN716039
Built1980s
Relay ofKilvey Hill
BBC regionBBC Wales
ITV regionITV Cymru Wales

The Alltwen television relay station is sited on a hill to the southwest of Pontardawe in the Swansea Valley, at least a kilometre away from the village of Alltwen from which it takes its name. It was originally built in the late 1980s[1] as a fill-in relay for UHF analogue colour television. It consists of a 17 m self-supporting lattice mast standing on Craig Glyn Meirch, a hillside which is itself about 140 m above sea level (about 90 m above the valley floor). The transmitters are beamed northwards and eastwards to cater for those digital terrestrial TV subscribers in the towns of Pontardawe and Alltwen who for reasons of geography can't get a signal from the much bigger and more powerful Pontardawe transmitter. The Alltwen transmission station is owned and operated by Arqiva.

Alltwen transmitter re-radiates the signal received off-air from Kilvey Hill about 12 km to the southwest. When it came, the digital switchover process for Alltwen duplicated the timing at the parent station, with the first stage taking place on Wednesday 12 August 2009 and the second stage was completed on Wednesday 9 September 2009, with the Kilvey Hill transmitter-group becoming the first in Wales to complete digital switchover. After the switchover process, analogue channels had ceased broadcasting permanently and the Freeview digital TV services were radiated at an ERP of 2 W each.[2]

Channels listed by frequency

Analogue television

10 March 1989 - 12 August 2009

Alltwen (being in Wales) transmitted the S4C variant of Channel 4.

Frequency UHF kW Service
623.25 MHz 40 0.006 BBC One Wales
647.25 MHz 43 0.006 ITV1 Wales
671.25 MHz 46 0.006 BBC Two Wales
703.25 MHz 50 0.006 S4C

Analogue and digital television

12 August 2009 - 9 September 2009

The UK's digital switchover commenced at Kilvey Hill (and therefore at Alltwen and all its other relays) on 12 August 2009. Analogue BBC Two Wales on channel 46 was first to close, and ITV Wales was moved from channel 43 to channel 46 for its last month of service. Channel 43 was replaced by the new digital BBC A mux which started up in 64-QAM and at full power (i.e. 2 W).

Frequency UHF kW Service System
623.25 MHz 40 0.006 BBC One Wales PAL System I
650.000 MHz 43 0.002 BBC A DVB-T
671.25 MHz 46 0.006 ITV1 Wales PAL System I
703.25 MHz 50 0.006 S4C PAL System I

Digital television

9 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
650.000 MHz 43 0.002 BBC A
674.000 MHz 46 0.002 Digital 3&4
706.000 MHz 50 0.002 BBC B

13 March 2013

As a side-effect of frequency-changes elsewhere in the region to do with clearance of the 800 MHz band for 4G mobile phone use,[3] Alltwen's "BBC B" multiplex will have to be moved from channel 50 to channel 40.[4]

Frequency UHF kW Operator
626.000 MHz 40 0.002 BBC B
650.000 MHz 43 0.002 BBC A
674.000 MHz 46 0.002 Digital 3&4

References

  1. ↑ "Press Release: Alltwen television relay station now open" (PDF). BBC. 10 March 1989. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  2. ↑ "Freeview on Alltwen TV transmitter". ukfree.tv. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
  3. ↑ "EU States Must Allow 4G on Analogue TV Spectrum". 15 February 2012.
  4. ↑ "Digital UK confirms further Freeview 4G clearance retune dates for South Wales | a516digital". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
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