Cilfrew television relay station

Cilfrew television relay station is sited on a hill south of the village of Tonna, at least 2 km across the valley from Cilfrew in the Neath Valley. It was originally built in 1981[1] as a fill-in relay for UHF analogue colour television serving the villages of Cilfrew itself, Aberdulais and Tonna. It consists of a 30 m self-supporting lattice mast standing on land which is itself about 80 m above sea level. The transmissions are beamed to the north. The Cilfrew transmission station is owned and operated by Arqiva.

Cilfrew
Cilfrew television relay station is located in Neath Port Talbot
Cilfrew
Cilfrew
Kilvey Hill
Kilvey Hill
Mast height30 metres (98 ft)
Coordinates51°40′24″N 3°46′20″W
Grid referenceSS775986
Built1981
Relay ofKilvey Hill
BBC regionBBC Wales
ITV regionITV Cymru Wales

Cilfrew 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 Cilfrew 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 3 W each.[2]

Channels listed by frequency

September 1981 - 1 November 1982
Frequency UHF kW Service
615.25 MHz 39 0.015 BBC One Wales
663.25 MHz 45 0.015 BBC Two Wales
695.25 MHz 49 0.015 ITV1 Wales (HTV Wales until 2002)

1 November 1981 - 12 August 2009

When Channel 4 launched in 1982, Cilfrew (being in Wales) transmitted the S4C variant.

Frequency UHF kW Service
615.25 MHz 39 0.015 BBC One Wales
663.25 MHz 45 0.015 BBC Two Wales
695.25 MHz 49 0.015 ITV1 Wales (HTV Wales until 2002)
719.25 MHz 52 0.015 S4C

12 August 2009 - 9 September 2009

The UK's digital switchover commenced at Kilvey Hill (and therefore at Cilfrew and all its other relays) on 12 August 2009. Analogue BBC Two Wales on channel 45 was first to close, and ITV Wales was moved from channel 49 to channel 45 for its last month of service. Channel 49 was replaced by the new digital BBC A mux which started up in 64-QAM and at full power (i.e. 3 W).

Frequency UHF kW Service System
615.25 MHz 39 0.015 BBC One Wales PAL System I
663.25 MHz 45 0.015 ITV1 Wales PAL System I
698.000 MHz 49 0.003 BBC A DVB-T
719.25 MHz 52 0.015 S4C PAL System I

9 September 2009 - present

The remaining analogue TV services were closed down and the digital multiplexes took over on two of the original analogue channels' frequencies, BBC B being given the new allocation of channel 42.

Frequency UHF kW Operator
642.000 MHz 42 0.003 BBC B
666.000 MHz 45 0.003 Digital 3&4
698.000 MHz 49 0.003 BBC A

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] Cilfrew's "BBC A" multiplex will have to be moved from channel 49 to channel 39.[4]

Frequency UHF kW Operator
618.000 MHz 39 0.003 BBC A
642.000 MHz 42 0.003 BBC B
666.000 MHz 45 0.003 Digital 3&4
See also: List of digital terrestrial television channels (UK)

References
  1. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-01-09. Retrieved 2012-04-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "Freeview on Cilfrew TV transmitter". ukfree.tv. Archived from the original on 2013-06-07. Retrieved 2012-02-21.
  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 2016-03-04. Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
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