Craig-Cefn-Parc television relay station

The Craig-Cefn-Parc television relay station is sited on Mynydd Gelliwastad to the west of Clydach in the Swansea Valley. It was originally built in the 1980s as a fill-in relay for UHF analogue colour television. It consists of a 17 m self-supporting lattice mast standing on land which is itself about 160 m above sea level (and about 90 m above the village of Craig Cefn Parc which it serves). The transmissions are beamed to the northwest to avoid cross-channel interference with the Alltwen transmitter which is about 4 km to the northeast and which uses the same frequencies. The Craig-Cefn-Parc transmitter is owned and operated by Arqiva.

Craig-Cefn-Parc
Craig-Cefn-Parc television relay station is located in Swansea
Craig-Cefn-Parc
Craig-Cefn-Parc
Kilvey Hill
Kilvey Hill
Mast height17 metres (56 ft)
Coordinates51°42′04″N 3°54′31″W
Grid referenceSN6811502046
Built1980s
Relay ofKilvey Hill
BBC regionBBC Wales
ITV regionITV Cymru Wales

Craig-Cefn-Parc transmitter re-radiates the signal received off-air from Kilvey Hill about 10 km to the south. When it came, the digital switchover process for Craig-Cefn-Parc 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 2W each.[1]

Channels listed by frequency

1980s - 12 August 2009

Craig-Cefn-Parc (being in Wales) transmitted the S4C variant of Channel 4.

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

12 August 2009 - 9 September 2009

The UK's Digital Switchover commenced at Kilvey Hill (and therefore at Craig-Cefn-Parc and all its other relays) on 12 August 2009. Analogue BBC Two Wales on channel 40 was first to close, and ITV Wales was moved from channel 43 to channel 40 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 ITV1 Wales PAL System I
650.000 MHz 43 0.002 BBC A DVB-T
671.25 MHz 46 0.006 BBC One Wales PAL System I
703.25 MHz 50 0.006 S4C PAL System I

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,[2] Craig Cefn Parc's "BBC B" multiplex will have to be moved from channel 50 to channel 40.[3]

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
See also: List of digital terrestrial television channels (UK)

References
  1. "Freeview on Craig-Cefn-Parc TV transmitter". ukfree.tv. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  2. "EU States Must Allow 4G on Analogue TV Spectrum". 15 February 2012.
  3. "Digital UK confirms further Freeview 4G clearance retune dates for South Wales | a516digital". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
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