Clermont Carn (), also known as Black Mountain, is a mountain that rises to in the

Cooley Mountains The Cooley Mountains () are on the Cooley Peninsula in northeast County Louth in Ireland. They consist of two ridges running northwest to southeast, separated by the valley of Glenmore with the Big River running through it. Slieve Foy, at ...

County Louth County Louth ( ; ) is a coastal Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of County Meath, Meath to the ...

, Ireland. It is at the border with Northern Ireland, and is also the location of the Clermont Carn transmission site. The mountain's name refers to an ancient burial

cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...

on its summit, and to Lord Clermont of Ravensdale.

Cairn

The 'carn' in the mountain's name refers to an ancient burial monument on its summit, also known as 'Black Mountain Chambered Cairn' or 'Ravensdale Park Cairn'. This cairn is in diameter and over high, with the remains of another trapezoidal cairn long in the southwest part. Three

lintel A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented/structural item. In the case ...

s are in position and the rear part is

corbelled In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a bearing weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applie ...

. Surrounding this was a court (5.5 × 7 m) and a gallery containing at least two burial chambers. It was built in the early

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

, c. 4000–3500 BC, and forms part of the Clyde- Carlingford group of

court cairn The court cairn or court tomb is a megalithic type of chambered cairn or gallery grave. During the period, 3900–3500 BC, more than 390 court cairns were built in Ireland and over 100 in southwest Scotland. The Neolithic (New Stone Age) mon ...

s. In recent decades the site has been disturbed by quarrying and blasting. It is a protected

National Monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a sp ...

Transmission site

The Clermont Carn transmission site is situated at the summit of Clermont Carn and was opened in 1981 to provide UHF television coverage for the northeast of the Republic of Ireland, counties Louth,

Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

, and North

County Dublin County Dublin ( or ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and holds its capital city, Dublin. It is located on the island's east coast, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Until 1994, County Dubli ...

. With the site being less than from the border it was clear that this transmitter would be used to provide

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

services into Northern Ireland. Initially the two channels

RTÉ One RTÉ One is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by RTÉ. It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís Éireann'' on 31 December 1961, it was renamed ''R ...

and

RTÉ2 RTÉ2 (formerly branded as RTÉ 2 from 1978–88, Network 2 from 1988–97, N2 from 1997–2004 and RTÉ Two from 2004–14) is an Irish free-to-air television channel operated by public service broadcaster RTÉ. It was launched on 2 Novemb ...

were carried on Ch52 and Ch56 with

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 Niger, a commercial television channel in Niger * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Can ...

on Ch66 and

TG4 TG4 (; , ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television channel. It launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on-demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was initially known as (TnaG), before bein ...

on Ch68 following later. FM radio transmission was also added providing coverage of the five national channels to its service area, and in 1982, a 2M

Amateur Radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency radio spectrum, spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emer ...

Repeater was installed. In 2002, a new cable-stayed mast was erected and this greatly improved coverage into Northern Ireland. The original self-supporting tower was truncated, and is now only used for microwave links and the Amateur Radio Repeater.

Digital terrestrial television Digital terrestrial television (DTTV, DTT, or DTTB) is a technology for terrestrial television, in which television stations broadcast television content in a digital signal, digital format. Digital terrestrial television is a major technologica ...

(DTT) trials started in 2008, and in common with all 2RN transmitters in Ireland, analogue television transmissions from this site ended on 24 October 2012. Uniquely, Clermont Carn is the only main television transmitter in Ireland that is vertically polarised, and does not service any

relay transmitters A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...

. Today the Irish digital television service

Saorview Saorview ( ) is the national digital terrestrial television (DTT) service in Ireland. It is owned by RTÉ and operated by 2RN. The service began operation on 29 October 2010 on a trial basis with a full launch on 26 May 2011. By legislation i ...

is broadcast from here to a sizeable area including a large tract of Northern Ireland, with a good signal being received in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

and beyond. This overspill has been welcomed by the UK's

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, internet, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-rang ...

who have provided information for viewers in Northern Ireland about receiving the RTÉ channels and

both from within Northern Ireland on the UK's

Freeview Freeview may refer to: *Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia *Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), a ...

service, and via the

overspill.

Current Transmissions

Digital television

Analogue television

All services ceased October 24th, 2012. (PAL-I UHF)

Digital Radio

Ceased on 31st of March, 2021. https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2021/0302/1200334-rte-dab-network/

FM radio

Amateur radio

Gallery

File:Approach Clermont.jpg, Approach road to Clermont summit File:Clermont 2RN distant.jpg, Summit seen from Church Hill Road Jonesborough County Armagh File:Clermont 2RN closer.jpg, Mast seen from the N1 road File:Clarmont closeup.jpg, Top of mast File:Clarmont compound.jpg, The transmitter building

References

{{Main broadcast transmitters in Ireland, state=collapsed Transmitter sites in Ireland Mountains and hills of County Louth