Belmont Transmitting Station
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The Belmont transmitting station is a
broadcasting Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...
and
telecommunication Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...
s facility next to the B1225, west of the village of
Donington on Bain Donington on Bain is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The village is approximately south-west from Louth and north from Horncastle, and is on the east bank of the River Bain, and in the Li ...
in the civil parish of South Willingham, near
Market Rasen Market Rasen ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish within the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The River Rase runs through it east to west, approximately north-east from Lincoln, England, Lincoln, eas ...
and
Louth Louth may refer to: Australia *Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia * Louth, New South Wales, a town * Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia ** Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality Canada * Louth, Ontario Ireland * Cou ...
in
Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...
, England (). It is owned and operated by
Arqiva Arqiva () is a British telecommunications company which provides infrastructure, broadcast transmission and smart meter facilities in the United Kingdom. The company is headquartered at the former Independent Broadcasting Authority headquart ...
. It has a guyed tubular steel mast, with a lattice upper section. The mast was shortened in April 2010 and is now in height. Before this it was high and was considered to be the tallest structure of its kind in the world (taller masts, such as the KVLY-TV mast in the United States, use steel lattice construction), and the tallest structure of any type in the United Kingdom. After the top section was removed, the mast's reduced height relegated it to the second-highest in the UK after Skelton in Cumbria. Despite the mast being shortened it can be seen in daylight on clear days from most areas close to and within the
Lincolnshire Wolds The Lincolnshire Wolds which also includes the Lincolnshire Wolds National Landscape are a range of low hills in the county of Lincolnshire, England which runs roughly parallel with the North Sea coast, from the Humber Estuary just west of the t ...
. On clear nights its bright red
aircraft warning lights Aviation obstruction lighting is used to enhance the visibility of structures or fixed obstacles which may conflict with the safe navigation of aircraft. Obstruction lighting is commonly installed on towers, buildings, and even fences located in ...
can be very widely seen across much of Lincolnshire from as far north as the
Humber estuary The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Trent, Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms ...
and
Barton-Upon-Humber Barton-upon-Humber () or Barton is a town and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England. The population at the 2011 census was 11,066. It is situated on the south bank of the Humber Estuary at the southern end of the Humber Bridge. It is sou ...
; from the west of the county it can be seen from Lincoln,
Gainsborough Gainsborough or Gainsboro may refer to: Places * Gainsborough, Ipswich, Suffolk, England ** Gainsborough Ward, Ipswich * Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, a town in England ** Gainsborough (UK Parliament constituency) * Gainsborough, Saskatchewan, Ca ...
and
Grantham Grantham () is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road. It lies south of Lincoln, England ...
; from the south of the county it can be seen from Spalding and Bourne; and from the east it can be seen from
Skegness Skegness ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey District of Lincolnshire, England. On the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, the town is east of Lincoln and north-east of Boston. With a population of 21,128 as of 2021 ...
,
Mablethorpe Mablethorpe is a seaside town in the civil parish of Mablethorpe and Sutton, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England.OS Explorer map 283:Louth and Mablethorpe: (1:25 000): In 1961 the civil parish had a population of 3,611. On 1 Ap ...
and most areas along the Lincolnshire coast. The lights can also be seen from many parts of
Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...
, coastal areas of North West Norfolk and a few parts of
Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...
on very clear nights.


Construction

A planning application was made in October 1963 to Louth Rural District. Work had started by April 1964. The foundations were laid on 30 June 1964. The concrete foundation was built by the end of October 1964, with tube sections being added from November 1964 at the site, near Benniworth. It would be the seventh highest mast in the world. The first 900 ft would be a 9-ft diameter steel cylinder, with the rest a steel lattice. There would be a 12 ft cylinder around this lattice, with the top 150 ft being 9 ft wide. 1200 cubic feet of concrete was poured into its 32 square feet foundations. 12 people would work on the site. The mast was constructed in 1965 and it came into service on 20 December of that year. As built it was a tubular pipe long by in diameter, surmounted by a lattice upper section (an identical mast was constructed in 1964 at
Emley Moor The Emley Moor transmitting station is a telecommunications and broadcasting facility on Emley Moor, west of the village centre of Emley, in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It is made up of a concrete tower and apparatus that began ...
near
Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...
in
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...
, but the other mast collapsed due to guy failure caused by icing and high winds on 19 March 1969). Its ropes weigh 85 tons, made by British Ropes, with steel from
Steel, Peech and Tozer Steel, Peech and Tozer was a large steel maker with works situated at Ickles and Templeborough, in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. History An area of land, almost a crescent shape through Masbrough and Ickles, on the edge of Rotherham ...
of
Templeborough Templeborough (historically Templebrough) is a suburb of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The suburb falls within the Brinsworth and Catcliffe ward of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council. The area takes its name from the remains of the ...
in South Yorkshire. The column weighs 210 tons and has 375 segments, with steel from
United Steel Companies The United Steel Companies was a steelmaking, engineering, coal mining and coal by-product group based in South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, England. History The company was registered in 1918 and the following year saw a joining together of ste ...
at
Scunthorpe Scunthorpe () is an industrial town in Lincolnshire, England, and the county's third most populous settlement after Lincoln, England, Lincoln and Grimsby, with a population of 81,286 in 2021. It is the administrative centre and largest settleme ...
in northern
Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...
. In September 1967, meteorological equipment was added to the mast extending its height to . The imperial measurement was the accepted value quoted by publications including the 1993 edition of the ''
Guinness Book of Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...
''.Guinness Book of Records 39th Edition (1993), page 93 – The metric measurement quoted by the current owners is shorter. Between October 2009 and April 2010, the mast was shortened as part of the Digital Switchover works. Most of the top section abov
the fifth stay level was removed
(along with the sixth stay level) and the mast now stands high.


Coverage

From its location, high in the
Lincolnshire Wolds The Lincolnshire Wolds which also includes the Lincolnshire Wolds National Landscape are a range of low hills in the county of Lincolnshire, England which runs roughly parallel with the North Sea coast, from the Humber Estuary just west of the t ...
, it broadcasts digital television and both analogue and digital radio to
Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...
, eastern
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...
, northern parts of
Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
and some eastern parts of
Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...
. Belmont is the main transmitter that covers the cities of
Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...
and Lincoln. When it was first operated it transmitted (amongst others) ITV station
Anglia Television ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...
. Following a re-organisation of ITV coverage in 1972, from 1974 it started transmitting neighbouring station
Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...
instead, which it continues to do to this day.


Transmission

Due to bad weather in late 1965, it did not offer a full ITV service until Monday 16 May 1966. But BBC and VHF radio would start in autumn 1966. Emley Moor, its twin, came into full service on 15 August 1966. The transmitters were not installed by the end of September 1966, but BBC equipment was being tested by early 1966, with full BBC service on Saturday 19 November 1966, and test transmissions from 5 November, with Peterborough able to receive these broadcasts. This was the same month that Pontop Pike also began transmissions. Tacolneston went into full service on 9 September 1967. On 19 February 1969 wintry weather caused an eight-hour power cut, and staff were cut off by snow drifts, with a small amount of food. One month later, wintry weather brought down an identical mast, Emley Moor. Emley Moor was the highest man-made structure in Europe The first colour tests from Monday 18 January 1971; Sandy Heath began full colour broadcasting on 8 February 1971; Tacolneston went colour on 1 October 1970. Full colour on channel 22 for BBC1 began on Monday 15 February 1971, ITV would be later on Monday 24 May 1971.


Transmitter power

In the analogue era Belmont, at 500 kW E.R.P. for the four main analogue television channels, was one of the most powerful transmitters in the UK, though there were four UK transmitters which were more powerful; Sutton Coldfield, Crystal Palace and Sandy Heath were all at 1000 kW and Emley Moor was 870 kW. After
digital switchover Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Businesses *Digital bank, a form of financial institution *Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) or Digital, a computer company *Digital Research (DR or DRI), a software ...
Belmont's digital transmitting power was 50 kW for SDN (previously Mux A), 100 kW for Arqiva A & B (Mux C, D) and 150 kW for BBC A, D3&4 and BBC B (Mux 1, 2, B).


700MHz clearance

On 4 March 2020, Belmont was due to complete its 700MHz clearance and will become an A group transmitter, excluding the temporary MUXES 7 and 8 (se
graph
. Since Belmont started out as an A group for (just) analogue it returns to that band after being a wideband for 21 years. Technically the advent of C5 analogue complicated the issue for a few months prior to (dual) running digital transmissions started in 1998.


Services listed by frequency


Analogue television


20 December 1965 – 19 November 1966

First transmissions from the site: ITV's 405-line television service was fed by off-air reception of Mendlesham at Great Massingham in Norfolk, with an onward microwave link to Belmont via an intermediate point at Winceby in Lincolnshire.


19 November 1966 – 24 May 1971

The BBC's services came online on both VHF and UHF. BBC1 was initially fed by means of an off-air rebroadcast of
Holme Moss Holme Moss ( Above mean sea level, a.s.l.) is high moorland on the border between the Holme Valley district of Kirklees in West Yorkshire and the High Peak, Derbyshire, High Peak district of Derbyshire in England. Historically on the boundary ...
but this was plagued by co-channel interference from the continent. BBC2 was an off-air rebroadcast from
Emley Moor The Emley Moor transmitting station is a telecommunications and broadcasting facility on Emley Moor, west of the village centre of Emley, in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It is made up of a concrete tower and apparatus that began ...
. On 19 March 1969, the Emley Moor mast collapsed, taking Belmont's BBC2 transmissions off-air for several days. Despite the programme sources on VHF and UHF being (for many years) off-air rebroadcasts of other transmitters in the vicinity, Belmont was always regarded by the BBC as being a "main station" both on VHF and UHF. The IBA initially regarded it as a relay of Mendlesham (and numbered it 14.2 in their numbering of VHF stations) but from 1974 it became a "main station" for Yorkshire Television (renumbered as 20.0 in the IBA's numbering of VHF stations) after changes in the minor franchise areas. It was always number 120.0 in the BBC/IBA numbering scheme for UHF stations).


24 May 1971 – 30 July 1974

ITV's UHF service began.


30 July 1974 – 2 November 1982

After changes to the regional structure of ITV in 1972, Belmont stopped being a relay of Mendlesham and became a main station for Yorkshire TV. It was fed by a Post Office (later BT) microwave link from Leeds, allowing Yorkshire TV to supply Belmont with a separate 7-minute segment of their regional news magazine programme "Calendar", a Belmont titled version of Anglia's weather forecast, as well as having the ability to sell advertising separately in the Belmont and Emley Moor areas. The microwave link from Leeds to Belmont apparently ran via Emley Moor, where the IBA could insert test transmissions, such as Test Card "F"


2 November 1982 – 30 March 1997

Both the BBC and ITV 405-line VHF TV services from Belmont were discontinued early in mid-1982, and when Channel 4 began formal transmissions in November that year it was radiated on UHF from the site:


30 March 1997 – 15 November 1998

Belmont started transmitting the UK's final terrestrial analogue UHF TV service: Channel 5. This was done well out-of-band and at reduced power compared with the main group.


Analogue and digital television


15 November 1998 – 3 August 2011

Belmont began transmitting digital TV, with the new digital
multiplexes In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource—a ...
spaced far from the existing analogue channels. In July 2007 it was confirmed by Ofcom that Belmont would be remaining a wideband transmitter after
digital switchover Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Businesses *Digital bank, a form of financial institution *Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) or Digital, a computer company *Digital Research (DR or DRI), a software ...
.


3 August 2011 – 17 August 2011

BBC2 closed on UHF 28. BBC1 was moved on to that channel for its final three weeks of service. Pre-DSO Multiplex 1 (BBC) on UHF 30 was closed and was replaced by BBC A on UHF 22.


Digital television


17 August 2011 – 26 November 2013

All the remaining analogue and existing digital signals were turned off and replaced with higher-power digital signals. *Arqiva A and Arqiva B were limited to 4 kW until 23 November 2011, when they were increased to 100 kW.


26 November 2013 – 4 February 2020

Local TV, carrying Estuary TV, and Arqiva C, carrying additional HD services, launched on 26 November 2013.


5 February 2020 – 3 March 2020

Arqiva A moved from UHF 53 to UHF 23, in accordance with the 700MHz clearance.


4 March 2020 – 24 June 2020

Arqiva B moved from UHF 60- to UHF 26, and a power increase of the Local multiplex, in accordance with the 700MHz clearance.


25 June 2020 – Present

COM 8 was switched off permanently in accordance with the 700MHz clearance programme.


Analogue radio (FM VHF)


19 November 1966 – 11 November 1980


11 November 1980 – February 1992

BBC Radio Lincolnshire started broadcasting. BBC Radio 1 officially launched in 98.3 on 27 July 1990Frequency Finder – Radio 1 Transmission History
/ref>


February 1992 – present day

Lincs FM (launched 1 March 1992) and Classic FM (launched 1 September 1992) join the set of FM broadcasts.


Digital radio (DAB)


Relays

Below is a list of transmitters that relay Belmont.


Digital television


See also

*
List of tallest buildings and structures This is the History of the world's tallest structures. Overall Below is a list of the tallest structures supported by land. For most of the period from around 2650 BC to 1240 AD, the Egyptian pyramids (culminating in the Great Pyramid of Giz ...
*
List of tallest structures in the United Kingdom This list contains all types of structures in height or more, which is the accepted criterion for a building to qualify as a skyscraper in the United Kingdom. Entries in ''italics'' denote approximate figures. indicates a structure that h ...
*
List of masts The tallest structure in the world is the Burj Khalifa skyscraper at . Listed are guyed masts (such as telecommunication masts), self-supporting towers (such as the CN Tower), skyscrapers (such as the Willis Tower), oil platforms, electricity t ...
*
List of radio stations in the United Kingdom This is a list of radio stations in the United Kingdom. National analogue and digital stations This list does not include stations which broadcast on numerous local digital multiplexes or MW licences to achieve near-national coverage. It also feat ...


References


External links

*
The Transmission Gallery: Belmont index

Info and pictures of Belmont, including co-receivable channels

Belmont at UK Free TV

Pictures of Belmont at Geograph



Relay stations


Grimsby

Hunmanby

Lincoln Central

Oliver's Mount

Weaverthorpe
{{Supertall Radio masts and towers in Europe Buildings and structures in Lincolnshire Transmitter sites in England Infrastructure completed in 1965 1965 in British television 1965 establishments in England East Lindsey District Mass media in the East Midlands West Lindsey District Yorkshire Television