The Bluebell Hill transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility on

Blue Bell Hill Blue Bell Hill is a chalk hill between Maidstone and Rochester in the English county of Kent. It overlooks the River Medway and is part of the North Downs. Settlements on the hill include the Walderslade suburb of Chatham and the villages o ...

, between

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, l ...

and Rochester in the English county of

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. The station stands on the crest of the

North Downs The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Areas of Outstanding Natural Be ...

and comprises five steel lattice towers, each 45 to 50 metres tall – their height being limited by the presence nearby of Rochester Airport. It broadcasts

digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using Digital signal, digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an ...

, FM and DAB radio to much of north, west, and central Kent, and an

overspill In nonstandard analysis, a branch of mathematics, overspill (referred to as ''overflow'' by Goldblatt (1998, p. 129)) is a widely used proof technique. It is based on the fact that the set of standard natural numbers N is not an internal sub ...

service into southern Essex. It stopped broadcasting

analogue television Analog television is the original television technology that uses analog signals to transmit video and audio. In an analog television broadcast, the brightness, colors and sound are represented by amplitude, phase and frequency of an analog ...

when the

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 ...

was completed on 27 June 2012. When in analogue service, the broadcast power of 30 kW for a main transmitter was unique in the United Kingdom, the strength being limited by potential interference with transmitters in France and the Low Countries. Four of the towers are used for broadcast services, with the fifth used for general communications. Between its opening in 1974 and 31 December 1981, the transmitter broadcast

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...

on weekdays and

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT; now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00&nbs ...

at weekends. From 1 January 1982 it carried signals from the new ITV franchise TVS (

Television South Television South (TVS) was the ITV (TV network), ITV franchise holder in the South East England, South and South East of England between 1 January 1982 at 9.25 am and 31 December 1992 at 11.59 pm. The company operated under various names, init ...

), until superseded on 1 January 1993 by ITV Meridian (East) for ITV in the south east. This transmitter has four relays: Chatham Town, Farleigh, Gillingham Testing Centre and Sittingbourne. Bluebell Hill was originally an E group for analogue, then became a B group at digital switchover. After 700 MHz clearance in July 2018 it became a K group (excluding the temporary MUXES 7 and 8). Most E group and B group aerials, as well as widebands and K groups, will work satisfactorily with Bluebell Hill. Northern parts of Kent – such as

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...

Swanley Swanley is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England, southeast of central London, adjacent to the Greater London boundary and within the M25 motorway periphery. The population at the 2021 ce ...

Westerham Westerham is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located 3.4 miles east of Oxted and 6 miles west of Sevenoaks, adjacent to the Kent border with both Greater London and Surrey. I ...

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Roche ...

, and most of

Sevenoaks Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506, situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parishes in England, civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter South Eastern Main Line, main line railway into Lo ...

– cannot get television signals from the Bluebell Hill transmitter but instead receive from the

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

transmitter.

Services available

Analogue radio

Digital radio

Digital television

Before switchover

Analogue television

Analogue television transmissions have now ceased. BBC2 was closed on 13 June 2012 and the remaining three services on 27 June. Channel 5 was never broadcast from this transmitter.

References

External links

The Transmission Gallery: Bluebell HillInfo and pictures of Bluebell Hill transmitter including historical power/frequency changes and co-receivable transmitters
{{Television transmitters in the UK Tonbridge and Malling Transmitter sites in England