The Carmel transmitting station, located half a mile (0.8km) SSW of the village of Carmel in

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire ( cy, Sir Gaerfyrddin; or informally ') is a county in the south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. The county is known ...

, has been broadcasting terrestrial TV and radio services since the mid-1970s. The TV coverage area for the Carmel transmission station includes most of Carmarthenshire, the southern and eastern parts of Pembrokeshire; the southern fringes of

Powys Powys (; ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh succession of states, successor state, petty kingdom and princi ...

and

Ceredigion Ceredigion ( , , ) is a county in the west of Wales, corresponding to the historic county of Cardiganshire. During the second half of the first millennium Ceredigion was a minor kingdom. It has been administered as a county since 1282. C ...

; the northern part of Swansea. The Carmel signal is also receivable in parts of

Neath Port Talbot Neath Port Talbot ( cy, Castell-nedd Port Talbot) is a county borough in the south-west of Wales. Its principal towns are Neath, Port Talbot, Briton Ferry and Pontardawe. The county borough borders Bridgend County Borough and Rhondda Cynon Ta ...

Bridgend Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the medieval bridge over the River Og ...

and Rhondda Cynon Taff. Places as far away as

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Ty ...

and the north

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

coast are also able to receive signals from Carmel. Carmel started to switch over to digital terrestrial TV broadcast services on 26 August 2009.

Services available

Analogue television

21 May 1973 - 1 November 1982

Carmel never did broadcast VHF television, and went live with the UK's three national UHF television services.

1 November 1982 - 15 November 1998

The UK's fourth national television service joined the set transmitted from the site. Being in Wales, the

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking ...

variant was broadcast.

Analogue and digital television

15 November 1998 - 26 August 2009

The initial rollout of digital television in the UK involved radiating the signals at low power in between the existing analogue channels.

26 August 2009 - 23 September 2009

The UK's digital switchover commenced at this site. Analogue BBC Two Wales closed on channel 63 and ITV1 Wales took over on that frequency for what would be its final 3 weeks of service, vacating channel 60 as it did so. The new BBC A multiplex started up at full power in 64-QAM mode on channel 60, and Mux 1 on channel 55 closed.

Digital television

23 September 2009 - present

All the analogue television services closed and the new digital multiplexes took over their frequencies (and two new ones) with name-changes, power increases and a shift to 64-QAM.

May 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, Carmel's "Arqiva B" multiplex will have to be moved from channel 61 to channel 49 and the "BBC A" multiplex will get a negative offset.

Analogue radio (VHF FM)

† Relays the signal from Kilvey Hill to cover Swansea

Digital radio (DAB)

References

External links

Pictures of Carmel transmitter masts on GeographFreeview transmission details
{{Carmel UHF DVB Transmitter Group Transmitter sites in Wales