The Llanelli transmitting station is a
broadcasting and
telecommunications facility located on high ground north of the town of
Llanelli, South Wales. It was originally built by the
BBC, entering service in mid 1970 transmitting the now-defunct
405-line
The 405-line monochrome analogue television broadcasting system was the first fully electronic television system to be used in regular broadcasting. The number of television lines influences the image resolution, or quality of the picture.
It was ...
VHF
Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter.
Frequencies immediately below VHF ...
television system. As such, it was one of the last 405 transmitters ever built.
UHF colour television was added to the mast in early 1975.
Currently, the transmitter provides
DVB-T
DVB-T, short for Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial, is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in Singapore in Febr ...
digital television to the area, along with
Scarlet FM
''Scarlet FM'' was an Independent Local Radio station, serving Llanelli, Burry Port, Pembrey and south Carmarthenshire, owned and operated by Town and Country Broadcasting (now Nation Broadcasting).
Originally broadcast as a separate station f ...
radio and a single multiplex of
DAB
DAB, dab, dabs, or dabbing may refer to:
Dictionaries
* ''Dictionary of American Biography'', published under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies
* ''Dictionary of Australian Biography'', published since 1949
Places
* Dąb, ...
digital radio.
Specifications and history
The site has a 30 m self-standing lattice mast erected on land that is itself about 100 m above sea level.
UHF television was added to the site in early 1975, launching with just the three programme services that were active at the time. S4C was added in 1982 when it launched.
The 405-line VHF television service closed across the UK in 1985, but according to the BBC's transmitter list and the BBC's internal "Eng. Inf." magazine,
Llanelli was due to close early – in the third quarter of 1982.
DAB radio was added in 2010.
Services listed by frequency
Analogue television
8 June 1970 – Early 1975
BBC 405-line television started up with the site acting as an off-air relay transmitter of
Wenvoe about 60 km to the east, near
Cardiff..
Early 1975 – Third Quarter 1982
When 625-line colour television was added, the site became a relay of
Carmel
Carmel may refer to:
* Carmel (biblical settlement), an ancient Israelite town in Judea
* Mount Carmel, a coastal mountain range in Israel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea
* Carmelites, a Roman Catholic mendicant religious order
Carmel may also ...
about 15 km to the north.
Third Quarter 1982 – 26 August 2009
405-line television was shut down early compared with the UK as a whole, and Llanelli's Band I transmitter ended its service after a mere 12 years. From then until the start of the digital switchover 27 years later, only UHF television would be available from the site.
Channel 4 was added to the set radiated from the site when it launched on 1 November 1982. Being in Wales, Llanelli transmitted 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. The channel number chosen for S4C was inconveniently well outside aerial group B which would have been ideal for the other three channels.
Analogue and digital television
26 August 2009 – 23 September 2009
The UK's
digital switchover commenced, mirroring the changes taking place at the parent transmitter at
Carmel
Carmel may refer to:
* Carmel (biblical settlement), an ancient Israelite town in Judea
* Mount Carmel, a coastal mountain range in Israel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea
* Carmelites, a Roman Catholic mendicant religious order
Carmel may also ...
. Analogue BBC Two Wales closed on channel 45 and ITV1 Wales took over on that frequency for what would be its final 3 weeks of service, vacating channel 49 as it did so. The new digital BBC A multiplex started up at full power in 64-QAM mode on channel 49.
Digital television
23 September 2009 – present
All the analogue television services closed and the new digital multiplexes took over on channels 45 and 49. Channel 67 was discontinued, and the BBC B multiplex started on previously unused channel 42. This meant that for the first time since 1982, all the transmissions from the Llanelli transmitter were in aerial group B.
Analogue radio (FM VHF)
Present
Digital radio (DAB)
Present
See also
*
List of masts
*
List of radio stations in the United Kingdom
*
List of tallest buildings and structures in Great Britain
References
External links
MB21's page on BBC 405 TV to Wales and the WestThe Transmission Gallery: Photographs and InformationThe 'ukfree' listing for Llanelli
{{Television transmitters in the UK
Transmitter sites in Wales
Wenvoe VHF 405-line Transmitter Group