The Ridge Hill transmitting station is a

broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began ...

and

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than tha ...

facility located 8.5 miles SE of

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a populatio ...

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...

, and close to the border of

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

. The station transmits the full complement of digital terrestrial multiplexes and an additional ITV West Multiplex. It includes a cable stayed steel lattice mast which has a height of , which in addition to the altitude of the site gives an aerial height of above mean

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

. Ridge Hill supplies its signal to 17

relays A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated swit ...

which allow coverage into "fringe" areas not able to receive a good signal from the main transmitter. All 5 analogue programme channels were broadcast plus the full 6 digital MUXES although the multiplexes were scattered across the band requiring a wideband aerial for most consumers. Digital switchover was completed on 20 April 2011 where the main 6 multiplexes are now located in the Group A antenna band. Since March 2018 MUXES 7 and 8 have been moved up to channels 55 and 56 respectively which ar
outside the A group
though these are due to be switched off between 2020 and 2022 In addition to its television output Ridge Hill transmits various radio stations including

BBC Hereford and Worcester BBC Hereford & Worcester is the BBC's local radio station serving the counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and online via BBC Sounds from studios on Hylton Road in Worcester. According to RA ...

. The station covers the south west Midlands, including

, and parts of Worcestershire. It also covers parts of the South West, specifically northern Gloucestershire. It does not, however, transmit BBC local programmes for Gloucestershire. These are covered by the Mendip transmitter which can be seen from the south and west of Gloucester city, and a very much smaller part of Cheltenham. From 4 December 2006 Ridge Hill broadcast ITV1 West on

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter ...

channel 30 (rebroadcasting the signal from Mendip) in addition to the existing ITV1 Central service on channel 25. This is known as "Ridge Hill West". This followed the restructuring of ITV Regional News and the abolition of the Central South region. As a result, the existing ITV1 Central service now carries news from the West Midlands region.

Services listed by frequency

Digital radio (DAB)

Digital television

Before switchover

Analogue television

Since April 2011, analogue television has not been broadcast from Ridge Hill. BBC Two was closed on 6 April and the remaining five services on 20 April.

References

External links

Info and pictures of Ridge Hill including co-receivable transmitters.

Pictures of Ridge Hill from MB21 transmitter gallery.

Ridge Hill at UK TV For Free

Ridge Hill West at UK TV For Free

{{Lichfield_VHF_405-line_Transmitter_Group Transmitter sites in England