Belmont transmitting station - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Belmont transmitting station is a broadcasting

Broadcasting

Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...

and telecommunications facility, situated next to the B1225, one mile west of the village of Donington on Bain

Donington on Bain

Donington on Bain is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies in the Lincolnshire Wolds about miles south-west of Louth and about six miles north of Horncastle. It sits on the east bank of the River Bain...

in the civil parish of South Willingham

South Willingham

South Willingham is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies south-west off the A157, south-east from Market Rasen, north from Horncastle and west from Louth....

, near Market Rasen

Market Rasen

Market Rasen is a town and civil parish within the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies on the River Rase northeast of Lincoln, east of Gainsborough and southwest of Grimsby. According to the 2001 census, it has a population of 3,200....

and Louth

Louth, Lincolnshire

Louth is a market town and civil parish within the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England.-Geography:Known as the "capital of the Lincolnshire Wolds", it is situated where the ancient trackway Barton Street crosses the River Lud, and has a total resident population of 15,930.The Greenwich...

in Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is owned and operated by Arqiva

Arqiva

Arqiva is a telecommunications company which provides infrastructure and broadcast transmission facilities in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. The present company, with headquarters located at Crawley Court in the village of Crawley, Hampshire, was formed by National Grid Wireless...

.

It has a guyed tubular steel mast, with a lattice upper section. The mast was shortened in April 2010 and is now 351.65 m (1,154 ft) in height. Prior to this it was 387.5m high and was considered to be the tallest structure of its kind in the world (taller masts, such as the KVLY-TV mast

KVLY-TV mast

The KVLY-TV mast is a tall television-transmitting mast in Blanchard, Traill County, North Dakota, United States, used by Fargo station KVLY-TV channel 11...

in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, use steel lattice construction), the tallest structure of any type in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

and also the tallest structure within the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

. After the top section was removed the mast's reduced height relegated it to 14th highest structure in the EU and second highest in the UK after Skelton. The current world's tallest guyed tubular steel mast is TV Tower Vinnytsia

TV Tower Vinnytsia

The TV Tower Vinnytsia is a 354 metre high guyed steel tube mast used for FM- and TV-transmission, located in Ukraine. A special feature of its structure are three crossbars arranged in 120 degree angles in two levels, running from its structure to the guys.TV Tower Vinnytsia is not the only...

in Ukraine.

Construction

The mast was constructed in 1965 and it came into service on 20 December of that year. As built it was a tubular pipe 900 feet long by 9 feet in diameter, surmounted by a 365 ft lattice upper section. (An identical mast was constructed in 1964 at Emley Moor near Huddersfield

Huddersfield

Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, situated halfway between Leeds and Manchester. It lies north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city....

in Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

, but that mast collapsed due to guy failure caused by icing and high winds on 19 March 1969.)

In September 1967 meteorological equipment was added to the 1,265 ft mast extending its height to 1,272 ft (387.7m). The imperial measurement was the accepted value quoted by a number of publications, including the 1993 edition of the Guinness Book of Records. The metric measurement quoted by the current owners is 0.2 m (8 in) shorter.

Between October 2009 and April 2010 the mast was shortened as part of the Digital Switchover works, most of the top section above the fifth stay level was removed (along with the sixth stay level) and the mast now stands 351.65m high.

Coverage

From its location, high in the Lincolnshire Wolds

Lincolnshire Wolds

The Lincolnshire Wolds is a range of hills in the county of Lincolnshire, England. It is a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty , and the highest area of land in eastern England between Yorkshire and Kent...

, it is used to broadcast digital television and both analogue and digital radio to parts of Lincolnshire, north Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...

, South Yorkshire

South Yorkshire

South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield...

, north-west Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

, Hull

Kingston upon Hull

Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...

and East Yorkshire

East Yorkshire

East Yorkshire could be:*East Yorkshire Motor Services*An alternative name for the East Riding of Yorkshire*East Yorkshire , a former district of Humberside*East Yorkshire...

. When it was first operated it transmitted (amongst others) pictures from ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

station Anglia Television

Anglia Television

Anglia Television is the ITV franchise holder for the East Anglia franchise region. Although Anglia Television takes its name from East Anglia, its transmission coverage extends beyond the generally accepted boundaries of that region. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional...

. Following a re-organisation of ITV coverage in 1972, from 1974 it started transmitting pictures from neighbouring station Yorkshire Television

Yorkshire Television

Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...

instead, which it continues to do to this day.

On 1 January 2012, Yorkshire and Anglia will join forces to broadcast to north Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...

, Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire

, Humberside

Humberside

Humberside was a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county in Northern England from 1 April 1974 until 1 April 1996. It was composed of land from either side of the Humber Estuary, created from portions of the East and West ridings of Yorkshire and parts of Lindsey, Lincolnshire...

, north and west Norfolk

Norfolk

, a small part of west Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

, Derbyshire

Derbyshire

Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...

, Rutland

Rutland

Rutland is a landlocked county in central England, bounded on the west and north by Leicestershire, northeast by Lincolnshire and southeast by Peterborough and Northamptonshire....

and east Leicestershire

Leicestershire

Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...

on Channel 3 (Yorkshire

Yorkshire Television

) and Channel 7 (Anglia

Anglia Television

Relay stations

Belmont has few relay stations, with a lot of Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire being flat. The strongest relay station is at Oliver's Mount and there are two in the Yorkshire Wolds

Yorkshire Wolds

The Yorkshire Wolds are low hills in the counties of East Riding of Yorkshire and North Yorkshire in northeastern England. The name also applies to the district in which the hills lie....

. The Belmont transmitter can be received some distance outside of the intended broadcast area.

Transmitter power

At 500 kW E.R.P.

Effective radiated power

In radio telecommunications, effective radiated power or equivalent radiated power is a standardized theoretical measurement of radio frequency energy using the SI unit watts, and is determined by subtracting system losses and adding system gains...

for the four main analogue channels, Belmont was one of the most powerful transmitters in the UK, though there are four UK transmitters which are more powerful; Sutton Coldfield, Crystal Palace and Sandy are all 1000kW and Emley Moor is 870kW. Channel 5 was only broadcast at 50 kW from Belmont and digital at 20 kW (Mux 2), 10 kW (Mux 1, A, B) and 4 kW (Mux C, D) although this level of digital power is theoretically equal to 500 kW on analogue in terms of the received carrier to noise ratio required to give a "perfect" picture. After digital switchover Belmont's digital transmitting power rose to 50 kW for SDN (previously Mux A), 100 kW (4 kW until November 2011) for Arqiva A & B (Mux C, D) and 150 kW for BBC A, D3&4 and BBC B (Mux 1, 2, B).

Different sources (even "official" ones) give differing digital output powers for Belmont; this is also the case for several other transmitters, e.g. this Ofcom source published Feb. 2009 and this Ofcom source.

Analogue radio (FM
Frequency modulation
In telecommunications and signal processing, frequency modulation conveys information over a carrier wave by varying its instantaneous frequency. This contrasts with amplitude modulation, in which the amplitude of the carrier is varied while its frequency remains constant...

VHF)

Frequency	kW	Service
88.8 MHz	N/A	BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
90.9 MHz	N/A	BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
93.1 MHz	N/A	BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
94.9 MHz	6	BBC Radio Lincolnshire BBC Radio Lincolnshire BBC Lincolnshire is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of Lincolnshire — apart from the northern parts, which are covered by BBC Radio Humberside...
98.3 MHz	N/A	BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
100.5 MHz	3.2	Classic FM Classic FM (UK) Classic FM, one of the United Kingdom's three Independent National Radio stations, broadcasts classical music in a popular and accessible style.-Overview:...
102.2 MHz	6.4	Lincs FM Lincs FM Lincs FM is an Independent Local Radio station serving Lincolnshire and Newark, from the Humber to The Wash. It is the current holder of the licence which was advertised by the Radio Authority on 4 March 1991.-Background:...

Digital radio (DAB
Digital audio broadcasting
Digital Audio Broadcasting is a digital radio technology for broadcasting radio stations, used in several countries, particularly in Europe. As of 2006, approximately 1,000 stations worldwide broadcast in the DAB format....

)

Frequency	Block	kW	Service
215.07 MHz	10D	N/A	MuxCo Lincolnshire MuxCo Lincolnshire MuxCo is the DAB multiplex operator for Lincolnshire. It serves and area similar to the analogue area served by Lincs FM.It is a consortium made up of two companies - Lincs FM PLC owning 51% with transmitter company National Grid Wireless owning the other 49%.The DAB licence was advertised by... †
222.06 MHz	11D	5	Digital One Digital One Digital One is a national commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, owned by Arqiva. , the multiplex covers more than 90% of the populationfrom a total of 137 transmitters...
223.93 MHz	12A	2.4	MXR Yorkshire MXR Yorkshire MXR Yorkshire is a regional commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, which serves Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, North Nottinghamshire and North Derbyshire.-Stations broadcast:-History:...
225.64 MHz	12B	5	BBC National DAB

† Not yet on air.

Analogue television

BBC Two

BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...

closed on UHF 28 on 3 August 2011. BBC One was moved into its frequency at the time and the BBC A multiplex began broadcasting on UHF 22. The remaining analogue services ceased transmission on 17 August.

Frequency	UHF	kW	Service
479.25 MHz	22	500	BBC One BBC One BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
503.25 MHz	25	500	ITV1 ITV1 ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
527.25 MHz	28	500	BBC Two BBC Two BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
559.25 MHz	32	500	Channel 4 Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
751.25 MHz	56	50	Channel 5

Digital television

Belmont began transmitting digital TV on November 15 1998. In July 2007 it was confirmed by Ofcom that Belmont would be remaining a wideband transmitter after digital switchover, though the first four of the six multiplexes

Multiplexer

In electronics, a multiplexer is a device that selects one of several analog or digital input signals and forwards the selected input into a single line. A multiplexer of 2n inputs has n select lines, which are used to select which input line to send to the output...

would still be available within the original A group, as this graph makes clear. The switchover occurred at the Belmont site on 3 & 17 August 2011; the existing analogue and digital signals were turned off and replaced with higher power digital signals.

Frequency	UHF	kW	Operator
482.0 MHz	22	150	BBC BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff... A
506.0 MHz	25	150	Digital 3&4 Digital 3&4 Digital 3&4 is a consortium consisting of regional Channel 3 companies and Channel 4 Television Corporation, which operates a multiplex broadcasting from a number of transmitter sites in the UK, carrying television and radio channels from both ITV and Channel 4; however three per-cent of the...
530.0 MHz	28	150	BBC B
546.0 MHz	30	50	SDN S4C Digital Networks SDN is a company that operates Multiplex A, one of the six groups of channels on digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom...
730.0 MHz	53	4	Arqiva Arqiva Arqiva is a telecommunications company which provides infrastructure and broadcast transmission facilities in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. The present company, with headquarters located at Crawley Court in the village of Crawley, Hampshire, was formed by National Grid Wireless... A
786.0 MHz	60	4	Arqiva B

Arqiva A and Arqiva B are limited to 4kW until 23 November 2011, when they increase to 100kW.
Details of all the muxes can be found at http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/UkDvb-t

Before switchover

Frequency	UHF	kW	Operator
546.0 MHz	30	10	BBC BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff... (Mux 1)
690.0 MHz	48	20	Digital 3&4 Digital 3&4 Digital 3&4 is a consortium consisting of regional Channel 3 companies and Channel 4 Television Corporation, which operates a multiplex broadcasting from a number of transmitter sites in the UK, carrying television and radio channels from both ITV and Channel 4; however three per-cent of the... (Mux 2)
762.2 MHz	57	4	Arqiva Arqiva Arqiva is a telecommunications company which provides infrastructure and broadcast transmission facilities in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. The present company, with headquarters located at Crawley Court in the village of Crawley, Hampshire, was formed by National Grid Wireless... (Mux D)
786.0 MHz	60	4	Arqiva (Mux C)
834.0 MHz	66	10	BBC (Mux B)
850.0 MHz	68	10	SDN S4C Digital Networks SDN is a company that operates Multiplex A, one of the six groups of channels on digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom... (Mux A)

Multiplex 1 (BBC) on UHF 30 was closed on 3 August 2011 and replaced by BBC A on UHF 22.

External links

Relay stations

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Construction

Coverage

Relay stations

Transmitter power

Digital radio (DABDigital audio broadcastingDigital Audio Broadcasting is a digital radio technology for broadcasting radio stations, used in several countries, particularly in Europe. As of 2006, approximately 1,000 stations worldwide broadcast in the DAB format....)

Analogue television

Digital television

Before switchover

See also

External links

Relay stations

Digital radio (DAB
Digital audio broadcasting
Digital Audio Broadcasting is a digital radio technology for broadcasting radio stations, used in several countries, particularly in Europe. As of 2006, approximately 1,000 stations worldwide broadcast in the DAB format....

)