The Pontop Pike transmitting station is a facility for telecommunications and 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...

 situated on a 312 metres (1,024 ft) high hill of the same name, between Stanley

Stanley, County Durham

Stanley is a former colliery town and civil parish in County Durham, England. Centred on a hilltop between Chester-le-Street and Consett, the town lies south west of Gateshead....

 and Consett

Consett

Consett is a town in the northwest of County Durham, England, about southwest of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is home to 27,394 .Consett sits high on the edge of the Pennines. In 1841, it was a village community of only 145, but it was about to become a boom town: below the ground was coking coal and...

, County Durham

County Durham

County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...

, near the village of Dipton

Dipton

Dipton can refer to:*Dipton, County Durham, England*Dipton, New Zealand...

, 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...

. The mast is 149 metres (489 ft) high, giving average antenna height of 461 metres (1,512 ft) above sea level. 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...

.

History

The mast was built in 1953 and its construction was brought forward by the 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...

 so that people in North East England

North East England

North East England is one of the nine official regions of England. It covers Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Teesside . The only cities in the region are Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland...

 could watch the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II was the ceremony in which the newly ascended monarch, Elizabeth II, was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ceylon, and Pakistan, as well as taking on the role of Head of the Commonwealth...

 live on the 405-line television system VHF then in use in the UK

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...

. Test transmissions from a low-power temporary aerial

Antenna (radio)

An antenna is an electrical device which converts electric currents into radio waves, and vice versa. It is usually used with a radio transmitter or radio receiver...

 began on Monday, 20 April, 1953, and the first programmes were transmitted on Friday, 1 May, 1953, in plenty of time for the Coronation on 2 June. UHF transmissions (625 line colour) began in 1966 and the VHF television signal was switched off in 1985.

Coverage

The Pontop Pike transmitter provides UHF analogue and digital television

Digital television

Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...

 transmissions to Tyne and Wear

Tyne and Wear

Tyne and Wear is a metropolitan county in north east England around the mouths of the Rivers Tyne and Wear. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972...

, County Durham, Tees Valley

Tees Valley

The Tees Valley is an area in the North East of England. It can be described as "greater Teesside" and consists of the four unitary authorities created by the breakup of the County of Cleveland in 1996: Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar & Cleveland, and Stockton-On-Tees along with the borough of...

, most of Northumberland

Northumberland

Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...

 and parts of North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...

. It also carries the national BBC Radio

BBC Radio

BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...

 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...

 signals, covering the whole North East

North East England

North East England is one of the nine official regions of England. It covers Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear, and Teesside . The only cities in the region are Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland...

, as well as 95.4FM Radio Newcastle

BBC Radio Newcastle

BBC Newcastle is the BBC Local Radio service English metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, broadcasting from studios on Barrack Road in Newcastle upon Tyne.- Technical :...

. It was one of the first national FM transmitters in December 1955. All of its television output (analogue and digital) is within the C/D group.

Digital TV switchover

Analogue TV transmissions from this mast are due to cease on 12 and 26 September 2012, making Pontop Pike the very last transmitter in Great Britain to complete digital switchover

Digital switchover in the United Kingdom

Digital switchover is the name given to the process by which UK analogue broadcast television in an area is converted to digital television. It is sometimes referred to as "analogue switch off". For full details see UK Digital switchover....

 (DSO). In July 2007 it was confirmed by Ofcom that Pontop Pike would remain a C/D group after DSO.

Analogue radio

Frequency	kW	Service
88.5 MHz	250	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...
90.7 MHz	250	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...
92.9 MHz	250	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...
95.4 MHz	10	BBC Newcastle
98.1 MHz	250	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...
100.3 MHz	65	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:...

Digital radio

Frequency	Block	kW	Operator
222.064 MHz	11D	6.3	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...
225.648 MHz	12B	10	BBC National DAB

Analogue television

Analogue television will be switching off in late 2012 from this transmitter. Pontop Pike transmitter does not transmit analogue Channel 5. Instead, this channel is transmitted from a transmitter near Burnhope

Burnhope

Burnhope is a village and civil parish in County Durham, England. It is located in the Craghead valley on the opposite side to Stanley and has approximately 1200 inhabitants....

, on UHF 68.

Frequency	UHF	kW	Service
735.25 MHz	54	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...
767.25 MHz	58	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...
791.25 MHz	61	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...
815.25 MHz	64	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...

Digital television

Frequency	UHF	kW	Operator
690.0 MHz	48	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)
729.8 MHz	53-	10	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)
746.2 MHz	55+	10	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)
778.2 MHz	59+	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)
802.2 MHz	62+	10	BBC (Mux B)
810.0 MHz	63	10	BBC B (Mux HD)
826.2 MHz	65+	10	Arqiva (Mux C)

Relay services

Being the main broadcasting transmitter, there are also a number of relays (or repeaters) to cover patches where this transmitter can't properly serve.

Analogue radio

Transmitter	kW	R1	R2	R3	R4	CFM
Bilsdale	5
Fenham	0.042
Oliver's Mount	0.25
Newton	0.1
Weardale	0.18
Wensleydale	0.054
Woolmoor	5

Analogue television

The following is a list of the television relays served by Pontop Pike:

Transmitter	kW	BBC1	BBC2	ITV1	CH4	Pol.	A.G.
Allenheads	0.008	21	27	31	24	V	A
Alston	0.4	52	45	49	42	V	B
Bellingham	0.05	21	27	31	24	V	A
Blaydon	0.004	51	44	41	47	V	B
Byrness	0.01	21	27	31	24	V	A
Catton Beacon	0.14	40	46	43	50	V	B
Durham	0.015	40	46	43	50	V	B
Esh	0.012	39	45	49	42	V	B
Falstone	0.063	51	44	41	47	V	B
Felling	0.006	52	68	46	66	V	W
Fenham†	2	21	27	24	34	V	A
Haltwhistle	2	55	62	59	65	V	C/D
Haydon Bridge	0.1	51	44	41	47	V	B
Hedleyhope	0.018	40	46	43	50	V	B
Humshaugh	0.059	39	45	49	42	V	B
Ireshopeburn	0.011	55	62	59	65	V	C/D
Kielder	0.027	33	26	23	29	V	A
Morpeth	0.044	22	28	25	32	V	A
Newton	2	33	26	23	29	V	A
Seaham	0.059	51	44	41	47	V	B
Shotleyfield	0.2	22	28	25	32	V	A
Staithes	0.006	51	44	41	47	V	B
Sunderland	0.012	40	46	43	50	V	B
Wall	0.025	40	46	43	50	H	B
Weardale	1	44	51	41	47	V	B
Whitaside	0.015	51	44	41	47	V	B

† This relay also carries Channel 5 on UHF 56 (Vertical - Aerial group W)

External links

• Info and pictures of Pontop Pike and Burnhope including co-receivable transmitters.
• Entry on Pontop Pike on The Transmission Gallery
• OFCOM television reception advice for Pontop Pike
• Historical essay with some background detail
• Map showing the old 405-lines transmitter network and coverage.
• Pontop Pike Transmitter at thebigtower.com