BELMONT TRANSMITTING STATION

The 'Belmont transmitting station' is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility, situated next to the B1225, one mile west of the village of Donington on Bain, near Market Rasen and Louth in Lincolnshire, England (). It is owned and operated by Arqiva. It includes a guyed tubular steel mast, which at 1,265 feet (385 m) is the tallest structure in the UK (and in the European Union).
Constructed in 1965, it came into service on December 20 of that year. (An identical mast was constructed in 1964 at Emley Moor near Huddersfield in Yorkshire, but that mast collapsed due to guy failure caused by icing and high winds on March 19, 1969.)
In 1967 meteorological equipment was added to the mast extending its height to 1,272 ft (388 m).
From its location, high in the Lincolnshire Wolds, it is used to broadcast both analogue and digital television and radio
to parts of Lincolnshire, north Nottinghamshire, eastern South Yorkshire, north-west Norfolk, Hull and East Yorkshire. When it was first operated it transmitted (amongst others) pictures from Independent Television station Anglia Television. Following a re-organisation of ITV coverage in 1972, from 1974 it started transmitting pictures from neighbouring station Yorkshire Television instead, which it continues to do to this day.

Contents

Transmitter Power

Channels listed by Frequency

Digital Switchover

See also

External links

Transmitter Power

At 500 kW E.R.P. (for the four main analogue channels) Belmont is one of the most powerful transmitters in the UK. Channel 5 is only broadcast at 50 kW and digital at 10 kW (Multiplex 1, 2, A, B) and 4 kW (Multiplex 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.

Channels listed by Frequency

★ Analogue Radio (FM VHF)

★
★ 88.8 MHz - BBC Radio 2

★
★ 90.9 MHz - BBC Radio 3

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★ 93.1 MHz - BBC Radio 4

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★ 94.9 MHz - BBC Radio Lincolnshire

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★ 98.3 MHz - BBC Radio 1

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★ 100.5 MHz - Classic FM

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★ 102.2 MHz - Lincs FM

★ Digital Radio (DAB)

★
★ Block 11D: 222.06 MHz - Digital One

★
★ Block 12A: 223.93 MHz - MXR Yorkshire

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★ Block 12B: 225.64 MHz - BBC

★ Analogue Television

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★ UHF 22 (479.25 MHz) - BBC One

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★ UHF 25 (503.25 MHz) - ITV1

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★ UHF 28 (527.25 MHz) - BBC Two

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★ UHF 32 (559.25 MHz) - Channel 4

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★ UHF 56 (751.25 MHz) - Five

★ Digital Television

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★ UHF 30 (546 MHz) - Multiplex 1 BBC

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★ UHF 48 (690 MHz) - Multiplex 2 Digital 3&4

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★ UHF 57 (762 MHz) - Multiplex D National Grid Wireless
★

★
★ UHF 60 (786 MHz) - Multiplex C National Grid Wireless

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★ UHF 66 (834 MHz) - Multiplex B BBC

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★ UHF 68 (850 MHz) - Multiplex A SDN
Multiplex D is off frequency and is actually found at 762166000
Details of all the muxes can be found at [1]

Digital Switchover

In July 2007 it was confirmed by Ofcom that Belmont would be remaining a wideband transmitter after DSO (Digital Switchover), though the first four - of the six - MUXES would still be available within the original A group. The digital switchover will occur at the Belmont site in July 2011, the existing analogue and digital signals will be turned off and replaced with higher power digital signals, the channels for these signals will be:

★ UHF 22 - BBC A - Previously Multiplex 1

★ UHF 25 - D3&4 - Previously Multiplex 2

★ UHF 28 - SDN - Previously Multiplex B

★ UHF 30 - BBC B - Previously Multiplex A

★ UHF 53 - NGW A - Previously Multiplex C

★ UHF 60 - NGW B - Previously Multiplex D

See also

★ List of masts

★ List of tallest buildings and structures in Great Britain

★ List of radio stations in the United Kingdom

External links

★ The Transmission Gallery: Belmont index.

★ Info and pictures of Belmont.

★ Skyscraperpage plan of Belmont

★

★ Pictures

★ Google Maps

★ Live Maps