Belmont transmitting station

Belmont
Second tallest Structure in the UK, seen in November 2007
Height of mast	351.65 m (1,154 ft)
Built	1965
BBC region	BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire
ITV region	ITV Yorkshire (Channel 3) ITV Anglia (Channel 7)
Analogue switch-off	3 August 2011 (Stage 1) 17 August 2011 (Stage 2)

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 in the civil parish of South Willingham, near Market Rasen and Louth in Lincolnshire, England (grid reference TF217837). It is owned and operated by Arqiva.

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 in the United States, use steel lattice construction), the tallest structure of any type in the United Kingdom and also the tallest structure within the European Union. 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 in Ukraine.

Despite the mast being shortened it can been seen in daylight on clear days from most areas close to and within the Lincolnshire Wolds and on clear nights its bright red aircraft warning lights can be very widely seen across much of Lincolnshire from as far north as the River Humber and Grimsby and from west of the county it can be seen clearly from both Lincoln, Gainsborough and Grantham and from the south of the county it can be seen clearly as far away as Spalding and Bourne and can also be very clearly seen in the east of the county as far away as Skegness, Mablethorpe and most areas along the Lincolnshire Coast. The aircraft warning lights from the mast can also be seen from many parts of Nottinghamshire, coastal areas of North West Norfolk and even a few parts of Derbyshire on very clear nights.

Construction

View from the air in July 1990

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 in Yorkshire, 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, it is used to broadcast digital television and both analogue and digital radio to parts of Lincolnshire, north Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire, north-west Norfolk, Hull and East Yorkshire. When it was first operated it transmitted (amongst others) pictures from ITV 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.

On 1 January 2012, Yorkshire and Anglia will join forces to broadcast to north Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Humberside, north and west Norfolk, a small part of west Suffolk, Derbyshire, Rutland and east Leicestershire on Channel 3 (Yorkshire) and Channel 7 (Anglia).

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

Transmitter power

At 500 kW E.R.P. 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.

Channels listed by frequency

Analogue radio (FM VHF)

Frequency	kW	Service
88.8 MHz	N/A	BBC Radio 2
90.9 MHz	N/A	BBC Radio 3
93.1 MHz	N/A	BBC Radio 4
94.9 MHz	6	BBC Radio Lincolnshire
98.3 MHz	N/A	BBC Radio 1
100.5 MHz	3.2	Classic FM
102.2 MHz	6.4	Lincs FM

Digital radio (DAB)

Frequency	Block	kW	Service
215.07 MHz	10D	N/A	MuxCo Lincolnshire†
222.06 MHz	11D	5	Digital One
223.93 MHz	12A	2.4	MXR Yorkshire
225.64 MHz	12B	5	BBC National DAB

† Not yet on air.

Analogue television

BBC Two 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
503.25 MHz	25	500	ITV1
527.25 MHz	28	500	BBC Two
559.25 MHz	32	500	Channel 4
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 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 A
506.0 MHz	25	150	Digital 3&4
530.0 MHz	28	150	BBC B
546.0 MHz	30	50	SDN
730.0 MHz	53	100	Arqiva A
786.0 MHz	60	100	Arqiva B

• Arqiva A and Arqiva B were limited to 4kW until 23 November 2011, when they were increased to 100kW.
• Details of all the muxes can be found at [1]

Before switchover

Frequency	UHF	kW	Operator
546.0 MHz	30	10	BBC (Mux 1)
690.0 MHz	48	20	Digital 3&4 (Mux 2)
762.2 MHz	57	4	Arqiva (Mux D)
786.0 MHz	60	4	Arqiva (Mux C)
834.0 MHz	66	10	BBC (Mux B)
850.0 MHz	68	10	SDN (Mux A)

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

See also

• List of tallest buildings and structures in the world
• List of tallest buildings and structures in Great Britain
• List of masts
• List of radio stations in the United Kingdom

External links

• The Transmission Gallery: Belmont index.
• TV coverage.
• Info and pictures of Belmont, including co-receivable channels.
• Freeview.
• Skyscraperpage plan of Belmont.
• Belmont TV Mast at Structurae
• Pictures.
• Article about Belmont's lights being turned out.
• Article about Belmont's possible cut in size.
• Belmont Transmitter at thebigtower.com

Relay stations

• Grimsby
• Hunmanby
• Lincoln Central
• Oliver's Mount
• Weaverthorpe

Records
Preceded by Gerbrandy Tower 382.5 m (1,255 ft)	Tallest structure in EU 387.5 m (1,271 ft) 1973–2010	Succeeded by Torreta de Guardamar 370 m (1210 ft)