Brecon transmitting station

Brecon

Mast height	46 metres (151 ft)
Coordinates	51°56′57″N 3°22′37″W
Grid reference	SO054287
Built	1970
BBC region	BBC Wales
ITV region	ITV Wales

The transmitter at Brecon was originally built by the IBA in 1970 as a relay for VHF 405-line analogue television: one of the last 405-line TV stations to be built in Britain. As built, it consisted of a 46 m guyed lattice mast carrying the aerials at the top. This structure was built on a 220 m hill known as "The Slwch" overlooking the town. The VHF television feed was provided off-air from St. Hilary near Cardiff.

In 1973 the site was enhanced to transmit UHF 625-line analogue television. This caused a 10 m tall cylindrical weather screen containing the UHF antennas to be fitted on top of the existing mast. The UHF television feed came via a three-hop circuitous route from Wenvoe at Cardiff, via Abergavenny repeater itself repeating the Ebbw Vale repeater which repeated Wenvoe!

The station does not radiate VHF FM radio, this comes from a different site nearby.

Currently, the hill's transmitters provide UHF digital terrestrial TV, mostly to the town of Brecon and its immediate environs. The transmission station is currently owned and operated by NTL.

Freeview digital terrestrial TV was not available from this transmitter before the digital switchover process began at Wenvoe, with the first stage taking place on 31 March 2010. The second stage was completed on 27 April 2010.

Channels listed by frequency

Analogue television

April 1970 - February 1973

Brecon provided ITV 405-line VHF television to the upper Usk valley area which is strongly shielded by local hills from the St. Hilary transmitter just to the west of Cardiff.

Frequency	VHF	kW	Service
189.75 MHz	8H	0.1	HTV Wales

February 1973 - 1 November 1982

625-line UHF television in colour came to Brecon. This was with the station acting as an indirect off-air relay of Wenvoe.

Frequency	VHF	UHF	kW	Service
189.75 MHz	8H	-	0.1	HTV Wales
567.25 MHz	-	58	10	BBC One Wales
487.25 MHz	-	61	10	ITV1 Wales
511.25 MHz	-	64	10	BBC Two Wales

1 November 1982 - January 1984

Channel 4 launched across the UK in 1982. Brecon (being in Wales) transmitted the S4C variant.

Frequency	VHF	UHF	kW	Service
189.75 MHz	8H	-	0.1	HTV Wales
535.25 MHz	-	54	10	S4C
567.25 MHz	-	58	10	BBC One Wales
487.25 MHz	-	61	10	ITV1 Wales
511.25 MHz	-	64	10	BBC Two Wales

January 1984 - 31 March 2010

The 405-line VHF TV network shut down across the UK in two stages and Brecon closed in the first stage of that procedure. From then onwards TV transmission were on UHF only.

Frequency	UHF	kW	Service
535.25 MHz	54	10	S4C
567.25 MHz	58	10	BBC One Wales
487.25 MHz	61	10	ITV1 Wales
511.25 MHz	64	10	BBC Two Wales

Analogue and Digital television

31 March 2010 - 27 April 2010

The UK's Digital Switchover commenced at Brecon on 31 March 2010. Analogue BBC Two Wales on channel 64 was first to close, and ITV Wales was moved from channel 61 to channel 64 for its last month of service. The new BBC A mux started up in 64-QAM and at full power (i.e 2 kW) on channel 61 which had just been vacated.

Frequency	UHF	kW	Operator	System
535.25 MHz	54	10	S4C	PAL System I
567.25 MHz	58	10	BBC One Wales	PAL System I
511.25 MHz	61	10	BBC A	DVB-T
487.25 MHz	64	10	ITV1 Wales	PAL System I

Digital television

27 April 2010 - Present Day

The remaining three analogue TV services were closed down. Digital multiplexes took over their original frequencies at full power and in 64-QAM encoding mode from the start.

Frequency	UHF	kW	Operator
514.0 MHz	54	2	Digital 3&4
538.0 MHz	58	2	BBC B
490.0 MHz	61	2	BBC A

See also: List of channels on Freeview (UK)

External links

• The Transmission Gallery: Brecon