Mynydd Emroch television relay station

Mynydd Emroch

Mast height	30 metres (98 ft)
Coordinates	51°35′48″N 3°46′09″W
Grid reference	SS775901
Built	1980's
BBC region	BBC Wales
ITV region	ITV Wales

The Mynydd Emroch transmitter is sited on the eponymous hill to the east of Port Talbot, clearly visible to eastbound traffic above the M4 motorway between junction 41 and junction 40. It was originally built in the 1970's as a fill-in relay for UHF analogue television. It consists of a 25 m self-supporting lattice mast standing on a hillside which is itself about 180 m above sea level (about 150 m above the town). The transmitters are beamed southwards to cater for those digital terrestrial TV subscribers in Port Talbot and Margam which for reasons of geography can't get a signal from the Kilvey Hill transmitter across the bay at Swansea. The Mynydd Emroch transmission station is owned and operated by Arqiva.

Mynydd Emroch transmitter re-radiates the signal received off-air from Kilvey Hill about 15 km to the west. When it came, the digital switchover process for Mynydd Emroch duplicated the timing at the parent station, with the first stage taking place on Wednesday 12 August 2009 and the second stage was completed on Wednesday 9 September 2009, with the Kilvey Hill transmitter-group becoming the first in Wales to complete digital switchover. After the switchover process, analogue channels had ceased broadcasting permanently and the Freeview digital TV services were radiated at an ERP of 18W each.

Channels listed by frequency

Analogue television

1970's - 12 August 2009

Mynydd Emroch (being in Wales) transmitted the S4C variant of Channel 4.

Frequency	UHF	kW	Service
623.25 MHz	40	0.09	BBC One Wales
647.25 MHz	43	0.09	ITV1 Wales
671.25 MHz	46	0.09	BBC Two Wales
703.25 MHz	50	0.09	S4C

Analogue and Digital television

12 August 2009 - 9 September 2009

The UK's Digital Switchover commenced at Kilvey Hill (and therefore at Mynydd Emroch and all its other relays) on 12 August 2009. Analogue BBC Two Wales on channel 46 was first to close, and ITV Wales was moved from channel 43 to channel 46 for its last month of service. Channel 43 was replaced by the new digital BBC A mux which started up in 64-QAM and at full power (i.e 18 W).

Frequency	UHF	kW	Service	System
623.25 MHz	40	0.09	BBC One Wales	PAL System I
647.25 MHz	43	0.018	BBC A	DVB-T
671.25 MHz	46	0.09	ITV1 Wales	PAL System I
703.25 MHz	50	0.09	S4C	PAL System I

Digital television

9 September 2009 - Present Day

The remaining analogue TV services were closed down and the digital multiplexes took over on the original analogue channels' frequencies.

Frequency	UHF	kW	Operator
650.000 MHz	43	0.018	BBC A
674.000 MHz	46	0.018	Digital 3&4
706.000 MHz	50	0.018	BBC B

See also: List of channels on Freeview (UK)

External links

• The Transmission Gallery: Mynydd Emroch