Neath Abbey television relay station

Neath Abbey (H) and Neath Abbey (V)

Mast height	12 metres (39 ft)
Coordinates	51°40′01″N 3°50′08″W
Grid reference	SS731980
Built	1980's
BBC region	BBC Wales
ITV region	ITV Wales

The Neath Abbey transmitter is sited on a hill north of the town of Neath Abbey. It was originally built in the 1980's as a fill-in relay for UHF analogue television serving the parts of the town of Neath Abbey to its east with its vertically-polarised signal, and the parts of the town to its northwest with its horizontally-polarised signal. This is an unusual layout, chosen to avoid signal degradation from reflections off the cliffs to the north. The site consists of a 12 m self-supporting lattice mast standing on land which is itself about 80 m above sea level. The Neath Abbey transmission station is owned and operated by Arqiva.

Neath Abbey transmitter re-radiates the signal received off-air from Kilvey Hill about 10 km to the southwest. When it came, the digital switchover process for Neath Abbey 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 10W each.

Channels listed by frequency

Analogue television

1980's - 12 August 2009

Neath Abbey (being in Wales) transmitted the S4C variant of Channel 4. 66 48 42 56

Frequency	UHF	kW	Service
639.25 MHz	42	0.006 (H), 0.008 (V)	ITV1 Wales
687.25 MHz	48	0.006 (H), 0.008 (V)	BBC Two Wales
751.25 MHz	56	0.006 (H), 0.008 (V)	S4C
831.25 MHz	66	0.006 (H), 0.008 (V)	BBC One Wales

Analogue and Digital television

12 August 2009 - 9 September 2009

The UK's Digital Switchover commenced at Kilvey Hill (and therefore at Neath Abbey and all its other relays) on 12 August 2009. Analogue BBC Two Wales on channel 48 was first to close. Channel 52 was occupied for the first time on this site by the new digital BBC A mux which started up in 64-QAM and at full power (i.e 10 W).

Frequency	UHF	kW	Service	System
639.25 MHz	42	0.006 (H), 0.008 (V)	ITV1 Wales	PAL System I
722.000 MHz	52	0.01 (H & V)	BBC A	DVB-T
751.25 MHz	56	0.006 (H), 0.008 (V)	S4C	PAL System I
831.25 MHz	66	0.006 (H), 0.008 (V)	BBC One Wales	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 two of the original analogue channels' frequencies, making this site a proper group C/D aerial for the first time.

Frequency	UHF	kW	Operator
690.000 MHz	48	0.01 (H & V)	Digital 3&4
722.000 MHz	52	0.01 (H & V)	BBC A
754.000 MHz	56	0.01 (H & V)	BBC B

See also: List of channels on Freeview (UK)

External links

• The Transmission Gallery: Neath Abbey