thebigtower |
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moel-y-parc |
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THE MOEL-Y-PARC TRANSMITTER is the UHF main station that serves the north-eastern sector of Wales. It is located on a remote and highly elevated site in the Clwydian Mountain Range. The station is also the main Arqiva Service Centre base in North Wales. |
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UHF SERVICE AREA AND OVERLAP |
The principal service area of this transmitter covers a radius of between just 15-20 miles. Locations within this area include Flint, Holywell, Mold, Denbigh and Wrexham, as well as Prestatyn, Rhyl and Colwyn Bay on the North Wales coastline. However, due mainly to the high elevation of the transmission site, signals from this station overlap significantly towards the east and north-east into the principal service area of the Winter Hill transmitter, producing an actual transmission radius of 50-60 miles in these directions and reaching a considerably greater number of viewers than present within the area it is intended to serve. This duplication of coverage is reciprocated by the Winter Hill transmitter which provides a viable alternative to viewers in lower-lying parts of North Wales where reception of Moel-y-Parc is difficult. (Click here for UHF Coverage Map) |
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STATION NAME PRONUNCIATION |
Moyl-y-Parc |
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Aerials (1)> Aerials (2)> Transmission Site> Supersize Images> UHF Coverage Maps |
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DIGITAL SWITCHOVER |
Moel-y-Parc has completed the Digital Switchover process, the two stages successfully implemented as follows - Stage 1 (DSO1) – 28 October 2009 |
BBC Two analogue
(Channel 45) switched off and
the first BBC multiplex - BBCA (PSB1) launched. |
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Stage 2 (DSO2) – 25 November 2009 |
All other analogue and low powered
digital services ceased broadcasting permanently and the high powered digital
multiplexes launched. |
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TELEVISION HISTORY |
Moel-y-Parc was constructed by the Independent Television Authority (ITA) as the third and last of the main ITV 405-line Band III transmitter sites located in Wales. More specifically, it was the last significant component in the provision of a dedicated ITV service for the predominantly rural and sparsely populated territory of West and North Wales, the largest concentration of the Welsh population being located in South Wales as served by the St Hilary (Cardiff) transmitter since January 1958. Two transmitters preceded Moel-y-Parc in the establishment of this new service. The Presely main station in Pembrokeshire was the first to commence transmission, providing coverage across Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and northwards along Cardigan Bay. The second station, a Presely-dependent relay, was sited at Arfon and carried the service to the areas of the north-west coast that Presely was unable to reach, including the Isle of Anglesey. Presely and Arfon came into service on 14 September 1962 and 9 November 1962 respectively and essentially brought ITV coverage to previously unserved areas, in particular across mid-Wales. Moel-y-Parc, serving North-East Wales, would however differ from the preceding stations in that much of the coverage area was already served by way of the Winter Hill transmitter. Whilst this amounted to fringe reception beyond the franchise area, Granada, the weekday broadcaster from Winter Hill, did afford it some degree of formal recognition by providing some Welsh-language programming. Nevertheless, the political and commercial pressure to provide a dedicated ITV service for West and North Wales (with specific obligations regarding the provision of Welsh-language programmes) included the north-eastern areas close to the border with England. With the Moel-y-Parc site providing a ground height of 1115-ft (340 metres) above sea level, a 750-ft mast was considered sufficient to carry transmissions from the station, which was equipped with two vision transmitters, both rated 500 watts, along with two sound transmitters each rated 125 watts. Programme feed was provided by an 'off-air' link from Arfon. From the transmission aerial, the maximum Effective Radiated Power (e.r.p) of 25 kilowatts was directed across a south-eastern to north-westerly arc, ensuring coverage mainly across the resort towns on the North Wales coast, whilst power was limited towards England in order to mitigate the overlap with the Winter Hill transmitter. Moel-y-Parc commenced regular programme service on 28 January 1963, transmitting on VHF Channel 11. The first addition at Moel-y-Parc came with the installation of a BBC 405-line relay, the corporation utilising their recently obtained access to VHF Band III to further extend their Welsh television service (BBC Wales) that had launched on the same band the previous year from the main Wenvoe transmitter, near Cardiff. Transmitting on VHF Channel 6, the BBC Wales relay came into service from 28 October 1965. With the advent of UHF, main stations for the 625-line colour network emerged at all locations in Wales where major transmitter sites for the 405-line network (either BBC or ITA) already existed, allowing for the usual selection of one or the other where adjacent BBC and ITA stations were in place. As the sole existing main transmitter site in North-East Wales, Moel-y-Parc secured the role of the area UHF main station and, upon re-engineering, commenced regular UHF-colour service on 5 July 1969 with the opening of the BBC2 transmitter on Channel 45. UHF transmitters for BBC1 and ITV were rolled out here, as they were at all UHF main stations across West and North Wales, by 1973. |
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Aerials (1)> Aerials (2)> Transmission Site> Supersize Images> UHF Coverage Maps |
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SITE INFORMATION |
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Location: |
Moel-y-Parc, Afonwen, Flintshire, CH7 5UU |
Grid Reference: |
SJ123701 |
Landlord: |
Arqiva (Legacy: ITA/IBA/NTL Broadcast) |
Ground Height: |
340m |
BBC Region: |
Wales |
Mast Height: |
230m |
ITV Region: |
Wales |
Aerial Height (*): |
574m |
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UHF Tx Number: |
14500 |
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(*) Average main UHF aerial height above sea level (a.o.d) |
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CURRENT TRANSMISSIONS |
Digital Television |
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Analogue Radio (FM) |
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Mux |
: Ch/Polarisation/e.r.p |
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Station: |
(MHz) |
(e.r.p) |
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PSB1 |
: 45 / H / 20kW |
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Heart FM (North Wales): |
106.9 |
445w |
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PSB2 |
: 39 / H / 20kW |
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PSB3 |
: 42 / H / 20kW |
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Digital Radio (DAB) |
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COM4 |
: 51 / H / 10kW |
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COM5 |
: 36 / H / 10kW |
BBC National (Block 12B) |
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COM6 |
: 48 / H / 10kW |
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Digital One (Block 11D) |
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COM7 |
: 55 / H / 14.3kW |
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Sound Digital (Block 11A) |
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LOCAL |
: 27 / H / 3kW |
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North East Wales and West Cheshire (Block 10D) |
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Liverpool (Block 10C) |
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DSO-TERMINATED TRANSMISSIONS |
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(Shutdown completed 25 November 2009) |
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Analogue Television |
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Digital Television |
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Service |
Ch/Polar/e.r.p |
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Service |
Ch/Polar/e.r.p |
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BBC1 |
: 52 / H / 100kW |
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Mux1 |
: 54 / H / 0.50kW |
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BBC2 |
: 45 / H / 100kW |
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Mux2 |
: 58 / H / 0.50kW |
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ITV1 |
: 49 / H / 100kW |
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MuxA |
: 61 / H / 0.50kW |
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S4C |
: 42 / H / 100kW |
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MuxB |
: 64 / H / 0.50kW |
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Ch5 |
: No Service |
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MuxC |
: 30 / H / 0.25kW |
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MuxD |
: 34 / H / 0.25kW |
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