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thebigtower |
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oxford |
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THE OXFORD TRANSMITTER is the UHF and BBC National FM main station for the south and south-east Midlands. Located in the village of Beckley, just north-east of Oxford, it serves Oxfordshire plus parts of all surrounding counties including Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Wiltshire. Towards the south-east the service area borders with the north-western fringe of Greater London, where the reciprocal overlap with the Crystal Palace transmitter is mitigated by the presence of the Chiltern Hills. |
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TRANSMISSION STRUCTURE |
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There are currently three structures on the Oxford site with broadcast services transmitted from the main 154.4 metre (506-ft) square cross-section lattice stayed mast. With the inclusion of the current pre-Digital Switchover UHF antennas at the top of the structure the overall height is increased to 169 metres (554-ft). The two other structures on site comprise the lattice tower that carried the station's initial BBC 405-line VHF transmissions (see EARLY STATION HISTORY) and a further tower of the type added post-privatisation to many ex-BBC sites to support services of commercial tenants. The latter of these two structures is the nearer to the main mast. |
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| Aerials> Aerials with DSO> Transmission Site> Supersize Images> UHF Coverage Map |
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REGIONAL ALLOCATION |
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Oxford previously carried the Midlands regional output of ITV and the former 'London and South East' region for BBC1. However, with the development of sub-regional broadcasting and with a large proportion of the population covered by Oxford straddling the so-called M4 Corridor, the station's transmitters for both BBC1 and ITV have in recent years been reallocated to the south region, with both broadcasters providing localised opt-outs for regional news programming. The consequence of this however is that the western side of the 'south' region now extends further north than Greater London. |
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DIGITAL SWITCHOVER |
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For the purpose of Digital Switchover planning, the Oxford transmitter is considered part of the Midlands region and accordingly scheduled for switchover to be implemented in 2011. As of December 2009, the main mast re-engineering work has seen the completion of the new twelve-tier cylindrical reserve aerial. The scale of this installation is however off-set by it's relatively low position, made necessary by the height of the FM Band II array above it. In fact, since all transmissions have been coming from the reserve aerial (pending re-enginering of the main antenna between January and April 2010) there have been reports of poor reception believed to be the result of the low aerial position. |
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(with DSO reserve) |
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The Oxford station was established from 29 February 1962 initially as a low-power relay transmitter for the BBC 405-line VHF television network, boosting reception to an area on the outer fringe of coverage from both Crystal Palace and Sutton Coldfield. For this purpose, a small self-supporting lattice tower was provided to carry the 650 watt transmissions on VHF Channel 2. From 17 February 1968 however, the site was upgraded to UHF main station status with the new 154.4 metre (506-ft) stayed mast becoming operational for transmission of BBC2 on Channel 63. Transmitters for BBC1 and ITV followed in June 1970. |
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| Aerials> Aerials with DSO> Transmission Site> Supersize Images> UHF Coverage Map |
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SITE INFORMATION |
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Location: |
New Inn Road, Beckley, Oxford, OX3 9ST |
Grid Reference: |
SP567105 |
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Landlord: |
Arqiva (Legacy: BBC/Crown Castle/NGW) |
Ground Height: |
129.5m |
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ITV Region: |
Meridian (West opt-out) |
Mast Height: |
154.4m |
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BBC Region: |
South (Oxford opt-out) |
Aerial Height (*) : |
289m |
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UHF Tx Number: |
11700 |
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(*) Average UHF aerial height above sea level (a.o.d) |
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CURRENT TRANSMISSIONS |
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Analogue Television |
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Analogue Radio (FM) |
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Service |
: Ch/Polarisation/e.r.p |
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Service: |
(MHz) |
(e.r.p) |
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BBC1 |
: 57 / H / 500kW |
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BBC Radio 1: |
99.1 |
4kW |
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BBC2 |
: 63 / H / 500kW |
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BBC Radio 2: |
89.5 |
4kW |
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ITV1 |
: 60 / H / 500kW |
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BBC Radio 3: |
91.7 |
4kW |
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Ch4 |
: 53 / H / 500kW |
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BBC Radio 4: |
93.9 |
4kW |
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Five |
: 49 / H / 40kW |
BBC Radio Oxford: |
95.2 |
5.8kW |
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Classic FM: |
101.3 |
46kW |
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Heart FM: |
102.6 |
9kW |
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Digital Television |
Analogue Radio (MW) |
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Service |
: Ch/Polarisation/e.r.p |
Service: |
(kHz) |
(e.r.p) |
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Mux1 |
: 34 / H / 10kW |
Absolute Radio: |
1197 |
.25kW |
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Mux2 |
: 68 / H / 10kW |
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MuxA |
: 51 / H / 6kW |
Digital Radio |
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MuxB |
: 52 / H / 6kW |
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MuxC |
: 48 / H / 8kW |
Service |
Block |
(e.r.p) |
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MuxD |
: 29 / H / 8kW |
BBC National |
12B |
10kW |
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Digital One |
11D |
7.5kW |
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