| Carmel | |
| Map Name: | Wales Carmarthenshire |
| Coordinates: | 51.8225°N -4.0567°W |
| Height: | 151.9m (498.4feet) |
| Built: | 1973 |
| Bbc: | BBC Wales |
| Itv: | ITV Cymru Wales |
The Carmel transmitting station, located half a mile (0.8km) SSW of the village of Carmel in Carmarthenshire, has been broadcasting terrestrial TV and radio services since the mid-1970s. The TV coverage area for the Carmel transmission station includes most of Carmarthenshire, the southern and eastern parts of Pembrokeshire; the southern fringes of Powys and Ceredigion; the northern part of Swansea. The Carmel signal is also receivable in parts of Neath Port Talbot, Bridgend and Rhondda Cynon Taff. Places as far away as Merthyr Tydfil and the north Devon coast are also able to receive signals from Carmel.
Carmel started to switch over to digital terrestrial TV broadcast services on 26 August 2009.[1]
Carmel never did broadcast VHF television, and went live with the UK's three national UHF television services.
| Frequency | UHF | kW | Service | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 57 | 100 | BBC1 Wales | ||
| 60 | 100 | HTV Wales | ||
| 63 | 100 | BBC2 Wales |
The UK's fourth national television service joined the set transmitted from the site. Being in Wales, the S4C variant was broadcast.
| Frequency | UHF | kW | Service | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 53 | 100 | S4C | ||
| 57 | 100 | BBC1 Wales | ||
| 60 | 100 | HTV Wales | ||
| 63 | 100 | BBC2 Wales |
The initial rollout of digital television in the UK involved radiating the signals at low power in between the existing analogue channels.
| Frequency | UHF | kW | Service | System | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 53 | 100 | S4C | PAL System I | ||
| 55 | 2.5 | BBC (Mux 1) | DVB-T | ||
| 57 | 100 | BBC1 Wales | PAL System I | ||
| 59- | 5 | SDN (Mux A) | DVB-T | ||
| 60 | 100 | HTV Wales | PAL System I | ||
| 62- | 2.5 | BBC (Mux B) | DVB-T | ||
| 63 | 100 | BBC2 Wales | PAL System I | ||
| 65- | 2.5 | Digital 3&4 (Mux 2) | DVB-T | ||
| 66 | 1 | Arqiva (Mux C) | DVB-T | ||
| 67 | 1 | Arqiva (Mux D) | DVB-T |
The UK's digital switchover commenced at this site. Analogue BBC2 Wales closed on channel 63 and HTV took over on that frequency for what would be its final 3 weeks of service, vacating channel 60 as it did so. The new BBC A multiplex started up at full power in 64-QAM mode on channel 60, and Mux 1 on channel 55 closed.
| Frequency | UHF | kW | Service | System | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 53 | 100 | S4C | PAL System I | ||
| 57 | 100 | BBC1 Wales | PAL System I | ||
| 59- | 5 | SDN (Mux A) | DVB-T | ||
| 60 | 20 | BBC A | DVB-T | ||
| 62- | 2.5 | BBC (Mux B) | DVB-T | ||
| 63 | 100 | HTV Wales | PAL System I | ||
| 65- | 2.5 | Digital 3&4 (Mux 2) | DVB-T | ||
| 66 | 1 | Arqiva (Mux C) | DVB-T | ||
| 67 | 1 | Arqiva (Mux D) | DVB-T |
All the analogue television services closed and the new digital multiplexes took over their frequencies (and two new ones) with name-changes, power increases and a shift to 64-QAM.
| Frequency | UHF | kW | Operator | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 53 | 20 | Digital 3&4 | ||
| 54 | 10 | SDN | ||
| 57 | 20 | BBC B | ||
| 58 | 10 | Arqiva A | ||
| 60 | 20 | BBC A | ||
| 61 | 10 | Arqiva B |
As a side-effect of frequency-changes elsewhere in the region to do with clearance of the 800 MHz band for 4G mobile phone use,[2] Carmel's "Arqiva B" multiplex will have to be moved from channel 61 to channel 49 and the "BBC A" multiplex will get a negative offset.[3]
| Frequency | UHF | kW | Operator | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 49 | 10 | Arqiva B | ||
| 53 | 20 | Digital 3&4 | ||
| 54 | 10 | SDN | ||
| 57 | 20 | BBC B | ||
| 58 | 10 | Arqiva A | ||
| 60- | 20 | BBC A |
| Frequency | kW | Service | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 88.4 MHz | 3 | BBC Radio 2 | |
| 90.6 MHz | 3 | BBC Radio 3 | |
| 92.8 MHz | 3 | BBC Radio 4 | |
| 95.1 MHz | 3 | BBC Radio Wales | |
| 97.1 MHz | 1.4 | Radio Carmarthenshire | |
| 98.0 MHz | 3 | BBC Radio 1 | |
| 104.6 MHz | 3 | BBC Radio Cymru | |
| 105.2 MHz | 3 | Heart South Wales |
| Frequency | Block | kW[4] | Operator | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 222.064 MHz | 11D | 1 | Digital One | |
| 223.936 MHz | 12A | 1 | Swansea SW Wales | |
| 225.648 MHz | 12B | 5 | BBC National DAB |