| Kilvey Hill | |
| Map Name: | Wales Swansea |
| Coordinates: | 51.6292°N -3.9203°W |
| Height2: | 45m (148feet) |
| Gridref: | SS672940 |
| Built: | 1967 |
| Bbc: | BBC Wales |
| Itv: | ITV Cymru Wales |
The Kilvey Hill transmitting station was originally built at the summit of Kilvey Hill in Swansea, Wales, by the BBC[1] in 1967 as a relay for VHF and UHF television. VHF television came on air a few months before the UHF services. As built, the station did not radiate VHF FM radio, this was added later. Currently, the hill's transmitters cater for viewers and listeners in Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Llanelli. The station is owned and operated by Arqiva.
Freeview digital terrestrial TV was already available at low power from this transmitter before the digital switchover process began, with the first stage taking place on Wednesday 12 August 2009. The second stage was completed on Wednesday 9 September 2009, with the transmitter becoming the first in Wales to complete digital switchover. After the switchover process, analogue channels ceased broadcasting permanently and the Freeview power increased from 383 W ERP to 2 kW ERP, a 7 dB power increase.[2]
Kilvey Hill provided BBC 405-line VHF television to the Neath and Port Talbot area which is strongly shielded by local hills[3] from the Wenvoe transmitter just to the west of Cardiff. Kilvey Hill was a relay of the Wenvoe transmitter. Despite being sited at Swansea, no effort was made to provide the VHF TV signal to Swansea itself - the town was already deemed to be well served by Wenvoe.
A BBC R&D report[4] details the coming of 625-line UHF television to the Kilvey Hill site. This again was with the station acting as an off-air relay of Wenvoe, which was (at that point) only transmitting BBC 2 (in colour) on 625-lines. This time, the northern parts of Swansea were intended to be covered by the signal as local hills (including Kilvey Hill itself) shielded those parts of the town from the UHF signal from Wenvoe.
| Frequency | VHF | UHF | kW | Service | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | — | 0.5 | BBC1 Wales | ||
| — | 26 | 10 | BBC2 Wales |
BBC1 and HTV Wales came on air from Wenvoe in April 1970, but it was nearly two years later[5] before Kilvey Hill started to relay those channels.
| Frequency | VHF | UHF | kW | Service | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | — | 0.5 | BBC1 Wales | ||
| — | 23 | 10 | HTV Wales | ||
| — | 26 | 10 | BBC2 Wales | ||
| — | 33 | 10 | BBC1 Wales |
Channel 4 launched across the UK in 1982. Kilvey Hill (being in Wales) transmitted the S4C variant.
| Frequency | VHF | UHF | kW | Service | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | — | 0.5 | BBC1 Wales | ||
| — | 23 | 10 | HTV Wales | ||
| — | 26 | 10 | BBC2 Wales | ||
| — | 29 | 10 | S4C | ||
| — | 33 | 10 | BBC1 Wales |
405 line television was discontinued early,[6] and from then onwards TV transmissions were on UHF only.
| Frequency | UHF | kW | Service | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | 10 | HTV Wales | ||
| 26 | 10 | BBC2 Wales | ||
| 29 | 10 | S4C | ||
| 33 | 10 | BBC1 Wales |
During 1997, Channel 5 gained an analogue channel from some transmitters and Kilvey Hill was one of them. The site radiated all five UK terrestrial analogue television services at 10 kW until digital switchover was completed on 9 September 2009.
| Frequency | UHF | kW | Service | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | 10 | HTV Wales | ||
| 26 | 10 | BBC2 Wales | ||
| 29 | 10 | S4C | ||
| 33 | 10 | BBC1 Wales | ||
| 35 | 10 | Channel 5 |
The initial rollout of digital television in the UK involved radiating the signals at low power in between the existing analogue channels. The apparent use of channels "21" and "22-" for muxes "C" and "2" respectively might look like a mistake, but is confirmed by OFCOM's site.[7]
| Frequency | UHF | kW | Operator | System | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | 0.1 | Arqiva (Mux C) | DVB-T | ||
| 22- | 0.6 | Digital 3&4 (Mux 2) | DVB-T | ||
| 23 | 10 | HTV Wales | PAL System I | ||
| 25- | 0.6 | BBC (Mux 1) | DVB-T | ||
| 26 | 10 | BBC2 Wales | PAL System I | ||
| 28- | 0.3 | SDN (Mux A) | DVB-T | ||
| 29 | 10 | S4C | PAL System I | ||
| 31- | 0.1 | Arqiva (Mux D) | DVB-T | ||
| 32- | 0.6 | BBC (Mux B) | DVB-T | ||
| 33 | 10 | BBC1 Wales | PAL System I | ||
| 35 | 10 | Channel 5 | PAL System I |
The UK's digital switchover commenced with Kilvey Hill on 12 August 2009. Analogue BBC2 Wales on channel 26 was first to close, and HTV Wales was moved from channel 23 to channel 26 for its last month of service. With it went Mux 1 from channel 25- to be replaced by the new BBC A mux which started up in 64-QAM and at full power (i.e. 2 kW) on channel 23 which had just been vacated in the shuffle.
| Frequency | UHF | kW | Operator | System | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | 0.1 | Arqiva (Mux C) | DVB-T | ||
| 22- | 0.6 | Digital 3&4 (Mux 2) | DVB-T | ||
| 23 | 2 | BBC A | DVB-T | ||
| 26 | 10 | HTV Wales | PAL System I | ||
| 28- | 0.3 | SDN (Mux A) | DVB-T | ||
| 29 | 10 | S4C | PAL System I | ||
| 31- | 0.1 | Arqiva (Mux D) | DVB-T | ||
| 32- | 0.6 | BBC (Mux B) | DVB-T | ||
| 33 | 10 | BBC1 Wales | PAL System I | ||
| 35 | 10 | Channel 5 | PAL System I |
The remaining analogue TV services were closed down, the digital multiplexes took over their original frequencies (and a few new ones) with a power increase and a move to 64-QAM encoding. The service covers Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Bridgend, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, and parts of South Wales including Cowbridge and the Vale of Glamorgan where the Wenvoe Transmitters’ signals are shielded by hills.
| Frequency | UHF | kW | Operator | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | 2 | Arqiva A | ||
| 23 | 2 | BBC A | ||
| 25 | 2 | SDN | ||
| 26 | 2 | Digital 3&4 | ||
| 28 | 2 | Arqiva B | ||
| 29 | 2 | BBC B |
Services have moved to different frequencies.
| Frequency | UHF | kW | Operator | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | 2 | BBC A | ||
| 22 | 2 | Arqiva A | ||
| 24 | 2 | Digital 3&4 | ||
| 25 | 2 | SDN | ||
| 27 | 2 | BBC B | ||
| 28 | 2 | Arqiva B | ||
| 34 | 2 | _local |
See also: List of digital terrestrial television channels (UK).
The first FM radio from the site was Wales' first independent radio station, Swansea Sound.[8]
Swansea Sound changed frequency to 96.4 MHz as required by a new bandplan for Band II broadcasting which placed BBC stations below 96 MHz and Independent Local Radio stations above that. The band limit was 98 MHz at that point. BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio Cymru commenced from the site sometime before 1988 as the BBC's Service Area map of 1988 shows.[9]
| Frequency | kW | Service | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 89.5 MHz | 0.925 | BBC Radio 2 | Adult contemporary music-led service | |
| 91.7 MHz | 0.925 | BBC Radio 3 | Classical, jazz, world music and the arts | |
| 93.9 MHz | 0.925 | BBC Radio Cymru | Welsh language service | |
| 96.4 MHz | 1.5 | Swansea Sound | Contemporary and chart music and information station for under 44s |
The 1988 bandplan for Band II raised the upper limit for broadcasting to 100 MHz and Radio 1 gained its own frequency.
| Frequency | kW | Service | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 89.5 MHz | 0.925 | BBC Radio 2 | Adult contemporary music-led service | |
| 91.7 MHz | 0.925 | BBC Radio 3 | Classical, jazz, world music and the arts | |
| 93.9 MHz | 0.925 | BBC Radio Cymru | Welsh language service | |
| 96.4 MHz | 1.5 | Swansea Sound | Contemporary and chart music and information station for under 44s | |
| 99.1 MHz | 0.925 | BBC Radio 1 | New and popular music, news, entertainment and talk |
Swansea Sound changed its name first to "96.4 Sound Wave" then (quickly) to 96.4 The Wave.
| Frequency | kW | Service | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 89.5 MHz | 0.925 | BBC Radio 2 | Adult contemporary music-led service | |
| 91.7 MHz | 0.925 | BBC Radio 3 | Classical, jazz, world music and the arts | |
| 93.9 MHz | 0.925 | BBC Radio Cymru | Welsh language service | |
| 96.4 MHz | 1.5 | The Wave | Contemporary and chart music and information station for under 44s | |
| 99.1 MHz | 0.925 | BBC Radio 1 | New and popular music, news, entertainment and talk |
Classic FM came on air in 1997, the other new services have joined at various times since then. Radio Cymru has moved to 104.2 MHz with BBC Radio Wales taking over the vacated 93.9 MHz slot.
| Frequency | kW | Service | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 89.5 MHz | 0.925 | BBC Radio 2 | Adult contemporary music-led service | |
| 91.7 MHz | 0.925 | BBC Radio 3 | Classical, jazz, world music and the arts | |
| 93.9 MHz | 0.925 | BBC Radio Wales | A music-led service, with talk and entertainment revolving around Wales | |
| 94.6 MHz | 0.925 | BBC Radio 4 | Speech, news and current affairs | |
| 96.4 MHz | 1.5 | Hits Radio South Wales | Contemporary and chart music and information station for under 44s | |
| 99.1 MHz | 0.925 | BBC Radio 1 | New and popular music, news, entertainment and talk | |
| 101.3 MHz | 0.5 | Classic FM | Classical music | |
| 102.1 MHz | 1.25 | Swansea Bay Radio | Adult contemporary[10] | |
| 104.2 MHz | 0.925 | BBC Radio Cymru | Welsh language service | |
| 106.0 MHz | 1 | Heart South Wales | Adult contemporary, news, entertainment and sports. Formerly Real Radio | |
| 107.3 MHz | 1.25 | Nation Radio Wales | Rock music |
| Frequency | Block | kW | Operator | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 222.064 MHz | 11D | 1 | Digital One | |
| 223.936 MHz | 12A | 2 | Swansea SW Wales | |
| 225.648 MHz | 12B | 4.1 | BBC National DAB | |
| 229.072 MHz | 12D | 1.2 | MuxCo Mid & West Wales | |
| 216.928 MHz | 11A | 5 | SDL National |