| Long Mountain | |
| Map Name: | Wales Powys |
| Coordinates: | 52.6452°N -3.0865°W |
| Gridref: | SJ265058 |
| Height: | 52m (171feet) |
| Built: | Late 1970s |
| Bbc: | BBC Wales |
| Itv: | ITV Cymru Wales |
The Long Mountain transmitting station is sited on a 400m (1,300feet) ridge about 4km (02miles) east of Welshpool in Powys, Mid Wales and has been broadcasting UHF terrestrial TV and VHF FM radio services since the late 1970s. The site has a self-supporting 170' (52 metre) high lattice steel mast and was fed with an SHF link from Blaenplwyf via Llangurig. Despite not taking its signal off-air, it was originally classed as a 625-line UHF TV relay of Blaenplwyf.
The transmitter originally radiated 1 kW providing TV and radio to an area including Newtown and Oswestry. Being only 400m (1,300feet) from the England/Wales border, coverage extended to several towns in England – Shrewsbury included.[1]
Long Mountain became re-classed as main transmitter in its own right (albeit a very low power one) with the advent of digital terrestrial TV from the site on 4 November 2009. In addition to this, it currently transmits FM radio and a single multiplex of DAB Digital radio.
Long Mountain never did broadcast VHF television, and went live with the UK's original three national UHF television services.
| Frequency | UHF | kW | Service | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 58 | 1 | BBC1 Wales | ||
| 61 | 1 | HTV Wales | ||
| 64 | 1 | 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 54 | 1 | S4C | ||
| 58 | 1 | BBC1 Wales | ||
| 61 | 1 | HTV Wales | ||
| 64 | 1 | BBC2 Wales |
The UK's digital switchover commenced at this site.[2] Analogue BBC Two Wales closed on channel 64 and ITV1 Wales took over on that frequency for what would be its final 3 weeks of service, vacating channel 61 as it did so. The new BBC A multiplex started up at full power in 64-QAM mode on channel 60 until 19 October 2011.[3]
| Frequency | UHF | kW | Service | System | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 54 | 1 | S4C | PAL System I | ||
| 58 | 1 | BBC One Wales | PAL System I | ||
| 60 | 0.4 | BBC A | DVB-T | ||
| 64 | 1 | ITV1 Wales | PAL System I |
All the analogue television services closed and the new digital multiplexes took over on parking-frequencies (until October 2011) with name-changes, power increases and a shift to 64-QAM.[4] Unusually, for a digital TV site classed as a main transmitter, Long Mountain only radiates the three public service multiplexes of Freeview.
| Frequency | UHF | kW | Operator | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 52 | 0.4 | Digital 3&4 | ||
| 56 | 0.4 | BBC B | ||
| 60 | 0.4 | BBC A |
DSO was completed at The Wrekin, and this allowed the Long Mountain multiplexes to take up their final frequencies.[5]
| Frequency | UHF | kW | Operator | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 53 | 0.4 | Digital 3&4 | ||
| 57 | 0.4 | BBC B | ||
| 60- | 0.4 | BBC A |
For its FM radio services, Long Mountain is an off-air relay of Llangollen.
| Frequency | kW | Service | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 89.6 MHz | 0.02 | BBC Radio 2 | |
| 91.8 MHz | 0.02 | BBC Radio Wales | |
| 94.0 MHz | 0.02 | BBC Radio 4 | |
| 99.2 MHz | 0.02 | BBC Radio 1 | |
| 102.8 MHz | 0.02 | Heart North and Mid Wales | |
| 103.6 MHz | 0.02 | BBC Radio Cymru |