Tower height 22 metres (72 ft) BBC region BBC Wales (1967-1982) | Grid reference SH727185 Year built 1967 | |
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Similar Cardigan transmitting station, Haverfordwest transmitting station, West Kirby television relay stati, St Hilary transmitting station, Washford transmitting station | ||
The Dolgellau transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility located on a hill about 1 km north of the town of Dolgellau, in Gwynedd, Wales. It was originally built by the BBC, entering service just before Christmas 1967 acting as a relay transmitter for the now-defunct 405-line VHF television system.
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Specifications
The site has a self-standing 22 m lattice tower erected on land that is itself about 100 m above sea level. The television broadcasts primarily cover the towns of Dolgellau, Llanelltyd and the villages of the upper Mawddach river valley.
625-line colour TV came to the site in the late 1970s.
The 405-line VHF television service closed across the UK in 1985, but Dolgellau's 405 line services closed early - in January 1984.
Dolgellau currently broadcasts digital television and analogue FM radio.
18 December 1967 - Late 1970s
The transmitter was classed as a relay of Blaenplwyf about 40 km to the south, but received its signal from an SHF link fed from an off-air pickup on the coast at Barmouth about 10 km away to the west on the Mawddach estuary.
Late 1970s - 1 November 1982
Colour TV eventually arrived, with the site now additionally acting as an indirect relay of Preseli (about 100 km to the south) for the 625-line services, receiving its signal off-air from Llwyn Onn, which receives its signal off-air from Preseli itself.
1 November 1982 - January 1984
Channel 4 launched across the UK on 1 November 1982. Being in Wales, Dolgellau broadcast the S4C variant.
January 1984 - 19 August 2009
405-line television was discontinued (after a mere 17 years). For the next 25 years there were to be no changes to the television output at this site.
19 August 2009 - 16 September 2009
Digital switchover started at Preseli and therefore at Dolgellau and all its other relays. BBC 2 was closed down on channel 62 and ITV 1 was moved from channel 59 to channel 62 for its final three weeks of service. Mux A started up on the newly vacated channel 59 at full post-DSO power.
16 September 2009 - 31 October 2012
All the remaining analogue TV transmitters were shut down and the three multiplexes of Freeview Lite took over their frequencies.
31 October 2012 - present
As part of the Europe-wide clearance of the 800 MHz band, the BBC Mux B signal was moved from channel 62- to channel 50.
18 December 1967 - Early 1990s
For its FM radio services, Dolgellau is an off-air relay of Blaenplwyf.
Early 1990s - present
Radio 1 gained its own frequency and National Radio 4 was added.