Carmarthen transmitting station


The Carmarthen transmitting station was originally built by the BBC in 1964/65 as a relay for VHF radio and VHF television. The site was built on a 135 m ridge to the north of Carmarthen itself, and entered service on 15 March 1965. The transmission station is now owned and operated by Arqiva.
UHF 625-line colour television was never radiated from this site: the main transmitter at Carmel provided that service to the town from 1973 when it opened.
The 405-line VHF television service closed across the UK in 1985, but according to the BBC's transmitter list and the BBC's internal "Eng. Inf." magazine, Carmarthen was due to close early - in the first quarter of 1982. From that point onwards the site just relayed FM radio until 6 June 2011 when a single multiplex of DAB radio was added.

Channels listed by frequency

Analogue television

15 March 1965 - First Quarter 1982

The site provided BBC 405-line VHF television to the towns of Carmarthen and Abergwili which, being sited in a river estuary, could not reliably receive a signal from Wenvoe, 85 km to the east.
FrequencyVHFkWService
10.013BBC1 Wales

Analogue radio (VHF FM)

15 March 1965 - January 1973

According to the BBC's R&D report, the original frequencies for the FM radio services were as shown below.
FrequencykWService
88.5 MHz0.0065BBC Light Programme
90.7 MHz0.0065BBC Third Programme
92.9 MHz0.0065BBC Welsh Home Service

January 1973 - May 1978

The three original radio services were still on their original frequencies as late as January 1973, but ERPs had been slightly increased to 10 W per channel by then. By May 1978 all three transmission frequencies had been moved by 400 kHz and all three were transmitting in stereo by that time.
FrequencykWService
88.5 MHz -> 88.9 MHz0.01BBC Radio 2
90.7 MHz -> 91.1 MHz0.01BBC Radio 3
92.9 MHz -> 93.3 MHz0.01BBC Radio 4†

† Radio 4 was replaced by BBC Radio Cymru when it launched in January 1977.

May 1978 - Late 1980s

The new frequency plan continued unchanged until Radio 1 gained its own frequency.
FrequencykWService
88.9 MHz0.01BBC Radio 2
91.1 MHz0.01BBC Radio 3
93.3 MHz0.01BBC Radio Cymru

Late 1980s - present

Radio 1 was given its own frequency as more of Band II became available for broadcasting after the bandplan changes of 1988.
FrequencykWService
88.9 MHz0.01BBC Radio 2
91.1 MHz0.01BBC Radio 3
93.3 MHz0.01BBC Radio Cymru
95.5 MHz0.01BBC Radio 4
97.5 MHz0.01Radio Carmarthenshire
98.5 MHz0.01BBC Radio 1
106.0 MHz0.02Real Radio

Digital radio (DAB)

6 June 2011 - present