Kilvey Hill transmitting station


The Kilvey Hill transmitting station was originally built at the summit of Kilvey Hill in Swansea, Wales, by the BBC 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 the Swansea and Neath Port Talbot area. The transmission station located on top of Kilvey Hill 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.

Channels listed by frequency

Analogue television

December 1967 - 17 February 1968

Kilvey Hill provided BBC 405-line VHF television to the Neath and Port Talbot area which is strongly shielded by local hills 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.
FrequencyVHFkWService
20.5BBC1 Wales

17 February 1968 - 28 January 1972

A BBC R&D report 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 only transmitting BBC 2 on 625-lines. This time, the northern parts of Swansea were intended to be covered by the signal as local hills shielded those parts of the town from the UHF signal from Wenvoe.
FrequencyVHFUHFkWService
2—0.5BBC1 Wales
—2610BBC2 Wales

28 January 1972 - 1 November 1982

and HTV Wales came on air from Wenvoe in April 1970, but it was nearly two years later before Kilvey Hill started to relay those channels.
FrequencyVHFUHFkWService
2—0.5BBC1 Wales
—2310HTV Wales
—2610BBC2 Wales
—3310BBC1 Wales

1 November 1982 - Second Quarter 1983

Channel 4 launched across the UK in 1982. Kilvey Hill transmitted the S4C variant.
FrequencyVHFUHFkWService
2—0.5BBC1 Wales
—2310HTV Wales
—2610BBC2 Wales
—2910S4C
—3310BBC1 Wales

Second Quarter 1983 - 15 July 1997

405 line television was discontinued early, and from then onwards TV transmissions were on UHF only.
FrequencyUHFkWService
2310HTV Wales
2610BBC2 Wales
2910S4C
3310BBC1 Wales

15 July 1997 - 15 November 1998

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.
FrequencyUHFkWService
2310HTV Wales
2610BBC Two Wales
2910S4C
3310BBC One Wales
3510Channel 5

Analogue and digital television

15 November 1998 - 12 August 2009

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.
FrequencyUHFkWOperatorSystem
210.1Arqiva DVB-T
22-0.6Digital 3&4 DVB-T
2310ITV Wales PAL System I
25-0.6BBC DVB-T
2610BBC Two WalesPAL System I
28-0.3SDN DVB-T
2910S4CPAL System I
31-0.1Arqiva DVB-T
32-0.6BBC DVB-T
3310BBC One WalesPAL System I
3510Channel 5PAL System I

12 August 2009 - 9 September 2009

The UK's digital switchover commenced with Kilvey Hill on 12 August 2009. Analogue BBC Two Wales on channel 26 was first to close, and ITV 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 on channel 23 which had just been vacated in the shuffle.
FrequencyUHFkWOperatorSystem
210.1Arqiva DVB-T
22-0.6Digital 3&4 DVB-T
232BBC ADVB-T
2610ITV WalesPAL System I
28-0.3SDN DVB-T
2910S4CPAL System I
31-0.1Arqiva DVB-T
32-0.6BBC DVB-T
3310BBC One WalesPAL System I
3510Channel 5PAL System I

Digital television

9 September 2009 - present

The remaining analogue TV services were closed down, the digital multiplexes took over their original frequencies 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.
FrequencyUHFkWOperator
222Arqiva A
232BBC A
252SDN
262Digital 3&4
282Arqiva B
292BBC B

Analogue radio (VHF FM)

30 September 1974 - Early 1980s

The first FM radio from the site was Wales' first independent radio station, Swansea Sound.
FrequencykWServiceDescription
95.1 MHz1.0Swansea SoundContemporary and chart music and information station for under 44s

Early 1980s - 1989

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.
FrequencykWServiceDescription
89.5 MHz0.925BBC Radio 2Adult contemporary music-led service
91.7 MHz0.925BBC Radio 3Classical, jazz, world music and the arts
93.9 MHz0.925BBC Radio CymruWelsh language service
96.4 MHz1.5Swansea SoundContemporary and chart music and information station for under 44s

1989 - 30 September 1995

The 1988 bandplan for Band II raised the upper limit for broadcasting to 100 MHz and Radio 1 gained its own frequency.
FrequencykWServiceDescription
89.5 MHz0.925BBC Radio 2Adult contemporary music-led service
91.7 MHz0.925BBC Radio 3Classical, jazz, world music and the arts
93.9 MHz0.925BBC Radio CymruWelsh language service
96.4 MHz1.5Swansea SoundContemporary and chart music and information station for under 44s
99.1 MHz0.925BBC Radio 1New and popular music, news, entertainment and talk

30 September 1995 - 1997

Swansea Sound changed its name first to "96.4 Sound Wave" then to 96.4 The Wave.
FrequencykWServiceDescription
89.5 MHz0.925BBC Radio 2Adult contemporary music-led service
91.7 MHz0.925BBC Radio 3Classical, jazz, world music and the arts
93.9 MHz0.925BBC Radio CymruWelsh language service
96.4 MHz1.5The WaveContemporary and chart music and information station for under 44s
99.1 MHz0.925BBC Radio 1New and popular music, news, entertainment and talk

1997 - present

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.
FrequencykWServiceDescription
89.5 MHz0.925BBC Radio 2Adult contemporary music-led service
91.7 MHz0.925BBC Radio 3Classical, jazz, world music and the arts
93.9 MHz0.925BBC Radio WalesA music-led service, with talk and entertainment revolving around Wales
94.6 MHz0.925BBC Radio 4Speech, news and current affairs
96.4 MHz1.5The WaveContemporary and chart music and information station for under 44s
99.1 MHz0.925BBC Radio 1New and popular music, news, entertainment and talk
101.3 MHz0.5Classic FMClassical music
102.1 MHz1.25Swansea Bay RadioContemporary Hit Radio
104.2 MHz0.925BBC Radio CymruWelsh language service
106.0 MHz1Heart South WalesAdult contemporary, news, entertainment and sports. Formerly Real Radio
107.3 MHz1.25Nation RadioRock music

Digital radio (DAB)

The digital radio signal 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.