Les Platons


Les Platons is the highest point of Jersey, a British Crown Dependency, with an elevation of 136 metres. It is located in the Vingtaine de la Ville-à-l'Évêque in the parish of Trinity.
There are radio transmitters, and a radar station located at Les Platons.
In October 1955, Les Platons was used as a site for a television transmitter to bring BBC Television transmissions to the Channel Islands. It transmitted BBC Television on the VHF 405 line service on Channel 4 from Monday 3 October 1955. From 1955 the site was also used to bring the BBC national radio stations to the Channel Islands. Before 1955 the Channel Islands had no transmitters, and received radio transmissions of the BBC national radio stations from mainland England, which could easily be picked up in the Channel Islands.
The BBC started FM transmissions on 16 October 1961 from Les Platons, of the Home, Light and Third Programmes. Later this became 91.1 as Radio 2, 94.75 as Radio 3, and 97.1 as Radio 4.
The Fremont Point transmitter would go on the air in September 1962 bringing Independent Television to the Channel Islands for the first time in the form of the ITV franchise Channel Television. In due course Fremont Point became the main television transmitter site for the Channel Islands. It started broadcasting UHF 625 television in 1976 along with the introduction for the first time of BBC2 and colour television to the Channel Islands.
Les Platons television transmissions ceased in 1985 when the old VHF 405 line transmissions ceased in the UK. From 1985 onwards Les Platons has been a radio transmitter site only.