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THE TRANSMISSION GALLERY
BRECON UHF
| Photos by Colin Dalziel, Peter Bigwood and David Sommers | Page last updated: 2016-11-25 |
| Brecon UHF was a late addition to the ITV 405-line Tx network, entering service on the 30th April 1970 and closing only 12 years later in the summer of 1982. UHF TV on 3 channels was added only 4 years later on the 25th January 1974, and S4C was available from the launch in 1982. The UHF analogue ERP of 1 kW seems somewhat excessive when the town is so close by, but Brecon is used as the RBL source for a further 4 downstream relays at Clyro, Llyswen, Pennorth, and Sennybridge. Clyro is about 13 miles away. |
| Colin Dalziel: This is a golden oldie. It shows the Band III aerial on the Brecon ITA mast in mid-Wales and was taken around the time the site was constructed. The aerials shown here were for the ITA, VHF 405-line service on ch8. It was listed as a relay of St. Hilary Ch 7, although it was most likely to have been a relay of Abergavenny, as is the case with UHF TV. |
| David Sommers has taken the more recent photos: I have shown it from the town, and the town from the mast which stands on a hill known as Slwch. This shows just how close the mast is to the town. With an output of 1kW it serves most of the town centre very well and the outlying villages where terrain allows up to a distance of about 10 miles. The SE of the town is screened by the back of Slwch hill and is served by Pennorth. The programme feed is received by the vertical trough aerials and comes from Abergavenny, which is fed by Ebbw Vale, which itself was fed directly by Wenvoe. Ebbw Vale is now line fed. The mast is well loaded, and a tall and impressive structure for a small town relay station. The channel allocation of 54, 58, 61 and 64 ruins Mendip reception in higher parts of the locality where it runs in through dips in the Brecon Beacons. The Beacons also screen Brecon from Wenvoe, although it is used in isolated communities to the North West of the town. The Brecon FM and DAB radio relay is not co-sited with the UHF site. The FM site consists of two stacked yagis on a mast pointing over the town from an area known as the Crug. This site receives its feed directly from Wenvoe. I moved from Brecon over 8 years ago, and have not walked up the Tx for about 10. I was amazed at how much more hardware had been fitted to it, and the number and size of the buildings up there! |
Abergavenny | Brecon VHF | Clyro | Ebbw Vale | Llyswen | Pennorth | Sennybridge | St. Hilary | Wenvoe
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