Bilsdale transmitting station


The Bilsdale transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility, located at above Bilsdale, close to Helmsley, North Yorkshire, England. It includes a guyed steel tubular mast that is primarily used for radio and television transmission. The height of the mast is to the pinnacle. It is among the most powerful in the UK, for analogue it was 500 kW ERP and is now 100kW / 50kW for digital. It has recently been equipped with new aircraft warning lights, in the form of arrays of ultra bright red LEDs.

History

Bilsdale was constructed in 1969 by the BBC to bring 625-line colour television on UHF to Teesside and the surrounding areas for the first time. Having added UHF TV to the existing VHF TV stations at Pontop Pike and Emley Moor, it was quickly established that a new station would be required to cover County Durham and north North Yorkshire where existing coverage was poor, and thus the new station was built.

Construction

It was built by J. L. Eve Construction.

Coverage

Coverage extends throughout Teesside and the surrounding regions, encompassing north North Yorkshire and southern County Durham. This includes Harrogate and York to the south, Filey and Whitby to the east, Middlesbrough, Stockton, Darlington, Bishop Auckland, Hartlepool, Peterlee, some areas of Seaham and some areas of Sunderland to the north, and Barnard Castle and Worton to the west.

Channels listed by frequency

Analogue radio

Digital radio

Digital television

In July 2007, it was confirmed by Ofcom that the television frequency assignment after digital switchover would be such that a wideband or group K aerial would be required for reception of all six multiplexes. However, the three public service multiplexes would still fall within the station's original analogue frequency range assignment of aerial group A. The digital switchover started at Bilsdale on 12 September 2012 and was one of the last transmitters in England to complete this operation on 26 September 2012, the others being Pontop Pike and Chatton in the same region.
On 13 November 2019, due to the 700MHz Clearance Programme, the following multiplexes moved frequencies:
On 12 March, BBC A and BBC B swap UHF Channel allocations, with BBC A on UHF 27 and BBC B on UHF 21.
On 25 June 2020, COM 8 was switched off permananetly due to the effects of the 700MHz clearence programme.
FrequencyUHFkWOperatorSystem
21100BBC BDVB-T2
24100Digital 3&4DVB-T
27100BBC ADVB-T
4050Arqiva BDVB-T
4350SDNDVB-T
4650Arqiva ADVB-T
5526.9Arqiva CDVB-T2

Before switchover

Analogue television

Analogue television is no longer available from Bilsdale; BBC Two was closed on 12 September 2012, followed by the remaining four channels on 26 September 2012.
FrequencyUHFkWService
23500Channel 4
26500BBC Two
29500ITV1
33500BBC One
35500Channel 5

Relays

Below is a list of transmitters that relay Bilsdale.

Digital television