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The Burnhope transmitting station is a television transmitter in the north of England.
History
Construction
It was originally built by
BICC[''Times'' Tuesday 27 October 1959, page 6] for the
Independent Television Authority
The Independent Television Authority (ITA) was an agency created by the Television Act 1954 to supervise the creation of "Independent Television" ( ITV), the first commercial television network in the United Kingdom. The ITA existed from 1954 un ...
(ITA) as its sole
405-line
The 405-line monochrome analogue television broadcasting system was the first fully electronic television system to be used in regular broadcasting. The number of television lines influences the image resolution, or quality of the picture.
It wa ...
transmitting station service the
Tyne Tees Television
ITV Tyne Tees, previously known as Tyne Tees, Channel 3 North East and Tyne Tees Television, is the ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire.
Tyne Tees launched on 15 January 1959 from studios at a converte ...
region.
Transmission
Test transmissions started in December 1958 approximately one month before the launch on
Tyne Tees Television
ITV Tyne Tees, previously known as Tyne Tees, Channel 3 North East and Tyne Tees Television, is the ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire.
Tyne Tees launched on 15 January 1959 from studios at a converte ...
on 15 January 1959. It was built close to the existing
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
Band I station at
Pontop Pike
The Pontop Pike transmitting station is a facility for telecommunications and broadcasting situated on a 312-metre (1,024-ft) high hill of the same name between Stanley and Consett, County Durham, near the village of Dipton, England. The mas ...
. This was the eighth transmitter opened by the ITA.
From the station's 750 foot mast, transmissions from Burnhope were on
VHF Channel 8 at a peak vision
ERP of 100 kW, successfully covering a region spanning the
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...
moorlands and
Teesside
Teesside () is a built-up area around the River Tees in the north of England, split between County Durham and North Yorkshire. The name was initially used as a county borough in the North Riding of Yorkshire.
Historically a hub for heavy manu ...
in the South, to the remote upper reaches of
Northumberland
Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey.
It is bordered by land ...
in the North.
With the advent of
UHF with its
625-lines, the adjacent
Pontop Pike transmitting station
The Pontop Pike transmitting station is a facility for telecommunications and broadcasting situated on a 312-metre (1,024-ft) high hill of the same name between Stanley and Consett, County Durham, near the village of Dipton, England. The mas ...
carried these services to the Newcastle and County Durham area from 1967 onwards, confining Burnhope to 405-line transmission. In due course, further main UHF transmissions were established at
Bilsdale West Moor (serving North Yorkshire and Teesside) and Chatton (serving upper Northumberland).
The transmitter would later get a new lease of life with the advent of
Independent Local Radio
Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. As a result of the buyouts and mergers permitted by the Broadcasting Act 1990, and deregulation resulting from the Communications Act 2003, ...
(commercial radio or ILR). Burnhope extended its remit by providing the transmissions for the first ILR service in the North East of England –
Metro Radio
Metro Radio is an Independent Local Radio station based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to County Durham, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear.
As of September 2022, the ...
on 97.0
MHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...
(now on 97.1 MHz).
After the 405-line television service ceased in January 1985,
Metro Radio
Metro Radio is an Independent Local Radio station based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to County Durham, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear.
As of September 2022, the ...
was for many years, the only broadcasting duty performed by the transmitter until the early 1990s, when a new tranche of commercial radio (regional) became available.
On 1 September 1994, the transmitter started broadcasting the first new regional radio service to the North East. Launched as
Century Network
Century Radio was the brand name of a group of independent local radio stations in England. The brand was developed with the launch of 100-102 Century Radio in North East England in 1994, with John Myers as managing director and John Simons as ...
, it then broadcast as Real Radio (North East) and is now
Heart North East
Heart North East is a regional radio broadcasting, radio station owned and operated by Global Group, Global as part of the Heart (radio network), Heart network. It broadcasts to North East England from studios in Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle.
...
. It was followed almost five years later (1 June 1999), by Galaxy North East, now
Capital North East
Capital North East is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to North East England from studios in Newcastle upon Tyne.
The station launched on 1 June 1999 as Galaxy 105–106, ren ...
.
TV returns
In between the launch of the first two regional services, a new television service launched in 1997. March 1997 saw the launch of Channel 5, with Burnhope, along with a number of other ITA-built transmitter stations which had not been used since the 405-line closure, broadcasting the new television service.
Channel 5's analogue transmission from Burnhope ceased upon closure of the analogue TV service in the North East of England, which took place in the final phase of the
digital switchover
The digital television transition, also called the digital switchover (DSO), the analogue switch/sign-off (ASO), the digital migration, or the analogue shutdown, is the process in which older analogue television broadcasting technology is conv ...
in September 2012. Channel 5 would then only be available digitally via the
Pontop Pike transmitting station
The Pontop Pike transmitting station is a facility for telecommunications and broadcasting situated on a 312-metre (1,024-ft) high hill of the same name between Stanley and Consett, County Durham, near the village of Dipton, England. The mas ...
.
Further radio
Two further analogue radio services would launch using this transmitter. On 5 December 2005,
Durham FM
Durham FM was an Independent Local Radio station based in Durham, County Durham, England.
History
Since its launch in 2005, Durham FM was owned and operated by TLRC.
In December 2008, Durham FM submitted an application to Ofcom to co-locate w ...
launched a low-powered service to County Durham with a third and final regional service launched on 8 January 2008 (
97.5 Smooth Radio).
The transmitter is also used to carry the two local DAB signals (Bauer Digital) locally, and MXR Digital regionally.
Services available
Analogue radio
Digital radio
Analogue television
15 January 1959 – 3 January 1985
30 March 1997 – 26 September 2012
References
External links
* http://www.thebigtower.com/live/Burnhope/Index.htm
* http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/burnhope/index.php
{{Burnhope_VHF_405-line_Transmitter_Group
Transmitter sites in England