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The Rowridge transmitting station is a facility for FM radio and television
transmission Transmission may refer to: Medicine, science and technology * Power transmission ** Electric power transmission ** Propulsion transmission, technology allowing controlled application of power *** Automatic transmission *** Manual transmission *** ...
at
Rowridge Rowridge is a hamlet on the Isle of Wight towards the west in an area known as West Wight. It is the location of the Rowridge transmitting station, a 149.6 metres (491 ft) tall guyed transmitting mast. It is in the civil parish In Engla ...
on the
Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...
in southern England. It currently has a tall guyed mast, owned and operated by
Arqiva Arqiva () is a British telecommunications company which provides infrastructure, broadcast transmission and smart meter facilities in the United Kingdom. The company is headquartered at the former Independent Broadcasting Authority headquart ...
(previously National Grid Wireless). There is a smaller tower on the site belonging to
British Telecom BT Group plc (trade name, trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is th ...
. Prior to Digital Switchover (DSO) the station broadcast with a power of 250 kW ( ERP) for FM radio, 500 kW for analogue television, and 20 kW for digital television. In July 2007,
Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...
confirmed that Rowridge would remain an A Group transmitter at
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 ...
; the digital television transmission signal was then boosted to 200 kW. From March 2018 MUXES 7 & 8 moved out of the A group to channels 55 & 56 (se
graph
, though these are due to be turned off between 2020 and 2022. Rowridge is one of only two main transmitters (the other is the rather smaller transmitter of Rosneath in Scotland) to broadcast its output on both horizontal and vertical polarities. Only the main 6 MUXES are transmitted in vertical polarity. The reason for this dual polarity transmission is to give a second option to those experiencing co-channel interference fro
transmitters on the continent
Analogue Channel 5 was not transmitted from Rowridge but was broadcast (at 10 kW) from
Fawley Power Station Fawley Power Station was an oil-fired power station located on the western side of Southampton Water, between the villages of Fawley and Calshot in Hampshire, England. Its chimney was a prominent (and navigationally useful) landmark, but it ...
, with the antenna located on the main chimney. Transmissions all fitted within the A group and were horizontally polarised. On 25 March 2009, Channel 5's analogue signal was turned off from Fawley Power Station, due to the digital switchover in the neighbouring
Westcountry The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Gloucesters ...
region. Population coverage for the main four analogue channels was about 1.75 million.


History

The station was first built to provide
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. ...
...
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 was ...
television coverage for an area including
Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
,
Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...
,
Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...
,
Chichester Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...
,
Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
,
Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...
and
Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...
. Sites on the mainland and the Isle of Wight were considered, and three were tested by
BBC Research Department BBC Research & Development is the technical research department of the BBC. Function It has responsibility for researching and developing advanced and emerging media technologies for the benefit of the corporation, and wider UK and European m ...
. A temporary 200 ft lattice mast was built with a main antenna at 175 ft and a reserve antenna lower down. These aerials were directional to enhance the signal northwards and reduce unwanted coverage to the south. It was built by BICC, alongside Pontop Pike (also 500ft) and North Hessary Tor in Devon (a taller mast). The service opened on 12 November 1954, bringing television to the area for the first time. A programme feed was obtained via a Post Office radio link, using refurbished equipment that provided the original picture feed for the
Wenvoe Transmitter The Wenvoe transmitting station, officially known as Arqiva Wenvoe, is the main facility for broadcasting and telecommunications for South Wales and the West Country. It is situated close to the village of Wenvoe in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, i ...
on the
British Telecom Microwave Network The British Telecom microwave network was a network of point-to-point microwave radio links in the United Kingdom, operated at first by the General Post Office, and subsequently by its successor BT plc. From the late 1950s to the 1980s it provided a ...
. A site for this near
Alton, Hampshire Alton ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England, near the source of the River Wey. It had a population of 17,816 at the 2011 census. Alton was recorded in the Domesday Survey of 1086 as ''Aoltone'' ...
was acquired and named after a nearby pub: Golden Pot. Here the TV signal from
Alexandra Palace Alexandra Palace is a Grade II listed entertainment and sports venue in London, situated between Wood Green and Muswell Hill in the London Borough of Haringey. It is built on the site of Tottenham Wood and the later Tottenham Wood Farm. Origi ...
was picked up and relayed via a one-hop 4 GHz microwave link to Rowridge. This was brought into service on 18 October 1954. Later, the microwave link ran from the ''Museum'' telephone exchange in London to Rowridge, using Golden Pot as an intermediate site. In 1965 the UHF antenna was added making the total height of the structure . This addition allowed Rowridge to radiate the PAL 625-line transmission that allowed broadcasts in colour and eventually stereo sound, using
NICAM Near Instantaneous Companded Audio Multiplex (NICAM) is an early form of lossy compression for digital audio. It was originally developed in the early 1970s for point-to-point links within broadcasting networks.Croll, M.G., Osborne, D.W. and Spi ...
. On 25 March 2009, Channel 5's analogue signal was turned off from Fawley Power Station. Later on in the day, "existing digital terrestrial TV services moved to new frequencies", due to the digital switchover happening in the region in 2012.
Arqiva Arqiva () is a British telecommunications company which provides infrastructure, broadcast transmission and smart meter facilities in the United Kingdom. The company is headquartered at the former Independent Broadcasting Authority headquart ...
applied for planning permission to replace the existing 150m (492') mast with one 187m (614') high on 22 May 2009.


Channels listed by frequency


Analogue radio


Digital radio


Analogue television


12 November 1954 – 15 January 1966


15 January 1966 – 13 December 1969


13 December 1969 – 27 December 1969


27 December 1969 – 4 December 1982


4 December 1982 – 3 January 1985


3 January 1985 – 15 November 1998


Analogue and digital television


15 November 1998 – 31 October 2002


31 October 2002 – 24 May 2007


24 May 2007 – 25 March 2009


25 March 2009 – 7 March 2012


7 March 2012 – 21 March 2012


Digital television


21 March 2012 – 18 April 2012


18 April 2012 – present

The commercial multiplexes were situated on their pre-DSO frequencies until 18 April 2012, when they started transmitting at vertical polarisation.


See also

*
Chillerton Down Chillerton Down is downland between the villages of Shorwell and Chillerton, on the Isle of Wight, England. Description The highest point of the hill is , and its prominence is . There is a trig point within 2 metres of the summit. Part of Chill ...
– a transmission site approximately from Rowridge, broadcasting a mix of analogue and digital radio stations not available from Rowridge *
List of masts The tallest structure in the world is the Burj Khalifa skyscraper at . Listed are guyed masts (such as telecommunication masts), self-supporting towers (such as the CN Tower), skyscrapers (such as the Willis Tower), oil platforms, electricity t ...


References


External links


Info and pictures of Rowridge transmitter including historical power/frequency changes and present co-receivable transmittersEntry for Rowridge transmitting station at the Transmission GalleryFreeview on the Rowridge transmitter
{{Rowridge_VHF_405-line_Transmitter_Group Transmitter sites in England Buildings and structures on the Isle of Wight Towers on the Isle of Wight