The Chillerton Down transmitting station is a

broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began wi ...

facility for FM and DAB radio at

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 ...

, above the village of

Chillerton Chillerton is a village between Newport and Chale in the Isle of Wight in southern England. Chillerton is in the middle of a farming community. It is in the civil parish of Chillerton and Gatcombe, along with nearby Gatcombe; the parish had a ...

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 Is ...

off the south coast of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

(). The transmitter was erected in 1958 and uses a high

guyed A guy-wire, guy-line, guy-rope, or stay, also called simply a guy, is a tensioned cable designed to add stability to a free-standing structure. They are used commonly for ship masts, radio masts, wind turbines, utility poles, and tents. A thi ...

steel lattice mast of triangular cross section as an aerial.tx.mb21.co.uk

Chillerton Down
. Retrieved 26 March 2007.

History

Construction

It was built by BICC.''Times'' Tuesday 27 October 1959, page 6

Transmission

It was originally used to transmit

Southern Television Southern Television was the ITV broadcasting licence holder for the South and South-East of England from 30 August 1958 to 31 December 1981. The company was launched as 'Southern Television Limited' and the title 'Southern Television' was co ...

, and later TVS, until the end of

VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

transmissions in the UK at the beginning of 1985. It now transmits

Wave 105 Wave 105 is an Independent Regional Radio station based in Fareham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to South Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, West Sussex and Wiltshire, and until September 202 ...

, Capital South,

Nation Radio South Coast Nation Radio South Coast is a classic hits radio station broadcasting on 106 MHz & 106.6 MHz FM, on DAB on the South Hampshire multiplex across the South Coast of England and on DAB+ across a limited area on the Portsmouth small scale trial m ...

, Isle of Wight Radio, the local

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 ...

(NOW S. Hampshire) DAB multiplex and the national

Digital One Digital One is a national commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, owned by Arqiva. , the multiplex covered more than 90% of the population from 137 transmitters. Coverage was extended to Northern Ireland in July 2013. It conta ...

DAB multiplex. The site is owned and operated by

Channels available by frequency

Analogue radio

Digital radio

Analogue television

VHF analogue television was transmitted from Chillerton Down from its launch in 1958 until the nationwide shutdown of VHF signals in 1985.

References

External links

The Transmission Gallery: photographs and informationAntenna picture
Buildings and structures on the Isle of Wight Transmitter sites in England Towers on the Isle of Wight {{UK-bcast-stub