The Pontop Pike transmitting station is a facility for

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that ...

and broadcasting situated on a 312-metre (1,024-ft) high hill of the same name between Stanley and

Consett Consett is a town in County Durham, England, about south-west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It had a population of 27,394 in 2001 and an estimate of 25,812 in 2019. History Consett sits high on the edge of the Pennines. Its' name originates in the ...

, County Durham, near the village of Dipton, England. The mast is high, giving an average antenna height of above sea level. It is 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 ...

History

The mast was built in 1953, by BICC with

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 ...

(also ) and North Hessary Tor in Devon (). Its construction was brought forward by the BBC so that people in

North East England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary author ...

could watch the

Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II The coronation of Elizabeth II took place on 2 June 1953 at Westminster Abbey in London. She acceded to the throne at the age of 25 upon the death of her father, George VI, on 6 February 1952, being proclaimed queen by her privy and executive ...

live on the

405-line television system 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 ...

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 ...

then in use in the UK. Test transmissions from a low-power temporary aerial began on Monday, 20 April 1953, and the first programmes were transmitted on Friday, 1 May 1953, in plenty of time for the Coronation on 2 June. UHF transmissions began in 1966 with the first colour transmissions in 1970, and the VHF television signal was switched off in 1985.

Coverage

The Pontop Pike transmitter provides

digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative adva ...

transmissions to

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcas ...

, County Durham,

Tees Valley Tees Valley is a mayoral combined authority and Local enterprise partnership area in northern England, around the River Tees. The area is not a geographical valley. The LEP was established in 2011 and the combined authority was establish ...

, most 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 ...

and parts of

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by national parks, including most of the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It is one of four co ...

. It also carries the national

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

FM signals, covering the whole

North East The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...

, as well as 95.4 MHz FM

BBC Newcastle BBC Radio Newcastle is the BBC's local radio station serving Newcastle upon Tyne, the neighbouring metropolitan boroughs, Northumberland and north east County Durham. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from BBC studios ...

. It was one of the first national FM transmitters in December 1955. All of its television output is within the C/D aerial group.

Digital TV switchover

Analogue TV transmissions from this mast began to close from 12 September 2012 and completely ceased on 26 September that year, making Pontop Pike, alongside

Bilsdale Bilsdale is a dale in the western part of the North York Moors in North Yorkshire, England. The head of the dale is at Hasty Bank, and the dale extends south to meet Rye Dale near Hawnby. The dale is the valley of the River Seph, formed w ...

and

Chatton Chatton is a village in Northumberland, in England. It is roughly to the east of Wooler. History Chatton has been occupied for many centuries. There has been a church on the site since the twelfth century. There is evidence of occupation i ...

, the last-but-one transmitter group in the United Kingdom to complete

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 ...

(DSO) with Northern Ireland being the last area to switch. In July 2007 it was confirmed by Ofcom that Pontop Pike would remain a C/D group after DSO. Pontop Pike underwent its 700 MHz clearance between September and November 2019 when its output moved down the band from a C/D group to a K group. Thus people with original C/D group aerials, who live in poor reception areas, may struggle to pick up some channels (se
graph
.

Services listed by frequency

Analogue radio

Digital radio

Digital television

Before 700 MHz clearance

Before switchover

Analogue television

Analogue television from Pontop Pike has now ceased permanently. BBC Two analogue was switched off on 12 September 2012 and the remaining three on 26 September 2012. Pontop Pike did not transmit analogue Channel 5. Instead it was transmitted from

Burnhope Burnhope is a village and civil parish in County Durham, England. It is located in the Craghead valley on the opposite side to Stanley and has 1,564 inhabitants, as measured in the 2011 census. Burnhope overlooks Lanchester in the Brown ...

on UHF 68.

Relay services

Being the main broadcasting transmitter, there are also a number of relays (or repeaters) to cover patches where this transmitter can't properly serve.

Analogue radio

Digital television

The following is a list of the television relays served by Pontop Pike:

References

External links

Info and pictures of Pontop Pike transmitter including historical power/frequency changes and present co-receivable transmitters.

Entry on Pontop Pike on The Transmission Gallery

{{Pontop_Pike_VHF_405-line_Transmitter_Group Radio masts and towers in Europe Buildings and structures in County Durham Transmitter sites in England

History

Coverage

Digital TV switchover

Services listed by frequency

Analogue radio

Digital radio

Digital television

Before 700 MHz clearance

Before switchover

Analogue television

Relay services

Analogue radio

Digital television

See also

References

External links