The Caldbeck 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 ...

and

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 tha ...

facility, situated close to the village of

Caldbeck Caldbeck is a village in Cumbria, England, historically within Cumberland, it is situated within the Lake District National Park. The village had 714 inhabitants according to the census of 2001. Caldbeck is closely associated with neighbouri ...

, in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. ...

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 ...

(Grid Reference: NY299425). 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 ...

. It includes a guyed steel lattice mast, which is the third highest structure in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The transmission

antennas In radio engineering, an antenna or aerial is the interface between radio waves propagating through space and electric currents moving in metal conductors, used with a transmitter or receiver. In transmission, a radio transmitter supplies a ...

surmounting the structure are contained within a fibreglass cylinder.

History

The station was originally commissioned by 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 (TV network), ITV), the first commercial television network in the United Kingdom. The ITA exi ...

to bring ITV signals (provided by

Border Television ITV Border, previously Border Television and commonly referred to as simply Border, is the Channel 3 service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the England/Scotland border region, covering most of Cumbria, Dumfries and Galloway, the Sc ...

) to South West Scotland and Northern parts of Cumberland and Westmorland, including

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the City ...

and Dumfries using

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 ...

on VHF Channel 11 (

Band III Band III is the name of the range of radio frequencies within the very high frequency (VHF) part of the electromagnetic spectrum from 174 to 240 megahertz (MHz). It is primarily used for radio and television broadcasting. It is also called high ...

). Constructed in 1961, it originally included a tall guyed steel lattice mast that came into service on 1 September of that year. The BBC's VHF television and radio services were carried by the nearby Sandale transmitting station. When UHF television started in the UK in 1969, Caldbeck was selected to carry all the

625-line 625-lines is a standard-definition television resolution used mainly in the context of analog systems. It was first demonstrated by Mark Iosifovich Krivosheev in 1948. Analog broadcast television standards The following International Telecommunic ...

services for the area. The original three channel line-up came into service in September 1971.

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

began from Caldbeck from its launch in November 1982. 405 line television was discontinued in the UK in 1985. In 1993, CFM Radio launched from Caldbeck on 96.4 MHz FM, and later in 2001 the national digital multiplex

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 cont ...

entered service.

Digital switchover

Caldbeck was one of the first transmitters in the UK to be upgraded to high power digital only TV broadcasting. 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 con ...

took place between June & July 2009. At this time, the analogue signal was permanently switched off. Extra multiplexes for

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Irelan ...

and ITV Border (Scotland) were added to the transmitter at the time. Caldbeck underwent major engineering work to accommodate the new transmitters and aerials. The work entailed complete replacement of the existing mast with a brand new mast, work on which began on 26 April 2007. Construction of the new mast structure was completed at the beginning of March 2008.News & Star
/ref> Once installation of the transmitting aerials on the new mast was complete, the old one was dismantled.

Services listed by frequency

Analogue radio (FM VHF)

Digital radio (DAB)

Digital television

Before switchover

=Digital television

=Analogue television

References

External links

Help, tips and advice as Cumbria leads the way to digital television

The Transmission Gallery: Caldbeck Transmitter photographs and information

The Transmission Gallery: TV Coverage Map
* http://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?b61323 * http://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?b61324
Arqiva Caldbeck Mast Build Mini-site

{{Supertall Radio masts and towers in Europe Transmitter sites in England Buildings and structures in Cumbria