Beacon Hill digital TV transmitter (no analogue)

Beacon Hill digital switchover schedule

Note: This is the only schedule for digital switchover. Digital services cannot be introduced before the dates listed for "testing purposes" as they will generally use the same transmission frequencies as the services they replace. Another alternative, available today, is Freesat.

For full details of the existing Freeview services on the Beacon Hill transmitter, please click on Beacon Hill Freeview transmitter.

April 2009 S M T W T F S - - - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 - -	BBC One South West, BBC Two England, ITV-1 Westcountry and Channel 4 analogue switched off. It will be necessary to perform a full rescan of your Freeview box on this day.
April 2010 S M T W T F S - - - - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 -	The following Freeview digital services will be available: 50 BBC HD 51 ITV1 HD 52 Channel 4 HD It will be necessary to perform a full rescan of your Freeview box on this day.

Transmission frequencies

Before Sunday 15th November 1998

C53	C57	C60	C63
C4	BBC One	ITV1	BBC TWO

Sunday 15th November 1998 to Wednesday 8th April 2009

C52-	C53	C54+	C56-	C57	C58+	C60	C61+	C63	C64+
Mux 1	C4	Mux B	Mux C	BBC One	Mux A	ITV1	Mux 2	BBC TWO	Mux D

After Wednesday 22nd April 2009

C42*	C45*	C49	C51	C53+	C57+	C60+
Mux SDN	Mux ArqA	Mux NEW7	Mux ArqB	Mux D3+4	Mux BBCB	Mux BBCA

Colour bands denote aerial groups: Red:A Yellow:B Green:C/D Brown:E Grey:K Black:Wideband

Notes

'Out of group' frequencies are marked with a star. Analogue power output 100,000 Watts, post switchover average digital multiplex output will be 12,857 Watts.

To receive signals from this transmitter, the aerial must be mounted for horizontal polarization - the elements going from left to right.

Before switchover, the public service broadcasting multiplexes were 1, 2 and B; afterwards they were first PSB1, 2 and 3 but now called BBCA, D3+4 and BBCB. The commercial multiplexes A, C and D had initial post-switchover names COM4, 5 and 6; now they are SDN, ArqA and ArqB. At switchover BBCA, ArqA and ArqB will switch from 16QAM to 64QAM mode transmission, so five multiplexes will transmit in the 64QAM (2/3) 8k mode. BBCB is used for Freeview HD (DVB-T2, 256QAM), and has a pre-switchover service on selected main transmitters.

After switchover, you will have needed to upgrade to a Wideband aerial to receive some or all digital television services.

The aerial must be mounted horizontally, with the elements in the left-right position

See full list of analogue transmitters for a complete list of shutdown dates.

Self-help relays

Self-help relays are transmitters that are not owned by the broadcasting and transmission companies, but by the local users. An active deflector (AD) re-transmits the analogue broadcasts on the same frequencies as the original broadcasts, while a transposer (T) transmits the received broadcasts on different frequencies.

Relay name	Type	Location	Notes
LANNACOMBE	AD	25 km SW Torbay	4 homes

itv1 - Beacon Hill transmitter area*

Date	Incumbent ITV company
29th Apr 1961 to 31st Dec 1981	Westward Television
1st Jan 1982 to 31st Dec 1992	Television South West (TSW)
1st Feb 1983 to 31st Dec 1992	TV-am (breakfast)
1st Jan 1993 to date	Westcountry Television
1st Jan 1993 to date	GMTV (breakfast)
Note	For digital switchover this region is now known as Westcountry.

* The Beacon Hill transmitter was not an original ITV VHF 405-line transmitter: the historical information shown above includes the details of the company reponsible for the Beacon Hill transmitter when it began transmission.

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