The Stockland Hill transmitting station is a transmitting facility of FM Radio and UHF television located near Honiton, Devon, England.
It was constructed in 1961 by the IBA to transmit ITV 405-line television with transmissions commencing on Band III channel 9 from antennas at above sea level.
Colour television came to the site in 1971. Channel Four started up in November 1982. Stockland Hill never radiated the analogue Channel Five service.
Digital television was first introduced at this site in 1998, and digital switchover happened in May 2009. Stockland Hill was the second transmitter in the south west of England to have its analogue television transmissions shut off. BBC Two was switched off on 6 May 2009 and the rest of the analogue services were switched off on 20 May 2009 around midnight.
Stockland Hill currently transmits all of the digital terrestrial television multiplexes at full planned effective radiated power. The three public service broadcasting multiplexes are at 50 kW, the other three multiplexes are at 25 kW.
This transmitter mainly serves the East of Devon, West Somerset and West Dorset. This includes cities and towns such as Exeter, Sidmouth, Tiverton, Exmouth, Taunton, Yeovil, Bridport, Weymouth and Sherborne.
Services
Analogue television
29 April 1961 – 13 September 1971 405-line VHF ITV television arrived in the southwest with the simultaneous building of this station and Caradon Hill 60 miles (100 km) to the west in Cornwall.
FrequencyVHFkWService9V100Westward
13 September 1971 – 1 November 1982 UHF colour television commenced.
FrequencyVHFUHFkWService9V—100TSW (Westward until 1981)—23250TSW (Westward until 1981)—26250BBC2 South West—33250BBC1 South West
1 November 1982 – 3 January 1985 The UK's fourth UHF television channel started up.
FrequencyVHFUHFkWService9V—100TSW—23250TSW—26250BBC2 South West—29250Channel 4—33250BBC1 South West
3 January 1985 – 15 November 1998 The VHF 405-line system was discontinued across the UK, and from that point for the next 23 years, television from Stockland Hill was the originally-intended four channels on UHF only.
FrequencyUHFkWService23250Westcountry (TSW until 1992)26250BBC2 South West29250Channel 433250BBC1 South West
Analogue and Digital television
15 November 1998 – 6 May 2009 The initial roll-out of digital television involved running the digital services interleaved (and at low ERP) with the existing analogue services.
FrequencyUHFkWServiceSystem22-5BBC (Mux 1)DVB-T23250WestcountryPAL25-5SDN (Mux A)DVB-T26250BBC2 South WestPAL28-5Digital 3&4 (Mux 2)DVB-T29250Channel 4PAL30+2.5Arqiva (Mux C)DVB-T32-5BBC (Mux B)DVB-T33250BBC1 South WestPAL34+2.5Arqiva (Mux D)DVB-T
6 May 2009 – 20 May 2009 Digital Switchover commenced at Stockland Hill, with analogue BBC2 being switched off on channel 26 and BBC Mux 1 being switched off on channel 22-. Channel 26 was reused by the new BBC A multiplex at full post-DSO power (50 kW) and using 64-QAM with 8k carriers.
FrequencyUHFkWServiceSystem23250WestcountryPAL25-5SDN (Mux A)DVB-T26+50BBC ADVB-T28-5Digital 3&4 (Mux 2)DVB-T29250Channel 4PAL30+2.5Arqiva (Mux C)DVB-T32-5BBC (Mux B)DVB-T33250BBC1 South WestPAL34+2.5Arqiva (Mux D)DVB-T
Digital television
20 May 2009 – 18 April 2012 Digital switchover was completed at Stockland Hill. All analogue television was switched off and the new post-DSO multiplexes took over the analogue frequencies plus a few new ones. Full power could not immediately be achieved for the COM multiplexes due to interference issues at Rowridge and in France.
FrequencyUHFkWOperatorSystem22-10Arqiva ADVB-T23+50Digital 3&4DVB-T25-10SDNDVB-T26+50BBC ADVB-T28-10Arqiva BDVB-T29+50BBC BDVB-T2
18 April 2012 - present The current UHF channels that Stockland Hill is transmitting are:
FrequencyUHFkWTelevision Viewers Guide 2009OperatorSystem22-25Arqiva ADVB-T23+50Digital 3&4DVB-T25-25SDNDVB-T26+50BBC ADVB-T28-25Arqiva BDVB-T29+50BBC BDVB-T2
Analogue radio (FM) FrequencykWService103.0 MHz1Heart West
Digital radio (DAB) FrequencyBlockkWRadio Listeners Guide 2010Operator221.352 MHz11C5NOW Exeter and Torbay222.064 MHz11D2Digital One225.648 MHz12B5BBC National DAB
References
External links MB21's page on 405 TV to the Southwest "405 Alive's list of transmitters" More details on 405-line ITV transmitters The Transmission Gallery: Photographs and Information Stockland Hill Transmitter at thebigtower.com