The Rosemarkie transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility, situated close to the town of Rosemarkie, Scotland, in Highland (). It consists of a high guyed steel lattice mast erected on land that is itself about 210 m above sea level only a few hundred metres from the coast of the Moray Firth. It is owned and operated by Arqiva.
Coverage Coverage includes the areas around the Moray Firth, in the Highland region of Scotland, including up to Helmsdale in the north, Elgin to the east, Dingwall to the west and the northern shores of Loch Ness to the south. This also includes the city of Inverness.
History The station was built in 1957 by the BBC to bring BBC Television to North East Scotland for the first time. The 405-line monochrome transmissions were on channel 2, Band I VHF.
When colour UHF television began in 1970, the site was chosen over the nearby IBA owned station at Mounteagle to carry these broadcasts. Both the UHF and VHF services continued in tandem until 1985, when VHF television was discontinued in the UK.
Channels listed by frequency
Digital television
20 October 2010 – present Digital switchover was completed at Rosemarkie. All analogue television was switched off and the new post-DSO multiplexes took over the analogue frequencies plus a few new ones.
FrequencyUHFkWTelevision Viewers Guide 2009Operator3920Digital 3&44010Arqiva B4220BBC B4310SDN4520BBC A4610Arqiva A
Analogue radio (FM) FrequencykWService89.6 MHz10BBC Radio 291.8 MHz10BBC Radio 394.0 MHz10BBC Radio Scotland99.2 MHz10BBC Radio 1103.6 MHz10BBC Radio 4104.9 MHz10BBC Radio nan Gaidheal
Former Services
Analogue television
16 August 1957 – 11 July 1970 405-line BBC television arrived in the northeast of Scotland.
FrequencyVHFkWService2H20BBC1 Scotland
11 July 1970 – October 1973 BBC Two UHF colour television commenced.
FrequencyVHFUHFkWService2H—20BBC1 Scotland—45100BBC2 Scotland
October 1973 – 1 November 1982 BBC One and ITV UHF colour television commenced.
FrequencyVHFUHFkWService2H—20BBC1 Scotland—39100BBC1 Scotland—45100BBC2 Scotland—49100Grampian Television
2 November 1982 – 3 January 1985 The UK's fourth UHF television channel started up.
FrequencyVHFUHFkWService2H—20BBC1 Scotland—39100BBC1 Scotland—42100Channel 4—45100BBC2 Scotland—49100Grampian Television
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 Rosemarkie was the originally-intended four channels on UHF only.
FrequencyUHFkWService39100BBC1 Scotland42100Channel 445100BBC2 Scotland49100Grampian Television
Analogue and Digital television
15 November 1998 – 6 October 2010 The initial roll-out of digital television involved running the digital services interleaved (and at low ERP) with the existing analogue services.
FrequencyUHFkWServiceSystem39100BBC One ScotlandPAL41-10SDN (Mux A)DVB-T42100Channel 4PAL44-10BBC (Mux B)DVB-T45100BBC Two ScotlandPAL46+8Arqiva (Mux C)DVB-T47+10BBC (Mux 1)DVB-T49100STV (North) (Grampian)PAL50+8Arqiva (Mux D)DVB-T51+10Digital 3&4 (Mux 2)DVB-T
6 October 2010 – 20 October 2010 Digital Switchover commenced at Rosemarkie, with analogue BBC Two being switched off on UHF 45 and BBC Mux 1 being switched off on channel 47+. Channel 45 was reused by the new BBC A multiplex at full post-DSO power (20 kW) and using 64-QAM with 8k carriers.
FrequencyUHFkWServiceSystem39100BBC One ScotlandPAL41-10SDN (Mux A)DVB-T42100Channel 4PAL44-10BBC (Mux B)DVB-T4520BBC ADVB-T46+8Arqiva (Mux C)DVB-T49100STV (North)PAL50+8Arqiva (Mux D)DVB-T51+10Digital 3&4 (Mux 2)DVB-T
See also List of masts List of tallest buildings and structures in Great Britain List of radio stations in the United Kingdom
References
External links Entry for Rosemarkie at The Transmission Gallery Rosemarkie Transmitter at thebigtower.com