The Black Hill transmitting station is a facility for FM and TV broadcasting at Black Hill (), on Duntilland Road, Salsburgh, North Lanarkshire, Scotland which is near the town of Airdrie. It has a guyed mast tall, bringing the antennas to a height of above sea level. This transmitter covers the whole of central Scotland including Edinburgh and Glasgow.
History Construction It was built by BICCTimes Tuesday 27 October 1959, page 6 for the Independent Television Authority (ITA), in 1957 and is now owned and operated by Arqiva.
The present mast is the second to have been built at the site. The first, built in 1957 brought the Independent Television service to Central Scotland and opened for service on 31 August 1957. However, complex anomalies in the behaviour of the antenna caused its performance to be less than predicted, and the decision was taken in 1959 to replace the mast with a higher structure and a more conventional aerial on the outside of the mast rather than inside as had been the case with the first mast. The original 750 foot mast was then dismantled and later used at the Selkirk transmitting station in the Borders where it still stands.
Transmission The transmitter was originally a B group but with the advent of Digital two of the 6 muxes then went out of band and required an E group (or wideband) aerial if reception of these was required. At DSO in 2011 it returned to the B group though with the eventual addition of muxes 7 and 8 it technically became a K group. At Blackhill's 700 MHz clearance in Sept 2018 it more or less returned to the B group, but, because its output has (since DSO) been fairly close to the B group at all times a B, K or E group (or a wideband) aerial would work for most areas. Black Hill has the fifth greatest population coverage with a figure of around 2.5 million.
Between 1961 and the end of the 405 line ITV service in 1985, the Black Hill aerial had the highest effective radiated power of any transmitter in the ITV network with 475 kW radiated towards Dundee.
In the summer of 2008, work began on the construction of a second 306.6 m mast close to the original. This mast carries the new full-power Digital TV (DTT) services since digital switchover became effective at Black Hill in June 2011. The original mast will now be shortened in height and will radiate FM and DAB services only.
In June 2011, Black Hill became the final transmitter in Scotland to switch off analogue television. BBC Two Scotland was turned off first on 8 June, and the remaining four closed on 22 June.
Services listed by frequency
Analogue radio (FM VHF) FrequencykWRadio Listener's Guide 2010Service89.9 MHz250BBC Radio 292.1 MHz250BBC Radio 394.3 MHz250BBC Radio Scotland95.8 MHz250BBC Radio 497.6 MHz0.1Forth 199.5 MHz250BBC Radio 1100.3 MHz20Heart Scotland101.7 MHz125Classic FM102.5 MHz15†Clyde 1104.7 MHz10BBC Radio nan Gàidheal105.2 MHz30†Smooth Scotland106.1 MHz10Capital Scotland
† This signal is largely radiated towards Glasgow.
Digital radio (DAB) FrequencyBlockkWOperator220.352 MHz11C4.23Bauer Glasgow229.072 MHz12D0.44Bauer Edinburgh216.928 MHz11A9.5Sound Digital
Digital television FrequencyUHFkWOperatorSystem3010LTVmuxDVB-T40100PSB3 (BBC B)DVB-T241+100COM4 (SDN)DVB-T43100PSB2 (D3&4)DVB-T44100COM5 (ARQ A)DVB-T46100PSB1 (BBC A)DVB-T47100COM6 (ARQ B)DVB-T
Before switchover FrequencyUHFkWOperatorSystem41+20BBC (Mux 1)DVB-T44+20SDN (Mux A)DVB-T47+20Digital 3&4 (Mux 2)DVB-T51+20BBC (Mux B)DVB-T5520Arqiva (Mux C)DVB-T5910BBC B (Mux HD)DVB-T26520Arqiva (Mux D)DVB-T
Analogue television Analogue television was broadcast from Black Hill until 22 June 2011. BBC2 Scotland was previously switched off on 8 June.
FrequencyUHFkWService37500Channel 540500BBC One Scotland43500STV (Central)46500BBC Two Scotland50500Channel 4
See also Kirk o'Shotts transmitting station List of masts List of tallest structures in the United Kingdom Salsburgh
References
External links Blackhill transmitter at MB21 http://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?b54127 Black Hill Transmitter at thebigtower.com