Dolgellau transmitting station
# Dolgellau transmitting station

The Dolgellau transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility located on a hill about 1 km north of the town of Dolgellau, in Gwynedd, Wales. It was originally built by the BBC, entering service just before Christmas 1967 acting as a relay transmitter for the now-defunct 405-line VHF television system.

## Specifications

The site has a self-standing 22 m lattice tower erected on land that is itself about 100 m above sea level. The television broadcasts primarily cover the towns of Dolgellau, Llanelltyd and the villages of the upper Mawddach river valley.

625-line colour TV came to the site in the late 1970s.

The 405-line VHF television service closed across the UK in 1985, but Dolgellau's 405 line services closed early - in January 1984.

Dolgellau currently broadcasts digital television and analogue FM radio.

## Services listed by frequency

### Analogue television

**18 December 1967 - Late 1970s**

The transmitter was classed as a relay of Blaenplwyf about 40 km to the south, but received its signal from an SHF link fed from an off-air pickup on the coast at Barmouth about 10 km away to the west on the Mawddach estuary.

| Frequency | VHF | kW | Service |
| - | - | - | - |
| 66.75 MHz | 5V | 0.026 | BBC1 Wales |

**November 21st 1977 - 1 November 1982**

Colour TV eventually arrived, with the site now additionally acting as an indirect relay of Preseli (about 100 km to the south) for the 625-line services, receiving its signal off-air from Llwyn Onn, which receives its signal off-air from Preseli itself.

| Frequency | VHF | UHF | kW | Service |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 66.75 MHz | 5V | — | 0.026 | BBC1 Wales |
| 743.25 MHz | — | 55 | 0.02 | BBC1 Wales |
| 775.25 MHz | — | 59 | 0.02 | HTV Wales |
| 799.25 MHz | — | 62 | 0.02 | BBC2 Wales |

**1 November 1982 - January 1984**

Channel 4 launched across the UK on 1 November 1982. Being in Wales, Dolgellau broadcast the S4C variant.

| Frequency | VHF | UHF | kW | Service |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 66.75 MHz | 5V | — | 0.026 | BBC1 Wales |
| 743.25 MHz | — | 55 | 0.02 | BBC1 Wales |
| 775.25 MHz | — | 59 | 0.02 | HTV Wales |
| 799.25 MHz | — | 62 | 0.02 | BBC2 Wales |
| 823.25 MHz | — | 65 | 0.02 | S4C |

**January 1984 - 19 August 2009**

405-line television was discontinued (after a mere 17 years). For the next 25 years there were to be no changes to the television output at this site.

| Frequency | UHF | kW | Service |
| - | - | - | - |
| 743.25 MHz | 55 | 0.02 | BBC1 Wales |
| 775.25 MHz | 59 | 0.02 | HTV Wales |
| 799.25 MHz | 62 | 0.02 | BBC2 Wales |
| 823.25 MHz | 65 | 0.02 | S4C |

### Analogue and Digital Television

**19 August 2009 - 16 September 2009**

Digital switchover started at Preseli and therefore at Dolgellau and all its other relays. BBC 2 was closed down on channel 62 and ITV 1 was moved from channel 59 to channel 62 for its final three weeks of service. Mux A started up on the newly vacated channel 59 at full post-DSO power.

| Frequency | UHF | kW | Service | System |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 743.25 MHz | 55 | 0.02 | BBC1 Wales | PAL System I |
| 778.000 MHz | 59 | 0.004 | BBC Mux A | DVB-T |
| 799.25 MHz | 62 | 0.02 | HTV Wales | PAL System I |
| 823.25 MHz | 65 | 0.02 | S4C | PAL System I |

### Digital Television

**16 September 2009 - 31 October 2012**

All the remaining analogue TV transmitters were shut down and the three multiplexes of Freeview Lite took over their frequencies.

| Frequency | UHF | kW | Service |
| - | - | - | - |
| 746.000 MHz | 55 | 0.004 | Digital 3&4 |
| 778.000 MHz | 59 | 0.004 | BBC Mux A |
| 801.833 MHz | 62- | 0.004 | BBC Mux B |

**31 October 2012 - present**

As part of the Europe-wide clearance of the 800 MHz band, the BBC Mux B signal was moved from channel 62- to channel 50.

| Frequency | UHF | kW | Service |
| - | - | - | - |
| 706.000 MHz | 50 | 0.004 | BBC Mux B |
| 746.000 MHz | 55 | 0.004 | Digital 3&4 |
| 778.000 MHz | 59 | 0.004 | BBC Mux A |

### Analogue radio (FM VHF)

**18 December 1967 - Early 1990s**

For its FM radio services, Dolgellau is an off-air relay of Blaenplwyf.

| Frequency | kW | Service |
| - | - | - |
| 90.1 MHz | 0.016 | Radio 2 |
| 92.3 MHz | 0.016 | Radio 3 |
| 94.5 MHz | 0.016 | Radio 4 Wales |

**Early 1990s - present**

Radio 1 gained its own frequency and National Radio 4 was added.

| Frequency | kW | Service |
| - | - | - |
| 90.1 MHz | 0.02 | Radio 2 |
| 92.3 MHz | 0.02 | Radio 3 |
| 94.5 MHz | 0.02 | Radio Cymru |
| 99.7 MHz | 0.02 | Radio 1 |
| 103.6 MHz | 0.02 | Radio 4 |
