Angus transmitting station

The Angus transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility, situated approximately five miles due north of Dundee, between the villages of Charleston and Tealing, Scotland. It includes a guyed steel lattice mast which is 229.5 metres in height. Mounted at the top are the UHF television antennas, contained within a GRP shroud. These antennas have an average height above Ordnance Datum of 547 metres . It is owned and operated by Arqiva.

History

It was constructed in 1965 by the ITA, having been chosen as a suitable site for high power colour UHF transmissions.
The construction contract was given to J. L. Eve Construction in April 1963, to be built at Harecairn by early 1964, for the Tayside area, but not Dundee, which had a separate relay station.
The relay station was built by Laird Brothers, of Forfar, to open in the summer of 1964.
The site would open in October 1965, with ITV on Channel 11. It was built at Balcalk Hill.

Opening

The first broadcasts began on VHF channel 11 in black and white, from 13 October 1965 A new television production site in Dundee, was to be later built.

Transmission

Trade testing of BBC2 in colour began on Monday 14 July 1969, to go into full service on Monday 28 July 1969 on channel 68.
BBC1 in colour began from Saturday 2 October 1971, for 300,000 viewers, six months early.
In May 1972, the ITA announced that ITV would broadcast in colour from September 1972. ITV would go colour from Saturday 30 September 1972.

Coverage area

It covers parts of the Dundee City council area, eastern Perth and Kinross, southern Angus and north and east Fife. Reception is also possible in much of north and east Edinburgh and the coastal areas of East Lothian, as far along as the town of Dunbar.

Relay transmitters

Tay Bridge transmitting station, which is owned and operated by Arqiva.

Channels listed by frequency

Analogue radio (FM VHF)

† Mixed polarisation.

Television

Analogue

28 July 1969 – 1972

1972 – November 1982

November 1982 – 14 November 1998

Analogue and digital

15 November 1998 – 3 August 2010

Digital terrestrial television was first transmitted from the Angus mast from 15 November 1998 using the frequency gaps between the analogue TV broadcasts. To limit interference to the analogue transmissions, power output on the digital multiplexes was low.

Frequency	UHF	kW	Operator	System
	53	100	Channel 4	PAL System I
	56-	2	Arqiva	DVB-T
	57	100	BBC One Scotland	PAL System I
	59-	4	SDN	DVB-T
	60	100	STV (North)	PAL System I
	62-	4	BBC	DVB-T
	63	100	BBC Two Scotland	PAL System I
	65-	2	Arqiva	DVB-T
	66+	4	Digital 3&4	DVB-T
	68	4	BBC	DVB-T

4 August 2010 - 17 August 2010

On 4 August 2010, BBC2 was switched off on UHF 63 and STV was switched from UHF 60 for its final weeks of service. Multiplex 1 on UHF 68 was closed and replaced by BBC A on UHF 60. BBC A was transmitted at full power and in 64QAM, 8k carriers mode from the start.

Frequency	UHF	kW	Operator	System
	53	100	Channel 4	PAL System I
	56-	2	Arqiva	DVB-T
	57	100	BBC One Scotland	PAL System I
	59-	4	SDN	DVB-T
	60	20	BBC A	DVB-T
	62-	4	BBC	DVB-T
	63	100	STV (North)	PAL System I
	65-	2	Arqiva	DVB-T
	66+	4	Digital 3&4	DVB-T

Digital

18 August 2010 to 16 April 2013

Following the completion of analogue TV shutdown on 18 August 2010, Angus transmitted all of its higher powered multiplexes at 20 kW for PSB 1, 2 and 3, and 10 kW for COM 4, 5 and 6. From this date the frequency allocation was:

Frequency	UHF	kW	Operator	System
	53	20	Digital 3&4	DVB-T
	54	10	SDN	DVB-T
	57	20	BBC B	DVB-T2
	58	10	Arqiva A	DVB-T
	60	20	BBC A	DVB-T
	61	10	Arqiva B	DVB-T

17 April 2013 to 26 November 2019

Due to the clearance of the 800 MHz band, Arqiva B was moved from UHF 61 to UHF 49 and BBC A gained a negative offset. Also during this time, COM 7 and 8 and the Local TV multiplex launched.

Frequency	UHF	kW	Operator	System
	48	1	Local TV	DVB-T
	49	10	Arqiva B	DVB-T
	53	20	Digital 3&4	DVB-T
	54	10	SDN	DVB-T
	55	5	COM 7	DVB-T2
	56	5	COM 8	DVB-T2
	57	20	BBC B	DVB-T2
	58	10	Arqiva A	DVB-T
	60-	20	BBC A	DVB-T

27 November 2019 to 24 June 2020

Due to the clearance of the 700 MHz band, the following channels come into use:

Frequency	UHF	kW	Operator	System
	33	10	SDN	DVB-T
	34	1	Local TV	DVB-T
	36	10	Arqiva A	DVB-T
	39	20	BBC A	DVB-T
	42	20	Digital 3&4	DVB-T
	45	20	BBC B	DVB-T2
	48	10	Arqiva B	DVB-T
	55	5	COM 7	DVB-T2
	56	5	COM 8	DVB-T2

25 June 2020 to Present

Due to the clearance of UHF 56, in the 700 MHz band, the following channels come into use:

Frequency	UHF	kW	Operator	System
	33	10	SDN	DVB-T
	34	1	Local TV	DVB-T
	36	10	Arqiva A	DVB-T
	39	20	BBC A	DVB-T
	42	20	Digital 3&4	DVB-T
	45	20	BBC B	DVB-T2
	48	10	Arqiva B	DVB-T
	55	5	COM 7	DVB-T2