Westerglen transmitting station

The Westerglen transmitting station is a facility for longwave and mediumwave broadcasting established in 1932 at Westerglen Farm, 2 miles southwest of Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland.

Transmission

Three medium-wave radio programmes are broadcast from the site on frequencies of 810, 909, and 1089 kHz, and a long-wave service on 198 kHz. The transmitter also carried Absolute Radio on 1215 kHz until Bauer ended all station transmissions on MW in January 2023.
The medium-wave broadcast is strong enough to be heard as far south as Cornwall at certain times of the day, and in south-western Germany at night with good conditions.
BBC Radio 4 is scheduled to stop broadcasting on longwave by 26 September 2026.

Structure

There are three guyed steel lattices mast radiators on the site, which are insulated against the ground. These carry combinations of the above services. There is a shorter fourth mast that carries non-broadcast services.
One of the masts carries the long-wave transmission in a synchronised group with the transmitters at Droitwich and Burghead on the same frequency. This mast is of guyed steel lattice construction with a triangular cross-section, and it carries a 'capacity hat', which increases the antenna's efficiency, at the top.
The site is owned and operated by Arqiva.

History

The new structure was announced in December 1930. It would replace transmitters in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee. It would be the BBC's third twin transmitter. There would be 70kW on each wavelength. Construction was complete by December 1931. Test transmissions began in April 1932, the National on 288.5 metres, and Regional on 376.4 metres. Tests on the Regional service began on Monday, 2 May 1932.
The site officially opened on 20 May 1932. The Regional service broadcast from Sunday, 12 June 1932. The National programme began on Sunday 25, September 1932.