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Wenvoe transmitting station

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Wenvoe transmitting station

The Wenvoe transmitting station, officially known as Arqiva Wenvoe, is the main facility for broadcasting and telecommunications for Cardiff and South Wales. It is situated close to the village of Wenvoe in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, in the UK.

It comprises a 260.7-metre (855 ft) guyed mast with antennas attached at various heights. The average height above sea level is 384 metres (1,260 ft) for the television antennas.

It is owned and operated by Arqiva. The site serves an estimated 1.5m listeners (0.63m households) in the South West of England, and 1.3m listeners (0.54m households) in Wales.

The original 230 m (750 ft) mast at the site was built in 1952 by the BBC to provide 405-line VHF television to south Wales and the west of England. The station broadcast on Band I channel 5 (66.75 MHz) from 15 August 1952 using its reserve transmitters, and from 20 December 1952 with its main high-power transmitters. It remained on air until the closure of 405-line television in 1985.

In 1955 VHF FM radio was added to the mast, carrying the BBC's Home Service. This was followed by the addition of the Light Programme in 1956 and the Third Programme in 1959.

In 1963 a second 191 m (625 ft) mast was built alongside the existing structure. This was in order to carry the new BBC Wales 405-line TV service on Band III VHF channel 13 (214.75 MHz), and entered service on 9 February 1964. The 405-line transmitter for this service was closed early, in 1983.

On 12 September 1965, a 625-line black and white television service BBC2 became available from Wenvoe on UHF. This new transmitter was capable of colour broadcasting from the start and was used for unannounced colour TV engineering test-transmissions from that point onwards.

In September 1967 BBC2 officially launched a colour TV service from Wenvoe, a few months after BBC2 Crystal Palace and others had launched the UK's first colour broadcasting in July of that year.

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