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{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Short description|Telecommunications transmission site in north-east Wales, UK}}
{{Infobox UK transmitter
|name = Moel-y-Parc
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|collapsed =
|BBC = [[BBC Cymru Wales|BBC Wales]]
|ITV = [[ITV
}}
The '''Moel-y-Parc transmitting station''' is situated on [[Moel y Parc]], a hill in north-east [[Wales]] at the northern end of the Clwydian range, close to the town of [[Caerwys]] and several miles (kilometres) north-east of [[Denbigh]]. It was built in 1962/1963 by the [[Independent Broadcasting Authority|IBA]] to bring [[405-line television system|405-line]] [[Very high frequency|VHF]] [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] television to North Wales and it has been on the air since 1963. Its original height of {{convert|229|m}} made it the tallest structure in North Wales and it stands on land that is itself about {{convert|335|m}} above sea level. In 1965, VHF television transmissions from the [[BBC]] commenced from the site.
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VHF television services from both BBC and ITV were discontinued in January 1985 as the 405-line TV system was switched off across the UK as a whole.
Moel-y-Parc's UHF channel allocation made it a "Group B" transmitter, but with the roll-out of the UK's first digital TV services in 1998, a "Group W" wideband aerial was needed. The site reverted to being a "Group B" transmitter at [[digital television transition|digital switchover]] (DSO). Technically, with the advent of the temporary MUXES 7 and 8 Moel Y Parc became a K group, and is due to remain so at its
The site is currently administered by [[Arqiva]].
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===Analogue television===
====28 January 1963
The ITV 405-line
One year later, Wales (West and North) Limited had collapsed financially, and the ITA awarded the franchise to provide the service from 27 January 1964 for the West and North Wales region to Television Wales and West, the holder of the franchise for the South Wales and West of England region.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.78rpm.co.uk/wwn.htm|title=Teledu Cymru (WWN)|access-date=2020-08-26|publisher=DinoDiscs}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable sortable"
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|11
|25
|
[[Television Wales and the West|TWW]] from 1964
|}
====28 October 1965
BBC 405-line TV was added, obtaining its signal from an [[Super high frequency|SHF]] link on the [[Great Orme]] which picked up the signal from [[Llanddona transmitting station|Llanddona]] on [[Anglesey]].
Until the mid-1960s, it had been common practice for BBC and ITV transmitters to be hosted from different masts. Moel-y-Parc had been engineered to take both services and be capable of the UHF transmission when they arrived. Additionally (and unusually) the BBC's VHF television transmissions were on Band III as were the
This was the final BBC VHF television "main station" to be commissioned. The BBC published a technical report<ref>{{cite web|url=http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/reports/1966-59.pdf|title=BAND III TRANSMITTING AERIAL FOR THE MOEL-Y-PARC V.U.F. TELEVISION STATION|date=October 1966|website=BBC}}</ref> on the mast and its aerials.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
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|11
|25
|
[[Independent Television Service for Wales and the West|ITSWW]] from March 1968 until May 1968<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.transdiffusion.org/2017/10/23/itsww|title=Independent Television Service for Wales and the West|date=2017-10-23|publisher=Kif Bowden-Smith, Transdiffusion}}</ref>
[[ITV Wales & West|HTV Wales]] from May 1968
|}
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|}
====1 November 1982
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!{{no2}}Frequency
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|}
====3 January 1985
405-line television was switched off across the UK and both Moel-y-Parc's VHF transmitters ceased operation after 20 and 22 years of service for the BBC and ITV respectively.
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|45
|100
|[[BBC Two Wales|BBC2 Wales]]
|-
|{{UK System I|ch=49}}
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|52
|100
|[[BBC One Wales|BBC1 Wales]]
|}
===Analogue and digital television===
====15 November 1998
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!{{no2}}Frequency
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|45
|100
|[[
|PAL System I
|-
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|49
|100
|[[ITV Wales & West|
|PAL System I
|-
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|52
|100
|[[
|PAL System I
|-
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|}
====28 October 2009
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!{{no2}}Frequency
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|49
|100
|[[ITV Wales & West|
|PAL System I
|-
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|52
|100
|[[
|PAL System I
|-
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===Digital television===
====25 November 2009
As part of the digital switchover, analogue
{| class="wikitable sortable"
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|}
====14 November 2012
In coordination with changes to transmission frequencies elsewhere in the UK arising from the clearance of the 800 MHz band for [[4G]] mobile phone use,<ref>{{cite web|last=Summers |first=Nick |url=https://thenextweb.com/eu/2012/02/15/eu-states-must-allow-4g-internet-use-on-analogue-tv-spectrum-by-january-2013/ |title=EU States Must Allow 4G on Analogue TV Spectrum |publisher=Thenextweb.com |date=2012-02-15 |
{| class="wikitable sortable"
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====26 April 2017====
The transmission of the local television "LOC1" multiplex (DVB-t system with [[QPSK]] modulation) from Moel-y-Parc on UHF channel 56 with ERP of 2
Although a licence had been issued in January 2014 to [[
Local reaction to the launch was highly critical because production of programing was no longer to be in Mold within the
====27 February 2019
In coordination with changes to transmission frequencies elsewhere in the UK arising from the clearance of the 700
{| class="wikitable sortable"
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|}
With the changes on 27 February 2009, the corresponding frequency of each public service multiplex transmitted from Storeton was also changed to the same as that transmitted from Moel-y-Parc, thereby making each site a constituent part of a [[single-frequency network]] (SFN), resulting in a significant improvement in reception quality at locations where signals were being received from both sites but where neither was consistently adequate.
====June 30 2020====▼
▲====June 30, 2020====
The transmission of the national "COM8" multiplex from Moel-y-Parc on UHF channel 34 ceased.
A commercial decision had been taken by Arqiva to discontinue transmission of the national "COM8" multiplex having failed to obtain a response from Ofcom concerning the duration of the future availability of
====12 August 2020 - present====
In coordination with changes to transmission frequencies elsewhere in the UK arising from the clearance of the 700 MHz band for [[5G]] mobile phone use, Moel-y-Parc's "SDN" multiplex was moved from UHF channel 51 to UHF channel 33.<ref>{{cite web |title=Trade and Industry Information, 700MHz
{| class="wikitable sortable"
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|106.9 MHz
|0.44
|[[
|}
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!Frequency
!Block
!kW
!kW<ref>Radio Listeners Guide 2010</ref>▼
!Operator
|-
|213.360 MHz
|10C
|1.2†
|[[Bauer Liverpool]]
|-
|215.072 MHz
|10D
|3kW
|[[MuxCo|MuxCo Wrexham, Chester and Liverpool]]†
|-
|216.928 MHz
|11A
|10
|[[Sound Digital]]
|-
|222.064 MHz
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|[[BBC National DAB]]
|}
<br/>† Relay of [[Winter Hill transmitting station|Winter Hill]]
==Reception area==
In terms of land area and population, Moel-y-Parc delivers a receivable signal to a greater area, and a greater number of potential viewers, in [[North West England]] than in its intended [[coverage map|coverage]] area of north-east Wales. Transmissions can be received using standard aerials in most of [[Merseyside]], parts of [[Greater Manchester]], parts of [[Lancashire]] as far north as [[Blackpool]], and Wales-facing coastal areas of [[Cumbria]] and the [[Isle of Man]]. In the past, some English viewers have erected a second aerial for Moel-y-Parc in order to receive a slightly increased choice of viewing, although this practice has declined with the introduction of satellite television and the reduction in schedule variations between different ITV regions. Liverpool is located directly between the [[Winter Hill transmitting station|Winter Hill transmitter]] and Moel-y-Parc. Many homes across Merseyside county obtain an adequate signal through their TV aerial from Moel-y-Parc, even
The Welsh variations of services (BBC One Wales, BBC Two Wales, ITV Wales) transmitted from Moel-y-Parc contend with the North West variations of services (BBC One North West, BBC Two, ITV Granada) transmitted from Winter Hill, which can also be received in the Wrexham area and along the [[North Wales]] coast.
As late as the 1980s, Granada Television continued to claim parts of North Wales as within its editorial coverage area, in competition with HTV Cymru Wales, who had been awarded the franchise for the whole of Wales since 1968. However, after a series of mergers in the 1990s following deregulation of commercial television, Granada and HTV Cymru Wales were subsumed into [[ITV plc]], and thus there is no longer commercial competition between the two services. ITV Granada no longer provides any regional news, weather or local interest programmes related to North Wales. Whereas in times past the official ITV Regions map distinctly showed areas of North Wales as being part of the ITV Granada region, the only known publicly accessible official ITV map showing the borders of the ITV regions, the [https://www.itvmedia.co.uk/advertising-on-itv/regional-advertising ITV Regional Advertising] map, shows the boundary between ITV Granada and ITV Wales as lying on the national boundary line between England and Wales.
For many homes across North East and Mid Wales, it is also possible to receive the [[ITV Central]] (West) service from [[The Wrekin Transmitter]]. Unlike what was once the case for ITV Granada, these areas were never included in ITV Central's editorial coverage area for regional news, weather, or local interest
==Reception difficulties==
==Digital switchover problems==▼
The Moel-y-Parc transmitter service area has always suffered from out of area reception from a number of adjacent transmitters or relays with overlapping coverage, or intermittent extended coverage due to atmospheric conditions, namely the transmissions from Llanddona, Storeton, Fenton, Sutton Coldfield and The Wrekin B.{{fact|date=January 2023}}
During the time of analogue television, parts of Greater Manchester were subject at times to co-channel interference from Moel-y-Parc because the [[Saddleworth]] relay of Winter Hill transmitted on the same frequencies, UHF channels 42, 45, 49 and 52, although mitigated by transmissions from Moel-y-Parc being horizontally polarized and those from Saddleworth being vertically polarized.{{fact|date=January 2023}}
Parts of the North East Wales coast where reception of Moel-y-Parc is obscured by the Clwyd Hills were served by relays of Moel-y-Parc at [[Bagillt]], Flint, and [[Holywell, Flintshire|Holywell]]. Following analog to digital television switchover, these relays were closed, and the Welsh regional variants of multiplexes PSB1, PSB2, and PSB3 are now broadcast to this area from [[Storeton transmitting station|Storeton]], with Storeton being line-fed these multiplexes by fibre optic cable.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/gallerypage.php?txid=277|title=The Transmission Gallery - Storeton|access-date=2020-10-08}}</ref>
There are nineteen other [http://tx.mb21.co.uk/mapsys/map.php?mapid=106 Moel-y-Parc relays] broadcasting the Welsh regional variants of multiplexes PSB1, PSB2, and PSB3 received off-air from Moel-y-Parc.{{fact|date=January 2023}}
▲==Digital switchover problems==
By December 2009, more than 6,000 complaints concerning interference from the Moel-y-Parc television transmitter had been received following the changeover from analog to digital television in the Ofcom designated "Granada" (viz. North West England) region. Many residents in [[Wirral Peninsula|Wirral]] and west Cheshire found the Welsh variants of television services with regional content, namely BBC One Wales and BBC Two Wales from [[BBC Cymru Wales|BBC Wales]] and [[ITV Wales]] on the Freeview logical channel numbers displayed at the start of the EPG listing, instead of [[BBC North West|BBC One North West]], BBC Two, and [[ITV Granada]]. [[Digital UK]], the organisation responsible for the switchover, responded by telling consumers to retune their systems manually.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chesterchronicle.co.uk/chester-news/local-chester-news/2009/12/24/digital-uk-advises-granada-tv-viewers-over-welsh-channels-problem-59067-25449093/|title=Digital UK advises Granada TV viewers over Welsh channels problem|date=2009-12-24|access-date=2010-08-19}}</ref> This problem arises because the multiplexes transmitted from Moel-y-Parc with the Welsh regional content are on lower frequencies than those of the multiplexes transmitted from Winter Hill with the North West regional content. Thus when the TV tuner scans the UHF spectrum searching each UHF channel for the presence of a signal for a DVB multiplex, it finds the Welsh variants first and without the software offering the viewer a choice of which regional variant to use, it uses the first transmitter group of multiplexes detected to populate the [[EPG]] [[Freeview (UK)|Freeview]] [[Logical channel number|LCN]] entries, and places any alternatives or duplicates on LCNs beginning at 700, regardless of the viewer's preferred regional content or signal quality.
==See also==
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