Moel-y-Parc transmitting station: Difference between revisions

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)|accessdateaccess-date=2020-08-26|publisher=DinoDiscs}}</ref>

In coordination with changes to transmission frequencies elsewhere in the UK arising from the clearance of the 800&nbsp;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 |accessdateaccess-date=2013-05-28}}</ref> Moel-y-Parc's "Digital 3&4" multiplex was moved from channel 49+ to channel 39+.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.a516digital.com/p/4g-clearance-retunes.html |title=4G clearance retunes |publisher=a516digital |access-date= |accessdate=2013-05-28}}</ref>

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&nbsp;kW commenced.<ref>{{cite web |title=Table of Broadcasting Stations for Multiplex L|url=https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0036/189729/comux-licence-technical-plan-v13.pdf|date=2019-03-27|accessdateaccess-date=2020-08-20|publisher=Ofcom}}</ref>

Although a licence had been issued in January 2014 to [[North Wales TV|Bay TV Clwyd]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Liverpool news agency to launch TV stations in Mold and Swansea - full breakdown of first 25 local TV licences|url=https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/bay-tv-wins-roadcasting-licences-mold-and-swansea-full-breakdown-first-25-local-tv-stations|date=2014-01-24|accessdateaccess-date=2020-08-26|publisher=Dominic Ponsford, Press Gazette}}</ref> (subsequent to the launch of [[Liverpool TV|Bay TV Liverpool]]) to start a local television service for North East Wales from studios in [[Mold, Flintshire|Mold]], it was not until 26 April 2017 that the successor company Made TV which had taken over the operations of bankrupt Bay TV, was able to launch the local television "LOC1" multiplex to carry the "Made in North Wales TV" service.

Local reaction to the launch was highly critical because production of programing was no longer to be in Mold within the licensed service area, but at the studios of [[Liverpool TV|"Made in Liverpool"]] in [[Toxteth]], Liverpool.<ref>{{cite web |title=New channel Made in North Wales TV slammed for making its programmes...in Liverpool|url=https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/new-channel-made-north-wales-12877064|date=2017-04-12|accessdateaccess-date=2020-08-26|publisher=Shane Brennan, NorthWalesLive, Daily Post}}</ref>

In coordination with changes to transmission frequencies elsewhere in the UK arising from the clearance of the 700&nbsp;MHz band for 5G mobile phone use, the following changes were implemented. The local TV "LOC1" multiplex (carrying North Wales TV) was moved from UHF channel 56 to UHF channel 27, and the transmission ERP increased from 2&nbsp;kW to 3&nbsp;kW. The "Arqiva A" multiplex was moved from UHF channel 52 to UHF channel 36. The national "COM7" multiplex was moved from UHF channel 32 to UHF channel 55 and the transmission ERP increased from 14&nbsp;kW to 16&nbsp;kW.<ref>{{cite web |title=Trade and Industry Information, 700MHz Clearance Events, Wales Region |url=https://www.freeview.co.uk/sites/default/files/2019-09/700MHz-clearance-wales-apr2019.pdf |website=Digital UK |accessdateaccess-date=8 July 2020}}</ref>

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 the transmission frequencies used.<ref>{{cite web |title=22 Jun 2020 - Important channel broadcast changes|url=https://www.freeview.co.uk/help/22-jun-2020-channel-broadcast-changes|website=Freeview|date=2020-06-22|access-date=2020-08-26|publisher=Freeview}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=DTT Changes 20th June 2020|url=https://www.cai.org.uk/index.php/contact/news/17-dtt-freeview-updates|date=2020-06-22|access-date=2020-08-26|publisher=Confederation of Aerial Installers}}</ref>

In coordination with changes to transmission frequencies elsewhere in the UK arising from the clearance of the 700&nbsp;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 Clearence Events, Wales Region |url=https://www.freeview.co.uk/sites/default/files/2020-07/700mhz-clearance-events-wales-july-2020.pdf |website=Freeview |accessdateaccess-date=12 August 2020}}</ref>

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-Part at [[Bagillt]], [[Flint television relay station|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|accessdateaccess-date=2020-10-08}}</ref>

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|accessdateaccess-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.