The Caerhendy television relay station was sited at Caerhendy in the Afan Valley, a few kilometres north of Junction 40 on the M4 motorway at Port Talbot. It was originally built in the 1980s as a fill-in relay for UHF analogue television. It was sited at the clubhouse of the soccer ground at Ynys Park and consisted of a mere 3 m aluminium mast carrying a vertically stacked yagi array. The transmitter served about 50 houses in Caerhendy, about 500 m across the valley to the east, which for reasons of geography couldn't get a signal from Mynydd Emroch transmitter just to the south.
Mast height | 10 metres (33 ft) |
---|---|
Coordinates | 51°36′23″N 3°46′23″W / 51.606292°N 3.773067°W |
Grid reference | SS772912 |
Built | 1980s |
Demolished | 2010 |
Relay of | Wenvoe |
BBC region | BBC Wales |
ITV region | ITV Cymru Wales |
Alltwen transmitter re-radiated a signal received off-air from Cwmafan about 2 km farther to the northeast, itself a relay of Wenvoe. It was possibly the lowest ERP officially provided TV relay in the UK, radiating just 0.5 W on each of its four UHF channels.
When it came, the digital switchover process rendered Caerhendy redundant. It is no longer in service.
Channels listed by frequency edit
Analogue television edit
1980s - March 2010 edit
Caerhendy (being in Wales) transmitted the S4C variant of Channel 4.
Frequency | UHF | kW | Service |
---|---|---|---|
471.25 MHz | 21 | 0.0005 | BBC One Wales |
495.25 MHz | 24 | 0.0005 | ITV1 Wales |
519.25 MHz | 27 | 0.0005 | BBC Two Wales |
551.25 MHz | 31 | 0.0005 | S4C |