Huntshaw Cross transmitting station is a telecommunications facility serving North Devon including the towns of Barnstaple and South Molton. It broadcasts television, radio and mobile telephone services and is currently owned by Arqiva. It is located on the B3232 road at Huntshaw, Great Torrington. Grid reference SS527220. The mast is high.

The site was opened by the Independent Television Authority on 22 April 1968 carrying the ITV programmes of Westward Television using the now defunct 405 line VHF transmission system. In this context, the site was treated as an off-air relay of Stockland Hill.

625 line UHF colour TV transmissions commenced on 5 November 1973. The high power output of the UHF station and its location allowed its signal to be received clearly in parts of south Wales. It became a popular station from which to receive network programmes from the BBC South West and ITV Westward/TSW regions, as well as Channel 4 which was not broadcast on Welsh transmitters. Evidence of this can easily be seen in Swansea (for instance) where many Group C/D TV aerials can be seen pointing south, across the water.

The 405-line transmissions from Huntshaw Cross were discontinued in the 2nd quarter of 1983, somewhat before the final UK-wide shutdown of the VHF system in January 1985.

Digital switchover began at the site in the early hours of 1 July 2009 when the BBC Two analogue service was switched off just after 01:20 BST. Switchover was completed in the early hours of 29 July 2009 with the analogue services disappearing one by one, starting with BBC One at a few seconds after 01:30. Viewers were required to perform another retune on 30 September 2009 as SDN, Arqiva A and Arqiva B reached their final frequency positions. Final post-DSO power levels were not reached by all multiplexes on this station until March 2012.

Freeview HD became available to viewers using this site from 24 September 2010.

A local DAB multiplex for North Devon began transmitting on 2 February 2012 ahead of full launch on 6 February 2012, the local DAB service is an exact mirror of the DAB service for Exeter and Torbay.

Channels listed by frequency

Analogue television

=22 April 1968 – 5 November 1973 Analogue 405 line TV was launched. The transmitter on 11H was an off air relay of Stockland Hill FrequencyVHFkWService11H0.5Westward

5 November 1973 – 1 November 1982 UHF colour television commenced.

FrequencyVHFUHFkWService11H—0.5Westward (TSW from 1982)—55100BBC1 South West—59100Westward (TSW from 1982)—62100BBC2 South West

1 November 1982 - Second Quarter 1983 The UK's fourth UHF television channel started up, but wasn't broadcast from Huntshaw Cross until July 1984.

FrequencyVHFUHFkWService11H—0.5TSW—55100BBC1 South West—59100TSW—62100BBC2 South West—65100Channel 4

Second Quarter 1983 - March 1997 405 line television was discontinued early, and for the next 14 years only the four primary analogue UHF channels were radiated.

FrequencyUHFkWService55100BBC1 South West59100TSW (Westcountry from 1993)62100BBC2 South West65100Channel 4

March 1997 - 1 November 1998 The fifth UK analogue UHF channel was added.

FrequencyUHFkWService55100BBC1 South West59100Westcountry62100BBC2 South West65100Channel 4672Channel 5

Analogue and Digital television

1 November 1998 – 1 July 2009 The initial roll-out of digital television involved running the digital services interleaved (and at low ERP) with the existing analogue services.

FrequencyUHFkWOperatorSystem53-4Arqiva (Mux C)DVB-T54-4BBC (Mux 1)DVB-T55100BBC1 South WestPAL57-4Arqiva (Mux D)DVB-T58-4Digital 3&4 (Mux 2)DVB-T59100WestcountryPAL61-4SDN (Mux A)DVB-T62100BBC2 South WestPAL64-4BBC (Mux B)DVB-T65100Channel 4PAL672Channel 5PAL

1 July 2009 – 29 July 2009 Digital Switchover started at Huntshaw Cross. The analogue BBC2 service on channel 62 was switched off, along with the BBC Mux 1 service on channel 54- and the new "BBC A" multiplex started up on the newly vacated channel 62 at full post-DSO power.

FrequencyUHFkWOperatorSystem53-4Arqiva (Mux C)DVB-T55100BBC1 South WestPAL57-4Arqiva (Mux D)DVB-T58-4Digital 3&4 (Mux 2)DVB-T59100WestcountryPAL61-4SDN (Mux A)DVB-T62-20BBC ADVB-T64-4BBC (Mux B)DVB-T65100Channel 4PAL672Channel 5PAL

Digital television

29 July 2009 – 30 September 2009 All the remaining analogue TV channels were shut down and the new post-DSO digital multiplexes for the PSB channels started up at full power. Huntshaw Cross was subject to a complex multi-stage switchover, and the COM multiplexes (Mux A, Mux C and Mux D) were not switched from their pre-DSO configurations immediately.

FrequencyUHFkWOperatorSystem53-4Arqiva (Mux C)DVB-T55-20BBC BDVB-T257-4Arqiva (Mux D)DVB-T59-20Digital 3&4DVB-T61-4SDN (Mux A)DVB-T62-20BBC ADVB-T

30 September 2009 – 28 March 2012 With the post-DSO retune event at Mendip, the post-DSO COM multiplexes replaced the pre-DSO COM multiplexes on their final channel allocations, though only the SDN multiplex gained full power at this point.

FrequencyUHFkWOperatorSystem4810SDNDVB-T524Arqiva ADVB-T55-20BBC BDVB-T2564Arqiva BDVB-T59-20Digital 3&4DVB-T62-20BBC ADVB-T

28 March 2012 - May 2013 With the second post-DSO retune event at Mendip, the Arq A and Arq B multiplexes gained full power.

FrequencyUHFkWOperatorSystem4810SDNDVB-T5210Arqiva ADVB-T55-20BBC BDVB-T25610Arqiva BDVB-T59-20Digital 3&4DVB-T62-20BBC ADVB-T

From May 2013 Yet another retune was needed in May 2013 as part of the Europe-wide tactic of clearing Band V above 800 MHz so as to make space for future 4G mobile phone services. The BBC A multiplex was reassigned to channel 50.

FrequencyUHFkWOperatorSystem4810SDNDVB-T5020BBC ADVB-T5210Arqiva ADVB-T55-20BBC BDVB-T25610Arqiva BDVB-T59-20Digital 3&4DVB-T

From 19 June 2019 A retune will be needed from 19 June 2019 due to the 700 MHz clearance programme. The recommended television aerial for Huntshaw Cross will change from group C/D to group A. FrequencyUHFkWOperatorSystem3020BBC ADVB-T3120Digital 3&4DVB-T3210SDNDVB-T3410Arqiva ADVB-T3510Arqiva BDVB-T3720BBC BDVB-T2

Analogue radio FrequencykWRadio Listeners Guide 2010Service94.8 MHz0.5BBC Radio Devon96.2 MHz2Heart West

Digital Radio BlockFrequency (MHz)Power (kW)Multiplex Name10C213.3604.0Devon11D222.0644.55D1 National12B225.6482.5BBC National DAB

References

External links MB21's page on 405 TV to Wales and the West "405 Alive's list of transmitters" More details on 405-line ITV transmitters Entry at The Transmission Gallery UKfree.tv information on Huntshaw Cross Huntshaw Cross Transmitting Station at thebigtower.com