View source for Wrexham-Rhos transmitting station

{{Short description|Television and radio broadcast facility in Wales}}
{{Infobox UK transmitter
|name = Wrexham-Rhos
|image =
|map_name = Wales Wrexham
|coordinates = {{coord|53.0762|-3.045|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}}
|height = {{convert|45|m|ft|0}}
|gridref = SJ3000153762
|built = 1977
|demolished = 
|collapsed = 
|relay = [[Moel-y-Parc transmitting station|Moel-y-Parc]]
|BBC = [[BBC Wales]]
|ITV = [[ITV Cymru Wales]]
}}
The '''Wrexham-Rhos transmitting station''' is a [[digital television]] [[relay]] of [[Moel-y-Parc transmitting station|Moel-y-Parc]], and forms part of the [[Wales]] television region. Despite its name, the station is situated in [[Moss Valley, Wrexham|Moss Village]] and serves the city of [[Wrexham]], the northern area of [[Wrexham County Borough]] and south-western [[Flintshire]]. It is a free-standing lattice tower structure serving around 85,000 homes which are unable to receive broadcasts from Moel-y-Parc due to [[Hope, Flintshire|Hope Mountain]].

This area is traditionally served by [[English language|English]] transmitters at [[Winter Hill transmitting station|Winter Hill]] and [[The Wrekin transmitting station|The Wrekin]], which have historically provided English-language channels [[Channel 4]] and [[Channel 5 (UK)|Channel 5]], plus the [[digital terrestrial television|digital terrestrial]] services [[ITV Digital|ONdigital/ITV Digital]] (from 1998 to 2002) and [[Freeview (UK)|Freeview]] from 2002 onwards. Wrexham-Rhos was constructed to coincide with the 1977 [[National Eisteddfod of Wales|National Eisteddfod]] in Wrexham, initially providing [[S4C]] and [[BBC One Wales]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=mb21 - The Transmission Gallery |url=http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/gallerypage.php?txid=966&pageid=1846 |access-date= |website=tx.mb21.co.uk}}</ref> later joined by [[ITV Wales & West|HTV Wales]] in 1997 and [[BBC Two Wales]] in 1999.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20070930034741/http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/itc/uploads/HTV_APR_text.doc ITC: WALES AND THE WEST OF ENGLAND: HTV (archived copy from [[Internet Archive]])</ref>

The DAB digital radio transmitter on the site was switched on in 2013.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2013-04-18 |title=Digital radio: More stations for north east Wales listeners |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-22205304 |access-date=2023-04-06}}</ref> It had a temporary outage in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rhos transmitter outage takes some Sunday television off air |url=https://www.wrexham.com/news/rhos-transmitter-outage-takes-some-sunday-television-off-air-139890.html |access-date=2023-04-06 |website=Wrexham.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Services available==

===Analogue television===

====1977 - 1 November 1982====
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!{{no2}}Frequency
!{{no2}}UHF
!{{no2}}kW
!{{no2}}Service
|-
|{{UK System I|ch=39}}
|39
|0.2
|[[BBC One Wales|BBC1 Wales]]
|-
|{{UK System I|ch=67}}
|67
|0.4
|[[HTV Wales]]
|}

====1 November 1982 - 30 March 1997====
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!{{no2}}Frequency
!{{no2}}UHF
!{{no2}}kW
!{{no2}}Service
|-
|{{UK System I|ch=39}}
|39
|0.2
|[[BBC One Wales|BBC1 Wales]]
|-
|{{UK System I|ch=67}}
|67
|0.4
|[[S4C]]
|}

====30 March 1997 - 1999====
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!{{no2}}Frequency
!{{no2}}UHF
!{{no2}}kW
!{{no2}}Service
|-
|{{UK System I|ch=32}}
|32
|0.2
|[[ITV Wales & West|HTV Wales]]
|-
|{{UK System I|ch=39}}
|39
|0.2
|[[BBC One Wales|BBC1 Wales]]
|-
|{{UK System I|ch=67}}
|67
|0.4
|[[S4C]]
|}

====1999 - 2000====
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!{{no2}}Frequency
!{{no2}}UHF
!{{no2}}kW
!{{no2}}Service
|-
|{{UK System I|ch=28}}
|28
|0.2
|[[BBC2 Wales]]
|-
|{{UK System I|ch=32}}
|32
|0.2
|[[ITV Wales & West|HTV Wales]]
|-
|{{UK System I|ch=39}}
|39
|0.2
|[[BBC1 Wales]]
|-
|{{UK System I|ch=67}}
|67
|0.4
|[[S4C]]
|}

====2000 - 28 October 2009====
Prior to analogue switch-off, Wrexham-Rhos broadcast four of the five national terrestrial stations. Channels 1 to 3 were broadcast at 200 W [[Effective Radiated Power|ERP]], while S4C was broadcast at 400 W. In 1998, due to the upcoming launch of [[ONdigital]] from neighbouring transmission site, [[Winter Hill transmitting station|Winter Hill]], S4C from the relay was required to change frequency (from UHF Channel 67) two years later. A message was displayed telling viewers to re-tune their televisions of the channel were carried for a couple of months. When the original frequency was switched off, the power on the newer version was increased.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!{{no2}}Frequency
!{{no2}}UHF
!{{no2}}kW
!{{no2}}Service
|-
|{{UK System I|ch=25}}
|25
|0.4
|[[S4C]]
|-
|{{UK System I|ch=28}}
|28
|0.2
|[[BBC2 Wales]]
|-
|{{UK System I|ch=32}}
|32
|0.2
|[[ITV Wales & West|HTV Wales]]
|-
|{{UK System I|ch=39}}
|39
|0.2
|[[BBC1 Wales]]
|}

===Analogue and digital television===

====28 October 2009 - 25 November 2009====
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!{{no2}}Frequency
!{{no2}}UHF
!{{no2}}kW
!{{no2}}Service
!{{no2}}System
|-
|{{UK System I|ch=25}}
|25
|0.4
|[[S4C]]
|[[PAL]] System I
|-
|{{UK System I|ch=28}}
|28
|0.08
|[[BBC]] A
|[[DVB-T]]
|-
|{{UK System I|ch=32}}
|32
|0.2
|[[ITV Wales & West|HTV Wales]]
|PAL System I
|-
|{{UK System I|ch=39}}
|39
|0.2
|[[BBC1 Wales]]
|PAL System I
|}

===Digital television===

====25 November 2009 - present====
At present, the station broadcasts three of the six national digital terrestrial television multiplexes on the "Freeview Lite" service. The station switched over to digital transmissions from analogue throughout November 2009, and remaining analogue services ceased at midnight on 25 November 2009. BBC A and Digital 3&4 broadcast using [[MPEG2]] compression on [[DVB-T]] standards, whilst the HD multiplex, BBC B, uses [[DVB-T2]].

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Frequency
!UHF
!kW
!Operator
|-
|{{UK DVB-T|ch=22}}
|22
|0.08
|[[Digital 3&4]]
|-
|{{UK DVB-T|ch=25}}
|25
|0.08
|[[BBC]] B
|-
|{{UK DVB-T|ch=28}}
|28
|0.08
|BBC A
|}

===Analogue radio (FM VHF)===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Frequency
!kW
!Service
|-
|88.0&nbsp;MHz
|1.4
|[[Heart North and Mid Wales]]
|-
|95.4&nbsp;MHz
|0.7
|[[BBC Radio Wales]]
|-
|103.4&nbsp;MHz
|1.4
|[[Capital North West and Wales]]
|}

===Digital radio (DAB)===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Frequency
!Block
!kw
!Operator
|-
|215.072&nbsp;MHz
|10D
|3kW
|[[MuxCo North East Wales & West Cheshire]]†
|}

On air date March 2013<ref>Radio Listeners Guide 2010</ref>

==See also==
*[[Winter Hill transmitting station]]
*[[The Wrekin transmitting station]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/wrexham-rhos.php mb21 - The Transmission Gallery - photographs]
*[http://www.ukfree.tv/shutdowndetail.php?tx=SJ301537 ukfree.tv Shutdown plans for Wrexham-Rhos]

{{Transmitter sites in Wales}}
{{FM radio transmitter sites in Wales}}
{{Television transmitters in the UK}}
{{Moel-y-Parc UHF 625-line Transmitter Group}}
{{Moel-y-Parc UHF DVB Transmitter Group}}

[[Category:Buildings and structures in Wrexham County Borough]]
[[Category:Transmitter sites in Wales]]