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THE OPENING OF BELMONT

With thanks to Brian Barber for the scans

Prior to the opening of the transmitting station at Belmont in 1965 viewers and listensers in the Lincolnshire area had to put up with indifferent reception from more distant stations. In the case of BBC1 this would have meant either Holme Moss, Peterborough or Tacolneston. In the case of ITV the alternatives were Emley Moor or Mendlesham.

But it was the introduction of 625-line colour tv transmissions on UHF which spurred the construction of a new mast at Emley Moor and sites such Sandy Heath, Waltham, Mendip and, of course, Belmont.

The Belmont mast is of the same tubular design and the same height as the ill-fated mast at Emley Moor which collapsed under the weight of accumulated ice in March 1969. Fortunately subsequent modifications at the remaining tubular masts have ensured that there have been no further incidents of that kind.

The BBC and ITV had differing opinions about which region the Belmont transmitter fell into. The BBC provided North region programmes on ch13 while the ch7 transmitter carried the programmes of Anglia tv from Norwich.

SOME BELMONT DATES

20-Dec-1965

ITV Anglia 405-line VHF ch7 opened
19-Nov-1966 BBC1 North 405-line VHF ch13 opened
19-Nov-1966 BBC2 625-line UHF ch28 opened
19-Nov-1966 BBC Light/Third/Home VHF/FM radio services opened
15-Feb-1971 BBC1 625-line UHF ch22 opened
24-May-1971 ITV Anglia 625-line UHF ch25 opened
30-July-1974 ITV service switched from Anglia tv to Yorkshire tv
11-Nov-1980 BBC Radio Lincolnshire 94.9 opened
5-Apr-1982 405-line VHF closed
2-Nov-1982 Channel 4 ch32 opened
Apr-1987 BBC national FM radio re-engineered for mixed polarisation
27-Jul-1990 Radio 1 98.3 added
1-Mar-1992 Lincolnshire's first ILR station Lincs FM 102.2 opened
20-Sep-1993 Classic FM 100.5 added
30-Mar-1997 Channel 5 launch UHF ch 56

Anglia and the BBC both produced leaflets to publicise the opening of their services in the area and as you will see further down the page the BBC were not slow to point out the advatages of VHF radio over the interference prone medium wave.

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