History
The station was first built to provide BBC 405-line television coverage for an area including Southampton, Portsmouth and Bournemouth, with Brighton, Winchester and Salisbury as desirable further targets. Sites on the mainland and the Isle of Wight were considered, and three were tested by BBC Research Department. A temporary 200 ft lattice mast was built with a main antenna at 175 ft and a reserve antenna lower down. These aerials were directional to enhance the signal northwards and reduce unwanted coverage to the south.
The service opened on 12 November 1954, bringing television to the area for the first time.
A programme feed was obtained via a Post Office radio link. A site for this near Alton, Hampshire was acquired and named after a nearby pub: Golden Pot. Here the TV signal from Alexandra Palace was picked up and relayed via a one-hop 4 GHz microwave link to Rowridge. This was brought into service on 18 October 1954. Later, the microwave link ran from the Museum telephone exchange in London to Rowridge, using Golden Pot as an intermediate site.
In 1965 the UHF antenna was added making the total height of the structure 149.6 metres (491 ft). This addition allowed Rowridge to radiate the PAL 625-line transmission that allowed broadcasts in colour and eventually stereo sound.
On 25 March 2009, Channel 5's analogue signal was turned off from Fawley Power Station. Later on in the day, existing digital terrestrial television frequencies moved to new frequencies, due to the digital switchover happening in the region in 2012.
Arqiva applied for planning permission to replace the existing 150m mast with one 187m high on the 22 May 2009.
Read more about this topic: Rowridge Transmitting Station
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