# Mendlesham transmitting station

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Broadcasting facility

Calling occupants of earth - geograph.org.uk - 238426.

Mendlesham Mendlesham transmitting station (Suffolk) Location Mendlesham, Stowmarket, Suffolk Mast height 305.4 metres (1,002 ft) Coordinates 52°14′04″N 1°06′27″E / 52.234444°N 1.1075°E / 52.234444; 1.1075 Grid reference TM123640 Built 1959 ITV region Anglia Television (1959-1985)

The **Mendlesham transmitting station** is a [broadcasting](/source/Broadcasting) and [telecommunications](/source/Telecommunications) facility, situated close to the village of [Mendlesham](/source/Mendlesham), near the town of [Stowmarket](/source/Stowmarket), in [Suffolk](/source/Suffolk), [United Kingdom](/source/United_Kingdom) ([grid reference](/source/Ordnance_Survey_National_Grid) [TM123640](https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?pagename=Mendlesham_transmitting_station&params=52.233169_N_1.107525_E_region:GB_scale:25000)). It is owned and operated by [Arqiva](/source/Arqiva).

It has a 305.4 metres (1,002 ft) high [guyed steel lattice mast](/source/Radio_masts_and_towers#Steel_lattice). It was originally commissioned to bring ITV signals (provided by [Anglia Television](/source/ITV_Anglia)) to [East Anglia](/source/East_Anglia), including [Norfolk](/source/Norfolk), [Suffolk](/source/Suffolk) and parts of [Essex](/source/Essex) and [Cambridgeshire](/source/Cambridgeshire) on [405-line](/source/405-line) [VHF](/source/VHF), using Channel 11 ([Band III](/source/Band_III)).

## History

Other sites considered in February 1958 for an ITV television mast were [Tacolneston](/source/Tacolneston) and [Snetterton](/source/Snetterton). By June 1958, the site was chosen. The site was in the village of [Wetheringsett-cum-Brockford](/source/Wetheringsett-cum-Brockford), but Mendlesham was the name of the nearby airfield.

For the new ITV region, the GPO would provide a link from London to Norwich, via [Ongar, Essex](/source/Ongar%2C_Essex), Sibleys Green ([Chickney](/source/Chickney), to Mendlesham, then on to the telecommunications tower at [Stoke Holy Cross](/source/Stoke_Holy_Cross), and by cable from there to Norwich. Construction began in January 1959, with the mast being built from April 1959.[1] By June 1959 it was 600 feet. Construction finished in mid-July 1959, taking ten weeks.[2]

On Monday 5 October 1959, tests at full power of 200kW took place, from 10am to 9pm from Monday to Saturday.[3][4] This was also the same day that the BBC started broadcasting from Norwich.[5] It came into service on 27 October of that year. It was at the time the highest television mast to be constructed in Europe and the first of six of the same height subsequently used at other [Independent Television Authority](/source/Independent_Television_Authority) stations. It was fabricated in Hereford from zinc-galvanised steel, and was erected by British Insulated Callender's Construction Co. (BICC), now known as [Balfour Beatty](/source/Balfour_Beatty).

When [UHF](/source/UHF) television came to East Anglia, main transmitters were commissioned at [Tacolneston](/source/Tacolneston_transmitting_station), near [Norwich](/source/Norwich) and [Sudbury](/source/Sudbury_transmitting_station), near [Colchester](/source/Colchester). Mendlesham was not required in the UHF plan, so when 405 line television was discontinued in the UK in 1985, the mast ceased to be used for any broadcast transmissions for over a decade.

However, in 1997, the site was chosen to be a main transmitter for new regional commercial radio station Vibe FM (renamed [Kiss 105-108](/source/Kiss_105-108) in 2006), on 106.4 MHz [VHF](/source/VHF) [FM](/source/FM_broadcasting) at a power of 20 kW. Vibe FM launched November 1997. Later in December 2001, national [digital radio](/source/Digital_radio) [multiplex](/source/Multiplexing) [Digital One](/source/Digital_One) also added its antennas to the mast. The [BBC National DAB](/source/BBC_National_DAB) Multiplex was added on 13 July 2010.

## Channels listed by frequency

### Analogue radio (VHF FM)

Frequency kW[6] Service 106.4 MHz 20 Greatest Hits Radio Ipswich & Suffolk

### Digital radio (DAB)

Frequency Block kW Operator 222.064 MHz 11D 1 Digital One[7] 225.648 MHz 12B 4.3 BBC National DAB[8]

### Analogue television

VHF analogue television was transmitted from Mendlesham from its launch in 1959 until the nationwide shutdown of VHF signals in 1985.

Frequency VHF kW Service 204.75 MHz 11 200 Anglia

## See also

- [List of masts](/source/List_of_masts)

- [List of tallest buildings and structures in Great Britain](/source/List_of_tallest_buildings_and_structures_in_Great_Britain)

- [List of radio stations in the United Kingdom](/source/List_of_radio_stations_in_the_United_Kingdom)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** *Suffolk and Essex Free Press* Wednesday 29 April 1959, page 19

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** *Haverhill Echo* Saturday 25 July 1959, page 6

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** *Haverhill Echo* Saturday 10 October 1959, page 5

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** *Suffolk and Essex Free Press* Thursday 15 October 1959, page 20

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** *Bedfordshire Times* Friday 9 October 1959, page 20

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Radio Listeners guide 2010

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Radio Listeners Guide 2010

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** BBC Reception Website

## External links

- [15 minute film of the construction of Mendlesham mast](http://www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/861) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20210416133043/http://www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/861) 16 April 2021 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine)

- [Mendlesham entry at The Transmission Gallery](http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/gallerypage.php?txid=1341)

- [Mast location on MultiMap.com](http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?client=public&X=612500&Y=265000&width=500&height=300&gride=612300&gridn=264000&srec=0&coordsys=gb&db=&addr1=&addr2=&addr3=&pc=&advanced=&local=&localinfosel=&kw=&inmap=&table=&ovtype=&keepicon=&zm=1&scale=25000)

- [http://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?b61326](http://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?b61326)

- [Mendlesham Transmitter at thebigtower.com](http://www.thebigtower.com/live/Mendlesham/Index.htm)

- [Confirmation of addition of BBC DAB Multiplex, July 2010](https://archive.today/20120720073626/http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/transmitters/radio/digital_radio.shtml)

v t e Television transmitter and major relay sites in the United Kingdom England East Mendlesham Sandy Heath Sudbury Tacolneston East Midlands Belmont Waltham Greater London Alexandra Palace Croydon Crystal Palace North East Burnhope Chatton Pontop Pike North West Caldbeck Sandale Storeton Winter Hill South East Bluebell Hill Chillerton Down Dover Hannington Heathfield Membury Midhurst Oxford Rowridge Whitehawk Hill Wrotham South West Beacon Hill Caradon Hill Huntshaw Cross Mendip North Hessary Tor Redruth Stockland Hill Washford West Midlands Lichfield Ridge Hill Sutton Coldfield The Wrekin Yorkshire and the Humber Bilsdale Emley Moor Holme Moss Oliver's Mount Sheffield Scotland Angus Black Hill Bressay Craigkelly Darvel Durris Eitshal Keelylang Hill Kirk o' Shotts Knock More Meldrum Mounteagle Rosemarkie Rumster Forest Selkirk Skriaig Torosay Wales Arfon Blaenplwyf Carmel Ferryside Haverfordwest Kilvey Hill Llanddona Moel-y-Parc Preseli St Hilary Wenvoe Wrexham-Rhos Northern Ireland Black Mountain Brougher Mountain Divis Limavady Londonderry Strabane Channel Islands Fremont Point Les Platons Isle of Man Douglas Italics denotes a transmitter no longer used for transmitting television signals

v t e Mendlesham VHF 405-line Transmitter Group Transmitter stations Belmont (until 1974) Sandy Heath

v t e Supertall structures Italics indicate structures under construction Towers Almaty Tower Aspire Tower Bailong Elevator Baku TV Tower Berliner Fernsehturm Canton Tower China Central Radio & TV Tower CN Tower Dragon Tower Eiffel Tower Emley Moor transmitting station Europaturm Fazilka TV Tower Gerbrandy Tower Indosiar Television Tower Jaisalmer TV Tower Jiangsu Nanjing Broadcast Television Tower KCTV Tower Kyiv TV Tower Kuala Lumpur Tower Liaoning Broadcast and TV Tower Liberation Tower Lotus Tower Macau Tower Milad Tower Mumbai Television Tower Namsan Seoul Tower Oriental Pearl Tower Ostankino Tower Pitampura TV Tower Rameswaram TV Tower Riga Radio and TV Tower Saint Petersburg TV Tower Samatra TV Tower Sint-Pieters-Leeuw Tower Sky Tower Strat Tower Sydney Tower Tallinn TV Tower Tashkent Tower Tbilisi TV Broadcasting Tower Tianjin Radio and Television Tower Tokyo Skytree Tokyo Tower Torreta de Guardamar Tortoise Mountain TV Tower Turner Broadcasting tower TVRI Tower Vilnius TV Tower Vinnytsia TV Mast West Pearl Tower WHDH-TV tower WITI TV Tower WSB-TV tower Yerevan TV Tower Zhongyuan Tower Bridges Changtai Yangtze River Bridge (350 m) Millau Viaduct (343 m) 1915 Çanakkale Bridge (334 m) Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge (322 m) Russky Bridge (321 m) Sutong Yangtze River Bridge (306 m) Dams Shuangjiangkou Dam (312 m) Jinping-I Dam (305 m) Nurek Dam (300 m) Electricity pylons Jintang-Cezi Overhead Powerline Link (380 m) Zhoushan Island Overhead Powerline Tie (370 m) Yangtze River power line crossings (346.5 m) Wind turbines Schipkau GICON Wind Turbine (under construction) (363 m) Oil platforms Petronius (640 m) Baldpate Platform (579.7 m) Bullwinkle (529.1 m) Pompano (477 m) Troll A platform (472 m) BBLT (512m) Gullfaks C (380 m) Tallest structures History of the world's tallest structures Tallest structures by category

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mendlesham transmitting station](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendlesham_transmitting_station) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendlesham_transmitting_station?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.