Hannington transmitting station

Hannington transmitting station is a television and radio transmitting station located on Cottington Hill near the village of Hannington. The transmitter is actually in the parish of Kingsclere. The station provides broadcast services to Berkshire and north Hampshire, and includes a 131.4-metre (431 ft) guyed steel lattice mast. Surmounting the mast is a GRP aerial cylinder, which contains the UHF television transmitting antennas, which brings the overall height of the mast to 151.9 metres (498 ft).

Hannington

Transmission Mast, Cottington Hill
Hannington transmitting station (Hampshire)
Mast height	151.9 metres (498 ft)
Coordinates	51.3080°N 1.2447°W
Built	1970
BBC region	BBC South
ITV region	ITV Meridian
Local TV service	That's Thames Valley

Hannington's digital broadcasts were severely attenuated to the east before the digital switchover (DSO) so as not to cause co-channel interference with Guildford transmitter. Those restrictions were removed soon after DSO in 2012.

Broadcast interruptions

1977 Ashtar Galactic Command message

On Saturday 26 November 1977 at around 5.10 pm, the Southern ITV broadcast from this transmitter had its UHF sound transmission hi-jacked by unknown agents. At that time Hannington re-broadcast off-air UHF transmissions from Rowridge on the Isle of Wight. The UHF audio signal from Rowridge was swamped by a signal presumably from a location much closer to the Hannington transmitter, overriding the sound of the local ITV station Southern Television and broadcast their own audio message purporting to be from Vrillon, an alien from an institution calling itself the Ashtar Galactic Command. The message, transmitted over an ITN News bulletin and a subsequent Merrie Melodies cartoon, lasted six minutes.

Despite extensive investigations by Hampshire Police, the Independent Broadcasting Authority and Southern Television, those responsible have never been identified, and the potential culprits have ranged from students to university professors to disgruntled television technicians.

1994 World Cup Final

On 17 July 1994 vandals sabotaged the mast's power supply during the 1994 FIFA World Cup Final, meaning that hundreds of thousands of viewers missed about an hour of the match.[1]

Services available

Analogue radio

Frequency	kW[2]	Service
102.9 MHz	4	Heart Thames Valley
104.1 MHz	3	BBC Radio Berkshire

Digital radio

Frequency	Block	kW	Operator
222.064 MHz	11D	4.8	Digital One
225.648 MHz	12B	5	BBC National DAB
229.072 MHz	12D	1	NOW Berkshire & North Hampshire

Digital television Frequency UHF kW Operator System 618.000 MHz 39 50 BBC B DVB-T2 626.000 MHz 40 25 SDN DVB-T 642.000 MHz 42 50 Digital 3&4 DVB-T 650.000 MHz 43 25 Arqiva A DVB-T 666.000 MHz 45 50 BBC A DVB-T 674.000 MHz 46 25 Arqiva B DVB-T 746.000 MHz 55 36.7 COM7 DVB-T2 Before switchover Frequency UHF kW Operator 626.166 MHz 40+ 20 SDN (Mux A) 634.166 MHz 41+ 10 Arqiva (Mux D) 650.166 MHz 43+ 20 Digital 3&4 (Mux 2) 658.166 MHz 44+ 10 Arqiva (Mux C) 674.166 MHz 46+ 20 BBC (Mux B) 706.000 MHz 50 20 BBC (Mux 1) Analogue television Analogue television transmissions ceased from Hannington during February 2012; BBC Two analogue closed on UHF 45 on 8 February 2012 and all other analogue services closed on 22 February 2012. Frequency UHF kW Service 583.25 MHz 35 60 Channel 5 615.25 MHz 39 250 BBC One 639.25 MHz 42 250 ITV1 663.25 MHz 45 250 BBC Two 831.25 MHz 66 250 Channel 4 Aerial group: E Polarisation: horizontal External links Hannington Transmitter at MB21 Info and pictures of Hannington transmitter including historical power/frequency changes and present co-receivable transmitters Hannington Transmitter at thebigtower.com References Graham Moorby (18 July 1994). "Vandals black out World Cup". The Independent. Retrieved 25 April 2019. Radio Listeners Guide 2010