Standing on the summit of North Hessary Tor in Devon, England is an FM radio and television transmitter which uses as aerial a 196 metres (643 ft) high guyed mast.
It was built by BICC for the BBC in 1955 when a transmitter was needed to introduce 405 line television into Devon, alongside Rowridge and Pontop Pike (both 500ft). It now carries a small UHF TV transmitter which serves Princetown and Dartmoor. FM radio transmissions began in 1956 and cover most of Devon and eastern parts of Cornwall, along with Somerset and South Wales as a backup for Wenvoe. It is owned and operated by Arqiva.
In all BBC publications the national FM ERPs for North Hessary Tor are listed as 160 kW (mixed polarisation): Classic FM list their ERP as 80 kW (horizontal) and 80 kW (vertical) for North Hessary Tor which equates to the same power as the BBC.
The mast covers a large area including Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and South Wales.
In June 2013, BBC A moved from UHF 62 to UHF 50, to allow for the clearance of the 800 MHz band for 4G LTE mobile services.
