UKTX

Burnhope

England · FM and DAB

Position
54.821921, -1.714847
Grid reference
NZ18424749
Nation
England
Ground height
240 m
Antenna height
—
Structure height
229 m [D]

How far it reaches

Two different questions, and the map below can be switched between them. Reaches is everywhere this mast puts a usable signal; strongest is the much smaller slice where nothing else does it better.

BandReachesStrongest in
FM radio3.0% of UK Output Areasunder 0.1% of UK Output Areasa relay, serving a local area
DAB radio3.6% of UK Output Areas0.4% of UK Output Areasa substantial transmitter
More detail

Most places can receive several transmitters — a median Output Area hears twelve — and only one of them can be the best, which is why the two columns are so far apart. Reach counts an area once the model clears the reception threshold there at all, and it inherits the sweep's screen: only the strongest twenty candidates per area are stored, so a mast lying twenty-first somewhere does not count as reaching it. Both are a share of areas, deliberately, and not a number of homes: checked against Ofcom's own coverage the model ranks transmitters correctly (Spearman 0.861) but over-states how far each one gets by a median factor of 2.5. A share is a ranking statement and survives that; a household count would not. How this is worked out.

On the map

Everywhere Burnhope is predicted to reach for FM radio and DAB radio, shaded by how much signal is left over. Other transmitters reach most of this ground too.

The lines are how far the signal is modelled to get: solid while the margin still clears 10 dB, dashed out to where it last clears 0 dB. The real edge sits inside them — every point inherits the model's measured optimism of about 17 dB.

How the rings were drawn

It is an envelope, not a boundary: terrain can still block reception well inside it, and it is an edge, not a fill — the colour says how far the signal gets, not that every spot under it works. The traced outline is smoothed across 12 degrees of bearing, so no single ray can spike or notch it; the ground it encloses moves by well under a percent [V]. Zoom in and the shading gives way to the per-area prediction, which is the same question answered Output Area by Output Area. The FM radio and DAB radio rings were shaped by Ofcom's published radiation pattern [D].

The modelled outer edge drawn above: FM radio about 105 km toward the north but only 27 km toward the south-west; DAB radio about 101 km toward the east but only 29 km toward the south-west [I].

Open this transmitter on the full mapreach, the aerial direction, and everything else within range

FM radio

FM services. ERP is published separately per polarisation; a dash means nothing is radiated in that plane.
StationFrequencyERP (H)ERP (V)HeightRDS namePI codePattern
Hits Radio Tyne and Wear97.1 MHz6.0 kW4.0 kW183 mHitsC4B0HV
Smooth Radio97.5 MHz4.5 kW4.5 kW205 mSmooth__C3A0HV
Heart101.8 MHz4.3 kW4.3 kW205 mHeart___C3A8HV
Capital105.3 MHz4.2 kW4.2 kW205 mCAPITAL_C371HV

Hits Radio Tyne and Wear — radiation pattern

0 dB10 dB20 dBNESW0°HV

Radiates most strongly toward the north (0°), as published by Ofcom.

More detail

Each ring is 10 dB of attenuation below the pattern's own peak; the outer rim is the peak itself and anything 30 dB down or deeper is drawn at the centre rather than off the edge of the chart, so a very deep null reads as “weak” and not as a hole in the picture. The shape says which direction radiates harder relative to the mast's own peak, not the absolute field strength there or how far it reaches — that is what the coverage map and the postcode lookup are for. Solid is horizontal polarisation, dashed is vertical.

Smooth Radio — radiation pattern

0 dB10 dB20 dBNESW10°HV

Radiates most strongly toward the north (10°), as published by Ofcom.

More detail

Each ring is 10 dB of attenuation below the pattern's own peak; the outer rim is the peak itself and anything 30 dB down or deeper is drawn at the centre rather than off the edge of the chart, so a very deep null reads as “weak” and not as a hole in the picture. The shape says which direction radiates harder relative to the mast's own peak, not the absolute field strength there or how far it reaches — that is what the coverage map and the postcode lookup are for. Solid is horizontal polarisation, dashed is vertical.

Heart — radiation pattern

0 dB10 dB20 dBNESW10°HV

Radiates most strongly toward the north (10°), as published by Ofcom.

More detail

Each ring is 10 dB of attenuation below the pattern's own peak; the outer rim is the peak itself and anything 30 dB down or deeper is drawn at the centre rather than off the edge of the chart, so a very deep null reads as “weak” and not as a hole in the picture. The shape says which direction radiates harder relative to the mast's own peak, not the absolute field strength there or how far it reaches — that is what the coverage map and the postcode lookup are for. Solid is horizontal polarisation, dashed is vertical.

Capital — radiation pattern

0 dB10 dB20 dBNESW10°HV

Radiates most strongly toward the north (10°), as published by Ofcom.

More detail

Each ring is 10 dB of attenuation below the pattern's own peak; the outer rim is the peak itself and anything 30 dB down or deeper is drawn at the centre rather than off the edge of the chart, so a very deep null reads as “weak” and not as a hole in the picture. The shape says which direction radiates harder relative to the mast's own peak, not the absolute field strength there or how far it reaches — that is what the coverage map and the postcode lookup are for. Solid is horizontal polarisation, dashed is vertical.

DAB radio

DAB ensembles carried here.
EnsembleBlockFrequencyERPHeightAreaEIdServices
Tyne & Wear11C220.352 MHz4.4 kW227 mTyne and WearC18812

Tyne & Wear — block 11C

HITS RADIO NEGrt Hits N EastSmooth North EastHITS RADIO PRIDEAbsolute 00sAbsolute 10sBBC NewcastleCapital NEHeart North EastPlanet RockKISS DanceHeat Radio

Tyne & Wear — radiation pattern

0 dB10 dB20 dBNESW60°

Radiates most strongly toward the north-east (60°), as published by Ofcom.

More detail

Each ring is 10 dB of attenuation below the pattern's own peak; the outer rim is the peak itself and anything 30 dB down or deeper is drawn at the centre rather than off the edge of the chart, so a very deep null reads as “weak” and not as a hole in the picture. The shape says which direction radiates harder relative to the mast's own peak, not the absolute field strength there or how far it reaches — that is what the coverage map and the postcode lookup are for.

Other transmitters nearby

Esh3.4 km SSE · TVSacriston6.1 km E · FMPontop Pike6.3 km NW · TV/FM/DABHedleyhope8.0 km SSW · TVDurham9.5 km ESE · TV/DABShotleyfield13.2 km WNW · TV/DAB

Every structure Ofcom list within 40 km, nearest first. Close is not the same as an alternative: most of these are single-service relays, and one of them may radiate a thousandth of this mast's power in a direction that misses you.