AS almost a 1,000 North East and North Yorkshire residents come forward to speak of the difficulties the disruption at Bilsdale TV mast has caused, let’s take a look at how events have unfolded this month.
August 10 - Bilsdale TV mast on fire in North Yorkshire Moors
On this day the TV mast caught fire rendering the structure out of service and leaving up to a million without TV and Radio signal.
North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said six appliances had been sent to tackle the blaze and firefighters said the fire included the tower itself.
In a statement provided by the service they said: “North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service are currently in attendance tackling a fire at Bilsdale transmitting centre, which includes Bilsdale mast.
“We currently have six fire appliances and our mobile water bowser as well as command and control assets in attendance.”
The mast was among the most powerful transmitters in the country.
August 11 – Fire extinguished but many still left without TV and radio signal
The fire was extinguished the next day on August 11 as the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service worked with site operators to “bring the incident to a safe conclusion.”
A spokesperson for the fire service said: “North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service worked to control the fire in difficult circumstances and extinguished a fire in a single-storey stone building and a 315ft transmitter mast"
Later that date, site operators, said they had started the process to “gradually restore services” through the use of temporary structure and existing infrastructure elsewhere in the region.
August 12 – Teesside homes receive signal as services come back online
Homes across Teesside were reportedly receiving reception after some services came back online through the Eston Nab transmitter.
Viewers in Hartlepool, Redcar, and East Middlesbrough could now receive some services.
A spokesperson for BBC said at the time: "We do have some good news for television viewers who live in and around Hartlepool, Redcar and the edge of Middlesbrough.
"Services have been added to the Eston Nab transmitter and should be available, but you may need to retune. Autotune should work for everyone in those areas, but if not we would suggest you try manually retuning to the new service."
August 13 – Site operators move onto Phase two of plan to restore services
Site operators Arqiva announced that they were now moving onto phase 2 of their plan to restore services to the North East and North Yorkshire by erecting of an 80m temporary mast at the Bilsdale site.
However, due to the site of Special Scientific Interest, the work legal process and construction of the mast would take up to two weeks and was set to be completed on August 28.
A spokesperson for Arqiva said at the time: “Phase 2 of our plan involves the erection of an 80m temporary mast at Bilsdale and we have been surveying the site to identify the best alternative locations within the restrictions we have. Included in this is the fact that Bilsdale is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, meaning we have to seek agreement to place any additional equipment.
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There are many activities to this phase 2; preparation of ground, access, erection of an 80m temporary mast which involves raising the mast itself, running power, bringing in high powered transmitters and feeders to the antenna and configuration and test.
“This part of our plan should reinstate TV coverage for the vast majority of viewers who receive signals directly from Bilsdale.
“Due to the work required to deliver this solution we expect that work to be complete within 14 days from now.”
August 17 – Some viewers saw a significant improvement after two new developments
After the installation of a new 15m mast at a site in Arncliffe Wood and improvements to coverage from Eston Nab, many more viewers were able to receive signal.
Some viewers in Darlington, Stockton, Catterick, Leyburn, Masham and Ripon were now able to receive signal.
Work continued on the temporary mast set to be built on the Bilsdale and site operators said they still “anticipated the temporary mast to be effective by August 28.”
August 19 – Planned power increase brings coverage to 250,000
Site operators Arqiva provided a further update, reportedly claiming that a “planned power increase” at their Eston Nab site that morning had brought more services to 250,000 households in total.
Arqiva also said that work to install additional equipment at Arncliffe Wood to further extend coverage was also in progress and was expected to be completed by that weekend.
August 20 – New Arncliffe Wood transmitter completed bringing signal to 200,000
Site operators completed another 15m mast at Arncliffe Wood, providing around 200,000 households with coverage for TV.
Another relay at Skinningrove was also restored on this day, providing more channels and further was expected to be completed early the next week and will provide these same households with BBC channels and HD variants.
August 24 – Delay for proposed mast on Bilsdale site
Arqiva announced, that despite doing “everything in its power to restore broadcast services as quickly and safely as possible, the legal process behind the building of the mast was “taking longer than anticipated” and was delayed.
In an update, Arqiva said that the mast would not be “operational by this weekend as we’d hoped.”
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A spokesperson for Arqiva said: “The remaining stages of our plan require access to the original mast site to deliver materials, build and commission the temporary 80-metre mast which would expand TV services to the vast majority of households.
“The legal process to secure appropriate access to the site to build the temporary mast is taking longer than we initially anticipated and as a result it will not be operational by this weekend as we’d hoped.
We are making representations to the court as to the severity and the urgency of the situation, but we are in the hands of the judicial system currently.
“We continue to speak to the landowner to see if we can reach an access agreement whilst the application is being processed.
“We are doing everything we can to move this forward as quickly as possible and are seeking the assistance of everybody involved to accelerate the process.”
August 26 – More receive signal as more transmitters are turned on
In an update provided by BBC, more temporary masts were switched on allowing more areas to receive signal across the North East and North Yorkshire.
Temporary transmitters at Arncliffe Wood were switched on allowing some people in Darlington, Barnard Castle, Richmond, Leyburn, Catterick, Masham and Ripon to receive signal if people re-tune their TV.
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According to the BBC, another four more relays were also brought back online bringing services to Skinningrove, West Burton, Aysgarth , Redmire, Fylingthrope and Sleights.
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