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[Swprograms] [Critical Distance Weblog: The Social Sides of BBC Shortwave Senders at OSE10 and OSE8/9]
- Subject: [Swprograms] [Critical Distance Weblog: The Social Sides of BBC Shortwave Senders at OSE10 and OSE8/9]
- From: Daniel Say <say@xxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2012 14:55:14 -0700
Jonathan Marks has some old nostalgia pieces
for anglophilic listeners and the mechanics,
human and physical, of running the end of the
war BBC transmitters.
----- Forwarded message ----
Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2012 12:31:39 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Critical Distance Weblog: The Social Sides of BBC Shortwave Senders
at OSE10 and OSE8/9
X-URL: http://www.criticaldistance.blogspot.ca/2012/08/the-social-sides-of-bbc-shortwave.html
[5]Critical Distance Weblog
Playing Devil's Advocate in the Orchestra of Change!
[6]publisher
Saturday, August 11, 2012
The Social Sides of BBC Shortwave Senders at OSE10 and OSE8/9
[7][kvitsoy.jpg]
I deal with the latest cutting edge technology every day. But I confess
I've also become fascinated with the high-powered engineering that was
used to beam signals around the world. AM broadcasting is going through
it's last phases now, with stations being dismantled. YouTube seems to
be capturing quite a lot of "end of era" videos at the moment. So, on
the side, I'm collecting stories where I can find them. This one was
from Norway earlier this year, the site that used to put out NRK Radio
Norway and Radio Denmark.
IFRAME: [8]http://www.youtube.com/embed/U-ZcIjtwNNE
Dave Porter, who is a senior engineer at the Woofterton shortwave
transmitting station, responded to my call out for stories about the
other side of international broadcasting. We've seen a lot of coverage
by journalists about [9]the exit from Bush House by BBC World Service
and the [10]closedown of the radio activities of Radio Nederland
Wereldomroep. But the stories about the transmission side of things are
often neglected - on the assumption that no-one is really interested.
[11][11-08-2012+18-59-44.jpg]
Perhaps it's the fact that shortwave transmitter sites are purely
operational places and the broadcasters behind the microphone don't
really know (or care) how the signal eventually gets to boom out of the
radio loudspeaker. Shortwave transmission centres have always
fascinated me because the ones I have visited have always been full of
stories. Unlike medium or long-wave stations, these transmitters were
continually being retuned to other parts of the radio dial as
broadcasting stations signed off morning broadcasts to one part of the
world and then opened up an evening transmission to somewhere else.
This constant hopping around the dial meant there had to be staff on
site while they were on the air.
[12][BBC+Woofterton.jpg]
In the case of the older sites like Wooferton, near Ludlow there were
also shifts were aerial engineers had to travel out to the antenna to
throw a switch at the right moment, so that the beam of the shortwave
signal went in the right direction. Since a lot of this had to be done
in the early morning hours (with broadcasts towards the Soviet Union),
there are amazing stories of bravery on stormy evenings or when thick
fog descended on the place.
[13][11-08-2012+19-01-07.jpg]
Changing the beam by hand. If only listeners knew.
Dave pointed me in the direction of an excellent write up by Jeff Cant
of the first [14]50 years of Wooferton. It's over 60 pages -
14. http://www.bbceng.info/Operations/transmitter_ops/Reminiscences/Woofferton/woof50y-v2.pdf
- and indeed it is exactly what it says in the title. It's not just the engineering
side of things. It's the social side too, with all the fascinating
collections of stories explaining what went right and wrong - and the
characters that ran the place. I'm sure that many people who relied on
those operational engineers to get the signal out had no idea of the
efforts being made at the transmitter site itself. Jeff has done a
brilliant job in giving us the insight to a profession which largely
goes unrecorded. The story starts with the decision by the UK Ministry
of Information to treble its efforts in external broadcasting. The BBC
translated that into a plan for 18 new transmitters, most of which were
manufactured in the US and sent over on ships. Wooferton was chosen as
the site for because it has excellent ground conductivity (wet marshy
land) and was halfway between a transmitter site in Cumbria (Skelton)
and Rampisham in Dorset. I didn't know about the early BBC nomenclature
of calling shortwave transmitting station an "Overseas Station
Extension".
Work at such a station can often be a stressful job, because when
things go wrong there's huge pressure to fix it fast. Equipment was
designed for an operational lifetime of around 20 years - but in many
cases that was extended by modifications done on site. And the stories
of explosions, fires and flashovers indicate that when a sender goes
bang, it's often a lot of work to repair the damage.
[15][11-08-2012+19-03-17.jpg]
Lawrence Ivan, the first Engineer in Charge
at Wooferton was a really tough manager
Dave Porter has also written a [16]series of articles for the Vintage
and Military Amateur Radio Society bulletins and some, pertaining to
BBC operations and history, have been reposted onto the same site.
There are more articles including a link to Practical Wireless and SW
Magazine articles that were published around the 60th anniversary in
2003.
It seems that staff at the Skelton have updated a series of articles
about that famous transmitting site and that's also [17]on line.
17. http://www.bbceng.info/Operations/transmitter_ops/Reminiscences/skelton/sk1.htm
It was originally written by G P Lowery in 1990 and contains a fascinating
section about challenges facing engineers at the time. I remember
visiting the site in 1979, getting their by moped while studying at
Durham University - I must have been mad. But that's another story.
Here's a quote from the article.
In 1939, Mr MacLarty, O.B.E., was co-author of a paper referring to the
"Empire Broadcasting Station" at Daventry. Some of the subjects
discussed therein obviously had an effect on the thinking which went
into the planning of Skelton, the construction commencing some three
years later. By 1940 the short wave service to Europe had been
established but the number of languages involved meant that
transmissions in each were comparatively short. It was decided to build
a new transmitting station capable of radiating on eighteen frequencies
at the same time. This would help to combat the jamming already being
used by transmitting each programme on a number of frequencies. The use
of highly directional aerial arrays would enable field strength to be
increased in the target area. It was necessary to cover Europe from
Norway to Greece twenty four hours a day which implied the use of short
waves. Considering what we take for granted now, it is quite
astonishing to read how much trial (and error) was involved, the more
so when the latest developments are seen to have a remarkable amount in
common with some earlier alternatives.
Anyone who has seen the Skelton A aerial feeder matrix would be
astonished to read that the switching of six transmitters to twenty two
aerials was regarded as impossible, although it was realised that for
long periods a transmitter could be associated with perhaps only four
to six aerials. The difference between daily switching and seasonal
switching was apparent.
[18][skeltonB.jpg]
Skelton B in Cumbria
The actual means by which metallic continuity was achieved was the hook
and eye with which so many HF engineers are familiar. The transfer of
two hooks attached to maybe twelve feet of trailing feeder by use of a
soaking wet Ash Pole, at two-o-clock in the morning, half a mile or
more from the building whilst being watched by incredulous sheep, is
not soon forgotten.
Site, Power, Programme feeds and buildings
Although the perimeter fences were pulled back some years ago, at that
time the site covered 750 acres at height of 600 feet above sea
level. The site is reasonably flat and programme circuits from London
were within easy reach, as were adequate power supplies (not a small
consideration - at one time I was told the station was the largest
consumer in the area. I believe that at the time the maximum demand was
in the order of 4 MVA, a figure which by 1998 was exceeded by over half
as much again). The situation also meant that no intended target area
was within the skip distance (the minimum range of a radio wave
reflector from the ionosphere).
In order to minimise the risk of damage by air attack two stations were
erected about one mile apart (0SE 8 & 9). Fifty three aerials were
provided, supported on no less than thirty one masts ranging in height
from 200 to 325 Feet.
[19][rampisham.jpg]
Rampisham SW Station photographed at sunset by Nigel Mykura. (Creative
Commons Licence)
There are some notable ommisions on the BBC site. I can't find anything
of a similar nature about Rampisham. There are [20]on-line
articles published before the recent closed down of this large BBC
shortwave transmission centre. And the stories behind the overseas
transmitting sites are also not in one place. I wonder if their stories
have been recorded?
Posted by Jonathan Marks at [21]Saturday, August 11, 2012
[22]Email This[23]BlogThis![24]Share to Twitter[25]Share to Facebook
Labels: [26]ludlow, [27]porter, [28]Skelton, [29]wooferton
Reactions:
IFRAME: [30]reactions
1 comment:
[31]Jim Davies said...
I was curious to read about the use of the ash pole in that
article and whilst I'm not much clearer about it I found
[32]this set of Flickr photos via a [33]discussion on the
Vintage Wireless board. There are some great photos of the
hardware and lots of technical explanations too.
[34]Sat Aug 11, 11:39:00 PM [35][icon_delete13.gif]
References
Visible links
7. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tnLqF-79SZE/UCaesHQMSFI/AAAAAAAAExg/c17cjB_GgO8/s1600/kvitsoy.jpg
8. http://www.youtube.com/embed/U-ZcIjtwNNE
9. http://criticaldistance.blogspot.nl/2012/07/goodbye-to-bush-house-countdown.html
10. http://criticaldistance.blogspot.nl/2012/06/radio-netherlands-signoff.html
11. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TZuTz3rmAiA/UCafAMl1lmI/AAAAAAAAExo/wb3Fb7xC0RE/s1600/11-08-2012+18-59-44.jpg
12. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3fHNjl8fOsY/UCaehihrXqI/AAAAAAAAExY/lvaP6gWmz8s/s1600/BBC+Woofterton.jpg
13. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W1uKwAFT6OA/UCafAu6yQZI/AAAAAAAAExs/Kc9q5hYAziA/s1600/11-08-2012+19-01-07.jpg
14. http://www.bbceng.info/Operations/transmitter_ops/Reminiscences/Woofferton/woof50y-v2.pdf
15. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FGWKQhnitxI/UCafBOKWIAI/AAAAAAAAEx4/hAFmYi6lRy4/s1600/11-08-2012+19-03-17.jpg
16. http://www.bbceng.info/Technical%20Reviews/technical_reviews.htm
17. http://www.bbceng.info/Operations/transmitter_ops/Reminiscences/skelton/sk1.htm
18. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-75XY30iNXrc/UCahvgosbOI/AAAAAAAAEzQ/hYzXQTqyDDk/s1600/skeltonB.jpg
19. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Igbu3W3mSCs/UCamH-pmz6I/AAAAAAAAE0o/wAiNO9MZ5jw/s1600/rampisham.jpg
20. http://www.realwestdorset.co.uk/wordpress/08/2011/dorset-bbc-world-service-rampisham-radio-transmitting-station-closure-threat/
21. http://www.criticaldistance.blogspot.ca/2012/08/the-social-sides-of-bbc-shortwave.html
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