[Swprograms] [Critical Distance Weblog: The Social Sides of BBC Shortwave Senders at OSE10 and OSE8/9]
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[Swprograms] [Critical Distance Weblog: The Social Sides of BBC Shortwave Senders at OSE10 and OSE8/9]



	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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