BBC transmitter Droitwich
As a radio ham I have recently had a contact with the BBC amateur radio club in London and been informed the station in Droitwich just down the road from our house will be shutting down within 3 years which will include 5 live and of course radio 4 on the long wave I did get a chance to go round the place a few years ago and was amazed that the two main valves in the long wave transmitter cost a mere £48,000 each
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We lived around the area a good few years ago. OH remembers driving past with a works colleague after a storm and seeing the aerial wires down, although I think the support masts were still up..
As an electronics person, and a radio ham, OH made a 200KHz receiver for Droitwich that discarded the content, and locked a frequency reference to the carrier. Super stable apparently. No, I don't know what that means either.
(Valves £48K, I will get him to look in the spares box, we could be rich).
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I've been around the place twice the first time was is in the early 80s when it was still had the lovely art deco interior and transmitting on 200khz and again in 2009 when they had ripped everything out and fitted two transmitters on the 1.98khz with a combined output of 500 kilo watts the masts are 700 feet tall one of which is used as vertical a aerial, the long wave aerial is called the flying "T" and is supported by the masts and consists of 1.9 kilometers of wire.I was told by one guy who worked there doors in the village had their doors knocked in the past and asked to remove wire loops in their lofts which were used to run lights from the RF after a field signal strength check
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Well that brings back memories for me too, as a student in Worcestershire the transmitter was a regular sight, I still look out for it if I'm travelling through. We lost our transmitters locally in Dorset not long ago and you'll miss them! My Dad retook his Morse code exams in retirement and being a radio ham again was the biggest enjoyment when he left work (I know Morse code is no longer included but he worked with it in WW2) Thanks for the post Amesford.
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My mum being a Worcestershire local all her life used to remember seeing them when on the 144 bus from Malvern to Birmingham many years ago. On a slightly different note OH said when we went around an air museum in Norfolk 2008 and he saw an Oscilloscope he used many years ago and said oh well I am getting old now ha ha.
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