{"id":43224,"date":"2020-05-08T08:43:17","date_gmt":"2020-05-08T12:43:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=43224"},"modified":"2020-05-08T08:43:17","modified_gmt":"2020-05-08T12:43:17","slug":"example-of-a-manual-wavechange-at-bbc-skelton-a-transmitter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2020\/05\/example-of-a-manual-wavechange-at-bbc-skelton-a-transmitter\/","title":{"rendered":"Example of a manual wavechange at BBC Skelton A Transmitter"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

By Michael Whitfield, CC BY-SA 2.0<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Many thanks to SWLing Post<\/em> contributor, Dave Porter (G4OYX), who shares the following:<\/p>\n

Here’s Steve Gale in the late 80’s or early 90’s starting a wavechange on a Marconi BD272 250 kW sender at SKA.<\/p>\n

There were eventually 11 of these senders at the BBC Skelton A site.<\/p>\n

The first pic is the Final RF amplifier output stage with the 15\/17 MHz coil being in situ. It sits between the two anodes of the output tubes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Below the anode coil sits the coupling coil and it is on a motorised deck, that can be moved backwards and forwards on power to couple up to the required power output.<\/p>\n

Steve is just starting the band change as he is wearing the leather gauntlets because after a transmission the coils are very hot.<\/p>\n

Both the anode and coupling coils will be removed and replaced by those for the next required frequency.<\/p>\n

A fifteen minute period was allocated by the BBC WS Schedule Department to accomplish a band change though two of us could do them in about eight minutes if pushed!<\/p>\n

The picture below shows Steve starting to remove one of the pair of the 3-turn 40 kW Penultimate stage to Final stage coupling coils, again he is wearing the gauntlets. A different coil will be used for the next band.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The three turn coil covered 9, 11 and 15 MHz.<\/p>\n

All those senders have gone now at Skelton.<\/p>\n

Two are still in use at Woofferton and some in Singapore.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thanks so much for sharing this glimpse into a working shortwave radio transmitting station, Dave! There’s nothing QRP about those transmitters and I bet those coils got incredibly hot!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dave Porter (G4OYX), who shares the following: Here’s Steve Gale in the late 80’s or early 90’s starting a wavechange on a Marconi BD272 250 kW sender at SKA. There were eventually 11 of these senders at the BBC Skelton A site. The first pic is the Final RF […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3194,960,3,43],"tags":[4716,5028,2130,4519,4520],"class_list":["post-43224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-posts","category-international-broadcasting","category-news","category-shortwave-radio","tag-dave-porter","tag-shortwave-transmitter-photos","tag-shortwave-transmitters","tag-skelton-hf-transmitting-station","tag-skelton-hf-transmitting-station-history"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-bfa","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16185,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/12\/video-the-skelton-hf-transmitting-station\/","url_meta":{"origin":43224,"position":0},"title":"Video: The Skelton HF Transmitting Station","author":"Thomas Witherspoon","date":"December 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to Jonathan Marks, who shares\u00a0this short video about the history of the Skelton HF Transmitting Station: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zJ49Ru1uPKo","rel":"","context":"In "International Broadcasting"","block_context":{"text":"International Broadcasting","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/international-broadcasting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/zJ49Ru1uPKo\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":47884,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2021\/02\/photo-gallery-of-the-rampisham-down-transmitting-site-in-2003\/","url_meta":{"origin":43224,"position":1},"title":"Photo gallery of the Rampisham Down transmitting site in 2003","author":"Thomas","date":"February 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dave Porter, who shares a link to the following site which contains an extensive galley of photos taken at the Rampisham HF transmitting site on October 11, 2003. Click here to view the gallery. Thank you for the tip, Dave!","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Rampisham-HF-transmitter-site.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Rampisham-HF-transmitter-site.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Rampisham-HF-transmitter-site.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Rampisham-HF-transmitter-site.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Rampisham-HF-transmitter-site.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":33950,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/skelton-penrith-and-the-world-1943-1993\/","url_meta":{"origin":43224,"position":2},"title":"Skelton, Penrith and the World 1943-1993","author":"Thomas","date":"September 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor,\u00a0Mike Barraclough, who notes the following update to\u00a0BBCeng.info: Skelton, Penrith and the World 1943-1993 A personal account by the author Ken Davies. Following my request I have been notified that Cumbria County Council, the publishers of this book, would have no objection to it being\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Skelton-Penrith-and-the-World-cover.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":47005,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/m0wof-woofferton-transmitting-sites-new-amateur-radio-callsign\/","url_meta":{"origin":43224,"position":3},"title":"M0WOF: Woofferton Transmitting Site’s New Amateur Radio Callsign","author":"Thomas","date":"December 20, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dave Porter (G4OYX), who shares the following news: Hi All, I am pleased to report that following the efforts of two Communication Engineers at the former BBC\/VoA Transmitter site at Woofferton, Shropshire there is again an amateur radio club callsign allocated there. Jon Norton\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ham Radio"","block_context":{"text":"Ham Radio","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/ham-radio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Woofferton_transmitting_station_2011.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Woofferton_transmitting_station_2011.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Woofferton_transmitting_station_2011.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Woofferton_transmitting_station_2011.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7343,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/09\/dave-porters-video-tour-of-the-bbc-woofferton-transmitting-site\/","url_meta":{"origin":43224,"position":4},"title":"Dave Porter’s video tour of the BBC Woofferton transmitting site","author":"Thomas","date":"September 18, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Check out this brilliant video tour of the BBC Woofferton Transmitting Station, presented by Senior Transmitter Engineer Dave Porter (G40YX). The video is divided in seven parts, thus I've created a playlist that will automatically load each video in order. Click here to start the playlist on YouTube, or simply\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1687,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2011\/08\/a-west-dorset-view-on-the-rampisham-radio-transmitting-station-closure\/","url_meta":{"origin":43224,"position":5},"title":"A West Dorset view on the Rampisham Radio Transmitting Station closure","author":"Thomas","date":"August 29, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: Real West Dorset) RAMPISHAM\u2019S radio transmission station may close before Christmas with the loss of more than 20 jobs, even though it\u2019s currently broadcasting into Libya. The proposed shutdown of the Dorset site follows the BBC\u2019s decision earlier this year to cut back on World Service shortwave broadcasting and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Broadcasters"","block_context":{"text":"Broadcasters","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/broadcasters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Dorset-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43224\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}