{"id":46382,"date":"2020-11-08T09:02:02","date_gmt":"2020-11-08T13:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=46382"},"modified":"2020-11-08T09:02:02","modified_gmt":"2020-11-08T13:02:02","slug":"photo-emerges-of-droitwich-mast-and-lf-antenna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2020\/11\/photo-emerges-of-droitwich-mast-and-lf-antenna\/","title":{"rendered":"Photo emerges of Droitwich mast and LF antenna"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Many thanks to SWLing Post<\/em> contributor, Dave Porter, who writes:<\/p>\n

This picture [above] has just emerged, photographer unknown but most likely a rigger from the top of one of the 700′ masts there!<\/p>\n

This was taken at Droitwich sometime after colour photography came in (late 1960’s) and before 1986 when the four wire Tee was replaced by a new design developed by BBC Antenna Engineer Tony Preedy, G3LNP that improved upon the 11-j85 Ohms driving point impedance giving a few more ohms and less capacitive reactance for the 2 x 250kW B6042 transmitters and a greater radiation efficiency.<\/p>\n

Tony’s present LF array does not look so symmetrical as it comprises four separate Tee wires with the drops as a square box rather than the centre-joined drops of this one.<\/p>\n

Tony also developed a low profile Tee antenna over 3 x 17m wooden telegraph poles for MF at up to 1 kW that was used when planning restrictions were enforced. Efficiencies were up to 40% at the 1500 kHz end of the band. However, if used by birds as an overnight roost it could provoke VSWR trips on solid state transmitters, the fix was to use a sliding reduced power detector that wound down the power to a level that did not trip the VSWR monitoring. Old tube transmitters were not affected!<\/p>\n

The operating frequency for this LF Tee was 200 kHz at that time, now the antenna is on 198 kHz<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wow–thank you, Dave, for sharing this photo. We truly appreciate your impressive knowledge of UK broadcasting and history! And, wow! The views those riggers took in!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dave Porter, who writes: This picture [above] has just emerged, photographer unknown but most likely a rigger from the top of one of the 700′ masts there! This was taken at Droitwich sometime after colour photography came in (late 1960’s) and before 1986 when the four wire Tee was […]<\/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":[2436,3,43],"tags":[104,4716,5931,4120,5028],"class_list":["post-46382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-longwave","category-news","category-shortwave-radio","tag-bbc","tag-dave-porter","tag-droitwich-transmitting-station","tag-photos","tag-shortwave-transmitter-photos"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-c46","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":24033,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/02\/dave-once-forced-the-shipping-forecast-to-repeat-a-broadcast\/","url_meta":{"origin":46382,"position":0},"title":"Dave once forced the Shipping Forecast to repeat a broadcast","author":"Thomas","date":"February 7, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Our post yesterday regarding the Shipping Forecast reminded me of a\u00a0story\u00a0SWLing Post contributor, Dave Porter (G4OYX) once shared. Dave writes: I worked at the Droitwich Transmitting Station through 1972-1974, the home of the BBC UK Long Wave 1500 m\/200 kHz service as it was then. In the summer of 1973\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\/2017\/02\/Droitwich-transmitter-station-963x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Droitwich-transmitter-station-963x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Droitwich-transmitter-station-963x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":24144,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/02\/kris-also-forced-the-shipping-forecast-to-repeat-a-broadcast\/","url_meta":{"origin":46382,"position":1},"title":"Kris also forced the Shipping Forecast to repeat a broadcast","author":"Thomas","date":"February 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Kris Partridge (G8AUU) who shares the following comment in reply to our post about Dave's experience forcing the Shipping Forecast to repeat a broadcast: Hi Dave, G4OYX, et al Not the only time the Shipping Forecast has had to be repeated for \u2018Operational Error\u2019\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/The-Shipping-Forecast-Beaufort-Scale-1024x573.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/The-Shipping-Forecast-Beaufort-Scale-1024x573.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/The-Shipping-Forecast-Beaufort-Scale-1024x573.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8719,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/cross-country-wireless-introduces-an-hf-upconverter\/","url_meta":{"origin":46382,"position":2},"title":"Cross Country Wireless introduces an HF Upconverter","author":"Thomas","date":"February 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: Southgate ARC) Cross Country Wireless have just released a HF Upconverter. This will allow HF or VHF SDR receivers such as the RTLSDR dongles, Funcube or our own SDR-4+ receiver to work on HF, LF and VLF. Unlike other upconverters currently available we have added the RF protection features\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The CCW HF Upconverter (Photo: Cross Country Wireless)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/hf_upconverter_medium-300x192.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":27700,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/08\/the-shipping-forecast-celebrates-150-years\/","url_meta":{"origin":46382,"position":3},"title":"The Shipping Forecast celebrates 150 years","author":"Thomas","date":"August 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"(Source: The Guardian) Consternation, mourning and\u00a0national soul-searching\u00a0greeted the\u00a0temporary silencing of Big Ben last week, but at least another favourite fixture of the nightly and early morning radio is to continue. The hymnal cadences of Viking, North Utsire, South Utsire, through Shannon, Rockall, Malin all the way to south-east Iceland, will\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\/2017\/08\/Met-Office-Shipping-Forecast-1024x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Met-Office-Shipping-Forecast-1024x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Met-Office-Shipping-Forecast-1024x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":47884,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2021\/02\/photo-gallery-of-the-rampisham-down-transmitting-site-in-2003\/","url_meta":{"origin":46382,"position":4},"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":48511,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2021\/04\/woofferton-control-desk-circa-1965\/","url_meta":{"origin":46382,"position":5},"title":"Woofferton Control Desk circa 1965","author":"Thomas","date":"April 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dave Porter (G4OYX), who writes: Thought you might like to post this pic (above) just in from Phil Brooks who used to be an engineer at Woofferton. In front of the operator on the desk is what was described as \"The External Services Operational\u2026","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\/04\/WOF-control-desk-June-1965.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/WOF-control-desk-June-1965.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/WOF-control-desk-June-1965.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/WOF-control-desk-June-1965.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/WOF-control-desk-June-1965.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/WOF-control-desk-June-1965.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46382","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=46382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46382\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}