These photos are of the original BBC local radio aerial for Radio Leicester. Leicester was the first of the BBC locals and opened on the 8-Nov-1967 on 95.05 MHz, and we believe that these two photos must have been taken very early on, as by 1971, R Leicester was using slant polarisation. This type of aerial was fairly easily modified to slant polarisation by the addition of a vertical dipole atop the existing set up, but there's no sign of this modification here.
Radio Leicester frequency was changed to 95.2 MHz in 1970 and again to 95.1 MHz on 14-Jun-1973. The BBC closed their Anstey Lane transmitter on 3-May-1991, having moved Radio Leicester to Copt Oak. ILR (Centre Radio), joined the BBC from the 7-Sep-1981 on 97.1 MHz. Frequency changed to 103.2 MHz on 28-May-1986. ILR relocated their transmitter to Billesdon in January 1997.
The site then became redundant as far as broadcasting is concerned, but recently a new site only about 500 m away (Gorse Hill City Farm) has been put into service, broadcasting a community radio station.
An article about Local Radio engineering, along with a description and photo of a modified slant aerial, is linked from the bottom of the page. |
