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THE TRANSMISSION GALLERY
PROCTOR HEIGHTS
| Photos by Brian Wilson | Page last updated: 2013-08-04 |
| High on the hills behind Earby, near Skipton, is this site, where a BT tower and Electricity Board mast stand. Now largely unused and unpopulated, the Northern Powergrid (Yorkshire) plc mast is home to a new 500W FM relay for Stray FM. The area was awarded to the Fresh FM licensee originally, as an FM alternative to their existing AM service. However, Fresh FM fell on hard times and were still procrastinating over a suitable FM site in Skipton when the station finally closed and Ofcom re-awarded the licence to UKRD's Stray FM (which, at the time, was serving Harrogate in North Yorkshire). Fresh FM's Pately Bridge and Ilkley sites were scrapped, and new installations in better parts of the respective towns where commissioned. The 'Skipton FM Licence' was then launched, from Proctor Heights, with a fill-in located in Skipton town centre. Although yet to be confirmed, the presence of an RX Yagi would suggest that this site is a rebroadcast of Stray FM’s Harrogate (Harlow Hill) service, which would possibly mean that Skipton Town and Ilkley are both rebroadcasting this rebroadcast service. If this is the case, the lack of split advertising over such a wide area is surprising. The two TX antennas are two slanted 'Cardiod Dipole Arrays'. The Rx antenna is a 3-element Yagi, lower on the tower. Adjacent to the site is the oddly-shaped BT link tower seen in the additional photo. UPDATE AUGUST 2013: we've received a clarification from John Taunton who informs us that Procter Heights does not relay Harlow Hill, in reality it is fed by a separate version of Stray destined for the Yorkshire Dales, with split advertising for its coverage area. The sites at Skipton Town Centre, Windsover Farm and Pateley Bridge RBL Procter Heights. |
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