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THE TRANSMISSION GALLERY
ASHKIRK
| Photos by The Southern Reporter | Page last updated: 2023-12-25 |
| Thanks to the efforts of mb21-friend-and-contributor Jim, we are able to bring you two pictures of Ashkirk from 1982. We would like to express our thanks to The Southern Reporter, to Stuart Cobley of the Tweeddale Press, and of course to Jim himself. Ashkirk supplies BBC FM radio to Northumberland and the Borders. It was originally built as the Band I TV and Band II VHF radio relay for south-east Scotland. The BBC R&D Research paper on the site tests in the area show that the BBC's preferred site was at Lindean Moor, which is where the ITA's Selkirk station was subsequently built. However, the BBC site was built (in 1963) at Dryden Hill, the site which the 1956 tests had found to be less favourable. It's not clear why the BBC weren't able to use Lindean Moor. |
| Here we see Bob Davies, Engineer in Charge of the Transmitter Maintenance Team at Selkirk, with the Team's Range Rover in front of Ashkirk. |
| The excellent quality of the photo allows us to zoom in a bit and see the complex aerial systems in use at Ashkirk. The Band I aerial is in two enormous halves, pushing the Band II aperture a long way down the structure - a very similar situation to that at Redruth, although the aerial design there is different. |
| BBC engineers Jim Slatter and Charlie Kerrigan working on (we guess) the VHF radio transmitters. The tartan trousers are of particular technical interest in our view.... |
| Originally there was a separate 27.4m high receive tower, 120m west of the transmit mast. This tower had both band I and band II Rx aerials on Kirk o'Shotts. |
BBC R&D Report: Transmitting aerials for the Ashkirk television and VHF sound station
BBC R&D Report on Site Tests for a TV and Radio Relay for Galashiels
The service areas of the Ashkirk television and VHF sound transmitters (BBC RD 1964)
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