Morecambe Bay was built by the BBC to extend and improve 405-line BBC TV coverage and entered service on VHF ch 3 on 3rd December 1962. This was the first BBC TV relay to use the "split-translator" technique. The receiver section of the translator was about 1 mile to the southeast at Walthwaite and received the transmissions from Holme Moss on ch 2. The receiver produced signals at IF which were fed to Morecambe Bay via an SHF link. This arrangement didn't last long as by 1966, Morecambe Bay received its programme feed from the channel 12 transmissions from Winter Hill directly.
BBC FM radio was added on 29th August 1966. Details of the original installation can be found in the BBC RD report at the foot of this page. Two years later, Radio 3 was converted to stereo in August 1968. Radio's 2 & 4 went stereo in August 1973.
Morecambe Bay was also scheduled to be a UHF relay of Winter Hill with a cylinder at the top. It would have been site number 103.37.
The BBC national FM services are from the 'crossbows' at 53m. About 2/3 the way up. There are 4 panels stacked for the north-east direction (60°) and 2 panels each, for the other 3 directions. 150°, 240° & 330°. Note, that these panels are not square to the mast faces.
The local stations are from higher aerials. Radio Cumbria at 77m while The Bay and Classic FM are at 67.5m. It's hard to see, but near the top of the mast there are two stacked FM yagis and 2 stacked DAB yagis pointing towards Lancaster (120°). These are for The Bay / Classic FM and Digital One. BBC DAB is from the aerials on the cantilever at the very top. 81m. |
