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THE TRANSMISSION GALLERY

WICKHAMBROOK

Photos by BT Heritage (commentary by Dan Glover) Page last updated: 2016-05-13

Early Television links - 1960 and 1962

When Ben Smith visited Wickhambrook he commented: "I also found an old stay blook still in-situ, which would indicate a previous guyed mast at the site - maybe MF? - does anyone know?"

Yes, there was indeed a guyed mast - not for MF but as part of early TV distribution arrangements. By around 1960 it seems Wickhambrook was an intermediate point on the ITA link from London to Mendlesham and on the BBC link from Birmingham via Peterborough to Tacolneston. In practice there would have been local links, probably via cable, between the studios and their respective transmitters.

The BBC arrangement was described in The Engineer, 1 May 1959 (see link at foot of page) and superceded an initial arrangement where Alexandra Palace had been received off-air and relayed using equipment sited at the water tower at Depden Green, not far away. An additional BBC link served Manningtree but received Tacolneston off-air

The current tower was built around 1968 as part of a general expansion of the Post Office microwave network and we understand the BBC Birmingham to Norwich link was subsequently re-routed via Swaffham and Stoke Holy Cross

Creative Commons LicenceThese images are Copyright BT Heritage, licensed under a Creative Commons License and reproduced under the following terms


August 1960 - at this stage there was only one dish at the top of the mast


August 1960 - "Wickhambrook 2000 Mc/s repeater"


July 1962 - from the west...


...and from the east

Based on our understanding of the history, the SHF dishes face Tacolneston, Mendlesham and Manningtree with incoming feeds from Birmingham via Peterborough (Morborne Hill) and from London via intermediate sites in Essex

Wickhambrook index

Midlands - East Anglia Television Links (BBC) - The Engineer 1 May 1959 (page 25 in PDF)

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