This site is next to one of the main roads into Falmouth, on the very border of Falmouth and Penryn, and is situated in a school sports field directly neighbouring Budock Hospital.
It commands superb views over both towns and provides both with a relay of Redruth's tv signals.
It came into service in December 1982, just a month after Channel 4 opened, and at the time the pupils at Falmouth School referred to the sports field in which it stands as the "Channel Four Field"!
The smaller mast next to it possibly serves the utilities as there is a sign on the gate referring to a company called 'Medlock'. Also all four mobile phone companies are present at this site.
We've received some additional information about the early days of the Penryn relay, kindly supplied by Bob Whelan.
He writes: "When it was first commissioned, its parent transmitter was actually Caradon Hill, since Redruth didn't have C4 until about 18 months after its launch.
When ITV started to have (very) local regional news inserts, a second log was added to source the ITV feed from Redruth.
Caradon Hill's local ITV news came from the Plymouth studio, and Redruth's local ITV news was sourced from the Truro studio. The good folk of Penryn and Falmouth wouldn't have been happy to have only Plymouth orientated news! (Although a good proportion of Falmouth is better served from Caradon rather than Redruth or Penryn.)
When Redruth 'caught up' with C4, the Caradon log was removed and Redruth maintained as the sole source." |
