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UK Broadcast Transmission |
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THE TRANSMISSION GALLERY
| Photos by James Muir | Page last updated: 2020-10-08 |
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| I took a drive along the Edinburgh City Bypass on Sunday, 11 May 2014 in order to photograph the Tx installation for this new station. The station, which officially launched on 28 February 2014, is based in the Crystal Business Centre within the Eastfield Industrial Estate in Penicuik, Midlothian. The significance of the word "Crystal" comes from the Edinburgh Crystal manufacturing works which were based in the same industrial estate until 2006 and for which the town is famous for. The Tx installation is around half-a-mile away from the Business Centre and is located on the roof of the club house of Penicuik Cricket Club. The cricket club is situated in a relatively high residential part of the town and has a good outlook over Penicuik and the surrounding area. According to Digital Spy and other web-based resources, one of the drivers behind the founding of the station is the fact that community station Black Diamond FM, situated in nearby Newtongrange, puts a sub-standard signal into Penicuik but couldn't persuade Ofcom to let them build a relay Tx in order to extend a full community radio offering to the Penicuik area. Links to websites at foot of this page. |
| General view of the club house with the Tx antenna located on the roof at the RHS of the building. A nice view of the Pentland Hills in the background. |
| Closer view of the Tx antenna. |
| Rear view of the Tx set-up showing what appears to be a vertical colinear antenna, slanted yagi and a small microwave dish for the receipt of the programme feed - quite a sophisticated set up for a small community station. According to the latest Ofcom TX Params spreadsheet, published on Friday, 9 May 2014, the station is licensed to operate on 25W for both horizontal and vertical components, however the current in-use erps are 25W and 15W respectively. The reception of the station on my car radio in and around Penicuik was rock-solid, with excellent audio quality and RDS displaying as "CRYSTAL_". However, the station does not get out very far beyond the Penicuik area due to the proximity of hills that almost surround the town. |
| Another view of the Tx antenna from the residential street directly behind the club house. |
Crystal FM website
Black Diamond FM website
Penicuik Cricket Club website
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