The Matlock UHF TX on cliff tops at High Tor in Matlock, Derbyshire. High Tor is a 390ft high limestone cliff that rises sheer from the river Derwent's eastern bank, and is a popular climbing cliff. The tower is about sixty feet from the cliff edge, from where I took picture 7 looking down into the valley.
This is listed as a low power relay of Waltham, providing coverage in this very hilly and picturesque area. It proved a bit of a challenge to photograph from the distance, and I hope you can even make out the mast in picture 2!
There are two RX yagis, and, interestingly, Matlock appears to be a relay of a relay, judging from the vertically polarized one which points NW towards Stanton Moor, some five miles distant. The higher horizontally polarized RX yagi actually appears to be pointing to Sutton Coldfield - definitely not Waltham. The mast is located some 700 ft asl, but is considerably lower than the surrounding hills. I doubt Waltham can be received directly, hence this arrangement. It's likely that the Sutton Coldfield log is a legacy from the pre DSO analogue days, probably providing a West Midlands programme feed for the BBC channels. |
