UK Broadcast Transmission

THE TRANSMISSION GALLERY

Photos by Peter Bigwood

Saffron Green. Strange name - almost a contradiction in terms! Anyway, where was I? Oh yes. Saffron Green is a 4 mast directional MF array near Barnet in North London. It was constructed in the early 1970's to allow the station to radiate high powers towards London on 1548kHz and 1152kHz whilst radiating virtually no power at all towards Birmingham and Liverpool where the frequencies are used by other ILR stations. The site suffered a fire in the 1980s but still radiates MF services of Capital and LBC. Peter's photos reveal something I never noticed before, which is that one of the four masts also has a wire aerial slung from it which is a standby antenna.

These rectangular devices are there to monitor the phase and current at each of the two frequencies being sent to each monopole. The stability of these is essential to maintaining the directivity of the array.

These toroidal transformers supply the voltage for the aircraft warning lights.

On the evening of 1-Jul-1985 a serious fire occurred at Saffron Green. Originating in the transformers of a reserve transmitter for LBC, the fire spread and affrcted other parts of the building, and resulted in the loss of the AM service from Capital Radio. IBA manintenance staff worked throughout the night and had restored both servies by 6.00am the following morning. The extensive damage to the building meant that transportable radio transmitters had to be brought to the site and special measures taken against chemical hazards. Permanent replacements for the LBC transmitters were due to be installed in April 1986.

Brookmans Park | Croydon | Crystal Palace

Ashton Moss | Langley Mill

Roger Piper's Capital Radio pages

Back to TX Gallery index | TX main index