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UK Broadcast Transmission |
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THE TRANSMISSION GALLERY
WESTERGLEN
| Photos by David Foord and Peter Bigwood | Page last updated: 2026-05-19 |
| Westerglen is located in Stirlingshire, a few miles south-west of Falkirk. It is one of three stations to transmit BBC Radio 4 on 198kHz Long wave and also transmits BBC Radio Scotland and TalkSPORT on Medium Wave. It is one of the UK's earliest broadcast sites, entering public service way back on 12-Jun-1932. Westerglen was the third instalment of the BBC regional scheme. It replaced the earlier BBC stations at Glasgow (5SC), Edinburgh (2EH) and Dundee (2DE). Two 152m (500 ft) stayed, lattice masts were erected to support a T-aerial for the regional transmitter between them; an 'umbrella' aerial for the national transmitter was erected around one of the masts. |
| There are four structures at the Westerglen site. These are the two 152m (500 ft) stayed lattice masts. The mast on the left (east), transmits the long wave service. The other mast transmits all of the medium wave programmes. |
| The MF mast. |
| The LF mast. |
| The third lattice mast is 64m high and can be used as a reserve aerial for the MF services. |
| The fourth structure at Westerglen is this tower. It is not used for transmitting any of the broadcast services. |
| This last photo, below, taken by Peter Bigwood, shows the top of the Long Wave mast at Westerglen. Its a Marconi umbrella, where the topmost guys are connected electrically to the top of the mast, and form a downward sloping 'top hat'. This effectively increases the electrical length and so raising the radiation resistance, which draws more RF current into the radiator so it radiates more efficiently. |
| Site layout |
| Cutting from NewsLink Feb/March 1988. (MCSL journal). |
BBC RD: Field Strength Measurements of the Scottish Regional & National Transmitters (1935)
BBC RD: Signal Strength Maps (1937)
BBC RD: Synchronization of the Radio 4 Transmitter Chain on 200 kHz (1979)
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