Bassenthwaite was not difficult to find but you can't actually see it until you walk into it, because it's surrounded by trees... however this makes it challenging to take good photographs.
Interestingly, it has a panel Rx about halfway up (has to be Rx, as dependent Keswick receives a vertical signal), and then both panel and crossed logs Tx aerials at the top. Before DSO, channels 42 and 45 were co-channel with Caldbeck pre-DSO DTT services and apparently some parts of Bassenthwaite suffered interference as a result. Two additional transposers were installed to radiate the effected services, BBC 2 on Ch 66 and Channel 4 on Ch 68, which were outside the bandwidth of the panel aerials - hence the additional logs.
Bassenthwaite was originally an IBA landlord site which entered service on 19-Mar-1976 to serve 2,020 people. Channel 4 was added in May 1984. Bassenthwaite is the first relay in a chain that feeds Keswick, then Threlkeld.
DSO was on 24-Jun and 22-Jul-2009. |
