Wooferton Radio Station

Members of PARC enjoyed a very interesting evening visit to the Wooferton Radio station, operated by Vosper- Thornycroft. The visit was arranged by Pete, GW8COE.

 

The station was built by the BBC during the war in case its existing short wave stations were damaged by
enemy action. By the early 1960s the station was almost surplus to requirements. But the Cuban missile crisis saved the day! The Voice of America services to the eastern Block were greatly increased as a result, and VoA asked the BBC to relay some of its transmissions. This was the first instance of relaying foreign radio
broadcasts—a practise common today. The aging “senders” built by Marconi (Old Ladies) were augmented by some later equipment, also supplied by the Marconi company.

The station was sold by the BBC in 1997 and now
provides services to a number of overseas broadcasters.

 

Many of these programmes are received by satellite link and rebroadcasted on short wave.

There is still a BBC transmission broadcast from the site: That of BBC Hereford and Worcester’s MF service.

The latest additions to the complement of senders have been built by a company in Croatia. They are much more compact and, by using very clever modulation
techniques, use a lot less electricity.