The Peterborough transmitting station is a

broadcasting Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

and

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

facility at

Morborne Morborne is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. Morborne lies approximately south-west of Peterborough, near Yaxley, Cambridgeshire, Yaxley. Morborne is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a n ...

Hill, near

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

, England (). There are two tall structures on adjacent sites: a guyed steel lattice mast belonging to

Arqiva Arqiva () is a British telecommunications company which provides infrastructure, broadcast transmission and smart meter facilities in the United Kingdom. The company is headquartered at the former Independent Broadcasting Authority headquart ...

, and a tall reinforced concrete tower belonging to BT. These sites are known by their owners as 'Peterborough' and 'Morborne Hill' respectively.

History

The site was originally owned by Mr FJ Cheney of Polebrook. It was a 7.5 acre site. On Monday 23 September 1957 a 110 foot experimental aluminium mast was erected to test strength of transmissions around the area, with BBC engineer Colin White of the Field Strength Test Unit. A 560 ft high mast was planned. On Monday 14 October 1957 a war-surplus barrage balloon was flown at 600 ft. Morborne itself was 184 ft high. By November 1957 the test mast was removed. By June 1958, television broadcasts were expected by March 1959. On Thursday 30 April 1959, the first 40ft part of the mast was installed, weighing 1.5 tons. The rest of the mast was expected to take three weeks. Test broadcasts took place from 21 September 1959. Television came from Sutton Coldfield, via a relay at Skeffington in

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

. It was the same design and height as Tacolneston. Rowridge, North Hessary Tor and Pontop Pike are a similar design, but built five years earlier.

Transmission

The 560 ft lattice mast would open on Monday 5 October 1959, with 405 line television. This was the first day of BBC eastern news programmes. The G.P.O. link between Norwich and Morborne would be completed by early December 1959. Broadcasts started at 6am on 5 October 1959. The mast did not carry ITV. ITV reception came from

Lichfield Lichfield () is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated south-east of the county town of Stafford, north-east of Walsall, north-west of ...

or Mendlesham, in central Suffolk. The Sheerhatch television relay, near Moggerhanger, began operating on Monday 20 November 1967, serving Bedford. It closed in October 1982. The FM frequencies were the same as today - the

BBC Home Service The BBC Home Service was a national and regional radio station that broadcast from 1939 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 4. History 1922–1939: Interwar period Between the early 1920s and the outbreak of World War II, the BBC ...

on 94.5 FM and the

BBC Third Programme The BBC Third Programme was a national radio station produced and broadcast from 1946 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 3. It first went on the air on 29 September 1946 and became one of the leading cultural and intellectual forces ...

on 92.3 FM. Stereo FM radio came in July 1980, and also Hereward Radio began broadcasting on 95.7 on FM at 6am on Thursday 10 July 1980. For the south of Lincolnshire, this radio broadcast reception would much better than when

BBC Radio Lincolnshire BBC Radio Lincolnshire is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving the county of Lincolnshire. It broadcasts on frequency modulation, FM, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios near Newport Ar ...

began later in the year in November 1980.

Arqiva mast

A guyed high-steel lattice mast, belonging to

, is used primarily for

FM broadcasting FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting that uses frequency modulation (FM) of the radio broadcast carrier wave. Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to transmit high fidelity, high-f ...

but carries many other services. Originally, this mast was built for broadcasting television on VHF

Band I Band I is a range of radio frequencies within the very high frequency (VHF) part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The first time there was defined "for simplicity" in Annex 1 of "Final acts of the European Broadcasting Conference in the VHF and ...

. On 30 October 2004, the original mast was destroyed by a fire. It collapsed, seriously damaging the transmitter building at the base. Services were temporarily restored by transferring them to the adjacent BT tower and two temporary masts, including the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

emergency mast which was put in use for the first time. A new replacement mast finished construction in 2006 and is in full service.

Communications tower

In June 1961 the original GPO 328 foot steel lattice tower had reached 100 feet, which weighed 80 tons. It was hoped to be built by the end of June 1961. It would carry around 5,000 telephone circuits. The foundations were 700 tons of reinforced concrete. It connected with a GPO tower 96 miles away, the

Heaton Park BT Tower The Heaton Park BT Tower is a tall concrete telecommunications tower located next to Heaton Park Reservoir in Manchester, England. Heaton Park BT Tower is one of the few British towers built of reinforced concrete, and one of seven BT towers ...

in north Manchester. The 1961 lattice GPO tower was replaced in September 1970 by a 280 ft concrete tower, built by Monk of Warrington, as more communication dishes were needed, with 9,000 more trunk circuits being needed.''Peterborough Evening Telegraph'' Tuesday 15 September 1970, page 7

Services available

Analogue radio

Digital radio

BT concrete tower

The adjacent tower is one of fourteen reinforced concrete towers owned by BT in the UK. It is used mainly for point-to-point microwave links and forms part of BT's national telecommunications network. It was not damaged by the collapse of the Arqiva mast.

References

External links

The Transmission Gallery: Peterborough Transmitter photographs and information

The Transmission Gallery: FM coverage map
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Map of site

{{Peterborough_VHF_405-line_Transmitter_Group 1959 establishments in England BT Group buildings and structures Buildings and structures in Cambridgeshire Communication towers in the United Kingdom Infrastructure completed in 1959 Mass media in Peterborough Transmitter sites in England