Farewell to BBC 648 kHz
Channel: Jonathan Marks
Date: 11/03/2012

I have been cleaning up a video archive and came across video I shot in Ordfordness in 2003. It turns out to be topical because the BBC ceased using 648 kHz, which originated from a transmitter site there, as from Sunday March 27th 2011. I can confirm that my clock-radio needs retuning to something else to wake me up. In fact I ended up buying an excellent app for the iPad called Radio Alarm HD and mixing the output with another app called Retro-Fi.

This video safari will never be shown on mainstream TV - it is designed for those of us in radio who enjoy the details of high-frequency engineering. This edition, therefore, assumes you're interested in what makes these places tick. I particularly like Ordfordness because of the history of the place - it is where radar experiments started during the Second World War. That bit comes towards the end of this video (around 14 minutes in) after Andy explains the antenna system.

There are frequent references to a BBC transmitter site in Crowborough, Sussex. This was the home of the most powerful transmitter in the world during the 2nd World War, nicknamed Aspidistra after the song by Gracie Fields. On my audio vault at http://www.jonathanmarks.libsyn.com/media_network_wartime_deception_part_1 you can listen again to both these episodes. 

My thanks to Andy Matheson for the hospitality so many years ago. What passionate people they are!

I have been amazed at the popularity of this video and thank you for all the private correspondence it has generated. Note to myself: must find a way to revive Media Network in a new and fresh form.