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"Wavescan" is a weekly program for long distance radio hobbyists produced by Dr. Adrian M. Peterson, Coordinator of International Relations for Adventist World Radio. AWR carries the program over many of its stations (including shortwave). Adrian Peterson is a highly regarded DXer and radio historian, and often includes features on radio history in his program. We are reproducing those features below, with Dr. Peterson's permission and assistance.
Wavescan N533, May 12, 2019
The Shortwave Station in England that Refused to Die: The Woofferton Story-1
The mighty BBC shortwave station located near Woofferton in England is now 76 years old; it has survived three occasions when it was completely closed down; it was sold off to a management company; it has undergone six different eras of modernization; it is entirely located in England, not half in Wales as some have suggested; it is the last surviving shortwave broadcasting station in England; and it still carries a relay of BBC and VOA programming. We go back to the beginning.
Woofferton is but a small village in county Shropshire, and as far as shortwave radio is concerned, it is located about halfway between what were two other important shortwave stations, Rampisham and Skelton. Rampisham is 125 miles due south of Woofferton, and Skelton is 200 miles to the northeast. Except for the BBC shortwave station, the only other likely item of tourist interest in Woofferton is the old railway station and railway junction that
served the village for more than a hundred years until its closure in 1961.
Soon after World War II began in continental Europe, the government in England directed the BBC to treble the broadcast of its overseas programming, and for this purpose three new shortwave stations were needed. In addition to the already-established legendary station at Daventry, sites for these three new stations were chosen at Rampisham and Skelton, with Woofferton just 20 miles from the border with Wales.
1. Woofferton Shortwave Station: First Era
A total of 183 acres was acquired near the village of Woofferton, a property in the extreme south of County Shropshire, which straddles the east-west boundary between the two counties, Shropshire and Herefordshire. These two shires lie against the English border with Wales, and the boundary between the two shires is a small stream which runs through the antenna field of the shortwave station.
Work began on this new property in 1942, and a building was constructed to house six new RCA 50 kW shortwave transmitters, Model MI7330, from the United States, and all of the ancillary equipment. Due to the fact that this station was being constructed upon a low-lying area where the water table was only a few feet underground, RCA transmitters were chosen because they did not need a basement level like the English made Marconi transmitters at that time.
However, the first shipment, containing much of the electronic equipment from the RCA factory in Camden, New Jersey, was lost when the ship that was on convoy from the United States was sunk by a German submarine. Subsequently, five more shipments were sent on separate occasions, and finally all of the needed electronic equipment was assembled and installed into the new transmitter building at Woofferton.
A total of 15 triangular transmission towers were erected, ranging in height from 150 feet to 325 feet. These towers collectively were assembled with nearly half a million nuts and bolts, and the total weight for any one of the taller towers was just on 100 tons. A total of 26 curtain antennas was suspended from the towers; behind each of the 13 active arrays was a passive earthed reflector.
Installation of the six transmitters began in February of the following year (1943), and they were installed in pairs, with thick bomb-proof walls in between. The first four units were taken into regular service for the Voice of America on October 17 (1943), and the remaining two were activated in the same way during the next month, on November 21. The BBC also utilized this new station for the broadcast of its own programming to overseas target countries.
However, less than a year later, on August 28, 1944, the station was closed so that needed parts could be removed and installed at Crowborough. The transmitter site at Crowborough was already in use as the secret underground location for Aspidistra, where 3 American mediumwave transmitters at 175 kW each, when combined, provided a massive output power of 500 kW.
The RCA transmitter parts, when installed at Crowborough, were planned for use in disabling the guidance systems in German V-bombs that were aimed at London. That was the conclusion of the First Era at the BBC-VOA shortwave station at Woofferton.
2. Woofferton Shortwave Station: Second Era
However, the suggested procedure at Crowborough proved to be ineffective; consequently, the parts and pieces of the six RCA transmitters were re-assembled and renovated and reinstalled back at Woofferton. Of these senders, as the BBC called their shortwave transmitters, numbers S85 and S86 were taken back into full service in October of that same year (1944), and two more, S83 and S84, were returned to full service in January of the following year (1945). Likewise, sender S81 was reintroduced into full service during the next year again, on May 1, 1946. Thus 5 of these original 6 RCA transmitters were now all back on the air at Woofferton once more.
By the end of World War II, the entire electrical grid in England was showing signs of old age and excessive wear from over-usage, and there was also a shortage of coal at the generating plants. Thus, in October 1947, the Woofferton shortwave station was required to use its own generating capability for four hours daily.
The three generators, rated at 750 horse power at 500 revolutions per minute, emitted a thunderous roar, and the exhaust turbo chargers emitted a high pitched scream, the combined noise of which could be heard for miles. This ear-damaging situation pervaded for a period of some eight months, up until total grid power was resumed in May of the next year, 1948.
However, by this time the BBC was becoming financially strapped, and as an economy measure, the Woofferton shortwave station was closed and the staff were dismissed just a month later, on June 26, 1948. That was the conclusion of the Second Era at the BBC-VOA shortwave station at Woofferton.
3. Woofferton Shortwave Station: Third Era
But that was not the end of the Woofferton shortwave station. Once again, the Voice of America to the rescue! Give three weeks more, and VOA took over the Woofferton shortwave station. VOA programming for 8 hours a day was transmitted on shortwave from the United States to England, and it was received at the BBC Receiving Station at Tatsfield.
From Tatsfield the programming was fed by wire to Bush House in London, and from thence onward to Woofferton. At this stage, 5 of the 6 RCA
transmitters were in still use, and likewise all of the same original 26 curtain arrays.
As on previous occasions, BBC programming was also heard again from Woofferton. Ten years later again (September 1958), the sixth RCA transmitter was activated at Woofferton; apparently the remaining silent transmitter from the original 6 had been renovated and taken back into service.
Three years later, on March 26, 1961, the BBC dropped its programming from Woofferton, thus leaving VOA as the sole user of the Woofferton shortwave station. That was the conclusion of the Third Era for the BBC-VOA shortwave station at Woofferton.
Once again, the Voice of America to the rescue. And we plan to present that information here in Wavescan sometime soon.
Unusual Amateur Callsigns
Way back more than a century ago, each radio operator could choose indiscriminately any combination of letters and/or numbers to identify his wireless station. For example, the early call CC identified the Marconi station at Cape Cod, out from Boston; the two letters FL identified the Eiffel Tower in Paris; and occasionally the inclusion of a number identified a wireless station, such as S2 in Seattle in the American state of Washington, and O2 in Portland, Oregon.
Then in 1906 a resolution taken at the 2nd International Wireless Telegraph Convention in Berlin enjoined that the initial letter in a callsign should identify the country of location. Examples of callsigns with an initial letter indicating the country during this early era were: Station AAA on top of the Hotel Australia in Sydney; station ICE in Brindisi, Italy; and station RED in Libau, Russia.
Seven years later again (1913), at the 3rd International Wireless Telegraph Convention in London, it was promulgated that a number would indicate a territorial unit, usually within a specific country. For example: The initial letter W in the well-known shortwave callsign W8XK indicated the United States of America, the number 8 included the mainland state of Pennsylvania (back during that era), and the XK in W8XK indicated an experimental station operated by Westinghouse in Pittsburgh.
As another example, in another well-known callsign from that same era, VK2ME, the VK indicated Australia, the number 2 indicated the state of New South Wales, and the ME in VK2ME identified the AWA shortwave station at Pennant Hills, near Sydney.
The combination of letters and numbers in amateur radio callsigns in various parts of the world has seemingly spelled out some interesting words, sometimes almost humorously. We take a look at a few of these unusual callsigns, in alphabetical order:
If we were to look for them, it is quite probable that many other similarities between words in the English language and amateur radio callsigns could be found. For example: NO1SE = NOISE, MO1ST = MOIST, F1SH = FISH, F1RST = FIRST, and H0PE = HOPE.