Long Range
Maritime
Communications
in the UK

Early History

Portishead Radio
-
1927 to war
-
1940-1960
-
in the 70's
-
in the 80's
-
GKA today
-
Transmitter Sites

Wick/GKR

Oban/GNE

Content researched by
Terry Slack

HISTORY of Portishead Radio
peacetime through the 60's

Peacetime brought a return to commercial activities, and with it a vastly increased demand for long-range communications. An 'area scheme' was established in 1946 to enable British and Colonial registered vessels to use naval stations around the world to relay their traffic to Portishead.

1948 saw the opening of two new operating positions, a broadcasting and landline room, and a central control room with a steel plotting map of the world measuring 36 by 16 feet. A bureau file of both ship and aircraft positions was maintained, and many were plotted with magnetic indicators.

During the late 1940s and early 1950s transatlantic liners provided a high
volume of traffic, all using radiotelegraphy (Morse code) transmissions.
The development of the landline telex service enabled customers to deposit
and receive traffic directly from Portishead, with high-traffic users
installing their own private wires. The Suez crisis in 1956 brought high
levels of telegraph traffic in both the to-ship and from-ship directions,
leading to increased staffing levels towards the end of the decade.


The 1960s saw the station continue to expand, with increased traffic levels
and the development of a telex over radio (TOR) system. A press transmission
of news was transmitted by Morse to enable ships to produce their own
news-sheets. By 1965, 86 radio officers were handling over 11 million words
of traffic per year, and communicating with over 1,000 ships each day.
The introduction of the Daily Telegraph transmissions to the QE2 in 1968
by radiotelex was another 'first' for the stations.

April 1970 saw the transfer of the radiotelephone service from Baldock to
Portishead. This necessitated the use of extra transmitters at Rugby and
Portishead, and the temporary use of an additional control centre at
Somerton (Somerset).

The area scheme previously mentioned was terminated in 1972, and with it
the Naval presence at Portishead. However, traffic figures continued to
rise, with the developing oil market and the deepwater fishing industry
all providing work for the station. The leisure market continued to expand,
with the early round-the-world yacht races providing valuable publicity
for Portishead Radio and its services. By 1974, traffic levels had increased
to over 20 million words per year, now handled by 154 radio officers.

[Yacht Race]

Further expansion of the present operating area was impossible,
so in 1976 work commenced on a purpose-built building to house the various
services then available to ships.



A new computer-based message handling system was installed, and the
manual radiotelex service became more popular, resulting in the
development of an automatic system.

The Portishead transmitting site was closed in 1978, leaving the sites at
Leafield and Ongar, operating alongside the main transmitting site at Rugby.
However, the famous name of 'Portishead Radio' was maintained to provide the
maritime community with a familiar and well-known service. The advent of
satellite communications in the early 1980s had little initial impact, and
in 1983 the new control centre was opened, providing new radiotelephone and
radiotelegraphy consoles, with automatic radiotelex being installed later
that year. Remotely-controlled receivers and receiving aerials, located at
Somerton, were utilised for all services, resulting in the dismantling of
the receiving aerials at Highbridge.

[receivers]


The old operating rooms were demolished, creating space for administration
offices and stores.

1985 saw the opening of a new aircraft service, providing world-wide 'phone
patch' and flight information services. This service proved so popular that
many land-based industries based in remote locations in Africa used the
'aero' frequencies, culminating in the opening of the Gateway service,
which continues to flourish to this day. Relief agencies, military units,
embassies, and industries still use the service, which acts as a lifeline
to those located in countries where normal landline links are poor or
non-existent.

By the end of the 1980s, satellite communications were making significant
inroads into Portishead's traffic figures. It became clear that a severe
rationalisation programme was necessary in order for the station to remain
viable, which resulted in the closure of the transmitter sites at Leafield
and Ongar. The number of operating consoles was reduced in line with the
decline in radio traffic, and the number of staff employed fell
proportionally.

Portishead Radio currently provides employment for 25 radio officers, and
around 50 ships a day use the Morse code service. This figure is expected
to decline during the next few years, and by 1999 Morse code communication
is expected to be phased out, although there may still be some older
vessels still trading who may need to use the facility. The radiotelex and
radiotelephone services still however, maintain a reasonable level of
traffic.

Portishead Radio remains the most famous maritime radio station in the
world, and the mere mention of its name is likely to provoke fond memories
by those radio officers who used the service in its heyday. Whilst the
days of receiving weak radio signals from a passenger liner from the
South African coast are long since gone, Portishead Radio continues to
provide a valuable service to the world's maritime community.