Long Range
Maritime
Communications
in the UKEarly 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
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HISTORY of Portishead
Radio
peacetime through the 60'sPeacetime 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.
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.
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.
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