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| The transmitter building at Barra during construction. The same design had been used on the Northumbrian chain.During construction, the conditions at times, were akin to a WW1 battlefield. Mud and rain made pulling the feeder cables to the coil house a very strenuous exercise. It was the same at Kentra. (Photo courtesy Doug Sim) |
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| Perched precariously atop a rocky outcrop, the Barra coil house is shown here after civil construction and before fitting of the aerial coils. The coils and capacitors were transported across the peat bog by a caterpillar tractor. The coil houses were of a very rugged construction. They had to have a concrete roof to withstand any object – usually ice - plunging 300 ft off the mast. The roof was therefore made of reinforced beams, covered with screed, then topped with felt and bitumen, then covered with a further layer of concrete slabs. The concrete labs prevented puncturing of the waterproof layer while the reinforced beams provided the strength. A trip to the coil house in a storm was no joke. (Photo courtesy Doug Sim) |
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| Barra station from coil house. This view shows the station buildings looking north with Eriskay (of “Whisky Galore” fame) and South Uist in the background. The transmitter building is roofed, but the engineer's house to the right is unfinished. The trench for the feeder and control cables is still open and snakes its way amongst the rock outcrops. The Barra station looked rather like a croft and was faced in the brilliant white Barra “harl” – a popular render for buildings made from the debris of cockle shells on the great beach to the north. (Photo courtesy Doug Sim) |
KENTRA MOSS SECTION
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| The transmitter building at Kentra Moss in 2006. It was originally
built in 1974 with a double layer of blocks to withstand Atlantic gales.
When Decca closed down, the property was sold and the building was completely
renovated on the inside. In 2006 it was put up for sale with an asking
price was £245,000.
Renovating this structure into a house would not have been without its
problems since the building was only designed with a single bedroom,
On the outside, there would have been a bulk storage diesel fuel tank and in the corner of the equipment room, large cable conduits in the floor would have taken the feeder cables off to the coil house. (Photo courtesy MacPhee and Partners, London England). |
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| The thermionic phase racks at , Kentra Moss, the Hebridean Red. Plaster is still drying on the walls and the equipment is still being installed. (Photo courtesy Doug Sim) |
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| David Jones provides some details on the station equipment. (Photo courtesy Doug Sim) |
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OTHER PHOTOS
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| This photo shows the litz wire mayhem in a coil house on the Hebridean chain at the end of a long day of re-terminating the aerial coils to include the thyristor switches. These switches changed the coil tuning as the sequence progressed to allow both slaves to transmit using the same coil and mast. The existing coils have been cut and re-terminated to include thyristor switching to re-tune according to the additional frequencies. The transmissions are back on – now for the clean up. (Photo courtesy Doug Sim) |
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| Great Wymondley - This was the UK technical base of Overseas Chains, with more space to assemble equipment than the Burlington Road labs. Formerly the home of the Waterlow family, here the Hebridean and Northumbrian chain equipment was re-furbished. One chain occupied the old ballroom. A Decca lorry stands stacked with parts for the Kentra station of the Hebridean chain. This vehicle was sent over the Corrans Narrows ferry then got stuck under a tree on the narrow single track road by the loch. .(Photo courtesy Doug Sim) |
Contributors and Credits:
1) Doug.Sim(at)btinternet.com
2) Andrew J Morgan <fox.brook(at)tiscali.co.uk>