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dave walsh · 13th Jun 2020, 2:16 am

Going back all the way to "Manchester" Rambo and Paul Sherwin [at posts 21/22] I was having computer text problems then so didn't comment. As a teenager, I used to spend a lot of time in Heaton Park but not always on a technical basis, they had a Fairground and girls etc

. The tower went up without too much reaction or excitement but it did have an aura of mystery. Anyone interested, ie not many, accepted the TV comms explanation without comment. We only went close on one day and a chap advised us to maintain our distance, which we did.

Two friends of mine were keeping ancient machinery running at the famous Ramsbottom Soaps Works. They were the only people who could! One of them got a job with the GPO but not me. I couldn't work out the AND /NOR gate questions in the entrance exam. You needed to get 12 out of 20 but I only managed 7 [by guess work]. I did get a job as a clerk at Post Offices Supplies in Cheetham Hill though [now a Transport Museum]. My successful friend worked at the PO tower and I stayed with him in Ealing, circa 1968, when sent to London on the standard GPO staff introductory course. He told me that he was working on the very top level of the GPO Tower with the Transmission Horns and that young males, in particular, were advised to not stand in front of the waveguides if they had any ambition to procreate in the future

He seemed fairly convinced that it was a National Defence Project designed to use direct micro wave links instead of Land Lines in the event of an attack. The "spinal" nature of these towers seemed to point in the same direction. Later I had a clerical job in central Manchester. The GPO exchange nearby was reputed to go several stories underground and to be a part of the same set up. Manchester is actually very built up geographically and riddled with underground passageways. Just check out the area by the river near Victoria Station. Going on from that, I subsequently had relatives in Stokenchurch and saw the same sort of link. Some of these towers seemed to pop up in very unexpected places back then!

Dave W

13th Jun 2020, 2:16 am	#72
dave walsh Dekatron Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Ramsbottom (Nr Bury) Lancs or Bexhill (Nr Hastings) Sussex. Posts: 5,817	Re: BT 'Chiltern' telecom towers Going back all the way to "Manchester" Rambo and Paul Sherwin [at posts 21/22] I was having computer text problems then so didn't comment. As a teenager, I used to spend a lot of time in Heaton Park but not always on a technical basis, they had a Fairground and girls etc. The tower went up without too much reaction or excitement but it did have an aura of mystery. Anyone interested, ie not many, accepted the TV comms explanation without comment. We only went close on one day and a chap advised us to maintain our distance, which we did. Two friends of mine were keeping ancient machinery running at the famous Ramsbottom Soaps Works. They were the only people who could! One of them got a job with the GPO but not me. I couldn't work out the AND /NOR gate questions in the entrance exam. You needed to get 12 out of 20 but I only managed 7 [by guess work]. I did get a job as a clerk at Post Offices Supplies in Cheetham Hill though [now a Transport Museum]. My successful friend worked at the PO tower and I stayed with him in Ealing, circa 1968, when sent to London on the standard GPO staff introductory course. He told me that he was working on the very top level of the GPO Tower with the Transmission Horns and that young males, in particular, were advised to not stand in front of the waveguides if they had any ambition to procreate in the future He seemed fairly convinced that it was a National Defence Project designed to use direct micro wave links instead of Land Lines in the event of an attack. The "spinal" nature of these towers seemed to point in the same direction. Later I had a clerical job in central Manchester. The GPO exchange nearby was reputed to go several stories underground and to be a part of the same set up. Manchester is actually very built up geographically and riddled with underground passageways. Just check out the area by the river near Victoria Station. Going on from that, I subsequently had relatives in Stokenchurch and saw the same sort of link. Some of these towers seemed to pop up in very unexpected places back then! Dave W Last edited by dave walsh; 13th Jun 2020 at 2:25 am.