30th May 2020, 4:49 pm | #41 | |
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Re: BT 'Chiltern' telecom towers
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Cheers, GJ
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30th May 2020, 5:44 pm | #42 | |||
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Re: BT 'Chiltern' telecom towers
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30th May 2020, 5:50 pm | #43 |
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Re: BT 'Chiltern' telecom towers
This site, provided by the National Library of Scotland, is useful for searching some historical maps.
The various options allow you to find a location, in several different ways, than look at an earlier map for comparison: https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side...s=11&right=osm |
30th May 2020, 5:53 pm | #44 | ||
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Re: BT 'Chiltern' telecom towers
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30th May 2020, 5:58 pm | #45 |
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Re: BT 'Chiltern' telecom towers
Was there one of the heavy metal lattice versions just south of Carlisle? In a previous working life we did some work on BT sites and there was a site there which had a really strong looking, oversized mast with some big microwave horns on the corners. I used to be able to see the mast as soon as I crossed the M6 from east to west, but I've just tried looking from the same spot on street view and I can't seem to see it. Has it been taken down?
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30th May 2020, 6:22 pm | #46 | |
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Re: BT 'Chiltern' telecom towers
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http://www.dgsys.co.uk/btmicrowave/sites/110.php EDIT: This? |
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30th May 2020, 7:26 pm | #47 | ||
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Re: BT 'Chiltern' telecom towers
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30th May 2020, 8:13 pm | #48 |
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Re: BT 'Chiltern' telecom towers
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30th May 2020, 8:39 pm | #49 | |
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Re: BT 'Chiltern' telecom towers
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30th May 2020, 10:21 pm | #50 |
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Re: BT 'Chiltern' telecom towers
I hope all these microwave towers are retained, whatever their design or name. I've always called the one at Tinshill 'The Cookridge Tower', rightly or wrongly. Likewise, the taller one at Heaton Park was also called The Cookridge Tower, even though it wasn't!
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31st May 2020, 12:07 am | #51 | |
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Re: BT 'Chiltern' telecom towers
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The red phone route( USA White house -Kremlin) was in those days fed over any one of three routes from London to the States , via Oban TAT 1/aka OB/B, a cavern built into a hillside. |
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31st May 2020, 12:40 am | #52 |
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Re: BT 'Chiltern' telecom towers
I can still remember this one in north Buckinghamshire from my childhood as we traveled up and down the A40 and later the (new) motorway later.
It also had the horns like the ones that used to be on the post office tower. There is hardly anything on it now. https://www.google.com/maps/@51.6622...7i13312!8i6656 |
31st May 2020, 2:02 am | #53 |
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Re: BT 'Chiltern' telecom towers
I've passed by that tower near Stokenchurch on the A40 / M40 lots of times over the years - it's about 15 minutes' drive from my house. I noticed the dishes gradually disappearing as time went by. It looks pretty bare now, but I think there are some antennas still in use (possibly mobile phone or DAB?) and there's still a red warning light on top for low-flying aircraft. During the Second World War, a British RAF plane returning from Germany crashed a couple of miles away in Cowleaze Wood. At the crash site there is a small memorial to the crew who were all killed. The area is good for walking and exploring. There's Aston Rowant nature reserve, with far-reaching views of the countryside as well as Cowleaze Wood which has a spectacular natural display of bluebells every year in May.
I assumed that the tower's original purpose was to carry telephone calls. I didn't know they were used for TV or possibly secret military purposes. I realised they were part of a network, as I have seen similar ones in other parts of the country. Purdown in north Bristol is another one that I remember, of a different design. It's highly visible from the M32 motorway when approaching Bristol from the north. Since these towers are highly visible, it would seem rather pointless omitting them from maps. If they really were for military use, they're not exactly a well-kept secret - the enemy could still find them easily and then destroy them. I presume some of these towers will be demolished eventually when no longer of any use, like the huge cooling towers of Didcot power station, another landmark once visible from this area of the M40. |
31st May 2020, 7:53 am | #54 | |
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Re: BT 'Chiltern' telecom towers
Quote:
The earliest map I have showing the tower is 1968:
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31st May 2020, 8:49 am | #55 | |
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Re: BT 'Chiltern' telecom towers
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31st May 2020, 9:16 am | #56 |
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Re: BT 'Chiltern' telecom towers
Thanks for confirming that.
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31st May 2020, 9:48 am | #57 | |
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Re: BT 'Chiltern' telecom towers
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31st May 2020, 10:50 am | #58 | |
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Re: BT 'Chiltern' telecom towers
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For many years there was a dish on the southern corner of the central Oxford telephone exchange which appeared to be working Stokenchurch. Possibly this was some sort of backup circuit, though it could have been for many things. I think it's still there, though presumably out of use. |
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31st May 2020, 1:53 pm | #59 |
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Re: BT 'Chiltern' telecom towers
I recall an infamous episode where a tower had been built in a very particular position, allegedly so that the spooks of one state could eavesdrop on the governmental communications of another "over the water".
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31st May 2020, 4:45 pm | #60 | |
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Re: BT 'Chiltern' telecom towers
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