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"Wavescan" is a weekly program for long distance radio hobbyists produced by Dr. Adrian M. Peterson, Coordinator of International Relations for Adventist World Radio. AWR carries the program over many of its stations (including shortwave). Adrian Peterson is a highly regarded DXer and radio historian, and often includes features on radio history in his program. We are reproducing those features below, with Dr. Peterson's permission and assistance.

Wavescan N506, November 4, 2018

BBC Rampisham Property in England for Sale

It was back in the decisive year 1939, right after the beginning of World War II, that the BBC procured a large property of 189 acres that was located near the small village of Rampisham in the south of England. The small village of Rampisham in County Dorset, with its one hundred local citizens, is located just eight miles inland from the English Channel.

A huge new shortwave station was built up on the Rampisham property and initially it contained two transmitter halls separated by heavy blast proof walls, and a bevy of 15 towers supporting a total of 29 antenna arrays. A newly designed set of transmission lines was installed, each made up of two concentric feeders running from each transmitter out to a switching matrix.

The original shortwave transmitters at this new BBC shortwave station were 100 kW units Model SWB18, made by the Marconi company at Chelmsford. Two were installed in each of the two transmitter halls.

In BBC parlance, these four transmitters were identified as Senders 31 to 34, and the station itself was identified as OSE3, Overseas Extension Service number 3. The early shortwave station at Daventry was identified as OSE1, and the new addition at Daventry was identified as OSE2.

Initially, electric power for the Rampisham station was derived from two 750 bhp diesel generators that were originally designed and constructed for railway locomotives in an overseas country. However, an electrical connection with the national grid was subsequently achieved.

The new Rampisham station was built as a shadow station for Daventry, in case Daventry was damaged or disabled through an act of war. During the war, there were indeed several attempts to damage and destroy the BBC shortwave station at Rampisham by aerial bombardment, though very little damage was actually inflicted.

Rampisham OSE3 was taken into service on February 16, 1941, and propagation tests were conducted in May with the use of a receiver attached to a captive balloon.

After the war was over, the electrical generation and distribution system in England was ailing, and electricity rationing was introduced on February 10, 1947. In accordance with that requirement, the four 100 kW transmitters were powered down and operated at half power each, at 50 kW. Two years later, on March 21, 1949, all four transmitters were returned to full power operation.

Beginning in May 1961, two of the original transmitters were removed and replaced with two additional units at the same power rating, 100 kW. Again, these new units were manufactured by the Marconi company, though they were now an updated design, Model BD253D.

The winter of 1963 proved to be severe, with heavy snowfalls, and there were occasions when BBC Rampisham was off the air during the months of January and February. Another severe winter occurred in 1979, and relief crews found it necessary to wade through heavy snow for four miles in order to reach the station.

Later in that same year 1963, a modernization project was implemented, and the older transmitters were removed and replaced by four Marconi transmitters at 250 kW each, Model BD272, and two 100 kW transmitters with twin channel operation. Additionally, two SSB single sideband transmitters at 60 kW each were installed for use as feeder transmitters carrying a programming relay for BBC shortwave transmitters in overseas locations, and in particular, Ascension Island.

Then, beginning in 1982, the BBC Rampisham was closed and gutted, with all electronic equipment removed and all antenna systems demolished. All four of the 250 kW Marconi transmitters were removed and reinstalled at the BBC sister station located at Skelton.

In this massive rebuilding project at Rampisham, a new transmitter hall was built up inside the shell of the existing building. Inside this massive hall covering 177 acres, a total of ten transmitters at 500 kW were installed; six Marconi Model B6127 and four AEG from Germany, Model S4005.

As time went by, the BBC privatized its shortwave stations, and the Rampisham facility was sold off to Merlin Communications, which later became VT (Communications) and subsequently Babcock International. However, the end was near, and in 2011 the station was closed due mainly to budget cuts at the BBC.

The final broadcast from the BBC via Rampisham was their Arabic Service, which ended on Saturday, October 29 (2011), with two outlets at 2100 UTC on 5790 kHz and 11680 kHz. The very final broadcast from the Rampisham shortwave station was actually a relay from Deutsche Welle in German to Europe on Sender 48, and this transmission on 6075 kHz ended at 2159 UTC.

That was it! The huge Rampisham shortwave station was now off the air; closed, and gone forever.

Several attempts have been made to sell the station, or its property, and currently the disemboweled facility is available as a property for £2.5 million. There was earlier a concept to install a huge solar power plant on the property, but that project was transferred to another location nearby. Some of the ground upon the current property is protected for specific forms of vegetation.

Very few QSL cards were issued by the BBC for their broadcasts from Rampisham, and the fortunate listeners who did receive a BBC card with QSL endorsements were generally BBC monitors in different parts of the world. However, Rampisham was also in use as a relay station for other international shortwave broadcasters who did indeed issue valid QSL cards for their broadcasts.

Among these other stations for whom relay transmissions were on the air from Rampisham were Deutsche Welle in Germany, Radio Australia in Melbourne, Victoria, NHK Tokyo, Japan, KBS in Seoul, Korea, RAI Rome, Italy, RFI in Paris, France, and FEBA that previously operated their own station in the Seychelles Islands. In addition, there were occasions when various clandestine stations were on the air via Rampisham, and also RNZI in Wellington, New Zealand.

The Koala Bear and the Great Australian Drought [2MO Gunnedah]

The Australian poetess Dorothea Mackellar, at one stage lived on the family farm located in a country area outside the town of Gunnedah in the northern area of the Australian state of New South Wales, some 150 miles inland from the Pacific coast. Isobel Marion Dorothea Mackellar was a third generation Australian with an English background.

At the age of 19, while in London on an official visit with her father, Sir Charles Mackellar, she began the composition of a poem that reflected her nostalgic love for the land of her birth. This poem was officially entitled My Country, though it is more often recognized by the first few words of the second stanza, “I Love a Sunburnt Country.“

In this much loved poem, Dorothea Mackellar refers to her homeland country down under as a

Land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.

Currently, Australia is indeed fulfilling Dorothea Mackellars poemic description as a land of droughts, though the much needed flooding rains have not yet come. And interestingly, her town of Gunnedah is also enduring its part in the Great Australian Drought with an invasion of Koala Bears, seeking water and food.

In their extremity, the much loved though sometimes bad tempered Australian Koala have invaded Gunnedah, and they have been noted obtaining water from birdbaths, swimming pools, and dog dishes. This is a very unusual habit for the Koala. Normally they remain aloof in their trees, a particular variety of Gum Tree, the Australian Eucalyptus, the leaves of which generally provide their entire diet. Very seldom does the Koala come down to the ground, and very seldom does it drink water.

For many years, the administration of the city of Gunnedah in northeastern New South Wales has been fostering the preservation of the Australian Koala with a series of special conservation projects. This regional town describes itself as the Koala Capital of the World.

The publicly acclaimed projects in Gunnedah include the preservation of tree corridors so that the Koala can move around the area safely within its natural habitat. In this recent very hot weather, one procedure followed by the citizens of Gunnedah is to spray the Koala in the tree in order to provide a cooler environment, and to grant them a little drinking water.

Strictly speaking, the Koala Bear is not really a bear, despite its appearance. Instead it is described scientifically as a marsupial, that is, an animal with a pouch; like, for example, the Kangaroo. The Koala's nearest relative is another Australian marsupial, the Wombat.

A few days after a month, the pregnant mother Koala gives birth to an infant that is less than an inch long and weighs less than one ounce. This infant crawls into its mother's pouch, and it stays there feeding on its mother-milk for about half a year.

In maturity, an adult Koala may reach 30 inches long, weigh 30 pounds, and live for 30 years. It has the smallest brain ever, weighing less than one ounce, and it will sleep up to 20 hours a day. It does not make a good pet, and it is illegal to attempt to do so. The Koala may be found in forested areas throughout the Eastern and South Eastern Australian mainland, and also in the island of Tasmania.

These days, the town of Gunnedah has a population of less than 10,000, and in addition to its historic pre-eminence as a one-time home for an important Australian poet, and its importance as a haven for Koalas in the wild, it also claims historic significance for radio aficionados. Radio station 2MO, named after its owner Marcus Oliver, traces its origins way back to the very early years of radio history in Australia.

Among its many honors, radio station 2MO in Gunnedah lays claim that it received the first radio license in Australia outside the capital cities (just a small country town), and it received just the fourth radio license in Australia. Back in those days, as was the case with many early radio stations, the entire electronic equipment was constructed by the station owner; and in this case, it was the historic radio figure, Marcus Oliver himself.

The earliest transmissions from the Marcus Oliver amateur station in Gunnedah transpired some time back in the very early 1920s. At the time, his home brew equipment was not yet licensed, as was the case with many similar radio installations back during that era. In addition, the Oliver station was in use with the broadcast of music and speech, which was understood as almost a requirement for amateur stations back then.

Officially, it is stated that station VK2MO made its first program broadcasts in 1923. The entire station was installed in the lounge room of the Oliver home, and it consisted of a 50 watt transmitter and a simple antenna wire that was rated at about 3% efficiency. While Marcus was changing disc records on the gramophone player, he would whistle into the microphone to indicate to listeners that the station was still on the air.

It was on June 16, 1930 that commercial station 2MO was officially inaugurated, with 50 watts on 1500 kHz. As time went by, the station grew, and studios were established and upgraded and moved. There were occasions also during severe flooding in the area when station 2MO functioned as the only available emergency communication station.

These days, almost a hundred years after its earliest origins, commercial station 2MO operates from a suite of modern studios at 2 Rodney Street in downtown Gunnedah, with the out of town transmitter on Oxley Highway, a couple of miles west of the edge of Gunnedah town. They are on the air with 2 kW on 1080 kHz, and also on FM as 2GGG on 103.3 MHz. Stations 2MO and 2GGG are the only radio broadcasting stations located in the town of Gunnedah.