Another milestone in Plymouth engineering was reached in 1958 when a microwave link (vision only) was established between Caradon Hill in Cornwall and the aerial site in Plymouth. This was quite adventurous because the transmission path from St. Hilary in Wales to Caradon Hill was some 80 miles, with plenty of intervening high ground, and also because, owing to the time scale of the operation, it was not possible to use test transmissions to back up paper calculations. A further point which emphasized that the right site had been chosen was that a few years later the ITA decided to place their main high-power transmitter for Devon and Cornwall only 300 yards away from the Rediffusion receiving aerials. This in turn led to an interesting problem because Rediffusion were receiving and using an average field strength of 50~V/m on Channel 10 (TWW) and their immediate neighbour was about to operate on Channel 12 (Westward) with an e.r.p. of 200kW. Fortunately, Rediffusion Research came to the rescue with specially-designed screening boxes and rejectors giving 120dB of rejection of the unwanted channel.
Mr Basil Osborne was responsible for the design of both the rejectors and the corner reflector aerial which was used to pick up the weak Channel 10 signal. The aerial was the largest 450 corner reflector aerial used by Rediffusion, with sides 30 feet long and height of 12 feet.
In the 1960's, Plymouth was the first branch to transmit local school broadcast programmes; these were originated in a studio in Plymouth Technical College and relayed to some seventy or eighty schools throughout the city over a spare pair of the squad network. This was made possible by a temporary licence granted by the Postmaster General and the experiment was so successful that the Post Office decided to take over the contract.
Rediffusion Branches
 
Branches
REDIFFUSION Plymouth
8 Sawrey Street,

PLYMOUTH.  Devon   PL1 3NL     Tel:  0752 21112
Rediffusion Plymouth was the oldest of the Rediffusion branches in the south west region with it's origins in the 1930's. As with other UK cities like Hull, Braintree and Ramsgate,  Broadcast Relay Services used their close association with British Electric Traction who ran the Devonport and District Tramway Company in order to utilise their existing overhead power poles to convey thier audio cables to provide distribution of radio programmes into homes in the city. The relay system was serviced from premises at 97 Mutley Plain under the control of Mr. Hector Merritt who set a very solid foundation of engineering practices.
I am looking for information on the Plymouth Branch.  Did you work there ?   
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Do you have any old pictures,  information on the Wired System,  Staff etc.
 
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      Rediffusion Plymouth Branch  1984.  

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Historically, Plymouth  has many claims to fame, and the Rediffusion Branch has its own niche in that the first-ever Vision Trunk Route was erected to link all parts of the city to a central distribution point; to achieve this, maximum use was made of both the Great Western and Southern main line railways which passed through the city. The scheme was devised by Mr Lloyd M. Thompson (later to become Managing Director of Rediffusion Vision Limited) and Hector Merritt in 1955, and the wiring comprised two squads and a quad in surface-laid concrete ducting of the type used and approved by the Railways Telecommunications Department;  The distribution system used was the original TDUK.1 with a carrier of 9.72MHz and upper sideband.
Service Control Centre 1974

Service Control Centre 1974

Television Workshop 1974

Television Workshop 1974

Swilly Road Receiving Station C1935

Swilly Road Receiving Station C1935

Derek Dodwell (Eic) Grahame Holnes (Service Manager)

Derek Dodwell (Eic) Grahame Holnes (Service Manager)

email: Gerald Clode