Madley Communications Centre
Madley Communications Centre | |
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File:MadleySateliteEarthStation(PhilipHalling)Apr2006.jpg
Earth receiving dishes
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Location within Herefordshire
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General information | |
Type | Earth station |
Location | Kingstone, Herefordshire |
Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
Construction started | 1975 |
Completed | 2015 |
Inaugurated | September 1978 |
Owner | BT Group |
Landlord | Nick Wood |
Height | 32m |
Technical details | |
Floor area | 218 acres (0.88 km2) |
Madley Communications Centre is British Telecom's earth satellite tracking station, between Madley and Kingstone, Herefordshire, England. It claims to be the largest earth station in the world.[citation needed]
Contents
Earth position
It lies on Coldstone Common at grid reference SO424374.[1] The site dates from 1975 and is in active use for international telephone, fax and television transmission and reception. The station is in the civil parish of Kingstone, although most of the former airfield is in Madley, to the west of the site. A Roman road passes close to the north of the site.
Geology of the area
The site is in a sheltered rock bowl between the Malvern Hills and the Black Mountains. This allowed the ground to take the weight of the large receiving dishes, but the most important fact was the lack of background electronic noise. What nearby electronic noise there was compared to the strength of heat felt on the Moon from an electric fireplace on Earth.[citation needed]
History
The site first went into service in September 1978[2] on the site of the disused World War II airfield RAF Madley,[3] built in 1940.
Structures
There are sixty five dishes, with three main dishes each having a diameter of 32 metres and weighing 290 tonnes. Madley 1, the first of the dishes, tracks a satellite about 25,000 miles (40,000 km) away, positioned over the Equator in geostationary orbit.
Transmissions
Madley was the first UK satellite site to transmit a fully digital transmission via time division multiple access (TDMA).[citation needed]
Until its closure in 2008, Goonhilly in Cornwall provided a similar role.
Other use of grounds
The grounds are leased as an educational nature reserve, Madley Environmental Study Centre.
References
External links
- Pages with broken file links
- Articles with unsourced statements from February 2013
- Articles with OS grid coordinates
- Articles with unsourced statements from April 2013
- British Telecom buildings and structures
- Buildings and structures in Herefordshire
- Earth stations in England
- Buildings and structures completed in 1978