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SNAEFELL
MOUNTAIN - Isle Of Man
Snaefell is the highest point on the Isle of Man - located 630 meters above sea level - an ideal location for radio transmitters. The top of Snaefell affords excellent vies of the island itself and of the British mainland and Ireland. When we decided to go up Snaefell on the quaint but very efficient electric tram, the weather was very warm and pleasant in Laxey, though a little misty.Once we arrived at the top and alighted the tram we were greeted with amazingly strong winds. Unfortunately the mist marred the distant views across the island and the mainland. The wind howled and whistled eerily through the ultilities tower as can be witnessed in the video clip below! There are two radio towers located on the peak, one used for utilities and the other used for broadcast radio. The photographs below show both towers. PHOTOGRAPHS First two photographs of one of the towers on Snaefell. This is not the tower used for broadcast radio.   Next, the tower used for the
broadcast antennas of Manx Radio, Energy FM and Three FM:
 View of broadcast radio tower looking toward the south west  The largee mixed palarisation panels are used by Manx Radio. The smaller 'arrow head' aerial on the right hand side is used by Three FM. The pair of arrowhead antennas on the left hand side are used by Energy FM.  The two 'arrow head' antennas are the aerials used to transmit Energy FM  Looking approximately to the east - The two Energy FM 'arrow head' aerials are on the right hand side in this photo The large mixed polarisation panel aerial array used by Manx Radio is at about the same level, while the arrowhead antenna lower down on the left hand side is used by Three FM.  The immensly strong wind has taken its toll on the VHF yagi - used for off air reception for re-broadcast by Three FM.  Another view of the damaged Three FM receive yagi  Looking towards the north - this photo shows the two radio towers on Snaefell  Looking approximately towards the north west - this is a mid distant view of Snaefell's peak. The broadcast radio tower is on the left.  Photo of the view across to the town of Laxey - to the south east the Laxey TV relay tower can be seen just to the left of centre of the photograph  A close up of the type of aerials originally used by Energy FM at other transmission sites These have since been superceded by CTEPLC4 arrowhead antennas Picture from Energy FM. Visit http://www.energyfm.net/ ENERGY FM
Juan Turner from Energy FM kindly sent this information in February 2010:  Just to update you
on your visit to Snaefell: The two stacked (CTEPLC4) arrowheads
are Energy FM’s 91.2 TX antennas alongside the ADC Crossbows on 3 sides
of the tower which belong to the Manx Government (Department of Home
Affairs). These carry the Manx Radio 89.0 service. Whilst the single
arrow (a Sira FMC01) is 3FM’s TX on 106.6.The damaged VHF Band II RX antenna is 3FM’s off air feed. Manx Radio’s off air feed is actually inside the cavity of the building. The Energy feed is via a microwave panel with a VHF antenna further up providing a stand by off air feed. The larger mast you filmed belongs to NATS (National Air Traffic Services) and was formally owned by the CAA until they were broken up to form a separate operator (NATS) and regulator (CAA). Incidentally this NATS site is manned daily during weekdays and forms one of the main civil air links for all transatlantic aircraft. It also hosts Liverpool Coastguard’s Ch16 VHF TX for the Irish Sea area fed by a line back to Crosby near Liverpool. This mast is half steel and half wood and both were built in 1988 replacing older structures that were about 30% smaller. Both had aircraft anti collision lights until about the 1999. They have since been removed. Hope you enjoyed your visit to Snaefell. I will be there on Friday starting the replacement of Energy FM’s system. A whole new rack and Power amp is going in, it’s a major overhaul for this site. (picture of existing installation for Energy attached) Best wishes Juan Turner Technical Consultant – Energy Radio Limited |
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