A Mysterious Radio Transmitter Hidden In The Woods!

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  • Опубліковано 26 гру 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 139

  • @TonyLing
    @TonyLing 4 роки тому +67

    1:26 I believe the whole tower here is the antenna, and the horizontal structure on top is a capacative hat. This is common in LF structures.

    • @TheLightningStalker
      @TheLightningStalker 4 роки тому

      Hats that cover the heads of capacities.

    • @Dazzwidd
      @Dazzwidd 4 роки тому +2

      That's exactly what it is. However this looks short for a typical LW antenna so there must be a fair bit of inductive loading in series with the connection to the transmitter. Having said that, they only need it to get out so far.
      Here in Australia the ones at the airport have a wire going up to a top hat structure that looks more like a three or four wire clothesline of parallel wires held up between two towers

    • @BrooklinFunkProject
      @BrooklinFunkProject 4 роки тому

      Shunt fed, you can see the isolators just below the feed point. i thought at first it was an NVIS set-up. Good eye!! 73

    • @AlexCausey
      @AlexCausey 4 роки тому

      Yes you are correct..!

    • @izzzzzz6
      @izzzzzz6 4 роки тому

      At first i thought i might have been 3 dipoles a top a mast, 2 horizontal and one vertical but it was an optical illusion. If it had been they could give redundancy, omnidirectivity (optionally selective directional gain) and radio diversity on a higher frequency. A capacative hat is usually located right at the top of the antenna It would help to increase bandwidth.

  • @MrStanwyck
    @MrStanwyck 4 роки тому +51

    Great video... This NDB is manufactured by Southern Avionics, in Texas USA. We maintain a number of these facilities in the Northeast United States. The entire tower is the antenna. You will see insulators on bottom of the tower.

    • @stakkerhmnd
      @stakkerhmnd 4 роки тому +7

      Incorrect.
      Manufactured by "Stakker Humanoid Industries" in the D.P.R.K.
      The global leader in all avionics and related equipment.

    • @place910
      @place910 4 роки тому +12

      @@stakkerhmnd I assume Kim Jong Un personally directed the design and manufacturing of this equipment?

    • @stakkerhmnd
      @stakkerhmnd 4 роки тому

      @@place910 Correct.

    • @stakkerhmnd
      @stakkerhmnd 4 роки тому

      @@James_Bowie8,048 volts

    • @enjoylife_carpediem
      @enjoylife_carpediem 4 роки тому +6

      @@James_Bowie typically around 100W

  • @AnalogueInTheUK
    @AnalogueInTheUK 4 роки тому +4

    Great work, Pal. I love the material you are putting out. There's so much to find out there and it's right under our noses.

  • @bentheguru4986
    @bentheguru4986 4 роки тому +8

    Tower is the antenna. Top rods form a Cap-Hat (Capacitance Hat, top load) to compensate for the antenna being too small.

  • @jaylaw4606
    @jaylaw4606 4 роки тому +6

    Hi Lewis, great video again...as an NDB DXer I have heard 1,450 unique NDBs - from Mongolia in the east to the Galapagos Islands in the west - all from my QTH in Northwest Scotland... It's a great hobby and certainly a challenge considering they are only meant to have 100 to 400 miles range...

    • @johnc3403
      @johnc3403 4 роки тому +1

      I'd be interested to hear what antenna you use for DXing, that's a serious number of NDB's to hear. Very well done to you. John EI5JS

  • @andylinton2798
    @andylinton2798 4 роки тому +3

    The tower above the insulators in itself the antenna. The bars are a capacity hat; it adds parallel capacitance to counteract the reactive portion of the load which exists because the tower is significantly shorter than a resonant quarter wave (for example). Simply speaking, it makes the tower look bigger to the transmitter and allows it to match into it. The tower is short though to cause a quite high angle of radiation, so the signal is receivable up in the sky but not too far away.

  • @michaelcarey
    @michaelcarey 4 роки тому +3

    I like using NDB transmitters as an indication for propagation on the 630m band. Most of the NDB transmitters in my area use a Marconi T antenna, usually with three top wires.
    I was trying to get permission to use an antenna from a disused NDB transmitter near me for experiments on 630m. Unfortunately it was located in the perimeter of small rural airport and getting access air side these days, even with a small airport, is virtually impossible.
    Sadly the antenna has since been dismantled.

    • @captbob310
      @captbob310 4 роки тому

      Was that at Stapleford Tawney?

    • @paulsengupta971
      @paulsengupta971 4 роки тому

      I suspect it wasn't in the UK as access to small airfields in the UK is no issue.

  • @gmcjetpilot
    @gmcjetpilot 4 роки тому +3

    So it's an NDB and not really mysterious at all because it's on every aeronautical chart. It also transmits Morse code of its identifier. By the way Andy B's are going away because of GPS. There's still be some use warm but eventually they'll be gone because of the cost to maintain them and their redundant. Of course if GPS ever goes down we'll be in big trouble.

  • @MargaretLeber
    @MargaretLeber 4 роки тому +7

    NDBs are disappearing fast in the US. I live a few miles from where ING was many years ago. It's long gone, but still charted.
    When we renovated the avionics in our flying club airplane to support ADS-B, we deleted the ADF receiver and no longer can use NDB signals for navigation.
    They're really superfluous now that satellite nav is the gold standard.
    Oh, 73 DE K3XS, by the way.

    • @paulsengupta971
      @paulsengupta971 4 роки тому +2

      Here in the UK, many GPS approaches need a supplemental aid such as an NDB as part of the procedure, particularly for the missed approach, due to the possibility of GPS jamming or otherwise losing the GPS signal.
      73 de G1YJY

  • @tonermaloner6718
    @tonermaloner6718 4 роки тому +16

    last bit made me feel sick. lol

    • @hdofu
      @hdofu 4 роки тому +2

      He put his own “spin” on the story. ;)

  • @richardmillican7733
    @richardmillican7733 4 роки тому +3

    I had one on my land in holyhead. On the RAF VALLEY approach "borders"
    It was used basically as a "helper" for trainee pilots who were flying VFR (VISUAL FLIGHT RULES) to guide them back into a NON ILS landing sequence/approach
    A CFI (chief flight instructor) explained them "akin to traffic cones on a motorway"

    • @steadyc9277
      @steadyc9277 4 роки тому

      Neat!

    • @paulsengupta971
      @paulsengupta971 4 роки тому

      They can also be used IFR as part of an NDB approach, or as an additional aid as part of another instrument approach.

  • @TheCherokee28
    @TheCherokee28 3 роки тому +3

    Always thought it a bit sad when the CON NDB was removed.I think it was on 360khz.Not sure now.It was physically visible from the Macclesfield Road near Eaton just outside Congleton.Very useful when returning to Manchester from the south on a mucky day when you are supposed to be VFR flying.But nowadays all you need is a GPS.

  • @gingermongoose3325
    @gingermongoose3325 4 роки тому +6

    They'd never notice a dv27 on a biscuit tin strapped to the top.

    • @AnalogueInTheUK
      @AnalogueInTheUK 4 роки тому

      Most people out there won't have a clue what you've just said!

    • @paulsengupta971
      @paulsengupta971 4 роки тому

      I expect you'd get a fair bit of front end overload

    • @johnc3403
      @johnc3403 4 роки тому

      haha, dv27? ..are they still making them? A great antenna in its time.

  • @jpolar394
    @jpolar394 4 роки тому +1

    That shack reminds me of a shack that was deep in the woods in Slovakia. When I first went to visit there in the mid 60s as a child, the man chased me away from there. I remember a tall antenna next to the house.

  • @newq
    @newq 4 роки тому +4

    I remember the first time I stumbled on one of these on mw on my multiband radio. It was creepy as hell and I immediately went and looked it up. A few days later I found out I was less than a mile from the transmitter so I went and checked it out. I couldn't get too close but it was a neat adventure nonetheless. Much like this one, it was a fenced in antenna tower with an equipment room and a backup generator in the middle of nowhere. Fun stuff.

  • @nickjaxe
    @nickjaxe 4 роки тому +3

    Somebody asked if its military...not really....but nothing stopping them using the NDB.
    I often tune around the NDB band...I live 10miles from Whitegate....visited it several times over the years....not easy to find....you can be 100mts away and not see it.
    I live within a 1/4 mile from the LPL NDB beacon used for Liverpool airport.......Morse id LPL ...my radio callsign is 2E0LPL...so you can see my interest.
    Its used quite a lot for training by the military...you will often see RAF Hercules Aircraft carrying out NDB let downs using the LPL NDB...349.5 AM...there's in this area are the Fairfield at Hawarden Chester HAW...340 khz
    Warton have one as does Barrow...and the LBA is still active at Leeds-Bradford.
    Lots of others are around the country.
    A good few years ago there used to be a very powerful NDB LIC at Lichfield....that could be heard many miles away.

  • @carlashby6174
    @carlashby6174 4 роки тому +1

    Quality and informative video Lewis please keep them coming.

  • @jleiben72
    @jleiben72 4 роки тому +1

    these are being slowly phased out in the US as well with the proliferation of VORs and GPS navigation. I've noticed that our VORs have a much greater range than the NDBs here though.

    • @paulsengupta971
      @paulsengupta971 4 роки тому

      We also have a programme of decomissioning VORs currently ongoing here in the UK.

  • @73dem6vmo7
    @73dem6vmo7 4 роки тому +10

    Interesting information again. Keep them coming.

  • @hanktorrance6855
    @hanktorrance6855 Рік тому

    I live in the usa, but have encountered such and similar antenna systems seemingly in the middle of nowhere, such as woods or farm fields, there was even one in the middle of the local high school parking lot (since decommed)

  • @wsg4847
    @wsg4847 4 роки тому +6

    What's mysterious about it? You know what it is and why it's there.

  • @brunocdt2765
    @brunocdt2765 4 роки тому +3

    Non Directionnal Beacon !!

  • @GateKommand
    @GateKommand 4 роки тому +3

    Keep those videos coming please mate

  • @leeoulton9964
    @leeoulton9964 3 роки тому +1

    Would be good to see a video about the towers at Pale Heights delamere and the beacons near Frodsham

  • @patrickwall8517
    @patrickwall8517 4 роки тому

    Everyone below is correct the tower is the entire antenna. In most cases with long and medium wave stations, including medium wave stations the tower is the antenna. Instead of a capacitance hat most MW stations use a radial system.

  • @peterking2794
    @peterking2794 3 роки тому

    Aha! So, that's what I picked up on my ancient valve wireless right at the bottom end of LW when I was a lad. There were a few NDBs down there.

  • @CB-RADIO-UK
    @CB-RADIO-UK 4 роки тому +1

    Its pretty big. Amazed it does not travel more than 25 miles. You could get that with a Gainmaster :-). Great video.

    • @timhague882
      @timhague882 4 роки тому +2

      Fred in the Shed not on medium wave...

    • @dontomkinsonkpc6ndb862
      @dontomkinsonkpc6ndb862 4 роки тому +1

      Signals from even these "low" power NDBs can travel thousands of miles/kms under the right propagation conditions which mostly occur in Winter with the longer hours of darkness. Of course not of use to any aircraft way before that point. The 25mi range given is the effective range for aircraft use - not absolute range. The are many 100's of radio hobbyist's around the planet, including me, that Dx (listen for) these NDBs. I have logged 2525 so far.

  • @stephencleaves
    @stephencleaves 4 роки тому +2

    Interesting video, never knew about those transmitters !

  • @Isochest
    @Isochest 4 роки тому +1

    Interesting to see an NDB. I first remember hearing these back in the late seventies. Their callsigns are sent quite slowly so for someone learning Morse they were interesting

    • @jleiben72
      @jleiben72 4 роки тому +2

      on aircraft navigation charts the morse code is graphically listed so pilots don't have to learn morse code to verify they have the correct NDB or VOR tuned in. They may be sent slowly for that reason.

  • @arthurtwoshedsjackson6266
    @arthurtwoshedsjackson6266 4 роки тому

    Chiltern NDB (CHT) is down the road from me and can be heard on the car radio. Sometimes I drive along sending the Morse code on the car horn. There is a guy on the web who’s visited NDB , VOR/DME sites and posted photos and information. There is also a page with NDB Morse code recordings

  • @stephengunrunnerhanson3550
    @stephengunrunnerhanson3550 4 роки тому +9

    To tell the truth I though it might have been some thing like the, Lincolnshire poacher but I was wrong but still lots of very good information

    • @Sparky-vj2dq
      @Sparky-vj2dq 4 роки тому +2

      @stephen gunrunner hanson. Ah, you see you've got an obviously suspicious mind! I don't believe the Lincolnshire Poacher was ever transmitted directly from a UK site, the main one being located in the comms complex of RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus although there was also a Far East sister station known as "Cherry Ripe" out of Australia as well. LP was also shortwave or HF and needed to be pretty directional to throw good strength signals deep into Central and Eastern Europe so they used curtain antennas rather like those of international shortwave broadcasting stations. The only HF spook site that I'm aware of as currently active is the CGHQ outstation at Irton Moor near Scarborough but this is receive only. However it does give a some idea what such a site looks like ( a large field full of towers and wires).

    • @jacianmcgurk7424
      @jacianmcgurk7424 4 роки тому +1

      @@Sparky-vj2dq Hi Sparky,seems you have an even more obviously suspicious mind! lol
      Cheers for the info, on holiday down from Scotland and went on a jolly thru goathland whitby etc ,seen a massive triangle shaped building in the middle of nowhere,take it thats the outstation ?

    • @Sparky-vj2dq
      @Sparky-vj2dq 4 роки тому

      @@jacianmcgurk7424 Hi Jacian. No, not suspicious just interested in all things radio since my grandparents gave me an old valve "wireless" circa 1961 and I fired it up, twiddled the knobs, heard some funny music, then a lady suddenly said "This is the General Overseas Service of All India Radio". I was hooked after that.
      Now, your triangular building is not far away from Irton but is on Fylingdales Moor. It's a long range phased array radar, part of the NATO Ballistic Missile Early Warning System or BMEWS. Used to be three separate antennas in large white golf-ball radomes. Part of a chain around the northern hemisphere. There's more spooky stuff with lots of golf balls at RAF Menwith Hill* near Harrogate (NSA/GCHQ/USAF site). There's also a non-spooky site close by at Forrest Moor* used by the Royal Navy paired with their other HF site at HMS Inskip near Blackpool.
      *Edited to correct conflation of Menwith Hill and Forest Moor before anyone noticed!

    • @jacianmcgurk7424
      @jacianmcgurk7424 4 роки тому

      @@Sparky-vj2dq you and me both brother :-)

  • @garycook5125
    @garycook5125 2 роки тому

    These marker beacons let a pilot know when he flies over it, so he knows his exact position during an IFR approach. The signal is very strong when you fly directly over it.

  • @jermlac
    @jermlac 4 роки тому +1

    So it's a lighthouse that uses a much lower frequency.

    • @thiesenf
      @thiesenf 4 роки тому +1

      No. It's a trumpet using much higher frequencies...

  • @madcarew.3256
    @madcarew.3256 4 роки тому +3

    the poor operator!!!

    • @thiesenf
      @thiesenf 4 роки тому

      Not to mention the number stations... sitting there 24/7 spewing out endless streams of numbers... no coffe breaks or bathroom breaks... no sleep...
      Social distancing is a non-problem... they're just sitting there all alone... no friends... just chilling and chanting numbers...
      Isn't computers just awesome??

    • @haz99912
      @haz99912 4 роки тому

      @@thiesenf Poor operator. Totally beaching the H&S rule, cheap labour.

  • @manusego
    @manusego 4 роки тому +1

    Excellent video! Thanks for sharing👍

  • @alacran1801
    @alacran1801 4 роки тому

    Your videos are so well made - bravo!!

  • @Steve_Wardley_G6JEF
    @Steve_Wardley_G6JEF 4 роки тому +2

    Reminds me of the number stations or the Lincolnshire Poacher. lol

  • @phoneticau
    @phoneticau 4 роки тому +1

    LF Non Direction Beacon 200 to 500khz typically

  • @knoxieman
    @knoxieman 4 роки тому

    Very interesting, there are lots of hidden antennas about Lewis, keep em coming. 👍

  • @BisdakCutie
    @BisdakCutie 4 роки тому +1

    Well i guess its not hidden anymore!

  • @christopherhulse8385
    @christopherhulse8385 2 роки тому

    What is the Tx power?

  • @timg5tm941
    @timg5tm941 4 роки тому +1

    Yes those too elements are capacity hats.,interesting video 73.

  • @phillipsiviter2024
    @phillipsiviter2024 4 роки тому +1

    Once took myself for a trip to the NATS Winstone transmitter down in the Cotswolds - interesting site.

  • @johndragonman
    @johndragonman 3 роки тому

    Derby had one local to it, operated in the lower MW band (around 530khz). it transmitted LIC over and over (at 8wpm). its one of the many things that got me into radios from a very young age.
    i tracked it down to here back in 2007: 52.74656556130181, -1.7193695549767725
    sadly its now been taken down.
    di dar di dit di dit dar di dar dit.

  • @TheTheo58
    @TheTheo58 4 роки тому

    Is there 3 Phase AC power in the shack? Or does the transmitter have a serious high voltage power supply secondary output?

    • @dontomkinsonkpc6ndb862
      @dontomkinsonkpc6ndb862 4 роки тому

      There are probably high voltages and current present when radio frequencies are generated/transmitted. Please don't think of touching or climbing the tower!

    • @TheTheo58
      @TheTheo58 4 роки тому

      @@dontomkinsonkpc6ndb862 A transmitter can generate an RF burn if one touches the antenna or the tower when the "transmitter is keyed up.

  • @timhague882
    @timhague882 4 роки тому +2

    It’s interesting to tune around the LF end of the medium wave band, my best catch so far is an NDB on Greenland from Cornwall. I can hear some of the Brittany ones during the day

    • @TheMajkla
      @TheMajkla 4 роки тому

      Hi Tim, can you receive this one? 342 kHz ua-cam.com/video/Ne3dKro-tAw/v-deo.html from Edinburgh airport? It's hidden in small forest close to Cramond. Very close to landing runway, the planes are very clow when they fly directly overhead.

  • @joewoodchuck3824
    @joewoodchuck3824 4 роки тому +1

    A "mysterious" transmitter yet he knows the purpose of it.

  • @ottomanfred2473
    @ottomanfred2473 4 роки тому

    Thank you for the video. As a fan of NBD BEACONS, all I can say is,
    GIVE ME BEACONS OR GIVE ME DEATH. 🙂👽🇲🇶🇨🇦🇨🇵🇵🇲🇲🇳🇦🇫🇰🇵🇪🇦🇰🇭🇺🇳🇪🇺🇱🇦🇦🇬😎🍻👽

  • @mattdixon5299
    @mattdixon5299 4 роки тому

    Anyone know what power this transmits?

  • @starman7552
    @starman7552 4 роки тому +1

    Is it military

  • @subukai
    @subukai 4 роки тому

    I checked those coordinates on google maps. I can see it in the trees 1:24.

    • @philhoultby
      @philhoultby 4 роки тому

      Yes and in Little Budworth, a fair way from Whitegate.

  • @mathewwinney8036
    @mathewwinney8036 4 роки тому

    Looks like a 10 meter repeater to me

    • @TheMajkla
      @TheMajkla 4 роки тому

      It's a beacon for the planes, I found the same one located right under the path of aircraft landing at Edinburgh airport. Transmitter looks identical as this one. I took radio there and signal strength was mad! It's on 342 kHz.

  • @eknaap8800
    @eknaap8800 4 роки тому

    The Morse code says: W5I in repeat.

    • @RingwayManchester
      @RingwayManchester  4 роки тому +1

      No it doesn’t

    • @chatterboxer100
      @chatterboxer100 4 роки тому +1

      WHI, you added a dit to your H

    • @eknaap8800
      @eknaap8800 4 роки тому

      @@RingwayManchester As far as I can make out of it: . - - (w), . . . . . (5), . . (i) at the end of the video.

    • @RingwayManchester
      @RingwayManchester  4 роки тому

      . . . . Is H not 5. 5 is ..... as in FIVE

    • @eknaap8800
      @eknaap8800 4 роки тому

      @@RingwayManchester I must have miscounted the 4/5 dits... My bad. The Morsecode was very slow, though.

  • @gbmruk123
    @gbmruk123 4 роки тому

    cant it be decoded ?

    • @RingwayManchester
      @RingwayManchester  4 роки тому +2

      It’s not encoded George a standard receiver will hear it

    • @gbmruk123
      @gbmruk123 4 роки тому

      ok Lewis mate bit weird being in the woods tho wonder who owns and maitains it ? :)

    • @RingwayManchester
      @RingwayManchester  4 роки тому +1

      NATS own and maintain :)

    • @demolitiondavedrillandblast
      @demolitiondavedrillandblast 3 роки тому

      Yeah... you brain decodes it, just 3 letters in slow Morse repeated over and over.

  • @BoB4jjjjs
    @BoB4jjjjs 3 роки тому

    that tower would look good in my garden, think anyone would miss it? :-D

  • @ashtonwilliamallen1044
    @ashtonwilliamallen1044 4 роки тому +1

    Hi from Cheshire

  • @Phil-M0KPH
    @Phil-M0KPH 4 роки тому

    Interesting.

  • @allancopland1768
    @allancopland1768 3 роки тому

    NDB. No Mystery.

    • @RingwayManchester
      @RingwayManchester  3 роки тому

      Yes Allan... well done. I said the same in the video......

    • @spanked6582
      @spanked6582 3 роки тому

      @@RingwayManchester good place to grow some smell plants

  • @freesaxon6835
    @freesaxon6835 4 роки тому

    Interesting 👍🏻

  • @KageShi
    @KageShi 4 роки тому

    The antenna is directional, It broadcasts 2 signals in unison, One Upper-Sideband and one Lower-Sideband that the radio in the aircraft can tell what quadrent they are from that nav point. in case the directional finder fails to track the station.

  • @pu4mksmarkussalustianosalu783
    @pu4mksmarkussalustianosalu783 4 роки тому +1

    Parabéns vídeos amigo

  • @points.7022
    @points.7022 4 роки тому

    very interesting

  • @ianharling9569
    @ianharling9569 4 роки тому

    Hi Lewis.I quite often listen into NDB'S and have even df'd a couple in the Calais aera of France.MK on 418 KHz and ING on 387 (ING recently qrt).
    I will post on your WhatsApp later with pics/videos.
    73 . Ian G7HFS

  • @freddielaker02
    @freddielaker02 4 роки тому

    this was a main ndb - next going north was OE for Liverpool back in the old days and was often used by aircraft directed by Barton radar for local aircraft. I lived in St.Helens and could sometimes get it on 368mhz with a 4-5 signal. also WAL and POL. now I get just BPL. this page is worth a read too www.trevord.com/navaids/

  • @peteshulver9221
    @peteshulver9221 4 роки тому

    Watch out for the Black Helicopters ,Lewis

  • @areaone3813
    @areaone3813 4 роки тому

    I found one of those in my last video here 2 satellites and dual antennas with a small shack. Wow. It’s at the end of my video before drone shot. That’s fkd bud. I thought nothing of it.

    • @dontomkinsonkpc6ndb862
      @dontomkinsonkpc6ndb862 4 роки тому

      That may have been a DGPS beacon. They receive data from the GPS sats and broadcast local area correction data over the LW frequency - no morse id is sent - just data.

  • @DD-bn2mx
    @DD-bn2mx 4 роки тому

    that is something aliens demanded they have and we agreed to give it to them

  • @charlieminaj2
    @charlieminaj2 4 роки тому

    It’s 5G🤔

  • @bobmar9239
    @bobmar9239 4 роки тому

    We don't need a video about this. You can still learn some things by reading