British Telecom Microwave Network - Radio Standby To Line

Radio Standby To Line

The 1956 GPO paper referred to under 'Backbone' above also described a series of links called 'radio standby to line'. These were spur links between the GPO Backbone sites and defence 'customer' sites. They were designed to carry between 25 and 150 'private wire' (a.k.a. leased line) circuits each, by radio. The paper contains a list of sites and a network map, showing the following radio standby to line links:

• Kirk o'Shotts to Gailes GCI radar station near Ayr
• Muggleswick to Boulmer GCI station, ROC and regional communications, Seaton Snook GCI station
• Hunters Stones to Forest Moor Admiralty radio receiving station, Shipton RAF 'Sector Operations Centre' (SOC), Preston SOC, Regional Commissioner's HQ and Admiralty radio transmitting station
• Grantham to RAF bomber bases and US Air Force bases
• Norwich to RAF SOC (Bawburgh), US Air Force bases, GCI stations, naval headquarters, Continental communications
• Kelvedon Hatch to RAF SOC, RAF bomber stations, RAF radar stations
• West Malling to naval headquarters at Chatham and Dover, RAF radar and Fighter Command headquarters, Continental communications
• Upavon to Army establishments on Salisbury Plain
• Sopley and Portsmouth to naval headquarters at Portsmouth and naval radio stations at Horsea and Flowerdown
• Box to Admiralty establishment at Bath, RAF SOC and Signals centre, Army signals centres at Cheltenham and Droitwich and Army radio stations, Foreign Office GCHQ and radio stations, important radio stations and miscellaneous radar stations in south-west England, South Wales and the Border Counties.