The Orfordness transmitting station is a disused radio broadcasting facility at Orford Ness on the Suffolk coast in the UK. It closed in May 2012 after more than 30 years of service.
The station was designed to transmit powerful mediumwave (AM) signals to much of Europe on two frequencies (648 and 1296 kHz). Built by the British government, the facility passed through various owners after privatisation in 1997. Since 2010 it has been owned by a large engineering and defence services company, the Babcock International Group.
Over the years, the Orfordness station carried a variety of radio services. It was best known, particularly in the UK, for transmitting the BBC World Service in English around the clock on 648 kHz from September 1982 until March 2011.
The station's name is written as one word while that of the shingle spit on which it sits is two words.
Read more about Orfordness Transmitting Station: History, BBC's Use of The Two Frequencies, Final Years of Operation, Current Status, Transmitters, Aerial Systems
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