The Transmission Mast

When the television commission had published its findings to the Government in January 1935, there had been the first mention of a public television service that should initially serve the London region, before expanding, through popular demand, to the rest of Britain in the years that followed. There was, however, no mention of exactly where this London Television Station should be situated, a considerable factor to consider with the stringent demands such a service would undoubtedly place on such a facility in terms of equipment, broadcasting coverage area, and the effective range of the ultra-short wave transmissions that were deemed necessary for a high definition television system to operate efficiently.

The height of the transmitting aerial above the surrounding territory would dictate to a great extent the distance that those signals would travel (beyond the optical range of the curvature of the earth), as well as overcoming any lowering of the transmission signal power due to geographic features such as hills. This presented quite a problem in London, especially as the city, while appearing to be ostensibly flat, is in fact, a series of undulating hills separated by flat valleys. It was therefore of extreme importance that any television transmitting aerial that was to serve London be situated on as high a plot of ground as possible with no restrictions to the erection of the aerial mast. It was for this reason that Alexandra Palace was eventually chosen.

Construction work at Alexandra Palace commenced immediately the plan specifications had been drawn up, with the building of the 220 foot high transmission mast given the highest priority. This was built on the top of the 80 foot high south east tower of the building. This aerial mast, which was constructed by Marconi to the BBC specifications, and erected by J. L. Eve Construction Company, was to be almost identical to the one which was being used at Hayes for the test transmissions between Abbey Road and the EMI Headquarters.

Though the mast no longer transmits signals from television programmes made at Alexandra Palace, it is used as a relay mast for television pictures to North London and for mobile telecommunications. More recently, the mast has been used as a transmitter for Digital Radio (DR) transmissions. It is therefore kept in reasonable condition and is regularly painted to stop corrosion. The mast is often hit by lightening during electrical storms and has vast copper lightening conductors clearly visible which run right down the side of the south east tower to earth.

The importance of this building as a national heritage site cannot be underestimated. While funding from many sources, such as the lottery, is liberally thrown at buildings such The Dome, which has no heritage value whatsoever, Alexandra Palace, and the site of the world's first regular television broadcasts, continues to fall further and further into disrepair.