RGHQ Communication Links

An important part of post attack government would be to keep in touch with the armed forces and other other civil organisations. The RGHQ had landline links into the BT Emergency Manual Switching System EMSS, whose operation is described on another page of this site. Which offered audio communications links independently of the public network. There were telegraph links into the now defunct Defence Telegraph Network (DTN) giving it access to RAF and Army establishments.

 

Radio Communication with the R.A.F.

To communicate with aircraft a rack mounted, mains operated, version of the radio fitted to all front line RAF planes in the 1960's were installed a RGHQ's. This radio was connected to a military discone aerial like this one photographed at Hack Green which was mounted on the main communications lattice mast. At Bawburgh, the aerial was mounted on a wooden pole that can just about be distinguished on the 1981 photograph on the Detail / Radio / My Hunt for Masts but was clearer to the naked eye.

On the radio rack, the ARC52 transceiver unit is mounted at the top of the rack next to the mains power supply. The cockpit control panel mounted on a plate at the bottom of the rack. The specification of the transceiver is given as: The AN/ARC 52 transmitter/receiver is manufactured under licence from the Collins Radio Co, USA. tuning to 1750 channels spaced with 100KHz spacing, in the UHF range 225-399.9MHz This was the full NATO UHF Band at the time. Provision is made on the control panel for 18 preset channels and also full tuning across the working range by the use of four knobs to select the frequency. The transmitter provides an average of 18 Watts output giving a 200 miles of ground to air range. This operated as single frequency simplex with the receiver section listening on the same frequency.

 

Radio Communication with the Army

The Army had a radio equipment room in every RGHQ but presently I have no details of the equipment fitted. There were many cold war communication systems used by the army during the life of the RGHQ such as CONRAD.

During the early 1980's, the MOULD radio system was deployed for use by the home defence regiments. This system is described on this site ( tabs: Detail / Radio / Mould ) and consisted of a number wide area VHF networks each covering a RGHQ zone.