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SERVING THE MARINER SINCE 1920 - A FRIENDLY VOICE ON MANY A DARK NIGHT
PORTISHEAD RADIO GKA
A website celebrating the history of Portishead Radio/GKA - the world's largest long-range maritime communications centre.
NEWS
The 100th anniversary of the Highbridge receiving station was commemorated on the amateur radio bands with callsign GB1GKA, from the location of former GKA R/O Larry Bennett/G4HLN.
1,833 contacts were made from 55 countries.
QSL cards will be issued on receipt of incoming cards. More details on QRZ.COM.
2025 - the highbridge receiving station's 100th anniversary
The Historical Building
The original single-storey building was constructed at the end of 1924 and officially opened for business in January 1925. At the time it was the receiving station for Devizes Radio station, and only became 'Portishead Radio' in 1928 when the transmitters were relocated there.
Portishead Radio closed on April 30th 2000, and the building demolished in 2007.
We remain hopeful that a memorial plaque and information board will be erected on the site in early 2025 to commemorate this famous building, and other events are planned to celebrate the station's 100th anniversary during the year.
Portishead Radio History Book
Signed author copies of the 'Portishead Radio - A Friendly Voice on Many a Dark Night' are now SOLD OUT and can now only be obtained from Amazon and other online booksellers.
PLEASE HELP - YOUR SUPPORT IS INVALUABLE!
Your support and contributions will enable us to maintain and improve this website. Your generous donation will fund these improvements.
- All photographs and website content © Portishead Radio 2025: BT plc, Tom Ponting, Phil Lewis, John Lamb, Robin Hargreaves, Brian Stewart, Ramsay Stuart, Larry Bennett and many others.
- Photographs of Devizes Radio courtesy of the Crank family.
- Colour photographs of Portishead Transmitter Site © Jim Sulley
Images from BT Archives are Copyright BT Heritage, licensed under a Creative Commons License and reproduced under the following terms.