After the war, the station returned to civilian operation under the control of the Post Office, although a significant Naval presence was maintained to handle Admiralty traffic.

As expected, resumption of the commercial service brought vast amounts of traffic to the station, which the existing small operational area had difficulty in handling. Therefore, on 16^th November 1948, an extension to the station was opened, with a new Control Room and three operating wings, each measuring approximately 80 x 24 feet in size. Two of them handled radio telegraphy messages, whilst the other wing processed landline and broadcast traffic.

New Marconi CR150 receivers were installed at each operating point, whilst similar CR100 receivers were installed for long-wave working. Each console was equipped with an aerial selection switch to ensure the best quality of reception, and a Post Office Morse key, based on the Marconi PS213 design. Messages from ships were taken down directly on typewriters using special telegram forms, and once they had been successfully received, were passed by a conveyor belt to the control room from where they would be handed to the landline room for onward delivery via teleprinter.

The medium range station (Burnham Radio/GRL) was also located at the end of the landline wing, providing radio coverage along the Bristol Channel. This station replaced previous stations located at Rosslare and Fishguard, which did not have adequate radio coverage for this area.

The Control Room handled the ‘Ships’ Bureau’ which held details of all known ships, their callsigns and present locations, many of them being displayed by magnetic markers on large steel maps which adorned the walls of the room. The maps also identified the major shipping routes, the designated areas for the ‘Area Scheme’, and the Admiralty stations in each area.

The landline room was a designated area full of teleprinters which received and despatched all incoming messages and also had access to the national and international telegram service. This area also held the broadcast section, where transmissions of traffic lists, weather broadcasts, navigational warnings and ‘collective callsign’ messages were processed.

The former main building was transformed into an administration area, with offices and workshops being established in the former operating area. New rhombic receiving aerials were installed at the same time, enabling Radio Officers to select the best direction for optimum reception and minimising interference. These highly-directional aerials were spaced every 18 degrees and were mounted on masts 102 feet tall.

Each aerial could be selected by a rotary switch on each operating console.

This new station was opened by the Postmaster-General, Mr. Wilfred Paling, on 16^th November 1948, accompanied by national and local dignitaries. The opening was covered by both the local and national press.

The Suez crisis in 1956 understandably brought more traffic to the station and a necessary increase of staff numbers. In 1957 the long-wave radio service, which had been operating since 1920, finally came to an end.

5^th December 1958 was a memorable day for the station when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II visited, along with the Postmaster-General of the time, Ernest Marples. She was given a tour of the station by the station manager Len Froud, and was introduced to many members of staff during her visit. The Duke of Edinburgh was unable to attend due to being delayed in fog.

Many local residents lined the route of the royal party from Highbridge Railway Station, with many standing outside the radio station buildings.

Later that day, the Queen travelled to Bristol to make the historic first STD trunk call.

1959 saw the 50^th anniversary of the Post Office Maritime Radio Service, which commenced from a station at Bolt Head, Devon, in 1909. A commemorative booklet was produced by the Post Office, and numerous celebrations took place during the year.

The station had always been keen to keep up to date with modern technology, and in 1965 the first radio telex service at the station was trialled. This enabled suitably-equipped ships to send their messages directly to any telex number worldwide, without the need for re-typing by a Radio Officer at the station. An area at the end of one of the operating wings was adapted for this purpose.

Although traffic figures using this system were initially low, as few ships had been fitted with the required equipment, it soon became popular, and by the end of the 1960s the service had become well established.

1968 saw one of the more newsworthy events in which the station was involved. The Times Newspaper had sponsored a round-the-world yacht race, and one local competitor was Donald Crowhurst, from Bridgwater, whose yacht ‘Teignmouth Electron’ would become world famous. His story is well-known, but suffice it to say that many of his daily position reports, communicated to the station, were less than accurate. In fact, he had been circling an area of the Atlantic Ocean whilst giving false reports of positions off the African coast, something which the Portishead Radio staff (with their directional aerials) had picked up on.

It became clear that he would have been found out on his arrival back in the UK, and sadly he took his own life as a result. Numerous documentaries and two feature films have been made about this story, and the station is featured in each one.

The same year saw the production of a Daily Telegraph newspaper to the ‘Queen Elizabeth II’ cruise liner, using dedicated equipment on board the ship and at the radio station. This was used for several years before improved technology made this service redundant.

The early 1970s saw a great deal of change at the station.

All content (c) Larry Bennett.

Many images reproduced from BT Heritage & Archives and used under Creative Commons licence.