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

The radio telephone service, previously operated via a receiving station at Baldock and transmitters at Rugby, transferred to the Highbridge site on 26^th April 1970. A new radio telephone console was constructed at Highbridge, but this was deemed inadequate for the amount of traffic being handled. Therefore, some existing consoles at the Somerton (near Yeovil) Point-to-Point receiving station were used to supplement the Highbridge equipment, with staff being transported to and from the site by minibus.

A taste of things to come also took place in 1971, when experiments using satellite equipment were conducted from the station site with the ship ‘Atlantic Causeway’. These tests proved to be successful, although it was to be many years before satellites made any impact to traffic figures at the station.

The popular and efficient ‘Area Scheme’ was withdrawn on 31^st July 1971. Many of the former Admiralty radio stations had withdrawn from the scheme over the years, which meant ships now had no real choice but to attempt to contact Portishead Radio directly or send expensive messages via other coast radio stations. The Royal Naval presence at the station (which had reduced considerably over the years) ended at the same time.

To cater for ships in the Pacific Ocean, a dedicated ‘Pacific Watch’ was established, a dedicated position at the station listening exclusively for ships navigating in that part of the world.

Around that time, a new operating wing was erected to cater for increased traffic levels. Known as ‘D Wing’, this housed more modern consoles with new Racal RA1217 receivers, brand new Morse keys, and an accounts room. These new receivers were also employed throughout the station, replacing the ageing Marconi CR100 and CR150 receivers.

A vast increase in traffic figures during the 1970s with a consequent increase in staff numbers made it clear that the 1948 buildings would no longer be fit for purpose. They were in poor condition and entirely unsuitable for the expanding services intended for the station. Therefore, in 1976, plans were made to build a completely new station on land adjacent to the existing buildings.

This would house all the required equipment and offices, and negate the need to transport staff to and from Somerton every day. It was also planned to introduce a computer-based message handling system which would speed up delivery of radio telegrams worldwide using the latest technology available.

A dedicated ‘trawler watch’ was established which maintained 24-hour coverage with the UK’s deep-sea trawler fleet operating in the North Atlantic.

To cater for the large staff numbers, a recreational block was constructed in 1978, comprising a staff restaurant, bar, rest area and skittle alley. This proved extremely popular, with social events taking place on a regular basis, and became a well-used location for the local community.

The transmitters at Portishead were closed in December 1978, with existing sites at Rugby, Leafield, Dorchester and Ongar taking over the role.  However, the name ‘Portishead Radio’ continued to be used due to its familiarity with seafarers worldwide.

Traffic figures continued to grow rapidly, and the station reached its peak of staffing in the early 1980s, with a regular influx of new personnel.

The vast majority of the staff at the station had enjoyed several years’ experience serving at sea as Radio Officers, ensuring that the professionalism and high standards befitting of the world’s largest long-range maritime radio station were maintained throughout its life.

The Falklands conflict in 1982 brought a great deal of business to the station, which provided vital communications facilities for the merchant vessels involved in the operation, as well as handling numerous morale-boosting calls home from RN vessels. The station was honoured by a visit from many of the Radio Officers who served in the Falklands Task Force following the cessation of hostilities.

That same year, the station took over the ‘Ocean Weather Service’ which received regular radio telex weather reports from designated ‘weather ships’ located at specific points in the North Atlantic Ocean. These reports were routed to the National Weather Centre at Bracknell.

The new station, fully opened in 1983, was now under the ownership of the recently-privatised British Telecommunications (BT), which saw the large and conspicuous aerials at Highbridge being taken down. The existing (and slightly modified) aerials at the Somerton site took over, being linked to the Highbridge site by use of a microwave link via the Pen Hill mast on the Mendip Hills.

This link also provided control of the new Racal RA1792 radio receivers installed at the Somerton site, with the MA1078 front panels being operated from Highbridge.

The radio telephone service was the first to be transferred to the new station, followed in stages by the radio telegraphy (Morse code) service, and finally the new automatic radio telex service. Use of modern ‘Trend’ word-processing keyboards replaced the old typewriters, and new Morse keys were installed on each operating console, one traditional key (made by engineers at the Rugby Engineering Workshops) and one Katsumi EK-150 electronic Morse keyer.

The radio telex system became fully automatic, with very little operator assistance being required. Formatting of to-ship messages was the main purpose of the Radio Officer manning each console, but staff were always on hand to answer any queries and to help with connections from ships.

The station was ergonomically planned, with an open-plan layout with a provision for an easily changing layout as and when required. The landline room was located away from the operating area, and a network of offices located in corridors around the edge of the building. Other areas were carefully designed, including rest rooms, a garden area and engineering workshops.

New computer-based terminals eventually replaced the word-processing keyboards on each console, making it much easier for the Radio Officers to transcribe incoming Morse code messages into the approved format for onward delivery.

As satellite communications began to make inroads into traffic figures, new services came into operation. A new aeronautical radio service commenced in the early 1980s, proving pilots with the opportunity to speak directly with their operations desks and to make private calls home. The station became the main European communications centre for Eastern Airlines of the USA, and many major scheduled airlines made regular calls through the station.

This service was extended to offer a ‘Gateway’ service for fixed stations worldwide, such as relief agencies, military units and remote industries, located in areas where landline links were poor or non-existent. These stations used the aeronautical radio frequencies on radio telephony and some stations also operated on radio telex.

Agencies such as OXFAM, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and the Red Cross, all availed themselves of these services both on radio telephone and radio telex.

Portishead Radio handled the communications for many high-profile yacht races, with Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Sir Chay Blyth, and Tracy Edwards MBE (amongst others) all becoming regular users of their services. The station provided frequency charts and guidance to many of the competing yachts, and handled many morale-boosting radio telephone calls home from crew members.

The station won the Royal Yachting Association award for ‘services to industry’ in 1995, for providing free one-day radiotelephony courses for yachtsmen operating high-frequency radio equipment.

The Balkan and Gulf conflicts also provided the station with much needed business during the 1990s. Many morale-boosting calls home from armed services abroad were handled by the station, using the aforementioned ‘Gateway’ service.

As traffic levels fell due to the extensive fitting of ships with satellite-based equipment, new departments from BT took over some of the station, with a new International Customer Service Centre (ICSC) becoming the dominant occupier of the site.

BT embraced the world of satellite communications by opening the BT Inmarsat Customer Service Centre, manned by former Radio Officers. This was based in the former landline area of the station. Other BT groups continued to open offices on the site, including BT Ship Inspection Services, BT Satellite Sales, BT Airwave, and BT Mobiq (Inmarsat) despatch.

Staff numbers declined rapidly during this period, and the operating area was considerably reduced in size, with all Morse and radio telephone communications being handled by only 4 operating consoles.

As it became clear that the role of the station would diminish at the end of the decade, the decision was made to finally close Portishead Radio. Many similar stations around the world had closed during the 1990s, and it was only a matter of time before Portishead Radio suffered the same fate. Some staff were released on redundancy packages, whilst others opted to take other posts within BT.

On 30^th April 2000 at 1200 GMT, the final transmissions took place in front of a large audience of former staff and media cameras.

Radio Officer Larry Summers made the final radio telephone transmission, with the last wireless telegraphy (Morse code) broadcast being handled by Mike Pearson.

The text of the final transmission is reproduced below:

ALL SHIPS.

THIS IS THE LAST BROADCAST FROM PORTISHEAD RADIO. FOR 81 YEARS WE HAVE SERVED THE MARITIME COMMUNITY. WE SAY THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE SUPPORTED AND USED OUR STATION.

WE PAY TRIBUTE TO MARCONI WHO MADE IT ALL POSSIBLE. HIS FIRST TRANSMISSIONS ACROSS WATER WERE MADE FROM NEARBY HERE AND SO STARTED THE RADIO ERA. WE ARE PROUD TO HAVE BEEN PART OF THAT ERA.

AS THIS HISTORIC TIME IN THE COMMERCIAL MESSAGING WORLD COMES TO A CLOSE THE MANAGER AND RADIO OFFICERS WISH YOU FAREWELL FROM PORTISHEAD RADIO/GKB +

All content (c) Larry Bennett.

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