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ALAN GALE'S POLE HILL VOR UPGRADE IMAGES (PART 2)
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On Wednesday 29th of May 2019 I finally made my long awaited return visit to the Pole Hill DVOR to see how this important Navaid was now looking after the completion of its upgrade work back in 2018. This had returned to the air in September of last year, but due to a health issue it wasn't possible at that time for me to visit this remote site, which sits on the top of a wild and windy hill in West Yorkshire up above the town of Todmorden (which is famous for being the birthplace to ELP keyboard player Keith Emmerson, and for some very well known UFO incidents), and this was my first opportunity to get back up there.
With a forecast for rain later that day I set out nice and early in blue skies and sunshine, but thanks to yet another 'Senior Moment', which had seen me forget to take the lithium battery out of its charger and put it back in my camera, and which I fortunately had discovered before I had made it the whole way there, I was forced to return home again to retrieve it, and so it was nearly 2 hours later and with darkening skies and ominous looking rain clouds when I finally completed the 2 miles walk up to the site from the nearest bus stop. Thankfully I had just managed to get a few shots of the upgraded DVOR when the heavens opened, and so I was then faced with a very rapid 2 mile trek back down again, but in pretty miserable conditions this time. That's the sort of daft thing that us radio enthusiasts tend to do for their hobbies though isn't it! :-)
The newly upgraded DVOR didn't look too much different from the old one, but the main difference noted was what looked like two GPS receivers mounted on vertical poles, and I assume this is to help improve the accuracy. I took along my new Yaesu FT-70DE Handheld receiver which also covers the VHF Airband, and it was noticeable that even when standing right next to the navaid with the signal end-stopping on my S-Meter, the audio level of the Morse ID still seemed to be very low, which was something that I had noticed when listening to it from my home QTH. The only other notable change was to the sign on the front gate which was not the same as the one I saw last year - perhaps some trophy hunter nicked the old one? (it wasn't me, honest!):-)
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The DVOR is something of a local landmark and can be seen clearly from several miles away in certain directions, though unlike the earlier navaid that was there many years ago, this one is set back from the main road, probably so as not to distract passing drivers who might think that some sort of UFO has landed (somewhat ironically, this area is well known for its UFO sightings!).
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A slightly closer view from a different angle.
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On this closer view you can see what looks like some sort of GPS unit.
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A close up view of the new top frame and antennas.
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A slightly more distant view down the access road.
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Not wanting to get all political here as the country is divided enough, but I have to ask why they never mention who gives the EU the money in the first place! :-)
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A slightly closer view from the access road.
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A close up view of the underside of the new top frame and the transmitter building.
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You can still see where the ground was churned up during last year's work, but it's starting to grow over a bit again now.
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Okay, now I have to admit that this is a composite made by 'photo-stacking' two separate images, mainly because it was quite windy and my new radio would have blown off the post if I hadn't held onto it. I couldn't do that and also adjust my focus for the foreground and background one handed, so it was the only way I could do it. Good old Photoshop!
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Yet another new sign on the front gate, this is not the same one that was there during my last visit.
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