History
Wickhambrook has the slightly odd distinction of having been upgraded in capacity but downgraded in terms of routes served. The site started around 1959 as part of a link from London to Norwich for Anglia Television. This was initially a one-way route, allowing "network" programmes to be transmitted from the Mendlesham transmitter (via Anglia's studios at Norwich). The site was also suitable for the BBC's programme link (two-way) between Morborne Hill and Tacolneston, which opened on an interim basis around the same time. The London to Norwich route used Marconi HM200 2 GHz equipment designated RS 9/5. An article in The Engineer, 1 May 1959, indicates the link from Birmingham would also use Marconi equipment and operate on 2 GHz between Peterborough and Tacolneston.
A further link to feed the BBC's transmitter at Manningtree was added by 1962. This used equipment recovered from the earlier Depden to Tacolneston link and avoided a penalty payment for "early termination" of the contract for the Depden link. The Tacolneston signal was received off-air at Wickhambrook with a 2 GHz link to Manningtree. Archive documents record that the Post Office offered a "fully-engineered" link as a future development. Subsequent events suggest the BBC did not take up this option.
These early routes were provided using a guyed mast with one dish in each direction. Further expansion would have been limited by the capacity of the structure and a "standard tower" was constructed around 1968. By this stage, however, the main "BBC" link was diverted to run east at Morborne Hill via Wisbech. Wickhambrook thus reverted to being a repeater on the route from London to Norwich, linking Sibleys with Mendlesham.
The "new" tower was aligned with the faces rotated approximatelty 45 degrees from north - this would have been ideal for three of the four routes originally served, though less suitable for the Mendlesham direction. The tower does not appear to feature any of the "step" platforms used to mount horn antennas but there are additions to the basic structure which would have allowed dishes to be correctly oriented.
The building at Wickhambrook was not of the standard pattern and probably one of the "Derwent" timber buildings evaluated by the Post Office around 1959. By 2006 the main dishes had been cleared from the tower but the structure remains in use, with a DAB transmitter added in 2004.
