As arranged we all congregated at the approach to the

main gate at Goonhilly and at around 19.05pm

Anthony Sutton arrived and enquired if all were present.

Those missing from the list were Peter G3WKP

and Dennis G7AGZ [he was unsure of attendance]

so it was decided to proceed.

Anthony talked at some length about the position Goonhilly

has found itself in with the loss of it’s contract to service

marine & Aeronautical communications to a site in the

Netherlands it soon became clear that on pure financial grounds

that satellite operations would be based at Madely from now on

and GH would be shut down. Decisions on the future are still

being considered wioth several options being looked at. The dishes

are, it is hoped either going to be sold or leased but if not by

September scrapping is likely to go ahead.

Aerial 1 will of course remain as it forms an integral part of the

visiter centre and is still capable of working operationally.

It was in around 1962 that the first reception was tracked

across the sky from the low earth orbit satellite Telstar.

Following that the Early Bird satellites came on stream and

subsequently, the satellites have become Geo Stationary

and need far less tracking. As with all forms of communication

times have moved on and now, massive bandwidths are

available by using Fibre Optic cables and the network of these

is now global in nature rendering the satellite dish virtually redundant.

Goonhilly has a period of some 10 years before the last of it’s

international cable operations comes to an end and there is still

an under sea cable linking to the Channel Islands to look after.

Also the BT fault diagnostics center is based here and at Edinburgh

so still a working establishment for the forseeable future although

the skyline is certainly going to change in the not too distant future.

The tour of what was left of the electronics and control functions

was fascinating and then we went intoAntenna 3. This is a 1970’s

[I believe] structure and the pictures show it from almost all angles.

Once inside it becomes all to apparent how large the structure actually is.

Certainly, with the equipment moved out it would be large enought to

become a family home, strange shape but never mind.

Taking the lift we went up to the business end of the dish and examined

the final piece of equipment that passes the TX signal to the dish

[see photo’s]. Anthony described the way this all worked and after,

Mark explained in some detail to Chloe what it was all about

[another Dr Vaughan in the pipeline I think]

Back outside to take a few late pictures as the sun had by

then dipped below the horizon.

Excellent couple of hours. We took the opportunity as this was

certainty a lash chance saloon situation, another 12 months and

it could all be gone save antenna number 1.

Thanks Anthony, much appreciated by all of us.