Do my eyes deceive me?

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Re: Do my eyes deceive me?

Post by Paul-R »

I saw this interesting aerial array in 2011 in the Czech Republic when we were touring through Europe.
103_1014.JPG
103_1015.JPG
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Re: Do my eyes deceive me?

Post by mickthemaverick »

Do you know if they are the Liblice 2 radio masts Paul? Used for commercial radio broadcasting on AM MW I believe! 8-)
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Re: Do my eyes deceive me?

Post by Paul-R »

I really have no idea. All I can say is that they were somewhere between Jince (near Pribram) on the way to Auschwitz. I took photos timed at 9:29 as we left Jince and the aerial ones are timed at 13:24, so just under four hours away. We were touring in quite a leisurely manner so I can't see it being more than 180 miles away. And that's at the very most!

I've looked at Google Maps and I can see that Liblice is north or Prague and we left going south of Prague, so not there. We stayed the next night in Nysa, Poland and that was 235 miles away the way we travelled if that's any help.
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Re: Do my eyes deceive me?

Post by bobins »

........and why has he put up a photo of a stack of logs in the woods ??? :-k
Log pile - own work
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Because it's not a stack of logs in the woods. It's actually the entrance to a former Soviet air defence bunker in East Germany. The 'front door' is missing in the photo, but it was a door cunningly disquised as more logs. Although you'd never have got close to this back in the day, aerial reconnaissance would have shown this just to be a log pile - albeit with a path leading up to it. Somewhere I have a similar example of maskirovka - a large wooden wagon converted to resemble an apiary. This 'mobile apiary' was in fact very much static and was another disguised entrance to a large Soviet bunker located deep in the woods.
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Re: Do my eyes deceive me?

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

mickthemaverick wrote: 27 Sep 2019, 23:31 Do you know if they are the Liblice 2 radio masts Paul? Used for commercial radio broadcasting on AM MW I believe! 8-)
Paul-R wrote: 27 Sep 2019, 23:56 I've looked at Google Maps and I can see that Liblice is north or Prague and we left going south of Prague, so not there. We stayed the next night in Nysa, Poland and that was 235 miles away the way we travelled if that's any help.
Both right....the anomaly is that the Liblice2 masts are not in Liblice. They are just off the "12" road east of Prague and on Paul's Route to Nysa.
screenshot
screenshot
Streetview image here
https://www.google.com/maps/@50.0601678 ... 312!8i6656

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Re: Do my eyes deceive me?

Post by mickthemaverick »

Aah! thanks Neil that explains the double confusion I was having!! I knew about the existence of the masts from a radio magazine I used to see before retiring but didn't have a clue what they looked like or where they were. They were the tallest in the country at the time they were commissioned, which was the reason for the article I read. :)
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Re: Do my eyes deceive me?

Post by Paul-R »

Brilliant Neil. Thanks for ferreting that out.

Now, if you like big aerials I snapped these the following year in Luxembourg on our second Grand Tour.
RTL.jpg
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Re: Do my eyes deceive me?

Post by mickthemaverick »

Awesome sight Paul, reminds me of my days at Rugby but I'd rather forget them!! However one thing about the huge masts which has always felt eerie to me is that at night all you see are red lights "floating" somewhere in the sky which for some reason sends a shiver down my spine! :?
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Re: Do my eyes deceive me?

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

mickthemaverick wrote: 28 Sep 2019, 19:01 Awesome sight Paul, reminds me of my days at Rugby but I'd rather forget them!! However one thing about the huge masts which has always felt eerie to me is that at night all you see are red lights "floating" somewhere in the sky which for some reason sends a shiver down my spine! :?
Yes recognise that.......We had Burnhope Mast and Pontop Pike guiding us home, and ever present. I also used to like the drone and the lights of the steelworks in the twilight, and strangely enough the sound of the starlings roosting in autumn nights in the Town, waiting for a lift down by the Printers Pie, with the unmistakable aroma of the Scottish and Newcastle Brewery pervading the town.

Yes those were the days of the "Worlds Most Unattractive Pub!"
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Re: Do my eyes deceive me?

Post by bobins »

mickthemaverick wrote: 28 Sep 2019, 19:01 Awesome sight Paul, reminds me of my days at Rugby but I'd rather forget them!!
Which bit were you in ?
This bit ?
Rugby kit - own work
Rugby kit - own work
Or this bit ? :-D
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Rugby diesel - own work
Did you ever get over to the other place and see this ?
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Criggion - own work
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Re: Do my eyes deceive me?

Post by mickthemaverick »

In the 1980's I was responsible for the installation of a private mobile radio (PMR) system for ICI in your part of the world Neil. They had, and probably still have, an ethylene pipeline which runs from BP Grangemouth down to ICI Wilton and then across the Pennines to ICI Runcorn. The maintenance teams at each site needed reliable mobile communications along the entire route enabling the field engineers to talk to the pipeline control at Wilton 24/7. We designed and installed an FM speech system overlaid with digital communications which was an industry first on that scale!! That involved using 10 radio mast sites along the route, 6 between Wilton and Runcorn beginning with Eston Nab and 4 up to Grangemouth. The topography was such that we could use longer spacing up through Kielder but at this moment I cannot remember the names of any sites on that route although I have a feeling the first one north of Newcastle began with S and the third one was near Peebles. The project involved scaling most of those masts to install our dedicated aerials and took 3 years to complete which I did as my last major project for BT before taking the money and running in 1990. I should imagine it has long since been replaced by cellular radio which was not available a the the time!! I have all the project info and photos but I won't dig them out because I just can't face the upheaval involved! :)
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Re: Do my eyes deceive me?

Post by mickthemaverick »

bobins wrote: 28 Sep 2019, 19:25
Which bit were you in ?
None of those, at the time I was training on antenna installation on fixed mounts so spent 99% of the time in this bit:
borrowed from Wiki
borrowed from Wiki
Although I was project manager for radio projects I based my managerial career on never telling anyone to do anything I couldn't do myself, so I had a week's respite from managing and went to learn and experience the jobs my engineers would have to face on our installations. It paid dividends when we had issues in the pennines but was a week I do not remember fondly being cold and wet for most of the time!! :-D
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Re: Do my eyes deceive me?

Post by bobins »

One of the chaps at (I think) Rugby told us of of the story when a reporter was taken up one of the big masts in one of the lifts. The lift duly broke down and she had to climb down. It was about as bad and embarrassing as you could imagine :( 8-[
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Re: Do my eyes deceive me?

Post by Hell Razor5543 »

I have utmost respect for managers who not only learn what their subordinates do, but will muck in when the circumstances require it. Early last year we had a major project when we had to upgrade all of the Chip and Pin devices for a client (and it was time critical). It was a case of "All hands on deck", and lots of overtime. Not only did all three of our regional managers get involved, so did their manager as well.
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Re: Do my eyes deceive me?

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

The one with the "S" could well have been Stagshaw just off the A68.

Hopeless to pull in and take a photo, but here it is. It had a tremendously bright field of poppies next to it, really striking, but never afraid to miss, this photograph didn't quite come out how I imagined.

Still it takes its place on "Masts night" without apologising for itself!
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