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www.southgatearc.org
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World War II Wireless Intercept and Secret StationsOn Tuesday April 6, Stan Ames, G4OAV, will give a talk to the Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society (CARS) on World Stan will describe the development of the network of secret wireless stations that intercepted enemy transmissions during WWII and subsequently decrypted at Bletchley Park. The story begins with a Post Office radio station at St Albans that was secretly reporting German wireless traffic to the Foreign Office in 1932. By the end of 1938, the military authorities asked the Post Office to set up a network of eavesdropping stations – the first of which was built at Sandridge near St Albans. The work of Bletchley Park is well understood but little is understood about the how the raw intelligence was collected. This presentation describes the growth of wireless intelligence in WWII and the networks of secret wireless intercept stations and direction finding stations around Britain. The three Armed services each built their own networks but more secret still were those operated by the Foreign Office and MI5 and MI6 who successfully tapped directly into the highest levels of German Secret Service communications. Radio amateurs played an important role in this work and a number of key installations in and around Chelmsford also played an important role. Stan, who lives in Harpenden, gives this presentation around the country and likes to provide a little local history to expand his talk. He has unearthed a site which existed from sometime during WWII to maybe the 1970s and occupied a number of fields between Great Waltham and Pleshey in Essex. Did YOU get involved with them or do you know anything about them.
Did your grandparents or parents get involved? An apartment block has been built near the entrance. Look for the large "Salsa" advertisement which shows the turning for the car park.
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