Newbury Amateur Radio Station M0SBF

The Newbury Amateur Radio Station of M0SBF is well located located at the top of Pyle Hill, Newbury in the county of West Berkshire at about 118m (410ft) ASL. The grid locator for my QTH is IO91IJ. We are 56 miles west of London and about 60 miles east of Bristol. We are south of the M4 motorway Junction 13 by about 5 miles. We are fortunate in that we sit on top of a small hill overlooking the Kennett Valley and the town of Newbury, England.

The location is excellent between west, through north to east south east with clear unobstructed views for over ten miles in most directions. VHF Band II radio brings in stations from up to 100 miles away, showing how good the location really is. Unfortunately the radio take off deteriorates from south east through South to South West largely due to heavy tree cover and the effect of higher ground only a few miles distant.

In particular I experience the blocking effect of the nearby North Wessex Downs. Walbury Hill at 297m ASL is only seven miles distant and therefore has a blocking influence on VHF and UHF to the South West from this location. A close by forest on the edge of Greenham Common totally blocks out my view of Watership Down to the south causing multi-path (ghosting) on the TV reception from the 250kW Hannington TV transmitter (which is located between Newbury and Basingstoke). Virtually no UHF 70cm coverage is possible south of Winchester from here with my Diamond X-400 collinear vertical antenna.

This picture is taken looking NORTH WEST from the M0SBF radio shack window, showing our nice rural outlook over open fields and over the Kennett Valley. The ground on the opposite side of the valley is (unfortunately) higher by about 35 metres. Good views extend from west to east along the Kennett Valley.

As we are quite exposed to the elements here, we can suffer damaging wind speeds in the winter from the west or north west.

This is the view to the NORTH towards the M4 motorway at Junction 13. The ground on the opposite side of the valley reaches about 150 metres ASL. The radio tower adjacent to the M4 Junction can be seen quite clearly from here at about 5 miles distant.

Behind the nearby trees (obscured from vision) at the opposite side of the large field, is the famous Newbury Racecourse. We can hear the commentary on race days!

Newbury Amateur Radio Club

For more details about Newbury Amateur Radio club click here.

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