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47-777: Crowsley Park is a 160-acre (65 ha) country estate in South Oxfordshire , central-southern England , owned by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Since the Second World War , Crowsley Park has been the site of a signals-receiving station used by BBC Monitoring , based until May 2018 at Caversham Park , three miles to the south. The Crowsley receiving facility is now an outstation of BBC Monitoring's new HQ at London's Broadcasting House . Crowsley Park House , an 18th-century mansion house , sits in its own grounds within

94-514: A rudimentary building at Crowsley put up some distance from the main house. The signals received were fed down telephone lines to Caversham to be listened to by monitoring staff. A more permanent building was later erected for the receiving station. In 1974, the BBC's separate, and larger, receiving station at Tatsfield , on the North Downs south of London, was closed and its functions merged with

141-473: Is a leading character. The connection with the Baskervilles is preserved in statues of hellhounds with spears through their mouths which sit on the stone gateposts at the entrance to the park and atop the front of Crowsley Park House. A pub in the nearby village of Lower Shiplake is called The Baskerville Arms . The estate is closed to public vehicular traffic and neither Crowsley Park House nor

188-501: Is not perpendicular to the ground but at an angle, producing an electric field component parallel to the Earth's surface. If a horizontal wire is suspended close to the Earth and approximately parallel to the wave's direction, the electric field generates an oscillating RF current wave traveling along the wire, propagating in the same direction as the wavefront. The RF currents traveling along the wire add in phase and amplitude throughout

235-419: Is suspended close to the ground, and requires some resistance in the ground to work. The Beverage antenna relies on "wave tilt" for its operation. At low and medium frequencies, a vertically polarized radio frequency electromagnetic wave traveling close to the surface of the earth with finite ground conductivity sustains a loss that causes the wavefront to "tilt over" at an angle. The electric field

282-419: Is typically a single straight copper wire, between one-half and two wavelengths long, run parallel to the Earth's surface in the direction of the desired signal. The wire is suspended by insulated supports above the ground. A non-inductive resistor approximately equal to the characteristic impedance of the wire, about 400 to 600 ohms , is connected from the far end of the wire to a ground rod. The other end of

329-403: Is used by amateur radio operators, shortwave listeners, longwave radio DXers and for military applications. A Beverage antenna consists of a horizontal wire from one-half to several wavelengths long (tens to hundreds of meters; yards at HF to several kilometres; miles for longwave) suspended above the ground, with the feedline to the receiver attached to one end, and the other end of

376-523: The Royal Parks if owned by the royal family. The ownership of these estates for hunting was in practice strictly restricted until the 19th century when legal changes to game hunting meant the nobility, gentry and other wealthy families could purchase land for the purposes of hunting. At the administrative centre of these sporting estates is usually a sporting lodge . These are also often known as shooting or hunting estates. In modern British English ,

423-640: The 1980s, a number of satellite dishes were installed, joining the Beverage and rhombic aerials and curtain arrays already on the site. Additional rhombic aerials were erected to boost shortwave reception from the Middle East and North Africa, alongside those already used for signals from Europe and the Soviet Union , the latter having been the station's priority target during the Cold War . One of

470-518: The BBC station are open to the public. However, the park is crossed by two public footpaths . The western path (starting from the main entrance), which is part of the southern extension to the Chiltern Way , gives a clear view of the house. There is a distant view of the house, through an ornamental avenue of trees, from the public road junction at the southwest corner of the park. The three very large satellite dishes mentioned above are visible from

517-728: The Beverage antenna in 1919 at the Otter Cliffs Radio Station . He discovered in 1920 that an otherwise nearly bidirectional long-wire antenna becomes unidirectional by placing it close to the lossy earth and by terminating one end of the wire with a resistor. In 1921, Beverage was granted a patent for his antenna. That year, Beverage long-wave receiving antennas up to 14 km (9 miles) long had been installed at RCA's Riverhead, New York, Belfast, Maine, Belmar, New Jersey, and Chatham, Massachusetts receiver stations for transatlantic radiotelegraphy traffic. Perhaps

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564-521: The Georgian section of the house and other essential repairs were carried out. Unfortunately, the Victorian extension was too damaged with dry-rot to enable preservation and was demolished, leaving only sections of its ground floor wall and what became a "gazebo" tower. Hugh also spend his weekend hours in the 7-acre wild garden uncovering the range of plants, shrubs and trees typical of the gardens from

611-575: The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings publications and corresponded with the BBC about the house. The BBC agreed to allow the Morrises a 20-year lease free of charge on condition that the house was maintained as the listing required. It became the passion of Hugh Morris who drove out from London every weekend. The roof-lead that had been stolen was restored at to prevent further damage to

658-413: The atmospheric noise, and not receiver noise, determines the signal-to-noise ratio, so an inefficient antenna can be used. The weak signal from the antenna can be amplified in the receiver without introducing significant noise. The antenna is not used as a transmitting antenna since, to do so, would mean a large portion of the drive power is wasted in the terminating resistor Directivity increases with

705-510: The bird . Parts of the final story of the BBC television science-fiction drama series Doctor Who to feature Tom Baker as the Doctor , ' Logopolis ', were filmed in the grounds of Crowsley Park in December 1980. In one scene, the Doctor climbs the tower that once carried the BBC receiving station's VHF and UHF aerials. Crowsley Park was used as a visual substitute for Jodrell Bank by

752-675: The civil parish of Shiplake . Crowsley is about 40 miles (64 km) west of central London . Crowsley Park and Caversham Park were acquired by the BBC during the Second World War. In April 1943, the BBC moved the headquarters of its Monitoring Service from Wood Norton Hall , near Evesham in Worcestershire , to Caversham Park, with Crowsley Park acting as the service's receiving station, picking up radio broadcasts from Nazi Germany and many other countries. Shortwave , mediumwave and longwave receivers were installed in

799-501: The closure of the BBC's Caversham Park base and the transfer of BBC Monitoring's HQ to London. Among Crowsley Park's former owners were the Baskerville family, one of whose members, Henry Baskerville, was High Sheriff of Oxfordshire in 1847 . Stories about the family and its association with fierce dogs were among the inspirations for Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles (published 1901–02) in which "Sir Henry Baskerville"

846-513: The direction of the signal source. At the end toward the signal source it is terminated by a resistor to ground approximately equal in value to the characteristic impedance of the antenna considered as a transmission line, usually 400 to 800 ohms . At the other end it is connected to the receiver with a transmission line, through a balun to match the line to the antenna's characteristic impedance. Unlike other wire antennas such as dipole or monopole antennas which act as resonators , with

893-517: The direction of the transmitter(s) to be received. The advantages of the Beverage are excellent directivity , a wider bandwidth than resonant antennas, and a strong ability to receive distant and overseas transmitters. Its disadvantages are its physical size, requiring considerable land area, and inability to rotate to change the direction of reception. Installations often use multiple Beverage antennas to provide wide azimuth coverage. Harold Beverage experimented with receiving antennas similar to

940-490: The eastern and northern sides of the park, known as Crowsley Park Woods , is leased to the Forestry Commission . The remainder of the estate consists of wooded parkland used as cattle and horse pasture . Three (formerly four) very large (11-metre diameter) satellite dishes used by the BBC are on the north side of the estate. Until 2014, there were also many traditional radio aerials (antennas) spread across

987-499: The estate and is now a private residence. Smaller houses on the estate — South Lodge (at the main entrance to the park), North Lodge, Keeper's Cottage and Crowsley Park Lodge — are also privately occupied. The main house is Grade II listed on the National Heritage List for England . In addition to the house, the stable and coach house and the grotto in the grounds of the house are also Grade II listed. Woodland on

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1034-406: The facility at Crowsley. The Crowsley station was expanded to accommodate the equipment and staff transferred from Tatsfield. Following the merger, Crowsley was formally known as the "BBC Receiving Station" to reflect the range of work it did for various parts of the BBC (in addition to Monitoring) and other international broadcasters. This name is no longer used. As part of an engineering upgrade in

1081-406: The great house was supplied with food from its own home farm (for meat and dairy) and a kitchen garden (for fruit and vegetables). A dower house may have been present on the estate to allow the widow of the former owner her own accommodation and household when moved out the primary house on the estate. The agricultural depression from the 1870s onwards and the decline of servants meant that

1128-447: The houses, outbuildings, supporting farmland, tenanted buildings, and natural resources (such as woodland) that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house , mansion , palace or castle . It is the modern term for a manor , but lacks a manor's now-abolished jurisdiction. The "estate" formed an economic system where the profits from its produce and rents (of housing or agricultural land) sustained

1175-520: The large rural estates declined in social and economic significance, and many of the country houses were destroyed , or land was parcelled off to be sold. An urban example of the use of the term estate is presented by the "great estates" in Central London such as the Grosvenor and Portman , which continue to generate significant income through rent. Sometimes London streets are named after

1222-453: The largest Beverage antenna—an array of four phased Beverages 5 km (3 miles) long and 3 km (2 miles) wide—was built by AT&T in Houlton, Maine , for the first transatlantic telephone system opened in 1927. The Beverage antenna consists of a horizontal wire one-half to several wavelengths long, suspended close to the ground, usually 3 to 6 m (10 to 20 feet) high, pointed in

1269-566: The late 1940s and early 1950s, many of these estates had been demolished and subdivided , in some cases resulting in suburban villages named for the former owners, as in Baxter Estates, New York . An important distinction between the United States and England is that "American country estates, unlike English ones, rarely, if ever, supported the house." American estates have always been about "the pleasures of land ownership and

1316-477: The late Victorian era. This became the weekend playground for his young family and a haven for socialisation and short breaks which were shared with many friends. New owners purchased the leasehold of the house in the 1990s. Country estate An estate is a large parcel of land under single ownership, which generates income for its owner. In the United Kingdom , historically an estate comprises

1363-422: The length of the antenna. While directivity begins to develop at a length of only 0.25 wavelength, directivity becomes more significant at one wavelength and improves steadily until the antenna reaches a length of about two wavelengths. In Beverages longer than two wavelengths, directivity does not increase because the currents in the antenna cannot remain in phase with the radio wave. A single-wire Beverage antenna

1410-408: The length of the wire, producing maximum signal strength at the far end of the antenna where the receiver is connected. The antenna wire and the ground under it together can be thought of as a "leaky" transmission line which absorbs energy from the radio waves. The velocity of the current waves in the antenna is less than the speed of light due to the ground. The velocity of the wavefront along

1457-636: The main household, formerly known as the manor house . Thus, "the estate" may refer to all other cottages and villages in the same ownership as the mansion itself, covering more than one former manor. Examples of such great estates are Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire , England, and Blenheim Palace , in Oxfordshire , England, built to replace the former manor house of Woodstock. Before the 1870s, these estates often encompassed several thousand acres, generally consisting of several farms let to tenants ;

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1504-466: The money for their improvement and maintenance usually comes from fortunes earned in other economic sectors besides agriculture. They are distinguished from ordinary middle-class American houses by sheer size, as well as their landscaping, gardens, outbuildings, and most importantly, recreational structures (e.g., tennis courts and swimming pools). This usage is the predominant connotation of "estate" in contemporary American English (when not preceded by

1551-457: The opportunity to enjoy active, outdoor pursuits ." Although some American estates included farms, they were always in support of the larger recreational purpose. Today, large houses on lots of at least several acres in size are often referred to as "estates", in a contemporary updating of the word's usage. Most contemporary American estates are not large enough to include significant amounts of self-supporting productive agricultural land, and

1598-490: The park. The BBC leases the estate to private tenants, operating its receiving station from a modern building erected for the purpose near the centre of the park. Crowsley Park's history includes an association with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle , author of the Sherlock Holmes detective stories. Despite being only two miles (3 km) north of the edge of the large town of Reading , and a similar distance southwest of

1645-492: The production team due to easier availability of the site. The village of Shiplake has a bed and breakfast establishment called Crowsley House . In the late 1960s London architects, Hugh and Beeban Morris, found out about the house. While the BBC utilised the grounds the house itself was neglected and in an advanced state of decay, like many disused country homes at that time, large numbers of which became damaged beyond repair and were then demolished. The Morrises subscribed to

1692-409: The public road (Devil's Hill) that forms the northern boundary of the park. The Forestry Commission woodland is open to the public, including access along a public bridleway . Crowsley was once spelt Crouchley, suggesting that the first syllable of Crowsley may once have been pronounced to rhyme with cow or crew . Today, Crowsley is pronounced with the first four letters sounding the same as

1739-471: The radio currents traveling in both directions along the element, bouncing back and forth between the ends as standing waves , the Beverage antenna is a traveling wave antenna ; the radio frequency current travels in one direction along the wire, in the same direction as the radio waves. The lack of resonance gives it a wider bandwidth than resonant antennas. It receives vertically polarized radio waves, but unlike other vertically polarized antennas it

1786-519: The rural estates of aristocratic landowners, such as in the case of Wimpole Street . From the Norman era, hunting had always been a popular pastime with the British royalty and nobility, and dating from the medieval era, land was parcelled off and put aside for the leisurely pursuits of hunting. These originated as royal forests and chase land, eventually evolving into deer parks , or sometimes into

1833-626: The smaller town of Henley-on-Thames , Crowsley Park lies in a quiet rural setting, close to the southwest end of the Chiltern Hills . It is within the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty . The quietness of the location, especially the absence of electrical noise , was among the factors that drew the BBC to the site. In 2003, the hamlet of Crowsley became part of the newly created civil parish of Binfield Heath . Until then, both Crowsley and Binfield Heath had been part of

1880-922: The term "estate" has been generalised to any large parcel of land under single ownership, such as a housing estate or industrial estate . Large country estates were traditionally found in New York's Long Island , and Westchester County , the Philadelphia Main Line , Maine's Bar Harbor on Mount Desert Island , and other affluent East Coast enclaves; and the San Francisco Bay Area , early Beverly Hills, California , Montecito, California , Santa Barbara, California and other affluent West Coast enclaves. All these regions had strong traditions of large agricultural, grazing, and productive estates modeled on those in Europe. However, by

1927-573: The two curtain aerials (which had been used for the relaying by the BBC of the Voice of America ) was taken down. The remaining curtain aerial was taken down in more recent years. With the decline in the use of shortwave in radio broadcasting, all of the Beverage and rhombic aerials were taken down in July 2014. In 2018, the BBC began a further modernisation of the facility, including the installation of 18 new satellite dishes. The modernisation coincided with

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1974-408: The wire is also less than the speed of light due to its angle. At a certain angle θ max the two velocities are equal. At this angle the gain of the antenna is maximum, so the radiation pattern has a main lobe at this angle. The angle of the main lobe is where The antenna has a unidirectional reception pattern, because RF signals arriving from the other direction, from the receiver end of

2021-446: The wire is connected to the feedline to the receiver. A dual-wire variant is sometimes utilized for rearward null steering or for bidirectional switching. The antenna can also be implemented as an array of 2 to 128 or more elements in broadside , endfire, and staggered configurations, offering significantly improved directivity otherwise very difficult to attain at these frequencies. A four-element broadside/staggered Beverage array

2068-409: The wire terminated through a resistor to ground . The antenna has a unidirectional radiation pattern with the main lobe of the pattern at a shallow angle into the sky off the resistor-terminated end, making it ideal for reception of long distance skywave (skip) transmissions from stations over the horizon which reflect off the ionosphere . However the antenna must be built so the wire points in

2115-438: The wire, induce currents propagating toward the terminated end, where they are absorbed by the terminating resistor. While Beverage antennas have excellent directivity, because they are close to lossy Earth, they do not produce absolute gain; their gain is typically from −20 to −10 dBi. This is rarely a problem, because the antenna is used at frequencies where there are high levels of atmospheric radio noise. At these frequencies

2162-429: The word "real" ), which is why "industrial estate" sounds like an oxymoron to Americans, as few wealthy persons would deliberately choose to live next to factories. Traditional American estates include: Beverage antenna The Beverage antenna or "wave antenna" is a long-wire receiving antenna mainly used in the low frequency and medium frequency radio bands, invented by Harold H. Beverage in 1921. It

2209-403: Was used by AT&T at their longwave telephone receiver site in Houlton, Maine . Very large phased Beverage arrays of 64 elements or more have been implemented for receiving antennas for over-the-horizon radar systems. The driving impedance of the antenna is equal to the characteristic impedance of the wire with respect to ground, somewhere between 400 and 800 ohms, depending on the height of

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