Welcome back to Shivering Sands as Fred Downs stands off the fort on Harvester 2 one of his fishing boats & Radio City tenders

Whitstable Fishing boats including then the Harvesters F121 & F122 respectively carried the port of registration prefix for Faversham that being the local licensing authority

An Leaving a lonely sole climbing the G1 Southern Gun Tower in 1964. Just visible the hoist hook not yet pressed into service for lifting personnel aboard. You can also just make out the ariel scaffold poles, feed came out of the centre of a transmitter room rear window on north western side

Waiting to climb Chris Cross braves the breeze on the first level of the landing platform in a coat he virtually lived in on the fort

Looking towards the Control Tower from G1 3.7 Gun Tower

Original design section of Catwalk showing support & sliding bearing arrangement

This was the rotten catwalk that was to be condemned to the deep to be replaced by the famous "Jungle Walk" see the pictures in Sutch & City Part 2

Elevation through Catwalk

Drawings by J A Posford the fort builders from "The Construction of Britain's Sea Forts"

For more details on all the Thames Estuary Forts see Fort Fax

For a range of books on the building of the Army & Navy Forts go to Offshore Shop

Dick Dixon as usual dressed in his black roll-neck

Let's talk transmitters for a moment above the original "Halifax" aircraft transmitter used by Radio Sutch on 197 metres, it survives to this day

The frequency was in fact 187 metres but David Sutch and Reg Calvert made up the slogan 'You're in heaven on 187' later used by Swinging Radio England on 227

Replaced by the former US Naval General Electric TCJ-7 Transmitter nicknamed "Big Bertha" on 299 metres shown above before being joined by a surplus MoD Airforce Cossor transmitter to run 188 metres

26/12/07 - The General Electric TCJ medium wave TX covers 300 to 600kc, 837 master oscillator, 807 Intermediate power amplifier with a pair 813s in the final amplifier. CW and MCW modes, 400 watts output at 1800V on the plates - 73, Rob Flory

Stable food consisted of lumpy mash, not much potato left after the eyes had been removed with processed peas, this along with the tinned meat pies kept most of the fort stations going, all washed down with tea laced with sickly "Fuzzels" canned milk after the nasty sterilized stuff had run out

An electric kettle appeared, but it was never used switched on during the day. Our first small "Lister" generators just weren't capable of providing enough power, if the kettle or the electric hoist was used the record decks slowed down! so tapes were played during tendering

The 3.7 G2 Gun Tower from G1 platform

Radio City boasted the first Dutch DJ Martin Green pictured above during a programme in 1965

Whilst the "Patricia" passes by on her way towards the Queens Channel

There's another picture of this Trinity House service ship in Sutch & City Part 1

QSL Card depicting the 1966 line-up; Alan Clarke, Ed Moreno, Tom Edwards, Phil Jay who never once set foot on the fort rather recorded "Discomania" on shore, Dennis "the menace" Strankey, Ian MacRae & Paul Elvey

The Radio City programme schedule through early 1966

Visitors from Radio London popped over to have a look at the set-up in 1966 but thier representatives Kieth Skues, Duncan Johnson & Engineer Martin Newton were not impressed so negotiations to take over Radio City's 299 output ceased

Tom Edwards in the Control Tower studio towards the end. The 3" tape reels above the panel were commercials & jingles still being played out from the old "Brenell" tape decks

To Tom's right for reference this station Memorandum shown in section for clarity was pinned on the studio wall

Some Tower of Power T' Shirts also survive to this day!

As well as dog eared copies of The London Weekly Advertiser

A close-up view of the platform following the raid of June 1966. In the early days under normal circumstances there were seldom more than three or four people on the fort at any given time

Finally this time some contemporary pictures of Shivering Sands taken in the summer of 1992 during an Invicta Radio broadcast with listeners whilst sailing around the forts

Even to this day the Radio City logo is still prominent testimony to some good paint!

One of the four Whitstable fishing boats on the cruise sailing north westerly around the fort cluster

Grateful thanks to Dick Dixon for some of the early photographs, & the recently discovered recordings of Roy Daley at Christmas 1964 & the Religious & Cultural test transmission

Terry Vacani for the Radio City printed data retrieved from Shivering Sands in 1967

Pete Collison for the colour photographs from 1992

And the pictures we had at the Radio City office believed to have originated from Eric Jay

This story continues from Sutch & City Part 5

To view these pictures in superb detail see & for a surname A-Z biograghy of the Radio Sutch & City Jocks The Pirate Hall of Fame

I would like to thank you for your website. I acquired a TCK-7 transmitter the same model you Radio City guys used. I'm in the process of building a high level plate modulator which the original TCK-7 did not have. I plan to get it on the air this spring.
Thanks again from your friends across the pond, Bob Bartola

Well what can I say? except what a truly informative and bloody good site Bob! the Radio Sutch & Radio City stuff really captured my imagination, listening to the audio clips and looking at the photos was great. Cheers! Steve Hibbert from Ealing in London

I wanted to let you know that the Sealand VCD and Radio City posters arrived safe and sound, I enjoyed the VCD tour very much. I had no idea everything would be in such good condition 60+ years on. Alan

For all the Shivering Sands features navigate from Sutch & City Part 1

For Red Sands & it's Radio Stations navigate from Red Sands Rendezvous

For the Navy Forts & their Radio Stations navigate from Radio Essex 222 & Sealand One

For detailShivering Sands in 1992s on all the Thames Estuary Forts see Fort Fax

Make sure you also see the NAB "Mystery Tower" the forerunner to Maunsell Forts in Sailing the Solent

For the range of documentary CD's in the Offshore Radio "Roaring 60's" collection, the Sealand VCD, books, & a video on the Army & Navy Forts go to Offshore Shop