A Tour of Orford Ness Nature Reserve Military Test Sites

Brought to you by The Wireless Heritage Group

At this event you will spend a full day exploring the fascinating 20th century military history of Orford Ness in Suffolk with the help of an expert guide from the National Trust.

Registration for this event is now closed.

About the event

This wild and remote shingle spit on the east coast of England was for 70 years a military test site and is now a National Nature Reserve with limited public access. Join the CW Wireless Heritage SIG for a full day exploring the military history of Orford Ness with the help of an expert guide from the National Trust. 

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With strictly limited capacity this unique event will start at 10.00 and finish at approximately 16.00. This event will cost £25 plus VAT.

A brief history of the site

In 1915 the arrival of part of the Central Flying School's Experimental Flying Section was the start of 70 years of intense military experimentation. Experimental work in WW1 was related to aerial warfare, experiments on parachutes and aerial photography, evaluation of aircraft and the development of camouflage.

In 1935 Robert Watson-Watt and his team arrived to found the 'Ionospheric Research Station' (a cover for the research and development of radar) before moving down the coast to Bawdsey.
During WW2 experimental work concentrated on bomb ballistics, and firing trials to determine the vulnerability of aircraft and aircraft components to attack by various projectiles.

The 1950s saw the construction of specialised facilities for the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (AWRE) to test the (non-nuclear) components of nuclear weapons and ensure the safe release of the weapon from an aircraft. Six large test cells were built to carry out environmental tests on atomic weapons, with the most impressive buildings from this period being two test labs - the so-called 'Pagodas' - which have become such well-known landmarks on this part of the coast. The AWRE ceased work on the site in 1971.

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In 1968 work started on the top secret Cobra Mist over-the-horizon backscatter radar project. This Anglo-American project was set up to detect and track aircraft, and detect missile and satellite vehicle launchings. This multi-million pound project was ultimately unsuccessful due to noise and interference problems.

The large original building survives at the north end of the site, beyond which originally stood 18 'strings' of antennae in the shape of a large open fan. (Unfortunately we will not be able to visit the Cobra Mist site itself since this is now privately owned and not accessible to the public, but the building can be viewed in the distance as part of our tour)

The event will start at 10.00 and finish at approximately 16.00. No catering facilities are available on the Ness so delegate will need to bring a packed lunch. Please note there is a short boat trip to access the Ness from Orford village, and transport will be by trailer around the site.

This event will cost £25 plus VAT. Please note once booked no refunds will be made unless we have sufficient number of people to meet the minimum number required for the tour.

You can follow @CambWireless on Twitter and tweet about this event using #CWHeritage.

SIG Champions

Stirling Essex - Director, Espansivo

Stirling Essex has over 25 years of product development, product management, strategic marketing and business development experience in many areas of wireless technology, and has been intimately involved in the development of test systems for GSM, CDMA (IS-95), 3G (W-CDMA) and LTE. He founded Espansivo, a technology consultancy specialising in helping organisations with their technology, product and business decisions, in 2005. Stirling was previously a co-champion of the CW Future Wide Area Wireless Special Interest Group and and was a member of the CW Board from 2004 to 2015.

Andy Sutton - BT Fellow & Principal Network Architect, BT

Andy Sutton is a BT Fellow and Principal Network Architect for Wireless Access. The wireless access domain includes 4G/5G RAN architecture and mobile backhaul/xhaul, along with microwave and millimetre wave radio systems, and satellite communications. Andy holds an MSc in Mobile Communications from the University of Salford and has over 35 years of experience within the telecommunications industry. Andy’s current research interests include advanced RAN coordination techniques, including C-RAN and OpenRAN, optical fibre and radio based backhaul/xhaul, along with LEO satellite communications and High-altitude Platform Systems (HAPS), all in the context of building resilient heterogeneous networks. Andy holds the post of Visiting Professor of Telecommunications at the University of Liverpool and the University of Salford, he is a Chartered Engineer and holds Fellowships from the IET, ITP and BCS. Andy sits on the editorial board of the ITP Journal and is a CW SIG Champion for eMBB and Wireless Heritage.

Geoff Varrall - Director, RTT Online

Geoff Varrall joined RTT in 1985 as an executive director and shareholder to develop RTT's international business as a provider of technology and business services to the wireless industry. He co-developed RTT's original series of design and facilitation workshops including 'RF Technology', 'Data Over Radio', 'Introduction to Mobile Radio', and 'Private Mobile Radio Systems and developed 'The Oxford programme', a five day strategic technology and market programme presented annually between 1991 and 2005. Geoff has been running in depth technology and market workshops for the industry for over 33 years, spanning five generations of mobile cellular technology. A co-author of the Mobile Radio Servicing Handbook (Heinemann Butterworth, UK), Data Over Radio, (Quantum Publishing, Mendocino, USA and 3G Handset and Network Design (John Wiley, New York). Geoff's fourth book, Making Telecoms Work – from technical innovation to commercial success (John Wiley) was published in early 2012 followed by 5G Spectrum and Standards published by Artech House in July 2016. His latest book 5G and Satellite Spectrum Standards and Scale is now available from Artech House and can be ordered from http://uk.artechhouse.com/5G-and-Satellite-Spectrum-Standards-and-Scale-P1935.aspx. As a past Director of Cambridge Wireless, Geoff is actively involved in a number of wireless heritage initiatives that aim to capture and record past technology and engineering experience and is a patron of the Science Museum In his spare time he plays Jazz trumpet semi-professionally and is a marathon and ultra-runner.

Nigel Wall - Director, Climate Associates Ltd

Nigel has been involved with connected vehicle research since 1992 when he led BT’s mobile data research team – initially using modems on first generation analogue TACS mobile phones! Since 2001 he has provided consultancy complex-systems, with a primary specialism in connected vehicles. He acted as the Monitoring Officer for twelve of the Connected and Autonomous Vehicle research projects supported by Innovate UK and the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles. Climate Associates provides consultancy on delivering pragmatic sustainable systems and services, based on life cycle assessments where wholesale replacement of current systems with lower footprint solutions may not be the most sustainable option.

Event Location

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Location info

Orford Ness, 65 Quay St, Orford, Woodbridge IP12 2NU

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