Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Cooling Radio Station was built between 1938 and 1942 and was home to a Multiple Unit Steerable Antenna (MUSA). It was in use until approximately 1965 when satellite communication made it redundant.

Monument Types

• RADIO STATION (Closed, Modern - 1938 AD to 1965 AD)

Full description

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From the report:

"Cooling Radio Station was constructed to house the ‘Multiple Unit Steerable Antenna’ (MUSA) system developed by Friis and Feldman in the 1930s. The MUSA array was the last major technological development in the shortwave era and represented the ultimate shortwave receiving system. It is believed that only two other stations using the MUSA system were built in the world: the experimental array constructed near Holmdel, New Jersey, and one other full array at Manahawkin, New Jersey.

Unlike the mechanical operating system employed at Manahawkin, Cooling Radio Station was unique as it was controlled by an electrical phase-shifting system. In total, the receiving equipment at Cooling utilised 1,079 valves making it both complicated and expensive. The MUSA system was probably the most complex radio ever built and gave valuable service between the 1940s and 1960s. During the last stage of shortwave transatlantic communication prior to the rise of satellites, an experimental shortwave receiving system was constructed at Cooling. The ‘Multiple Direction Universally Steerable Aerial System’ (MEDUSA) had the potential to be the next major development in global shortwave communication.

During the early years of the Second World War, Cooling was also the site of an Admiralty direction finding (D/F) station." (1)

The site was used from c.1970 onwards by a private company to test antennae. In the 1980s the main building was falling into disrepair and was sinking into the marsh. It was subsequently demolished. This use of the site ended in 2005.

The full history of the site, the technology and the development of the experimental apparatus has been detailed. (2)

This feature is recorded in the English Heritage Historic Area Assessment for Cooling Parish. The report states:
"A pioneering radio station was constructed on Cooling marshes in 1938 with an antenna array that extended for two miles."
"The most significant non-agricultural feature is the remains of Cooling Radio Station, in operation between 1938 and 1965. This consists primarily of a brick structure, its floor raised to avoid any flooding; that housed the complex and highly-developed Multiple Unit Steerable Antenna (MUSA) system. The associated antenna array has been demolished". (3)

Historic enviroment project carried out by English Heritage (Now Historic England) prior to development of the landscape across the Hoo Peninsula. This work was carried out between 2009-2013.

"The increasing need for transatlantic communication led to the decision to construct a MUSA (Multiple Unit Steerable Antenna) system at both sides of the Atlantic. The British reciever was installed across Cooling Marshes with the apparatus building located to the north of Eastborough Farm."

The structures foundation was made up of "one hundred and fifty, 80 feet long (24m) concrete piles in order to prevent the building from sinking into the marshy ground. The antenna array consisted of 16 diamond-shaped antennae, 60 fett (18m) high, arranged in a two mile (3.2km) long line pointing towards the source of the signals in Lawrenceville."

The only upstanding remains of the Musa system (At the time of the report) are "the basement and the lower portion of the generator room from the apparatus building." (4)

English Heritage, 2013, Hoo Peninsula, Kent. Hoo Peninsula Historic Landscape Project (Bibliographic reference). SKE31432.

<1> English Heritage, 2010, Cooling Radio Station, Hoo Peninsula, Kent: An Introduction (Unpublished document). SKE16235.

<2> English Heritage, 2010, Cooling Radio Station, Hoo Peninsula, Kent: An archaeological investigation of a short-wave receiving station (Monograph). SKE25193.

<3> historic england, 2014, Hoo Peninsula Outline Historic Area Assessment: Cooling Parish. Research Report 51-2014. (Bibliographic reference). SKE31592.

Sources and further reading

Related records