The Secret Radio Site You’re Not Meant To See!

► Buy me a coffee: www.paypal.me/ringwaymanchester
► Join this channel to get access to perks:
/ @ringwaymanchester
► Email: [e-mail]
► Instagram: / m3hhyofficial
► Facebook: / m3hhy
► Twitter: / officialm3hhy
Transmitter Tours
• Transmitter Tours

[@mstrawn69]

In the late 80's-early 90's in San Diego, CA, USA siting at churches was very difficult because they had boards to deal with and such. We finally found a church where the minister was a HAM and so were many of the congregation. We built them a lovely new steeple a couple of hundred feet tall with all of the antennas hidden behind fiberglass panels. They were also getting $3500 a month in rent. They let us use a very large closet to put the site in (Motorola LD8 AMPS). They did us a huge favor by hinting to other churches about how they scored a new steeple and how much rent they were getting. Churches started calling us to ask us to put in sites.

[@RingwayManchester]

Cool stuff! Cheers

[@insoleandlaces]

Excellent depth of knowledge.

[@scottthomas3792]

More hidden antenna videos would be interesting....here ( Kentucky) antennas are sometimes " hidden" in courthouses or larger public buildings ( like a library), especially in small towns. It's one of those things you see, but really don't notice. This is probably common across the US. I haven't really noticed any antennas on churches.... it's something to look for.

[@alzeNL]

I love how so many things are genuinely hidden in plain sight these days - there must be so much more out there..

[@binky_bun]

I find surveillance cameras to be interesting to look for. Especially ANPR because they don't publish the locations. It's interesting to look at the patterns of where they put them and find the holes in the system where you can sneak by unnoticed by taking a side road or two. Some parts of the country like Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire have tons of them. Lincolnshire and Derbyshire not so much.

[@TheChipmunk2008]

@@binky_bun yes, the cameras are so obvious, for ANPR...i wonder if there's an unofficial list?

[@Joebloggs-eo2vw]

Looks like three are also co-locating with EE's antennas here. If you had a wedding here, The reception would be Excellent.

[@EE12CSVT]

I also hear the service is superb there

[@jaymzx0]

If you attend a service, you'll definitely get a signal from above.

[@freesaxon6835]

Your chosen a nice section of ecclesiastical organ and bell music 🎵🎶🎵🎶

[@paulsengupta971]

The bells....

[@ScrotusXL]

Death Tower subliminal flash was worthy as something from an episode of Father Ted 😅

[@TheSpotify95]

Indeed, there was a time during the covid pandemic when people were branding 4G/5G antennae as "death towers", even though 4G and 5G don't actually do anything different than any other type of RF transmission, and therefore are harmless.

[@jonathanj8303]

Down with this sort of thing! - Fathers Ted and Dougal.

[@Robutube1]

I'm pretty sure that 5G's to blame for my lack of success in the lottery...

[@badbob1982]

Careful now

[@kevimely7410]

​@@TheSpotify95 you re rather blinkered and uneducated

[@johnbill739]

I saw it. Death tower. Nice. If i ever start a band i'm goig to call it death tower and play heavey metal

[@NeungView]

Can't wait to read the lyrics, with that level of spelling 😂

[@3v068]

Play an hour of kids music during the day and confuse the hell out of Christians. Metalheads will love it for themselves and their kids.

[@AdamSWL]

As the drummer of Death Tower, I would play the drums with a pair of low gain UHF co-linear sticks. The drums would of course be upturned microwave link dishes. Guitars would be fashioned from 5G panel antennas. The debut album would have to be called "Non Ionising Radiation"

[@myriaddsystems]

😂

[@thefenrisianssweatshop]

@@AdamSWLmost underrated comment I’ve read in a long ass old while. You sir win the net.

[@Doubleelforbes]

'ckinell that WAS dramatic, specially on the surround system! I loved the "death tower" splice when saying they were generally accepted, nice touch!

[@TheOzarkWizard]

I once integrated a 5g site at a church where the base of the steeple had the radios and the cross was the 3 antenna; alpha, beta and gamma.

[@jameswyatt1304]

The Holy Trinity of 5G, LOL.

[@Nick_G7IZR]

Yes, more covert/disguised antenna sites please.

[@MM0IMC]

A church close to me had hidden mobile phone panel antennas, fitted to the bell tower, in around 2000. The local tinfoil hatters weren't amused. 🙄

[@volvo09]

There is a church I used to drive by in the US that had a big ground based antenna disguised as a flagpole. It stood out to me because it was a constant thickness all the way up (a perfect cylinder, quite thick) and then I noticed the wires at the base, and nearby telcom box.

[@ridingwithralseek1224]

Those are known as "stealth poles" if you take another look at it, you'll notice shrouds near the top that can be removed.

[@hbdz99]

As a planner myself, these cases on balancing critical infrastructure and conservation of surrounding areas are often some of the trickiest. It seems to me that telecoms companies have much more leeway in permitted development rights nowadays though!

[@dougle03]

They might only have PD on their own property, PD does not extend to other Private or Crown land as a rule. That said, statutory undertakers do seem better able to wrangle the cogs of control than the rest of us....

[@user-eg8pv2om7j]

One day I will dig out my 1980s brochures about huge antennae that were buried under the ground in EMP protected trenches. After a nuclear holocaust they would rise up to transmit the bunker's signals to other bunker's around the world. I expect the antennas are probably still buried in protected trenches,ready , waiting or rusting neglected ? Racal was a big player.

[@ThePsiclone]

I'd like to see that.

[@barrieshepherd7694]

Would those be the ones rumored to spring up and link into the point to point paths between the BT microwave backhaul towers?

[@frimleyfrodo]

I seem to recall T-Mobile and Orange installing aerials inside roadside price signs on Shell fuel stations, and replacing solid clock faces in church towers with GRP faces so that aerials could be hidden in the towers directly behind them. The original faces were stored for refitting once the tower was no longer required for transmission.

[@willpartridge]

You're right! There's a Shell sign down the road from me. It was broadcasting EE 2G and 4G (3 sectors) until last year when it was switched off. The cabinets are still in place by the side of the road.

[@aspergerio]

That creepy dracula organ in the intro is way too loud for 5am. What a wake up, holy fuckin hell. The phantom of the radio, is here, inside my CRANIUM! AAAARGHHH 73s from a VK2 who is now very awake. Cheers haha. Thank you for another great upload mate.

[@paulperry7091]

It's pretty loud in Victoria as well.

[@user-uc2rc6et1f]

V2k, voice to skull, means synthetic telepathy.

[@Mike-H_UK]

Yes please to more videos like this. They are very interesting and help identify antennas on other buildings close to where I live.

[@mattgeldart519]

Ecclesiastical architecture and radio antennae.... two of my great interests coming together. Lovely to see this - and yes, more of these please.

[@dougtaylor7724]

The shot of the stone at the end is gorgeous.

[@rdaw33]

Love the added "tower death" blip!!! Had to go back and see it again!!

[@tcpnetworks]

Good use for a thoroughly redundant building. Oah look! They installed lightning protection on the Church!

[@iangrice329]

Would rather see a tower than an aerial on the side of a church. Instal it on top by all means but not on the side.

[@dickscriminate]

Jesus gotta keep his comms up with the priests somehow

[@binky_bun]

I have to agree having done some wedding photography most people would rather not have all that clutter in their pictures

[@JeffreyGroves]

I'd rather see the church made into a bar. :-)

[@iangrice329]

@@JeffreyGroves so would I as long as the aerials were not on the side.

[@wisteela]

Nice use of the music. It's great that churches are being used like this. I'd love to see more like this.

[@frazerguest2864]

Every day is a school day with your videos.

[@mrrandomperson3106]

My church on the outskirts of Leeds has an Airwave antenna in our tower. We don't have any commercial systems but the Airwave setup is a way of serving the community in a way, and also gives us some much needed income.

[@RingwayManchester]

Drop me an email :) [e-mail]

[@KeystoneInvestigations]

I bet the Vicar of Dibley could shed some light on this! 😃

[@ryank5tar]

That audio was superb!

[@davelowe1977]

I recently got involved on a voluntary basis with upgrading the heating system in a CofE church. There are two administrations in churches. There are diocese which are like counties and each church is in a diocese headed by a bishop who in turn is headed by the archbishop. These guys administrate the spiritual side of the church and appoint vicars etc. But there is a separate administration of deacons with slightly different areas. Each church is within a deaconary and these guys look after the infrastructure. Archdeacons are like architects / planning officials. To make a change to a building involves a 'faculty' which is in effect a planning permission proposal that must be approved by the archdeacon. These will be the people the telecoms guys will talk to for antennae.

[@fretlessfender]

Nice one! And again... beautifully filmed!

[@mauricedevitt2553]

In Ireland, many Churches have Antron-99 CB antennas mounted outside.. Some are active during Mass on Sundays or during funerals. TX is usually FM.

[@anthonyfranz8317]

Haha Death Tower, classic! Now I'll need to look at every building I pass to see what antennas are visible! Great video Lewis.

[@nowster]

Orange launched as 2G (PCN). It never had an analogue network.

[@paulsengupta971]

Yep, I was going to say that it was only Racal Vodafone and Cellnet/O2 which had 900MHz 1G. When 2G started, Orange and One-2-One had the 1800MHz spectrum. Their disadvantage turned to a bit of an advantage when higher frequencies starting being used since they needed physically more sites for 1800MHz so had more available when it came to putting in 3G and subsequently 4G and 5G.

[@TheChipmunk2008]

I am surprised they allowed the panel antennas.... but as you said, not visible from the ground easily, and easily removed later if needed

[@michaireneuszjakubowski5289]

Reminds me of the Statue of Jesus in Świebodzin (taller than the one in Rio) which, in addition to serving as platform for radio, several mobile network carriers, a local ISP, ALSO provides wireless monitoring for the local parish (for what purpose, I have no idea; barring a motorway nearby, it's bumf*ck nowhere). All hidden away behind the veneer of... a huge golden crown :) The Lord truly does provide!

[@Gribbo9999]

Nice to see the Stamford and the Griffin pubs just behind St. Mary's in your drone shots. I use to sneak into those pubs , under-age, when I was the 6th form of Alty Grammar in the 1960s. Nice to see them, nothing much changed, and a long way from Sydney where I live now!

[@Charted]

Vodafone going through its goth era rn 💀

[@Phil-Sands]

Those giant antennas (yes it's antennas not antennae, that's for butterflies etc 😊😊) on the side of the church are hideous.

[@itechflagstaff]

It would be nice if they tried to match the paint to the building.

[@jjcoolaus]

Yes please more videos like this

[@Sth0r]

hey i realy like your videos, especially the meshtastic onec, one thing i would love to see is maybe some home build meshtastic antennas, but it might be a secound channel video...

[@Zadster]

I think it is safe to say that without these antenna permits, many more churches, chapels and similar organisations would have closed 20 years ago. They would certainly be in considerably worse repair.

[@saxpert]

You are using your mini3 quite well. Panning from up to down during altitude change looks good. My mini2 is limited in looking up, the only thing I miss.

[@leaveempty5320]

I worked for Orange in the 90's before site share was a big thing and planning was difficult so they were innovative using windows, flag poles, lampposts, "trees", leaky feeders, antennas inside petrol station signs, pico cells and probably more.....

[@merlingriffin3861]

There was a local church which was located on a spot one of the cellular providers after an engineering study determined they needed a cell-site in the immediate vicinity. The cell company built the church a new sign, this one about 75' (22 m) tall. They put a fiberglass shroud around the top with the church emblems, disguising the cellular antennas. Plus they paid the church a nice monthly rental fee. The pastor said, since we were in something of a recession, the collection plates were coming up a little thinner at the time, so the rent money helped. It was in a nicer neighborhood, not real affluent, but let's say upper middle class, so some of the neighbors hated it and complained to the church and City Hall. You also had the tin foil hat types coming out in fear of the radiation. The City did eventually pass an ordinance restricting cellular and some commercial towers to areas zoned commercial or industrial. They didn't even try to restrict amateur or CB antennas, they lost that fight big time years before cellular was invented. The court ruled on that the case was precedent setting. So, the City has left HAMS alone ever since. Then there is one over in a smaller community where the disguised the cell tower as a tall pine tree, but it sticks out like sore thumb. Pines don't grow that tall here, it's too hot in the summer. Plus I can easily see the cell panels in the fake branches. On top of all that as far as I can tell it's not even 5G, so why did the cell company even bother to put it up. It's a recent addition at that. That's the next big fight. In the more affluent part of town, the 5G poles are popping up on many street corners. These people with 500K and up houses are throwing a big fit, and of course the anti-radiation tin foil had folks are coming out of the woodwork to fight this. I found out that those only run 25 watts at the best. I'm like at the base of the pole the radiation is negligible. Besides that, I've been a HAM most of my life and do repeater maintenance at sites with broadcast transmitters, cell sites and everything else. I'm normal, uh normal, uh normal.

[@PenryMMJ]

Nice one. There's another advantage to using a church. The idiots that go around vandalising antenna sites probably wouldn't burn down a church.

[@4X4-RADIO]

Unlike Advertising, where it's banned in the UK I got the "Death Tower"

[@paulaus]

Here in Melbourne Australia there are many churches with hidden or otherwise antennas, but only Anglican Churches as Roman Catholics don't need the money. I saw a castle in Dublin has a brick vinyl wrap on their panels to match the castle brickwork for very effective blending in.

[@paulsharpe3794]

Hi there I like the covert transmitters. I know it's a bit outside your area but I remember a mobile mast hidden inside the price display of a Shell petrol station about 10 miles from Scarborough on the a64 . The giveaway was the big green box next to the sine and the time someone drove into it removing most of the plastic parts.

[@heckelphon]

A great and very thoroughly researched post! Many thanks for this. It is another example, I am afraid, of churches looking anywhere they can for income, and that the Grade II* status matters little to the Trafford Council planning authorities. While most of the stuff behind the parapets matters little, as it is relatively hidden until you put your drone up there, those panels on the wall are absolutely hideous. That's where I would have thought the controls on the church's fabric from within the diocese should have stepped in: if it doesn't matter to planners, it should surely have mattered to those in the church's hiearchy charged with looking after its architecture, and thus there should have been refusal to house that feature before it went for planning approval. But money talks, and greed is all about us!

[@hanktorrance6855]

Always love your presentations. would very much enjoy seeing more of the hiding in plain sight sort of thing 👍

[@Hiram8866]

Great stuff Lewis. I really enjoyed this.

[@m0tef901]

GB3LM and GB3LS are on the top tower of Lincoln Cathedral along with some ATV repeaters too. It’s a great site with a fantastic height advantage over any other sites in the area. one of the few very old sites for repeaters in the world. As the keeper it’s a great privilege to be able to have access to the site for our hobby.

[@ozbolli]

UMTS was always Universal Mobile Telephony System when I worked for Sony Ericsson UK & Ireland. What a great time to be in the industry.

[@Stubbino]

It's amazing how many people complain about the potential health risk of mobile phone towers, yet the same people likely has a mobile phone in their pocket or handbag.

[@sonyp180]

Better reception for the Lords prayer 🙏

[@ClarkNethers]

Great video. More covert or hidden site videos please!

[@JohnSmith-ix4nb]

Great drone footage! Very enjoyable. I look forward to your next video.

[@m7trsradio]

Great video Lewis. Would love to come in one of your church trips to see how you go about and film it all. 🤞🏽😁 73

[@rhodaborrocks1654]

You should have ended with "Here endeth the lesson" 😆

[@dafyddr8678]

How on earth did you find this information ! Great video as always Lewis.

[@01cthompson]

Loosely related to churches and communication; were some churches in England built so that the windows in the bell towers would align with those in the neighboring village? The goal being that lights could be used to clandestinely send signals at night. I recall hearing or reading a single reference to this. It sounds implausible to me, but who knows?

[@Brian3989]

Mos ancient churches were built so that the alter was at the East end of the building.

[@g0fvt]

There are many, many hidden antennas in areas where they are sensitive to planning issues. Churches are not backwards at capitalising on their roof spaces. A small GPS mushroom being seen as a second antenna and attracting as much rent as the main antenna. Many crypts are equipment rooms...

[@cyanade]

Just to point out, those flag pole antennas wouldn’t be used for EE today and EE likely have sector panels hidden inside the church. The flagpoles where typically used Orange 2G (Two flagpoles for special diversity)

[@TheSpotify95]

I have seen flagpole masts in use for 3G and 4G too, for example at St Neots (Cambridgeshire) EE and 3 used a flagpole mast for 3G/4G services. The trouble with flagpoles is that they are limited in frequency bands due to the small size of the antennae they can fit into the flagpole.

[@RingwayManchester]

They’re definitely in use. There’s nothing inside the church antenna wise

[@cyanade]

@@RingwayManchester Ahh then you’re likely correct, I’ve never really seen flagpoles used for 4G due to the lack of capacity to the mast.

[@paulsengupta971]

There are some omnis for 4G on some small cells. If you look at some new lamp post units appearing around Birmingham and Reading, you can see some small omni antennas on them. They are 1800MHz 4G. There's the odd larger site with omni antennas as well, but they're not very common.

[@cyanade]

@@paulsengupta971 Yes, but that’s a small cell and is lot lower power and is for a small area.

[@declanmooney2469]

St Mary's in Bowdon isn't an Airwave site and never has been. It may have be used by the Police for their previous network

[@cdl0]

Beautiful music!

[@Milcom34]

Thanks RM. Always the Coolest Stuff*****

[@fsstickman1]

Cool

[@RJohnLloyd]

Interesting to see churches, or at least this one, being used to house antennae like this. I don’t know about any such churches doing the same where I live in Deeside, but I know the Steam Mill on the canal running through Chester has the transmitter for Dee Radio. You can barely see it, but it packs a punch, considering how small the station is! You might want to investigate this one in a later video, @RingwayManchester; a walk along the canal hits differently of a sunny day like today’s been! 73s :D

[@markgr1nyer]

I'm up for more disguised sites. Even the basics of how radios work blows my mind. How such little electrical power can be picked up potentially thousands of miles away (in other videos) just amazes me

[@jhonsiders6077]

Such great old masonry buildings . here in the US they are left to rot and go to Demolition . great to see a WISP site too I am a part owner in one out here in the country where stringing cable and fibre for a long distance is expensive for a few subscribers . They do need to touch up the paint on them for better camo though enjoy your channel . cheers .

[@cjmillsnun]

Orange was never an analogue phone provider. It was always digital, staring with GSM on 1800Mhz

[@lucashinch]

Top notch videography

[@seanoconnor8843]

I wonder how many objectors ever went in the church

[@JChristiansenLuckythebrony2222]

1:42 IMO, mobile phone towers are _bigger_ eyesores when they are disguised as trees then when they're not.

[@thexfile.]

Mary gets 5G.

[@Sool101]

Divine reception

[@Vtarngpb]

It’s a good thing Ringway’s FPS can cure cancer 😉

[@davestorm6718]

We have so many covert antennas in the USA - many going back to WWII and Cold War era , and many redundant for the military.

[@rohnkd4hct260]

There many such sites around. They are always interesting.

[@video99couk]

Presumably then this church has lost its bells at some point? Unless all that equipment is right next to the bells, which seems unlikely because it would be dangerous. Our local church very much has bells, I was up there ringing one last night, but I'm very much a learner at it.

[@BobAbc0815]

I guess the Churchbells where the Antennas of old.

[@davewood4604]

Yay a blast from the past. I got married to my first ex wife in that self same church

[@binky_bun]

There's an assortment of antennas on top of Lincoln Cathedral which at one point was the tallest building in the world. Where the antennas now sit used to be a spire so it was a lot taller than it is today but that collapsed in a storm at some point. I can't recall all of what's up there but the Lincoln repeater group have a bunch of amateur repeaters up there which is why I went up to help with some work on GB3LM. I took my camera up there and took a bunch of photos and also filmed the climb up on a body mounted action camera. Supposedly the building dates back to about 800AD so it was a very interesting place to explore if a tough climb.

[@dw7920]

Down the road here in Guildford, the golden-painted angel weathervane on the cathedral sits atop a mobile antenna installation clustered around the pole on which the angel is located. Guildford cathedral sits upon a hill just outside the town and thus this site has fantastic takeoff. I have some photos which I took when we had the opportunity to visit the roof which I can share with you @ringwaymanchester if you'd like?

[@u.e.u.e.]

Is 3G still in use in the UK? It's completely shut off here in Germany. The frequencies were re-purposed for other technologies. We're using 2G, 4G and 5G on frequencies between 700 and 3,600 MHz. That's it (in 2024).

[@Joebloggs-eo2vw]

It's being Retired as we speak. 3G on EE and Vodafone is already dead

[@paulsengupta971]

O2 are keeping 3G on until at least the end of next year. It's still good tech and still very much in demand.

[@u.e.u.e.]

@@paulsengupta971 Sure, you could achieve up to 42.2 MBit/s download-speed. The "problem" with older standards in telecommunication: they are less effective! You can use the same frequency and bandwidth for a new standard with much higher rates of transmission. Imagine you have space for 10 CDs in a drawer. Each can storage 650 MB of data. Now you replace the 10 CDs with 10 DVDs. Each can storage 8.5 GB - that's much more in the same space with the same amount of plastic. Just another code. 🤷‍♂️🤪

[@philkennedy342]

Thanks sharing it surprising just where radio antennas are hiding…. Did you do the drone camera work yourself or did someone else help you with that….

[@RingwayManchester]

Thanks, all footage in my videos is my own :)

[@chriswade7470]

If the church is Church of England, then a Faculty from the Diocese would be needed.

[@ravingdavid69]

that was great thanks for sharing

[@shibasurfing]

Microwave backhaul is obviously favored by telecoms because they don’t have to run fiber. Which would then require them (as a common carrier) to allow others access. And then we’d all have fiber internet, with no need for the (existing) telecoms’ services. So, it’s cool and all, but also a net negative for customers.

[@Bugsworth]

Try Brian Eno and Robert Fripp's Evensong Abum. Once heard, cannot be unheard!

[@sandy1653]

As someone who runs a small WISP, churches can be pretty handy for antenna sites. But recently we've had a bit of trouble due to the anti-5G nutters getting involved and kicking up an unnecessary fuss. We've lost a couple tower sites because of them over the years which is an almighty inconvenience.

[@4X4-RADIO]

"Don't Look Up"....

[@stephengunnell5048]

Just been watching some of your Duga and Cobra Mist videos. Now I'm curious, does Jorn / Jindalee produce any interesting shortwave signals?

[@yoyo-qi7or]

15 sec ? Damn

[@syncrosimon]

Hidden antenna videos please👍

[@jamiefly]

For twenty plus years a certain food outlet has 3+4g base stations inside certain big "M" signage....

[@charleshunziker7416]

My pastor asked me to go into the steeple with the cell phone company officials they offered us a thousand a month but declined it because of asbestos

[@christophersmith1155]

CHURCHES, SCHOOLS ARE USUALY ON HIGH GROUND.

[@andrewuk8363]

I'm sorry but that church looks totally vandalised by these modern companies and it should never of been granted by the local council for planning permission. This is a place of worship and just because its the highest point it should not of been attacked like this.

[@Burrby_Stocks]

As a Christian, putting antennas for commercial use on a church feels wrong.

[@TheColinputer]

I always love how tin foil hatters complain about cell base stations. But are always the most vocal people when it comes to bad reception.

[@paulsengupta971]

A friend of mine posted a photo from his house of the surrounding countryside, boasting, "Not a pylon or phone mast to be seen". Then a while later he was complaining about the phone signal at his house. I said there was a reason for that...

[@TheChipmunk2008]

"health risk" yegods (heh)

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

*IN GOD WE TRUST.* *{All others we monitor.}* 🤭🤭🤭

[@robertfletcher3421]

Nice music

[@mhoobag1]

I did not know Orange was analoge? I always thought it was Cellnet and Vodaphone and then Orange digital come along.

[@EE12CSVT]

You're correct