History
Somerton was not a core site in the Post Office/BT microwave network - it began life as a short wave "beam" station built by Marconi, later transferred to the Post Office. Until the mid-1970s it was a receive site for overseas telephony and teleprinter links. The station was then used for the Maritime Radio Service as part of "Portishead Radio", operated from Burnham on Sea.
A microwave link was set up to allow remote control the receivers at Somerton and relay the received signals to Burnham. Based on the available information it appears a 50 ft (15 m) mast was used, probably carrying a single dish linking via Penhill.
The station closed in 2000 but the mast remained in use until around 2005, by that stage acting as a base station for the BT Cellnet mobile phone network and the then "new" Airwave system used by the emergency services. (These facilities were re-located to a small tower around 500 m to the north and the mast dismantled, as were the many others once used by the station..)