History
Swaffham, with a tall "standard tower" was the penultimate station on the "new" general-purpose route from Birmingham to Norwich (Stoke Holy Cross) which replaced an earlier television-only link via Wickhambrook. The site is marked (simply as "mast") on a 1970 OS Plan and probably came into operation by 1967 at the latest since it also formed part of a Radar link between Neatishead and Staxton Wold. The tower was designed to support an opposed pair of horns at the top. The whole route from Birmingham to Norwich appears to have been planned with this type of arrangement. By 1973 two dishes were also in place, it's likely these were for the Linesman link at 2 GHz.
During the 1980s 11 GHz digital links were added over some routes, these typically used three dishes of newer design and can be seen in the 2007 photo but had been removed by early 2009. Today the structure supports only local links with the antenna for a DAB transmitter occupying the highest point on the tower.
Some sources suggest a route from Swaffham to Mendlesham. There is no obvious evidence of this in available photos and further research is required. An article in the Post Office Electrical Engineers' Journal, October 1981, mentions evaluation then in progress of a 280 Mbit/s link between Swaffham and Mendlesham - but it is unclear whether this was a single "hop" or perhaps went via Stoke Holy Cross.
