An innovative radio system from Icom is helping volunteer guides communicate at a recently-opened underground attraction in the UK.
The Ramsgate Tunnels were dug during World War Two and became a secret underground town, providing shelter from air raids for 26,000 people. Reopened as a tourist attraction in May 2014, they are the only civilian tunnels of their type used during the conflict.
Icom’s radio system features an innovative ‘leaky feeder’ that provides radio communication throughout the tunnel network, which is sixty feet underneath the town of Ramsgate and extends for three and a half miles.
The attraction required two way radio coverage in the tunnels for the guides to use and also to ensure safety. The Icom IC-F3002 VHF handportable radios are predominantly used, and during each tour radios are connected to a IC-FR5100 VHF Repeater base radio and other radios on the scheme such as at the entrance. The system was installed by Smye Rumbsy.
Winston Churchill was among the visitors to the tunnels during the Second World War – the prime minister was in Ramsgate inspecting bomb damage but was forced to descend into the tunnels for shelter during an air raid.
Close Window