Mahon’s Radio Tower

View across water of telecommunications tower on grassy hillside surrounded by mature trees in Mahon, Cork, with stone seawall and rocky shoreline in foreground under clear blue sky

Twenty two years separate the two images here. The first one is a photo of the old radio antenna tower in Mahon and it was taken in 2003. Back then cattle grazed in the field the tower stood in. That tower was dismantled around a year ago. There’s an interesting Reddit thread here about it. The second photo was from earlier this year where a smaller tower with familiar equipment for what is probably mobile phone cell reception.

It’s an old AM / Medium Wave radio tower that used to carry RTE Radio Cork / Radio 1 and at one stage even a relay of 2FM on medium wave, for those who liked their music crackly. It hasn’t been on air rather a long time an I think RTE has a number of transmitters being demolished. They’re doing it as a single contract.

As far as I’m aware that site was decommissioned in the early 2000s, before RTE finally switched off the main Medium Wave (AM) site in Tullamore. The transmitter itself is long gone. All that’s there is the mast.

There’s no prospect of that mast ever being used again.

Old AM sites typically use the whole structure of the antenna as the transmitter. They often sat on an isolated base and the tower height is half the wave length. So you can’t even easily retune them for an alternate AM frequency and they’re relatively useless for mobile phone gear as they are somewhat flexible and move in the wind.

Basically it would cost RTE a fortune to maintain it, even if it’s a local landmark. They’re not going to pay for ongoing maintenance and they’re quite complicated structures with guy-wires and aircraft hazard lighting and all that stuff.


Apertureƒ/4.8
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Focal length22.4mm
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Shutter speed1/550s

A Chimney in silhouette

Many years ago, I photographed the sunset over the North Side of Cork City, using the silhouette of a roof and chimney as a foreground.

This is so long ago that I used a 2MP Fuji, my second digital camera.


Apertureƒ/2.8
CameraFinePix2800ZOOM
Focal length22.4mm
ISO100
Shutter speed1/17s

The Ballincollig Regional Park Weir

The weir in Ballincollig Regional Park collapsed in 2014, but this photo was taken many years before that, in 2003. Repairs to the weird have been delayed over and over again, unfortunately.


Apertureƒ/8.2
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Focal length36mm
ISO100
Shutter speed1/270s

Silhouettes in the sky

Teenage boys watching the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Cork in 2003. They were sitting on street signs at the bottom of Patrick’s Hill as the parade walked past down McCurtain Street.


Apertureƒ/8.2
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Focal length6mm
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Shutter speed1/900s

The Weir in Ballincollig Regional Park

On a particularly foggy morning in December 2002 I wandered around Ballincollig Regional Park. I photographed the weir that morning in the mist. Wasn’t much to be heard except the rushing of the water.

Some fifteen years later the centre of the weir would collapse. The OPW may rebuild it at a cost of over €1m. Hopefully that happens.


Apertureƒ/2.8
CameraFinePix2800ZOOM
Focal length8.2mm
ISO100
Shutter speed1/170s

Last Minute Shopping at O’Donovans Butchers

O’Donovan’s Butchers on Princes Street is long gone but back in 2002 I took this photo on Christmas Eve of shoppers getting food for their dinner the next day. 19 years ago to the day.


Apertureƒ/2.8
CameraFinePix2800ZOOM
Focal length6mm
ISO100
Shutter speed1/20s