Issue 3, 2009
RFI brings communications to the
most remote building in England
Skiddaw House described by Alfred Wainwright as being ‘At the back o’ beyond...’ can now provide accommodation for walkers and cyclists.
Built as a dwelling for gamekeepers and shepherds in the early 1800’s, Skiddaw House is located on a 1500ft high plateau between Skiddaw and Blencathra mountains in the English Lakes District.
Described by Alfred Wainwright as being ‘At the back o’beyond….’, the house is 3½ miles from the nearest road, has no mains electricity, no postal delivery and no landline telephone.
Up until 2002 the Youth Hostel Association ran the building. After a 5 year gap Skiddaw House has reopened to provide a simple and an economical £10 a night lodging for walkers and cyclists.
The problem faced by the Skiddaw House Foundation Trust was how to operate a viable and successful hostel given that no one could book accommodation either by phone or by email. British Telecom had quoted a prohibitive sum of £65,000 to install a landline some ten years ago and satellite phone communication costs are unaffordable. To make matters worse not even mobile phones are able to work in such a remote location.
Fortunately a trustee came across the Burnside Desktop Mobile™ on the Internet. Initial tests using an external antenna supplied by an Australian antenna manufacturer RFI connected to the Burnside unit concluded that only the Vodafone GSM/GPRS network and RFI COL2195 antenna could provide reliable phone and other data communications. Extensive testing using a variety of antennas from antenna manufacturers proved fruitless until an antenna from RFI was supplied by local agent Oxtec Solutions in Banbury, Oxon.
An ordinary desktop phone and a PC connected via USB cable to the Burnside T900 now provides voice communications, Internet access, email and SMS text messaging.
Since the Burnside unit can work from mains or from
8-32VDC, the terminal is permanently powered by the hostel’s DC batteries. These in turn are charged from a standby LPG powered generator and trickle charged by solar modules.
Martin Webster, Warden of Skiddaw House commented “I cannot imagine us having to go back to using the Citizens Band radio we tried to use in the past. The internet terminal has transformed our lives up here in the mountains enabling visitors to phone or email their bookings and letting us keep in contact with our friends and relatives. This was never possible before. We are indebted to Burnside Telecom,Oxtec Solutions and RFI for their help in supplying and installing these vital pieces of equipment”.
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