One of three remotely controlled nuclear monitoring posts is located in a large German bunker near St. Ouen’s Church, originally part of the Ludendorff Army Artillery Battery. Access to the bunker is along a long sloping tunnel from the surface.
Prior to 1991, this post would have been manned during exercises and would have performed the same function as a mainland Royal Observer Corps post, sending data back to CD Headquarters in St. Helier.
An array of aerials, sensors and detectors are contained within a small fenced compound with a sign on the fence ‘States of Jersey Meteorological Department Weather Station’. Just outside the compound there is an ROC style FSM pipe. During an exercise the flat plate on top of the pipe would have been unbolted and replaced with a plastic dome.
The external probe of a Plessey PDRM82F would then be pushed into this dome from inside the bunker using a long metal rod that can be fixed in place to the bottom of the pipe. All that remains inside the post now is a telephone and a Mini Instruments unit measuring temperature, wind speed, wind direction and radiation levels.
Those taking part in the visit were Nick Catford, Keith Ward, and Robin Cherry.
