Trafford Park: Going Live! Traditional Cache
Hidden : 6/9/2013
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

Another cache in the Trafford Park series.

This cache is placed next to one of the most modern areas of Trafford Park - the bit by the quays being developed for MediaCityUK. On the Trafford Park side of the Ship Canal, ITV studios have built a new complex next to the Imperial War Museum North; this houses a new 'Coronation Street' set and other stages and production facilities. Next to this lies three dry docks.

On one of the quaysides to the docks a satellite up/downlink earth station has been built. The dishes and infrastructure are owned and operated by SiS - the same people who bought most of BBC Resources and Outside Broadcasts several years ago - and this base station allows them good views of the sky to access most of the broadcast communications satellites used in the UK. (These satellites are generally in geostationary orbits over the equator - so the dishes will often point towards the southwest/south/southeast.)


(Credit: pic from SIS website)

The dishes themselves range from 3.8m to 9.0m in diameter (geeky bit alert):

Dish 1, 8.1m DBS band
Dish 2, 9.0m C band
Dish 3, 8.1m Ka band
Dish 4, 6.3m Ku band
Dish 5, 6.3m Ku band
Dish 6, 3.8m Ku band
Dish 7, 3.8m Ku band
Dish 8, 4.8m Ku band
Dish 9, 4.8m Ku band

All dishes are manufactured by General Dynamics and are Vertex models. All have four port feeds and are transmit capable. http://www.mediacityuk.co.uk/p/sis-live-announces-the-launch-of-new-teleport-at-mediacityuk

More information about SIS's teleport facility can be found here at NEP's site since they've absorbed SIS's business! )

CACHE SECURITY AND FINDING IT

Obviously uplink/downlink sites like this can be sensitive locations. For this reason, the cache is located and can be accessed directly from Trafford Wharf Road - you can see some of the dishes from GZ but there's no need to rummage too close to them or look suspicious next to the site. Please access it from the roadside. You can temporarily park your car in the gateways near GZ for a quick grab. The cache is a micro, similar to some of the others in the Trafford Park series.

As it happens, the access road to the dishes (and nearby logistics firm) is normally open to access so you can walk round and get a closer look of the dishes and backup generator, and the docks. You'll see more of the old Trafford Park Railway embedded in the ground here by the docks (see http://coord.info/GC42912 ) - of particular interest seems to be some dual gauge track and points crossing up by the security hut. Either way, if you do go to look at the dishes, please be mindful of security concerns.

No prize for FTF (sorry) apart from pride - congrats to Crazy Bones! One of the thoughts about placing this here is that I thought it'd be easy to get from Salford Quays/Mediacity itself, only being a short walk away.
Some people appear to have had trouble finding this due to a perceived fence-or-gate-in-the-way problem. The cache is accessible from 'outside' of the fence - you can walk right up to its location from the roadside - you shouldn't be inside the compound or behind the gate.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Abj gjb cbfgf qbja sebz gur pbeare, fghpx haqre.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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