South Clettraval

South Clettraval is a hill on North Uist which rises to 438 feet (135 m) and is notable for the various radar and communications installations installed on its summit.

Air defence radar station

Air defence radar station
� Richard Webb

A military air defence radar station is sited on South Clettraval, North Uist, and provides long range cover of North Atlantic approaches to Scotland. The station lies within a fenced compound which contains a large radome together with at least seven other related buildings, together with a number of masts. The station is unmanned, and had reported to CRC (Control and Reporting Centre) Buchan until 2004, when that station was itself downsized and became an unmanned remote radar head.

An access road leads to the site from the A865 road, and the summit offers views of St Kilda.

Tracking radar station

South Clettraval installations
� Greg Morss

A missile tracking radar station is located on the same site as the air defence radar station on the summit of South Clettraval, North Uist.

This smaller station and its support building can be seen to the right of the large radome pictured to the right.

The two systems are unrelated, and the smaller system is operated by QinetiQ in support of operations at the Royal Artillery Range at South Uist. This site offers a clear radar view extending west toward St Kilda with almost no restrictions from north to south.

Approximately 17 miles south of Clettraval is the hill of Rueval on South Uist, where QinetiQ operate the Royal Artillery (RA) Hebrides missile firing range. Range safety radars have been installed at a number of key locations, and these feed information back to the Range Control Base (RCB) located on the summit of Rueval.

Television transmitter

South Clettraval Hill is the site of a television transmitter, with the antenna located 172 metres above ground datum, and rated at 2 kW ERP. The white antenna cover at the top of the transmitter mast can be seen to the left of the large radome pictured above.