Old News - i.e. text that has previously been under the News heading on the Home page

The Old News below is just for general interest.  It only indicates some of the additions since the web site was started.
 

Following my earlier notification about the sale, some visitors to bbceng might be interested to know that the book "BBC Engineering 1922 - 1972" was recently up for auction on eBay.  The seller started the auction at £89.99 but there were no bidders.  In the past I have seen one changing hands for £112 !  I had no involvement or financial interest in either of these auctions and I only know about them because I have an automatic search for "BBC Engineering" set up on eBay.

......On reading the above, Phil Brooks sent me an email pointing out that Amazon are currently listing three copies of Pawley’s book.  Prices range from £213 for one in ‘acceptable’ condition to £315 for a ‘very good’ copy.  Looks as though we all missed a bargain on e-bay!

......At the opposite extreme, Roger Beardsley has emailed to say that bargains are still to be had on eBay because he picked up a copy of BBC Engineering a few weeks ago for 22 Euros! From a chap in Italy!

......And now I see that, following the failed auction above, the book is back on eBay starting at £60.  [It sold for £122]

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Auntie’s 45 Year Love Affair with ET4336.  What's this about? Click here.

An article about this web site has just appeared in Prospero, the newspaper for retired BBC staff.  If this has prompted you to visit for the first time then you might like to click here to see a version of the article which contains links to relevant parts of BBCeng.  Welcome - I hope that you enjoy your visit.

Other visitors might also like to see the article linked above as it provides an introduction to the site.

Colleagues will be sad to know of the recent deaths of three ex-transmitter staff:

• Percy Winsor, STE WooffertonF who died in late April and was buried at Yarpole.
• Janet Jones [nee Faulkner], Woofferton Cook.  Her funeral was in late May.
• G.F. Turner, Antenna STE and A/AEiC Daventry.  His funeral is on 3 June in Daventry.  He was 90.

About 90 group pictures of people attending courses at BBC Engineering Training have been added under the Training page (see menu above).

A film about Droitwich transmitting station being constructed in 1934 has been added to the Videos page (see menu above).  Towards the end there is a good sequence showing large rotating machines being run up and knife switches being thrown to start a transmission.  Not many people realise how much work was involved!
 

Ex-colleagues will be saddened to learn that Mike Barnes has died.  He was a Senior Transmitter Engineer at Wenvoe transmitting station.

Prompted by a picture sent in by Phil Brooks, I have started a collection of Wood Norton course photographs on the Training page (see menu above).  Well, it's a collection of one at present, but I have a few of my own to add soon and contributions would be appreciated please.

Pictures taken at the 2007 D&ED reunion lunch have been added here. 
 

I have been asked to write an article about BBCeng for Prospero, the newspaper for retired BBC staff.  If you have any views on the aspects of BBC engineering that I should highlight then please let me know.

You  might be interested to know that the book On Air has been supplied to customers in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, the USA and, of course, the UK.
 

Many ex-BBC engineers will be saddened to learn that Ivor Tupper died on Friday 1st February 2008, aged 81.  His funeral took place near Amersham on Thursday 14th February.  Donations in memory of Ivor can be made to the Parkinson’s Disease Society at www.parkinsons.org.uk or tel: 020 7932 1303.  Ivor was a talented and highly respected engineer who, amongst other things, did pioneering work on the development of pulsed klystron techniques which significantly increased the efficiency of the BBC's television transmitter network.  The picture shows him in 1984 when he was a VIP guest at the 50th anniversary of Droitwich transmitting station.

Martin Briscoe has kindly drawn my attention to a radio programme and a book that would probably be of interest to BBCeng visitors:

Broadcasts from the Bunker, BBC Radio Four on Monday 28th January 2008 at 8 pm.

Island Base: Ascension in the Falklands War: ISBN 978-1904445-18-0
It includes a chapter by Norman Shacklady on the BBC's involvement.  (Norman is also joint editor of On Air.)

The price of the book "On Air" has been reduced from £12.50 to £5 (plus P&P).  Only a limited stock is available and there will not be a reprint when the stock is exhausted.  So, "Hurry while the stock lasts".  Click on the picture.

Please note the new menu item above - Videos.

Visitors to this web site will probably be interested in the following article which tells the story of another achievement which started in BBC Engineering.  Revolution Not Evolution: The Birth of bbc.co.uk  Thanks are due to Avon Edward Foote, Associate Professor, University of North Alabama, for drawing this to my attention.

Just made it!  At the end of November 96% of the bandwidth allowance for the web site had been used (It starts from zero at the beginning of each month).  If you saw my request and avoided downloading large files - thank you.  I caused the problem by putting several videos on the web site and they turned out to be quite popular.  I have started using a different approach in order to avoid the problem in future.  The videos are now on YouTube and you can see them either by going to the YouTube web site or by looking at the relevant pages on BBCeng, where they are embedded.  I think that this solves the problem, but please let me know if you think otherwise. 

The Transmission Reunion page is now linked from Transmitter Operations (see above).

It has been suggested by Rik Brooks that it would be good to include SCPD monthly news magazines on this web site.  If you have a copy of any of the issues and would be willing to help, then would you please get in touch with me.

There are five new items in Info Exchange.

Last April David Brown sent me a video of Equipment Department and, with apologies for the long delay, I am pleased to report that you can now see it by clicking here.

I have not yet embedded all of the videos, but I'll do this soon.  (BBC Transmission - Aiming at the Future, is here.)

Please avoid downloading large files from this web site during November 2007 as 90% of the bandwidth allowance was used by the 15th and the site will be put out of action if the allowance is exceeded.

A video called "BBC Transmission - Aiming at the Future" was available on this web site, but on 13 Nov 2007 it was temporarily removed to avoid the bandwidth allowance for this web site being exceeded for this month.  Please return in December.

A very successful Transmission Reunion was held on 31st October 2007.  A Group photo has been added and there is a link to Prestige Photography where prints of the 'official' pictures can be ordered.  A video of this event, produced by Graham Smith, was available and provides a good record.  As above, please return in December.  If you were there and have some pictures that are suitable for publication then please get in touch (Click Info Exchange & Contact above).

D&ED Reunion on 14th November 2007.  Click for details.

A very successful Transmission Reunion was held on 31st October 2007.  New: Group photo added.  New: A video of this event, produced by Graham Smith, is now available and provides a good record.  If you were there and have some pictures that are suitable for publication then please get in touch (Click Info Exchange & Contact above).

D&ED Reunion on 14th November 2007.  Click for details.

Jeff Longbottom has provided some good information in response to a request on the Information Exchange and Contact page (Link above).  Look for the pictures of Dinky toys.

Transmission Reunion: Wednesday 31st October 2007.  201 people so far!

Click here for more information and a special offer regarding "On Air".

If you plan to attend the Transmission Reunion, please add your picture here.

Please pay now to be certain of attendance.

The BBC has kindly established an arrangement whereby circuit diagrams of old equipment can be provided.  This only relates to "BBC Coded Equipment" that was designed in-house (mainly by Designs Department) and the Terms & Conditions are given below.  The information will be provided on PDF files, in response to requests regarding individual items.  If possible, the Equipment Code should be given (e.g. AM7/11).  This web site has all of the EDI Sheets that were produced and RD&CE listings, so this might help in identifying specific items of equipment.  It is likely that most requests will emerge as a result of ex-BBC coded equipment being acquired and this probably doesn't happen very often, but we need to make sure that the BBC is not inundated so please send such requests to me for the time being.

Terms & Conditions: "Any intellectual property rights in these [circuit diagrams] are owned/licensed by the BBC. They are made available for private study use only and on the understanding that no warranties are provided by the BBC (in relation to third party intellectual property rights or otherwise) and that all liabilities relating to the individual's use of this material rest with the individual and not with the BBC".

Many thanks to all concerned at the BBC!

Pictures of flooding at Woofferton during June 2007. (Pictures taken by Julian and link provided by David Porter).

Coming soon: Video contributions on Equipment Department and Transmission team bases (received some time ago, but I need to process them for web publication.  I'm sorry about the continuing delay.). 

Alan Lafferty has kindly provided Notes on the History of Engineering Information Department and he says that he is happy for anyone who wishes to modify or dispute the material to do so!  Eng Inf, the Quarterly Newsletter for BBC Engineering Staff, was produced by EID and most issues are now back on this web site following withdrawal in April after the web site bandwidth allowance was exceeded.  Click Eng Inf in the menu above.

Martin Briscoe has drawn my attention to a very interesting site, called Wonders of World Engineering, which includes early articles on Droitwich and Television at Alexandra Palace.  See Reference in the menu above.

I am pleased to report that a major contribution from G.P. Lowery on the Skelton short wave transmitting station has been published and it is listed in the Transmission Operations/Reminiscences section.  Equivalent contributions on Daventry and Woofferton already exist, so now we need Rampisham to complete the set - any offers?

A pilot bbcmemories site has been established as part of the official BBC web site.  At present it just has a gallery of pictures and a small number of good written entries which can be accessed from a single list.  Hopefully it will develop into a large site with a suitable structure to separate specific interests and eventually I hope that it will contain many, if not all, of the items currently on bbceng.info.  I welcome the appearance of the official bbcmemories site but I plan to continue with bbceng.info for the foreseeable future, so please keep your contributions coming.  Robin Reynolds, Head of BBC Heritage, sees bbcmemories as being complementary to sites such as bbceng.info and, if you are interested, I published my views on the issue here (see the entry for 3 Feb to 21 Mar 2007).

I am delighted to report that Richard Russell has contributed "My Career in the BBC, Part 2". Richard's achievements were spectacular and I am confident that they will be of interest to every engineer involved in broadcasting. That's a bold claim, so please click on the link and judge for yourself. (Scroll to the last item in the list).

I presently have video contributions on Equipment Department and Transmission team bases.  I need to do some processing first and as a result of other commitments I do not expect to publish these videos until August. 
 

Welcome to new visitors, especially readers of Prospero (the newspaper for retired BBC staff).  If you have visited this web site as a result of David Sandbrook's Transmission reunion announcement on page 3 of the April 2007 edition, then please click above.  I hope that you will also enjoy looking at other parts of this web site as it includes many items related to transmitters and communications.

More contributions are on the way, so please return.
 

Please would you try to avoid downloading large files from this web site during April because my 6Gb monthly bandwidth allowance is close to being exceeded and I would like to avoid the need to pay for an upgrade.  (Looking at the Transmission Reunion page is not a problem.)

I have removed all issues of Eng Inf from the web site in order to reduce traffic, but the list of contents remains.  They were produced by Engineering Information Department and I hope that there will be a contribution describing EID at some time in the future.  As well as producing Eng Inf, the department acted as the public face of BBC Engineering.

Arqiva and National Grid Wireless combine to create unified UK communications infrastructure provider. (The domestic services of BBC Transmission became Crown Castle UK and subsequently National Grid Wireless.)

Don Bowman started with the BBC in 1941 and I am delighted to report that he has contributed his reminiscences about Daventry to this web site.  He worked on the BBC's first Long Wave transmitter (5XX) and its first Short Wave transmitter (Sender 1), so he has been able to give an account of engineering activities going back to the very early days of the BBC.
 

Welcome - especially if this is your first visit.  There are two reasons why I am expecting quite a lot of new visitors.  Firstly, news of a possible Transmission reunion (see above) seems to be spreading fast.  Secondly a link to this web site has just appeared in Prospero, the newspaper for retired BBC staff.

The site is constantly under development and there is plenty of scope for improvement, so I would be grateful for any relevant contribution that you could make.

Those who do not receive Prospero might be interested to know that articles have appeared on the subject of "BBC Memories" web sites.   Robin Reynolds, Head of BBC Heritage, says "...we want to pilot the idea [of an official BBC Memories web site], to see what works best for staff - current and retired - and how it should fit with the existing memories sites set up by former BBC staff.  Some of these appear to work well for their particular communities, and we would wish to complement rather than compete with this activity...".  This seems very encouraging and I am also pleased to see from Prospero that the thoughts of people running some of the other sites are similar to mine.  The sites featured are: www.vtoldboys.com, www.tech-ops.co.uk, www.orbem.co.uk and this one.  (In general I don't make links to external web sites open in a new window or tab and I leave it to you to do that if you wish e.g. by holding down Shift or Ctrl when clicking.)

The previous issue of Prospero asked for comments and I sent in the following, which has just appeared in the current issue:-

Roger Beckwith who runs http://www.orbem.co.uk/ says "It does worry me that my own site contains the work of many people who deserve to have their efforts preserved for posterity.  I currently keep a disc in an addressed envelope to be sent to a colleague in the event of my death."  I agree and I do something similar, but I also hope that the interest shown by the BBC will result in a further insurance policy.

To end on a lighter note, Pinky, pictured above holding the web site banner, has guarded over BBC engineers since 1928 so I chose him as the emblem for this web site.  You can find out about Pinky by clicking his picture.

Other news: Plans for Alexandra Palace TV Museum threatened.
 

Click here to see pictures of the receiver site at Ascension.
Click here for The Virtue of a Goniometer and some other short stories from Peter Tingey!
Click here to see a picture from the BH TV Repeater Station (G28) Staff Reunion in 1984.
Click here to see pictures from the D&ED reunion lunch held in 2006.

In 1989 two ex-Droitwich transmitter engineers, John Phillips and Peter Mellors were asked to set up a broadcasting exhibition in Droitwich as part of the Town's heritage.  At that time much of the transmitting station's original equipment had been scrapped as a result of modernisation, but some items were rescued.  The centrepiece of the display is the old transmitter control desk from the 1960 - 1989 period, rewired to simulate its original working conditions.  A recorded commentary and further exhibits illustrate the station's history.  People with an interest in the subject will find it to be well worth a visit.  In 1994 John Phillips produced "Droitwich Calling - The Story of Droitwich Transmitting Station" and I am delighted to say that he has contributed it for publication on this web site, complete with 18 additional pictures.  The result of John's work is a definitive record of this important transmitting station.

"Fifty years of transmitting at BBC Woofferton 1943 - 1993" covers the social and technical history of this major transmitting station.  It is probably the most extensive history of a short wave station that is presently available.  Jeff Cant started it in 1990 at the request of BBC Transmission management and an earlier version was issued at the time of the station's 50th anniversary in 1993.  In his retirement, Jeff has developed it much further (including 90 pictures) and I am delighted to say that he has contributed it for publication on this web site.  It is a 75 page PDF document in which Jeff weaves technical, personal and organisational issues together and paints a very interesting picture of life at the station.

A fascinating interview transcript has been added here.  It covers many aspects of BBC engineering from about 1935 to 1970, such as selection of colour TV systems, developments in sound and television transmission, outside broadcasts, standards conversion etc., etc.
 

Visitors to this web site might be interested in several short films that have been made available on the BBC's Creative Archive Trial.  For instance, click here and select "Television".  The trial is due to end on 29 September 2006 (although they might become available again in due course), so hurry if you want to download any of the files.  Unfortunately, for reasons explained on the BBC web site, the downloads are only available in the UK.

BBCeng.info now contains a contents list for every issue of Eng Inf (see link above), as well as PDF files of the first 40 issues.  This is a significant record of BBC engineering activities.
 

Happy 50^th Birthday to the Crystal Palace tower, which started broadcasting BBC Television on 10 September 1956.  See A Tale of Two Towers.

As the Marconi Company played a key role in establishing the BBC, readers of this web site might be interested in an exhibition called "Wireless World: Marconi & the making of radio".   Only about 40 items of equipment, out of the 655 objects presented to the museum, are presently on display in Oxford.  Furthermore this exhibition is due to end on 1/10/06, so hopefully a better and more permanent display will be available in future.  However some excellent work has been done to catalogue all the objects and make them available for inspection on the museum's web site.

For more than 30 years, BBC engineering innovations have been presented at the annual International Broadcasting Convention.  There was a time when some of the BBC's engineers travelled to IBC in Amsterdam by plane, but now the maddest ones cycle there!  No, this is not the BBC's latest economy drive.  It is in aid of the charity Children in Need and if you would like to support this venture you can find out more by clicking here.
 

Gosh!  A copy of Edward Pawley's book, BBC Engineering 1922 to 1972, has just sold on eBay for £138.95 and three other people put in bids over £100.  I bought a copy in 1972 and it does not leave my house, but I hoped to buy an extra copy to offer on loan to people using this web site.  However the price went up so fast in the last few minutes of the auction that my £102 bid was not even accepted.  I think that the price probably reflects the fact that it is an excellent book which records how engineers enabled the BBC to develop into what many believe was the World's best broadcasting organisation.  I would be interested to know how many copies were printed, but I don't expect it was many and most of them are now probably owned by retired BBC engineers.  I just hope that owners have marked their books clearly, so that the value and rarity is fully appreciated by their heirs.

The mast at Lisnagarvey has a very unusual shape.  There is nothing like it anywhere else in the UK and only very few in the world.  Find out more by clicking here. 

An account of early developments in the BBC's National and International television outside broadcasts has been added here.

An account of the first colour television from London to Moscow has been added here.

This web site now has its first streamed video!  The Open Day at Holme Moss in 1961 was rather special in the history of BBC Transmission, as there were nearly 8000 visitors.  Fortunately it was captured on film.
 

National PCM Changeover  -  Scary Engineering has been added to Comms Project Reminiscences and it includes a 42 page Commemorative Colour Brochure about an interesting project that took place in 1993.

Polytetrafluorethylene Plastic Bearings and Esther Rantzen - what do they have in common?  -  Answer

A Web Site Guide page has been added (see menu).

Eng Inf - The first 30 issues are now available on this web site.  This Quarterly Newsletter for BBC Engineering Staff between 1980 and 1993 is an excellent record of BBC engineering activities.  The relevant page can be seen by clicking Eng Inf in the coloured menu area above.

Pictures taken at a most enjoyable leaving party for Nick Davies have been added.

BBC press release - This announcement is relevant to people interested in BBC Transmission/CCI/NGW.
 

80 Monographs have been made available here on the BBC web site.

Eng Inf - The Quarterly Newsletter for BBC Engineering Staff between 1980 and 1993 is an excellent record of BBC engineering activities.  Some issues are now available on this web site.  The relevant page can be seen by clicking Eng Inf in the coloured menu area above.

Reference documents - A full list of Registered Designs and Coded Equipment has been added under Designs. 

Information Exchange - See the menu above.  Please make use of this new page.

Woofferton - Ancient & Modern  and  Memories of Kranji on Singapore Island have been contributed by Richard Buckby.  See Transmission Operations - Reminiscences.

More Pictures of people associated with communications projects have been added, following a most enjoyable gathering at BBC Television Centre for David Russell's retirement from the BBC.

Coming soon:  Eng Inf - The Quarterly Newsletter for BBC Engineering Staff between 1980 and 1993.

Pictures of people associated with communications projects have been added, following a most enjoyable gathering at BBC Television Centre for David Russell's retirement from the BBC.  More pictures from this event will be added soon.
 

Statistics: BBCeng had 490 "unique visitors" (7011 pages/22442 hits) in February, compared with 274 in January.  Pleasing.

Ascension:  Phil Brooks has contributed a fascinating article about life on Ascension Island, starting in the early days soon after the BBC's arrival.  David Dunmall has contributed some additional pictures.
 

"On Air" is now available!

A reprint of the book On Air - A History of BBC Transmission is now available.
It can be ordered via this web site.  Please click here for more information.
 

1 to 30 January 2006

Search:  It is now possible to search within this web site.

On Air:  A reprint of the book On Air is likely to be available in January 2006.  If you are already on the waiting list then I will contact you as soon as the books are available.

Pinky:  Try clicking on the beastie!