No. 13. - Summer 1983 Please circulate

The Quarterly for BBC Engineering StaH

Engineering Division gains In this edition of~ third Queens Award ENG INf

QUEEN'S AWARD Page 1

EDITORIAL Page 2

TRANSMITTERS OPENED Page 2

RADIO DATA Page 2

SCHEDULE UNIT Pages 3, 4 and 10

'ELECTION '83' The Queen's Award Logo, as displayed on CEEFAX SPECIAL FEATURE The BBC has been awarded the which has been used for CEEFAX Queen's Award to Industry for the and ORACLE ever since. Recent RADIO third time. The Award goes jointly development work offers the Page 5 to the British Broadcasting Corp- possibility of improved graphics, oration Engineering Directorate enhanced character sets for for- EXTERNAL SERVICES and the Independent Broadcasting eign language users, and the Page 6 Authority's Engineering Division transmission of photographic qual- for their pioneering work on the ity pictures. TELEVISION development and transmission of The latest innovation is the Pages 7 and 8 Teletext, the basic concept of transmission of Telesoftware. Cee- which has been adopted world- fax pages are used to carry com- REGIONS wide. puter programes, which can be Page 9 down loaded directly into home Following a year's engineering computers, such as the much- FASTER CEEFAX Page 10 experiments the BBC began trans- acclaimed BBC micro-computer. . mitting a Teletext service, called This is done by a special teletext CEEFAX, in September 1974. adaptor developed by Acorn SATELLITES TO SINGAPORE The IBA had also been investiga- Computers, manufacturers of the Page 11 ting a similar system known as micro-computer, in co-operation Oracle. Close co-operation bet- with engineers from Research and CANOPY AT THE MILL ween the BBC and IBA during the Designs Departments. This adap- Page 12 experimental period resulted in a tor can not only handle the com- unified standard being agreed puter software, but can also ***** between the two .organisations provide normal CEEFAX pages. 'ENG INF' Summer 1983 - Page an interesting lecture being given ***Editorial *** by Bill Mitchell, of Transmitter Transmitters Opened Department, to the Society of Feedback is a term that most eng- Electronic and Radio Technicians The following transmitting stat- ineers love or hate. When its posi- at Sussex University on the 12th ions have opened since April: tive feedback in an amplifier September. In his paper Bill circuit it oscillates causing all sorts describes the process that Trans- Uhf tv of untold misery. When the mitter Department have gone Aberfoyle, Central negative feedback circuit fails, the through from having one man per Bambridge, Co. Down gain goes haywire, yet the output transmitter continuously monitor- Blakeney, Glos. still resembles a much enlarged ing the output, to one visit every Burry Port, Dyfed input. These complex engineering six months (or when things Ironbridge, Salop problems can often be solved by go wrong!), and virtually no Killin, Central use of a dual-beam oscilloscope, or monitoring at all on the smallest Llyswen, Powis sensible intuition. uhf relays. Surely this must St. Marks (Tunbridge Wells), Kent highlight the high degree of Welwyn, Herts But what of the "positive feed- professionalism and engineering Vhf radio back" in more real terms; the mag- skill of todays transmitter eng- Blaenplwyf, West Wales azine editor who wants to know 'ineers. As Bill says in his paper Ffestiniog, West Wales who is reading the magazine, or "Broadcasting maintenance eng- Haverfordwest,West Wales the audience researcher who ineers have adapted successfully Llandyfriog, West Wales would like to know what you to the many changes of the past Machynlleth, West Wales watched on TV the night before? fifty years: there is every reason to Mynydd Pencarreg, West Wales Their task is a little more compli- believe that the new generation (all to stereo operation) cated, but several hundred inter- can face the future with confi- Isles of Scilly, Cornwall viewers, and the sensible use of a dence." (mixed polarisation) clip-board can provide quite acc- Mf radio urate answers. Eng Inf Tywyn, Cardigan Local radio So what relevance has this to eng- I must, once again, apologise for Bexhill, Radio Brighton ineering and engineers? We have the late appearance of Eng Inf. Radio Gwent all been asked to fill in a form Apart from a red face, I had little Radio Solway when the equipment failed in to show for the summer edition, Radio Tweed service, and thought "What a until the Prime Minister decided Radio York nuisance this form-filling isl". But to go to the country. This threw spare a thought for the engineer the inevitable short-circuit into who has to monitor the perfor- the works, and blew a fuse on our Radio Data mance of the equipment, and type-setting machine in the pro- anticipate spares requirements cess. All is now calm, and "Eng demonstrated some years ahead. You would be Inf" has survived the 92F in the the first to complain if equipment editor's office. In the mean- exhibited a persistent fault time, I am STI LL short of mat- to without some modification, or erial for the autumn edition, if the spares ran out after a few so unless we can arrange for a years in service. In the years collapse in Government, I still E.B.U. ahead, no doubt, this chore will be need your help in preparing the transmitted to the central collect- next edition. Any contributions ing point by electronic means, as, would be welcomed (though not The proposed unified European and when, a component fails; in necessarily published), on what- v.h.f. radio-data system was the meantime we will have to ever engineering subject you successfu Ily demonstrated to the continue to fill in the fault re- choose. Contact me, or Linda, on EBU Technical Committee at it's ports, and hope that someone, extension LBH 5432, or from meeting in Copenhagen in April. somewhere takes the time and August 30th 01-927 5432 (now Radio-data signals conforming trouble to read theml there's an interesting with the proposed standard were story ). put on-air from transmitters in T ransm itters Copenhagen and Horby in Sweden Alan Lafferty by engineers from the Swedish Whilst on the subject of mainten- Telecommunication Administrat- ance can I draw your attention to ion. 'ENG INF' Summer 1983 - Page 2 tional and international adminis- Schedule Unit on the right frequency trations and other broadcasters about this frequency usage. The In 1932 the BBCstarted the Emp- a blend of delicate art and trans- third side of the triangle is prov- ire Service, its first regular interna- mitter power. ided by John Hynd and three tional broadcasting service. Fifty Data Preparation Clerks in Re- years later, in 1982, BBC Exter- The Engineers in External Ser- ception Analysis Unit, who pro- nal Services celebrated its first vices Schedule Unit are only too vide the essential feedback of half century as a major interna- familiar with these problems, incoming reception data gleaned tional broadcaster currently serv- since theirs is the task of bal- from listeners of all kinds around ing a regular world wide audience ancing BBC programme require- the world telling BBC External estimated at upwards of one hun- ments against the availability of Services how its broadcasts are dred million to its World Service eighty-five transmitters and some being heard by them. in English and thirty-six vernacu- three hundred aerials at BBC lar language broadcasts. transmitting stations in the UK From September 1960 until the and at our overseas relay bases, summer of 1980 four schedules The vast majority of BBC Exter- and the best choice of frequen- were drawn up each year - the nal Services broadcasts are trans- cies within the crowded short- first covering the two month per- mitted on frequencies in the 3- wave bands. iod of the Spring Equinox, follow- 30 MHz frequency, or short-wave ed by a four month period cover- part of the radio spectrum. This Schedule Unit, led by Dennis ing the Summer, a second two is because the ionosphere, those Thompson, is divided into three month schedule for the Autumn layers of ionised gases that exist complimentary sections. Under Equinox and finally a four month in the earth's upper atmosphere, Schedule Operations Manager period covering Winter - this being can refract such freq'uencies back (SOM), Mike Sollars, three Sched- the pattern determined by interna- to earth at a distance by a single ule Engineers, Jim Chilton, Dave tional agreement at the Geneva hop or series of hops. Gallop and Bert Metcalfe to- Frequency Conference of 1959 gether with an assistant, Myrna and which is still operated today In the fifty years between 1932 Ramsey, are responsible for the by most international broad- and 1982 the use of short-wave detailed preparation of each fu- casters. In 1980 most European transmissions for international ture schedule, as well as the day Governments adopted a measure broadcasts has increased dramatic- to day running of the current of energy saving, and agreed to ally. This has been espcially true schedule. have a defined period of Summer- since September 1960 when the Frequency Management Engineer's time, which in most cases begins present procedures for the use (FMEs), Mike Still, Geoff Spells on the last Sunday in March and of frequencies for international and Brian Malone together with ends on the last Sunday in Sep- short-wave broadcasting were imp- their Assistant, Beverley Stevens, tember. This immediately present- lemented. In the same period ensure that their choice of freq- ed Schedule Unit with consider- there has been no increase in the uencies remain as clear of inter- able problems since not unnat- number of frequencies available ference from other broadcasters urally, programme makers in Bush for international short-wave as possible, and liaise with na- House wished the timing of our broadcasts and so there is in- tense competition amongst the many international broadcasters both large and small around the world. The job of all these broadcast- ers is first to produce the strong- est and clearest possible signals in the right places at the right times so as to give their audience the best possible service. Second- ",' ly to protect these signals from interference created by comp- eting broadcasters using the same or adjacent frequencies for their own broadcasts. Given today's very overcrowded high frequency broadcast bands the job requires The new computer in Schedule Unit 'ENG INF' Summer 1983 - Page 3 Schedule Unit (Continued) around the world an opportunity of resolving as many of these fifteen European language services quencies. The Schedule Engineers problems as possible in advance to continue to reach their aud- also have to accommodate any of the start of the schedule by iences at the same time of day, in changes in programme require- direct negotiation between them- ,spite of the one-hour advance in ments and equipment availability. selves or via their respective local ,clock times during the The re-engineering works at Ram- administrations. With the present summertime period. The solution pisham, Skelton A and Cyprus are scheduling timetable a new.head- to this problem was to run two a good example of the large ache inherited by the BBC FMEs six-month schedules - approxim- headache for Schedule Unit Eng- is the problem of maintaining, say, ately April-September and Oct- ineers. A lead time of nine months a viable six month Summertime ober-March inclusive - to match is necessary to allow the Fre- Schedule between April-Septem- the dates of European Summer quency Managers time to ensure ber inclusive, with maximum fre- and Wintertime. The complication that the frequencies chosen for quency continuity for each lang- being that in order to co-ordinate this new schedule represent the uage service, whilst at the same our frequency usage with other best selection possible. Where time maintaining their frequency broadcasters it is still necessary for this is not the case, they research co-ordination with other interna- Schedule Unit to observe the four the available short-wave bandscan tional broadcasters most of whom schedule pattern determined by information, and select more operate part of a Spring schedule, the International Frequency suitable replacement frequencies. the whole of a Summer schedule Registration Board (IFRB) and and part of an Autumn schedule which is still followed by the Having made the final selection within this same period. majority of international broad- of frequencies the FMEs then em- casters. bark on the job of co-ordinating At the end of these initial delib- some eight hundred and fifty erations by the Schedule Engin- In turn, each of the three Sched- hours of daily BBC frequency us- eers and Frequency Managers, a ule Engineers begins the prep- age with those of other broad- Provisional Summer and Winter- aration of 'the next future Sched- casters the world over. The first time Schedule evolves. At some ule nine months in advance of its stage in this international co- two months in advance of its start operational start date. Using a ordination is their attendance at a date this provisional schedule is 'post mortem of the schedu le for regular meeting of broadcasters, despatched to the various trans- the previous corresponding season who have mainly similar broad- mitter stations for assessment by as their starting point, they build casting targets as the BBC, in the Transmitter Manager, who liai- in any relevant changes to take order to pre-coordinate seasonal ses with SOM and Schedule Engin- account of propagational changes frequency requirements and to eer over any operational or equip- due to change of season and/or reduce mutual interference to the ment problems. Any modifi- sun-spot activity. A clever math- least possible. The next stage is cations necessary as a resu It of ematical programme based on the to co-ordinate that seasons fre- these disc,ussions are then built work of Propagation Engineer, quency requirements on a world into the final schedule. Raymond Fricker, of External wide basis. On the appointed day the final Services Projects Unit allows eng- This is achieved by submitting the schedule enters operational service ineers to check that the range of BBC requirements through the and the same Schedule Engineer frequencies for any service are Home Office, the UK Admin- looks after this schedule for the still usable. istration, to the IFRB in Geneva. first three months of its life, cop- The IF RB then produces a ''Ten- ing with the day to day changes Using an HP45 desk top computer tative High Frequency Broadcast that are required to cover any nec- they enter the known data such as Schedule" for the appropriate two essary amendments. These may be transmitter and receiver co-ordin- or four month period which dis- permanent or temporary altera- ates, month of the year, sun-spot plays the BBC frequency usage for tions to the current Schedule, and number and power of the trans- that season along with those of cover propagational and interfer- mitter. The computer'then calcu- the other short-wave broadcasters ence problems, repair of trans- lates and prints out the range of amongst the ,one hundred and mission equipment, staff training, usable frequencies throughout a fifty-eight states of the ITU. It' programme retimings, as well as twenty-four hour period in two also indicates those periods where special broadcasts to cover Gen- hour steps as well as the trans- interference problems exist bet- eral Elections, Cricket Test Series, mission mode angle, median field ween broadcasters operating sim- visiting Statesmen, etc. The list of strength, and percentage reliabil- ultaneously on the same or adjac- reasons for amendments is almost ity a'chieved by these usable fre- ent frequencies. This gives fMEs endless and service messages cover- 'ENG INF' Summer 1983 - Page 4 Continued on Page 10 Election '83 - How the U K heard it, One of 'Radio's election aims has 'made the sources available to T.C., S.O.C. handled the circuits and always been to broadcast Iive as Bush House and a number of liaised with each other to ensure many declarations as possible. For Overseas Broadcasti ng organ isa- the circuits arrived at the right Election '83, however, this req- tions so that as many people as studio at the right time, and so -ment was supplemented by in- possible listening to Radio or that prompt attention could be volving those directly concerned External Services or watching given to each contributor. with the process of government in television could have the results as the programme by interviews they were being declared. During the election programme, and reactions from M.P.'s and London Control Room may have experts around the constituencies. Two off-tube information systems seemed relatively calm ~o the This decision presented Radio were used to supplement this casual observer. In fact work had Networks with an unprecendented service. As in previous elections, begun early on the election election planning and co-ordina- Radio News staff displayed the morning to ensure that by the tion exercise in bringing together results on closed-circuit television time the election programme effort from Local Radio, Regional as they were telephoned into started every circuit had been Centres and London Tech. Ops. Studio 3A by stringers or their tested and plugged through to its colleagues in the S.O.C. However, user. But this is only part of the This year, for the first time, two this year a central computer was story because as soon as the date complete regional networks of also used with its input terminals of the election was announced, programme and communication at all the points where results George Legg, H.E.R. Networks, circuits were set up. These enabled were available, including the two started planning the complicated results and interviews to be sited in the S.O.C. itself. system with the Regional Man- handled by specific studios in agers. In turn Colin Prior, a London. In this way, OB sources, After giving their declaration, London Control Room supervisor, manned by Local Radio OB units, many of the OBs were passed to began to plan and organise the for fifty-seven constituencies Studio 3E in order to arrange an London end of the networks. He were fed via twenty-one Local interview. Whilst all this was in had to acquire the extra equip- Radio sub-mixers into five Reg- progress, broadcasting continued ment needed and arrange for ional Centres. Each source on the other networks, and Radio Engineering Services to could then be fed down either the contributions from some of the provide and install all the add. 'interview' or 'declaration' net- OBs were also required in Studio itional cabling required. So, in all . work to the London Control 4A for the Jimmy Young Show on the London Control Room staff Room. As well, London, on its Radio 2. Technical Operators in were working three weeks on the own, handled a further nineteen each of the studios and in the project. OBs. These, along with the 'dec- laration' network, were routed into the Special Operations Centre (S.O.C.), which had been espec- ially set up by Radio Network for the election. The routing desk in the S.O.C. had had to be supple- mented by a further two locally sited sub-mixers.

On the Election night, each OB informed the S.O.C. as it neared the time for declaring the result in its constituency, so that a running order could be compiled. Then about two minutes before an ann- ouncement from the Returning Officer was expected, the circuit was_ routed by the S.O.C. into Studio 3B, the main election studio, for live transmission. At The Special Operation Centre became a mass of extra cables for Election the same time, the S.O.C. also night 'ENG INF' Summer 1983 - Page 5 Election '83 -- How the world heard it The requirement to provide comp- and extended DK4/19 which has Election studio was provided to rehensive coverage of a British the usual nine channels plus ten enable excerpts of particular inter- General Election for a world additional outside sources, three views on Radio 4 to be recorded. audience has always been achieved of which have self-selection from in past years at Bush House by the source multiple. All outside A news/intake and distribution intensive temporary remodelling source pre-hear and communica- area, set up within the cubicle of of existing facilities. This has tions facilities are extended to a S38 was fed with Press Associa- involved the decanting of the producers position together with tion teleprinter services and a World Service operation from additional talkback facilities. S36 terminal of the Bush electronic Continuity 1 into alternative acc- cubicle contains eight tape mach- distribution system. A further ommodation, thus releasing the ines (Levers-R ich) and one gram remote terminal of E.D.S. was continu ity suite for conversion (RP2/ 9) plus access to six tape located in 3A in Broadcasting into an Election studio. Add- machines in E6. These latter House and Iinked to Bush by itional temporary recording machines can record from S36 existing control lines. channels were provided to handle output or outside sources, or be the large amounts of actuality arranged as two dubbing channels This description has concentrated material which becomes available of three machines. on the facilities provided for the as the results come in. World Service operation which For Election coverage S36 transmitted Election coverage This year the timely completion employed the studio area of S38 from 2200 GMT on June 9th to of the Bush House Special Events which housed presentation staff, 1300 GMT on June 10th. Other Suite meant that the entire World analysts and V.I.P.s all contribut- language services also provided Service Election operation could ing to a "free flow" programme, detailed coverage and some addi- be accommodated in this new interspersed with constituency tional transmissions were complex of studios and recording declarations. Eighty 'declaration' mounted. The major addition areas, and so obviate the disrup- OB points were available from the being in German from 2300 on tion of previous years. The Special intake area in Room 212 Broad- the 9th to 0300 on the 10th, and Events Suite comprises three casting House. These were routed later on that day from 1100 - areas, S36, 537 and S38, plus a via Broadcasting House and Bush 1300 GMT. The Brazilian trans- recording channel, E6, and a control rooms on four lines, mission was extended by 15 teleprinter room. S36 cubicle can together with a co-ordinating minutes and Bengali and Tamil intake S37 (small talks) and S38 circuit which enabled production transmissions were also lengthened. (medium talks) as studio areas. staff to be made aware of an These changes formed part of an This is achieved by a simple "hand imminent declaration and its extensive re-scheduling of trans- shaking" arrangement handing appropriate line. Additionally a mitter facilities in the United over relevant signalling and prog- listening feed of the talkback Kingdom and at overseas relay ramme circuits to S36 control between the Radio V.I.P. inter- bases. The situation was further desk. This desk is a specially built view studio and the main Radio 4 compl icated by the start of the Prudential World Cup Cricket Series on Election day. This brought intense pressure on line availability between Bush and Broadcasting House and produced a period of busy re-plugging in both control rooms at the close of the day's play before the Election results service got under way.

Authors:

Phil Lacey Manager, Engineering Services John Knight Manager, Engineering Operations Members of BBC World Service's Election Special Team in the special lan Fleming events suite at Bush House Senior Test Room Engineer

'ENG INF' Summer 1983 - Page 6 Election '83 ~ How television saw it The General election on June 9th proved to be a landslide for the Conservatives, but what of the television coverage of the event? How do you put together a prog- ramme in which the majority of the Public have taken a part, and what of the technicalities invol- ved in providing a fast, compre- hensive results service? To reflect the 'battle on the hustings' the planners decided that 1983 wou Id use all of the outside broadcast facilities available to them, backed " by a new, fast, computer to pro- Brian Hunt (foreground) and John Carter test communication facilities in TC6 observation room, which was converted to an OB editors booth for vide the resuIts. "Election 83"

Planning for the event, about director in the Region without For the "Election '83" pro- which the precise timing was un- some fast cross-connecting when gramme, the Network Production known, had been going on for the OB went on the air. To over- Centres at Bristol, Birmingham eighteen months before. The idea come this as we shall see later, and Manchester acted as regional of the production team, led by a system known as DART (Dir- hubs for the west, midlands and editor David Dickinson and direc- ectors Automatic Reverse Talk- north of England. Glasgow was tor Tom Gutteridge, was to show back) was developed by Television the hub for Scotland, whilst sub- more of the events up and down Special Projects in London. centres were set up at Cardiff, the country, with experts inter- feeding into the Bristol hub, for preting the results as they came in. London and Regions connected Wales, and Belfast, feeding into Technical co-ordinator Paul Mason the Manchester hub, for Northern was given the difficult task of dis- Studio 6 at Television Centre in Ireiand. Southampton acted as a playing as many outside broad- London was to be the centre of sub-centre feeding into the Lon- casts as possible on the one hand, operations, with the Regional don hub in TC7, as were the OBs and the results on the other. To centres becoming 'hubs' for events from the London area. The BBC achieve this required a consider- in their areas. Studio 7 would be mobile satellite ground station was able amount of resources, and the used as a production office, whilst positioned at Selkirk, Scotland, involvement of many different the technical facilities would be constituency of David Steel, departments. utilised as a London and south- where the difficu It terrestrial east 'hub'. communications prevented con- To display the OBs it was decided ventional circuit use. This fed a that the studio set would have As soon as the date of the Ele- signal via the OTS satellite, to the eight back-projectors each able to ction became known, the plans London hub in TC7. Into the OB show an individual OB or a selec- were put into action. Extra equip- booth were fed two circuits from tion of OBs, results graphics, and ment was installed in TC6 appara- Manchester (North 1 and North still pictures from earlier OBs. tus room, production control 2), two from Bristol (West 1 and Facilities to do this would be room, and studio floor, and bet- West 2), one from Glasgow limited, and some compromise ween 1Q-12km of extra cabling (Scotland 1), and one from Birm- would be necessary to enable all was used to connect the various ingham, (Midlands), In addition the OBs to be properly directed facilities together. The observa- there were two circuits from TC7, and controlled. As with past Elec- tion room overlooking the prod- (South 1 and South 2). tions the Regions would co-ordin- uction control room became an ate their own local OBs, feeding 'OB booth' controlling the flow of DART them to London as requested. OBs to the production team. A Special Projects team led by Ken As mentioned earlier, to accomm- However, this creates its own Godden and John Try began an odate all the OBs was difficult, problems, since the director in eighteen hour day, seven day and experience at previous elec- London is unable to commun- week, to get the extra facilities in- tions had highlighted the problem icate effectively with the OB stalled in time. of the directors talk-back between 'ENG INF' Summer 1983 - Page 7 cues from the vision mixer to results service then inputted the Election '83 control a small sound relay data as the result became known. matrix. Thus, as the name implies, The output of the computer was the DART unit will ,automatically coupled to four graphics devices. select the London directors talk- Three Quantel 7001 devices were back to an OB, and the reverse used to provide the headline talk-back from the OB to London, graphics, full-form and constit- when the vision mixer selects the uency graphics, and screamer OB for transmission. headlines should these be re- Changes in the Studio quired; the "State of the Parties" graphics were derived from a Flair To accommodate all the extra graphics device. Much of the time facilities needed in the studio, this graphic was used over a pic- The five DART (Directors Auto- the presenters set was mounted ture of Big Ben; in actual fact matic Reverse Talkback) systems. eight feet above floor level on this was a working model moun- ted in TC7 equipment store room, London and the OB in the regions. steel girders. Underneath were since the real thing was shrouded Operationally the OB would line' support teams, make-up points, in scaffolding on the night. up the sound and vision circuits and several bays of video dis- with its regional centre, and then tribution amplifiers needed to Outside Broadcasts offer the OB to London. However, drive equipment on the set above. when the OB went on the air the The raised floor also helped to Television Outside Broadcasts London director was unable to avoid the extensive cable runs handled forty-four OBs on elec- talk to the OB director unless from getting in the way of the tion night, stretching both vision some fast cross connecting was programme production. and communications equipment carried out. To simplify matters, it Set into the walls of the presenters to the full. In spite of this, they was suggested that there must be set were eight back-projectors and still managed to provide coverage some technical solution that could eight Carousel slide projectors. of the World Cup cricket that switch the four wire talk-back These were controlled from a inconveniently was reaching its circuit, at the same time as the special cubicle in one corner of climax at the same time. An add- vision mixer selected the OB the main set. Here the floor dir- itional thirteen OBs were covered in London. ector selected any of the OBs for "Breakfast Time" the follow- currently switched to London, or ing morning, making a total of From ideas put forward by two displayed the results service from fifty-seven OBs in less than twelve sound supervisors, a DART pro- the graphics computers. Selected hou rs. totype was developed by Tele- scenes from the OBs were saved Technology Breakdown vision Special Projects, and dem- for later display using the Res- onstrated in November 1982. earch Department prototype By March 1983 the Special Pro- Stills Store. Despite all the high-technology, jects team, set out to manu- and superior communications systems, provision had to be made facture, test and install five DART Computer graphics systems in time for the Election - for the unthinkable - an equip- the date of which was at that time A month before the Election was ment failure. unknown. Special credit should called, Roger Kelly from SCPD be given to John Try, Brian Hunt had just finished installing a new So that the show could continue Kevin Warrener, Mike Endersby, dual V AX 11 computer in the without the OBs, and without the John Byrne and Alan Laird for computer graphics workshop. computer graphics, a hole was completing the task on time, not Naturally, as he was the project made in the studio set floor, so without the help given by the leader, he was asked to carry on that important results could be cable workshop team led by to ensure the smooth running of passed to the presenters from the Dave Stone, the Drawing Office the computer during the Election. back-up team below by hand. led by John Payne, and the tech- nical stores staff led by Brian The VAX 11 was used for a fast All of the careful planning was of Ellison. The five units were com- results service. A database of con- little help when a clash of impor- pleted by May 24th - only two stituencies, candidates and other tant declarations could not be and a half weeks before the statistics were stored on the com- averted. Two of the Party lead- Election. puter, and input terminals were ers, David Steel, and the Prime installed in a conference room at Minister, Mrs Thatcher, declared The DART system essentially uses television centre., A telephone. simu Itaneously.

'ENG INF' Summer 1983 - Page 8 together with control cabies and Section '83- RegiOI& I'OfIJd- up so many patch-cards that you could hardly see the equipment, let alone the labels on the jack- ~~!' fields; tests were conducted and rehearsals started.

Then came the thunderstorm during Tuesday night's "rehearsal. The first inkling we had of this was a tremendous bang as "the building next door was struck by lightening, the sky lit up; the screens went dark; the surge had been too much for the delicate A Manchester based communication vehicle hides itself in Carlisle Fire 6522 IC in the switching gear and Station we were off the air! Someone rang from Television Centre to enquire The success of "EJection '83" was with the extras we had ordered as what had happened and, when largely due to the contribution per 1979, we didn't have enough told, asked querulously, "It - it made by staff in the regions and at and there were still ten local radio will not happen on the night will the OBs. A brief glimpse of the stations for R4 and probably a it?" Well, about the one facility large operation shows not only the host of extra inter-region circuits! we hadn't quite managed to facilities used, but also some of plumb in was a hot line to the the lighter moments that occur in We ended up by increasing our Almighty, so we couldn't really any programme of this nature. local end complement to one give him an answer! It was soon hundred but even then there were MANCHESTER established that there was only some nail-biting moments. Radio one other 6522 chip in the whole. Dave Gledhi/l, from the Central caused a minor panic by suddenly building - in Projects Department's Technical Area, describes some of wanting cue circuits to all local BBC micro computer, and this was the problems the engineering staff radio stations. Fortunately, we duly robbed of it's input and faced. learned that two TV OBs had been output facilities in order that the dropped and we could breathe show might go on. The first week of election prepar- again. We then discovered that our ation was embarked upon in the great British institution, cricket, Election Day itself was charact- secure feeling that we already had was batting calmly on, unper- erised by the calmness of system- a sound basis for planning the turbed by the bustle of politics atic activity, when all the fume Central Technical Area operation, and electioneering, and that we and fret of frantic planning was namely the comprehensive file on had a cricket OB - yes, you've over, nervous breakdowns avoided the very successful 1979 election guessed it - on Election Day itself. and everything worked, we had programme. Apart from vaguely two local ends to spare, and we disturbing references to some new By this time DART had appeared; had another comprehensive file system called "DART" we were the studio engineers had finished which, probably, will be of just as reasonably confident and spent building their programme little -use when the next time the first week and a half re-eng- switches; the whole lot was strung comes! ineering the opt-out system (to enable Regional Television to use Studio A) and wiring in extra tie-lines between the main equip- - ment bays. It was only after the - first facilities meeting that we -- - began to be really disturbed, and then we woke up in a real sense of panic! Twelve television OBs with all manner of facilities - cues, two-way talkbacks, etc., (what on earth is this DART thing?) - meant seventy-two local ends between us and British Telecom trunks. Even The hired unit arrives in Manchester in style , ENG INF' Summer 1983 - Page 9 Ceefax goes for 6 Schedule Unit (Continued) transmission details using menu- Faster access times and more ing such changes can amount to driven input facilities at their information for users of the some five hundred over a year desks. CEEFAX service could be the and, on the day of peak opera- result of a decision announced on tional activity, can run into doub- Frequency Managers activities will 13th July by Aubrey Singer, M.D. le figures. At the end of this three include the use of their colour Tel. Extra digital information month period, the "current" Sch- graphics terminals to examine sig- could be added to the CEEFAX edule Engineer then hands over nal strengths across the hf spec- signal, reducing the average wait- the day to day running to one of trum on simulated three dimen- ing time for a page to 5 or 6 his colleagues so that he can begin sional displays of signal strength seconds. At the same time, the work on the preparation. qf yet against frequency and time. This number of pages of information another future schedule. will allow them more readily and could be increased. The improve- more easily to identify regions of ment would be brought about by Whilst the planning and day to bad interference affecting BBC increasing the number of tele- day problems are handled by Sch- transmissions and to find those vision lines carrying the data from edule Engineers and Frequency all too few unused sections of four to six. managers, Reception Analysis Unit (RAU) is busy analysing the frequency spectrum into which they can move such BBC Improvements in receiver technol- the data sent in by its regular pan- transmission. ogy should now make it possible el of reception reporters. Current- to add data to lines 13 and 14, but ly these number about two' hun- Finally, RAU will be able to input tests need to be made to ensure dred and are made up of ordin- their reception reports more sim- there will be no impairment to ary Iisteners, reception enthus- ply and more rapidly. This vi- normal television pictures. If these iasts, British Embassy staff, other tal feedback of reception inform- tests are satisfactory, the BBC,will broadcasting organisations and ation will continuously update the be seeking Home Office authority BBC Relay Bases. Reporters are system database and what is more to start an extended CEEFAX asked to provide regular reports will be instantly available for the service in the Spring of 1984. at key times of the day, on both World Service in English and rele- use of Schedule Engineers and Frequency Managers as they tack- At the start of the service in 1974, vant vernacular language broad- le their day to day scheduling the BBC used only two blank lines casts, giving their subjective assess- problems. of the television picture, lines 17 ment of signal strength, interfer- and 18, to carry the CEEFAX ence level, and overall merit of Thus the Unit produce a schedule data. In 1981, to overcome the the required transmissions. from known data, experience, and drawback of lengthy waiting be- Various analyses of this RAU subjective assessments. The result tween pages, the number of lines data are produced to assist the provides the best possible signal transmitted was increased from other engineers in Schedule Unit into the target service area that two to four, using lines 15, 16, 17 and to demonstrate the effective- can be found and heard by the and 18 and their corresponding ness of External Services broad- listeners. Who knows whether sat- lines on the alternate field. casts to programme makers in Bush House and other interested ellites will eventually remove some ...... parties. of the problems; at the end of Starting in August of this year the day the village in Kenya or John Rileyexplains Telesoftware kampong in Malaya will still rely to the PM under a contract with Logica Ltd, Schedule Unit will begin to go on cheap hf receivers for their computerised. The initial inst- BBC programmes, and the need allation work has already started for Schedule Units expertise will on a system' based on a Digital ensure that we can be heard. Equipment Corporation VAX 11/750 Computer plus large data- base, several VDUs (including Graphics), hard copy-terminals and a plotter. Special purpose applications software written by Logica will also be available. Schedule Engineers will be able to plan their schedules by entering

'ENG INF' Summer 1983 - Page 10 channels spaced at 45 kHz intervals can be accommodated within the bandwidth of one On the 1st August 1983, the Planning of the system was transponder on the satell ite. Each BBC's External Service pro- undertaken by Communications country is allocated one. or more grammes for the Far East will be Department and installation of the channels and calls are automatic- transmitted by satellite to Sing- special pcm satellite receiving ally set up by the subscriber apore. From there they are equipment with its associated remotely changing frequency on relayed by hf transmitters to distribution system in Singapore the scpc unit when the country millions of listeners as far apart was carried out, in under nine dialling code is used. as Hong Kong and New Zealand. months, by engineers from Tele- coms Singapore in conjunction In the case of the circuits for As a result of an agreement with the resident engineers from External Services, special 128 reached in October last year, the the BBC transmitting station at kbit/s pcm equipment occupying Telecommunications Authority of Kranji. In the United Kingdom, twice the bandwidth of the Singapore has provided the BBC British Telecom International have standard telephony equipment with four high-quality sound cha- modified the transmitting equip- was manufactured in the USA and nnels from London to Singapore ment at their satellite Earth adjacent pairs of telephony cha- via the Indian Ocean Region Station at Madley in Herefordshire nnels were allocated by Intelsat satellite. The programmes from to handle the special pcm signals. for use by the BBC. The system is Bush House are transmitted to the satellite via the British Telecom International, (BTI), Earth Station at Madley. The same signals are already used to feed two Foreign and Commonwealth Office sta- tions on Cyprus and Masirah which relay BBC programmes, (see Eng Inf no. 5).

A significant improvement in the sound programme quality is ex- pected when the system comes into operation as a result of using Singapore Telecoms satellite earth station, Sentosa pulse code modulation (pcm) on and have provided high quality non-directional as scpc channels the satellite. Previously, telephone audio lines to convey the pro- radiated by the satellite can be circuits or off-air reception of grammes from Bush House. received almost anywhere within high-frequency (hf) and single sideband (ssb) transmitters were the hemisphere. Once the system The satellite system first came the only means of relaying live was in use at Cyprus, other into service from London to broadcasts from the United King- stations cou Id be used to receive Cyprus in November 1982 bring- dom. the transmissions without further ing improved reception of BBC modifications to the system at programmes to countries in the Four 128 kbit/s pcm signals from Madley. Middle East, later the service was the Intelsat Indian Ocean satellite extended to the relay station at are received at the Singapore Tele- The system falls somewhat short Masirah. coms earth station on the Island of Direct Broadcasting by Satellite of Sentosa to the south of Sing- as the power radiated by the Kranji is the third transmitter to apore. They are picked up by one satellite is so low that, even with a be fed from the multi-destination of the twin 30 m antennas and 30 ri1 diameter dish and a pre- transmissions radiated by the sate- relayed by microwave radio link amplifier cooled in liquid carbon 11ite using modified single carrier to the Telecoms Comcentre Tower dioxide, the carrier to noise ratio per channel (scpc) equipment. is just 22 dB! However, by the in the centre of Singapore. From Telephony, between overseas very nature of PCM, a programme there, new link equipment has countries where few calls are signal to noise of over 60 dB is been installed to carry the signals required, is usually carried out by obtained under these circumstan- to the BBC Far Eastern Relay the use of single carriers modula- ces and smaller antennas can be Station transmitters at Kranji in ted by four-phase psk signals at 64 used to meet the BBC's require- the north of the Island. kbit/s. Up to eight hundred scpc ments. 'ENG INF' Summer 1983 - Page 11 that my fears were unfounded. An Temporary cover for Pebble Mill excellent job, done by a British Company using Brilish Steel!"

The next problem was how to get the span girders onto the Pebble Mill site. "We were asked to use a weekend to move the girders, but the only one possible in the time was the Spring Bank holiday one!" explained Joe. 'The De- partment of Transport insisted on these abnormally long loads mo- ving up motorways, wh ich meant special Police escorts from five different forces." Having reached Pebble Mill the problems were just beginning. A huge crane was already in position outside the foyer to Iift them onto the roof and, after the lorries carrying the The temporary canopy ready to be extended over the courtyard girders had been manoeuvred across Pebble Mill Road, the "6.55 Special", from the BBC's by Consulting Engineers Roy girders were unloaded, one by studios at Pebble Mill, took on.a Bolsover and Associates who were one. Two tall trees made this new look for the summer season. the consulting engineers for operation even more difficult, but The construction and erection of a Pebble Mill, and Keith Jones the careful handling left minimal temporary large canopy over the Building Engineering Services damage behind. courtyard at the Mill has enabled Manager. The time scale for all-weather production of the this project was very short, with Once the nine support girders programme in an external en- only six weeks between placing were in position, the specially vironment. The landscaped gar- the order for the steelwork and its manufactured PVC cover was dens provide an ideal setting delivery on site. stretched into position. The cover for the lively musical groups and is in fact, made from strips of PVC other items that appear on the One of the early problems to be only 1.5 m wide. Strips are welded programme. faced was the mounting of the together using high-frequency tracked support girders over the welding techniques. The cover is The temporary canopy has been existing building, which meant actually two sheets separated by formed by nine steel support using diamond tipped drills into about 150 mm so that rain noise is girders, each 31 m long, and the roof. "No-knocking" agree- reduced. weighing 2.5 tonnes. A welded ments prevented daytime work, cover of Polyester reinforced PVC, and to complete the initial work The temporary cover has already 35 m by 31 m, and weighing 1.25 on time, the contractors therefore been used with much success tonnes, extends across the girders had to work at night using flood- during the "6.55 Special" pro- to complete the canopy. Tracked lights. gramme, producing an even light, steelwork, 45 m long, mounted on so that the cameras require only the existing roof allows the Meanwhile the steelwork for the to be opened up one stop from canopy to be pulled across the span girders was being fabricated the normal external settings and courtyard in about 45 minutes by at the works of Tubecon Ltd. in the only additional light required hand; a motorised system will Chipping Sudbury near Bristol. "I being 'spots' to create shadow shortly be installed that will visited their works with some effects. considerably speed up the cover- aprehension," said Joe Jeffries, of ing process. Roy Bolsover & Associates, "the The cover is manually pulled back girders needed to be precisely 31 to the roof of the Pebble Mill The idea for the new canopy came m wide or they wou Id not track Road side of the building as often from Eric Benn, Head of Resour- up and down on the support rails. as possible so that the elements ces and Engineering, at Pebble You have only to look at the allow the plants to grow naturally Mill. This was turned into reality quality of the welding to realise in the courtyard below. 'ENG INF' Summer 1983 - Page 12 Published by BBC Engineering Information Department