EN I NF AUTUMN 1989 No 38 ENTERPRISES SIGNS OLYMPUS SATELLITE AGREEMENT BBC Enterprises has signed a five- The BBC Olympus service - to be ,):ear agreement with the European known as The Enterprise Channel- "pace Agency (ESA) to provide them will be based initially on the existing .vith eight hours of television and BBC TV Europe service, which is a CONTENTS other programming per day. The pro- simultaneous relay of BBC 1. Ulti- grammes will be carried at prime mately however, and certainly within ASCENSION time on the European Channel of the the first year, Enterprises intends to - new control system 7 recently-launched Olympus 1 satel- develop a new schedule to reflect the BIRMINGHAM lite. This is a large multi-purpose, innovative, experimental and Euro- high power, communications satel- pean nature of the channel. - Studio 5 refurbished 12 lite which was built for ESA by a con- The Olympus project is described in BROADCASTING HOUSE sortium led by British Aerospace. some greater detail on page 4. - new network switcher 11 - new Travel Centre 8 BUSH HOUSE - new information display system 7 CCD - cameras for the future 6 D&ED - stabilised power supplier 2 ELSTREE - Studio D refurbished 15 ENGINEERING SAFETY PAPERS - GP4 and GP6 13 HDTV - at Wembley, Wimbledon and Berlin 14 LICENCE AGREEMENTS 2 The Olympus 1 satellite (photo: British Aerospace) MAIDA VALE - Studios 4 & 5 refurbished 3 Char lie Sandbank honoured by the NOTTINGHAM - new Broadcasting Centre 15 SMPTE OLYMPUS SATELLITE Deputy Director of Engineering, Charlie The Los Angeles Technical Conference PROJECT 4 Sandbank, has been awarded a Fellow- will commemorate a hundred years of RADIO WM ship of the Society of Motion Picture and film and fifty years of television in Television Engineers (SMPTE). America. - the 'Heartlands' project 16 He will receive his award at the SMPTE's Among the speakers will be another for- TRANSMITTER NEWS 2 131st Technical Conference, to be held in mer Director of Engineering - Sir James Los Angeles in late October. Also receiv- WOOD NORTON Redmond - who will deliver a presenta- ing a Fellowship will be former Director tion on the history of broadcasting in - switchgear training 13 of Engineering, Or Bryce McCrirrick. the UK. LICENCE AGREEMENTS ENGINF Two licence agreements have been equipment is with a new company struck since the last issue of Eng Inf. called Foster Dene Ltd, which has been set up specifically to handle Edited and designed by EID, these items. Room 707A HWH. Tel: LBH 4316 The first of these, with Eddystone Radio, broadens their range of ancil- Phototypeset by lary equipment for Band 11installa- The staff who have formed this com- Townsend Typesetter Ltd, tions. The deal encompasses the pany know the units well. They had Worcester MNl/15 Programme Failure Monitor formerly bought them from the two Printed by ETD, Woodnorton and PS2/163A Stabilised Power Sup- other licensees - Digi-Grade Sys- plier (see below), along with two tems Ltd and Digi-Tel Systems (UK) * * * unequipped Equaliser Chassis, Ltd - for installation in telecine The closing date for stories to be CH2/3 and CH2/4. machines based mainly in the United included in the winter issue States. (Cintel also holds a licence for (No. 39) is 24 November. The second licence covers the set of the Shot Change Detector.) enhancements for Mk III telecines, Mike Meyer comprising the 'Festival' Burn and For further details of these or other Shading Corrector (UN26/604) and agreements, or for information or P.E.C. Head Amplifier (AMl/616) as advice on any aspects of licensing~ well as the RP3/511 Shot Change please contact the D&ED Liaisc Engineer, Peter Jefferson, on AH 375. TRANSMITIER Detector. The agreement for this NEWS The following services opened between 1 July and 16 September: PS/163 Stabilised Power Supplier Television This unit was originally designed in This 'new' unit, which is coded PS2/ Highland Arisaig 1974, specifically to power the AM7/ 163A, is now available through Highland Aviemore 11, 12, & 13 series of audio amplifiers. Design and Equipment Department. Powys Castle Caereinion Since then, it has undergone a num- It supersedes the original design and N. Yorkshire Castleton ber of modifications, albeit of a fairly will automatically be supplied Highland Taynuilt minor nature. Thus, the 1989 model is against existing or future orders for substantially the same as the fifteen- the PS2/163. However, drawings for FM Radio year-old original design. the latter unit will remain available Haslingden Lancashire through the usual channels, in order Despite its advancing years, the to allow for continued maintenanc'\ * * * design's popularity has continued. of the three thousand plus original units in the field. Note that circuit ref- In late July, the new digital pro- Over two hundred and fifty were erences have been maintained, so the gramme feed to the Channel Isles ordered last year alone, and there same handbook (DDHB 3.144) may entered service (see the previous Eng have been no obvious signs that this Inf). About the same time, Rowridge level of demand will significantly be used for both generations of the (Isle of Wight) started broadcasting decrease in the immediate future. As design. from a new directional aerial system, a result of this, and because the orig- which offers mixed polarisation. inal design has become less economic For further information, please con- to produce, D&ED has recently com- tact the D&ED Liaison Engineer, On 30 August, the frequencies of pleted a major reappaisal of the Peter Jefferson, on AH 375. Radios 2, 3 and 4 from the Bath relay Power Supplier. were each increased by 200 kHz. This is to allow further FM services to be The outcome is a revised unit which, added over the next few years. And although at least as good in terms of on 31 August, the Radio 4 FM trans- performance, features a much- RADIO PB mitter at Limavady, Co.Antrim, improved mechanical construction. began broadcasting in stereo. This allows the design to be produced The Autumn 1989 edition of the On 13 September, Pontop Pike more simply, as well as providing for pocket booklet 'BBC Radio Trans- started transmitting from a new easier maintenance in the field by mitting Stations' is now available aerial system, also offering mixed virtue of its simplified construc- from EID. Please telephone LBH 5040 polarisation. tion. to order your free copy(ies). ENG INF Autumn 1989 2 MAIDA VALE - Studios 4 and 5 refurbished BBC's standard music recording desk all areas to provide comprehensive The newly-rebuilt Studios 4 and 5 at _ mood lighting. Maida Vale will take Radio's record- the 'E' series SSL of which there ing facilities into the 1990s. For the are seventeen in BBC service. The complex entered service in July first time, a BBC Radio project has Other features of the new control 1989. The variety of Radio 1 and 2 ses- been completely designed by exter- room are: comprehensive effects and sions using the facilities so far nal consultants to a brief produced by processing equipment; Boxer 4 main include: solo Classical guitar; 3-piece Radio Projects. monitoring loudspeakers; alternative Heavy Metal band; 20-piece African monitoring via Yamaha NS10 and band; mixing of Gilbert and Sullivan The first planning meeting was held Auratone speakers; MIDI routeing operas, and MIDI-controlled elec- in July 1987, when it was decided that matrix; video switch er allowing tronic pop. Everyone has learned a a leading firm of studio design con- colour CCTV monitoring of studios; great deal and the end result has been sultants would be commissioned to two Studer A800 24-track tape fairly well received. Currently, the design the entire facility. Jon Gibbs machines, chase-synchronised to facilities are booked at least twelve (Manager Operations, Music provide 48-track capability; DAT hours a day, seven days a week, into Studios) and his assistant, Bob Con- the foreseeable future. duct, then found out which commer- and 1/4-inch mastering recorders. Martin Bravery, Project Leader cial studios were preferred by studio Dimmer-controlled low voltage operational staff. After visits to halogen lighting has been installed in Radio Projects. several London studios, a short list of three studio designers was compiled. r-"he three designers were then asked to submit an outline design, based on a brief produced by Martin Bravery of Radio Projects. Following interviews, Neil Grant of Harris Grant As- sociates was awarded the contract to provide the complete design pack- age. This involved all architectural, acoustic, stuctural, technical, mechanical and electrical works. The Studios Previously, Studios 4 & 5 were identi- cal 40-channel SSL-equipped facili- ties. However, in 1985, Studio 4's cubicle was redesigned by Tom Hidley, an acoustics consultant, to provide a commercial-type environ- ment. Unfortunately, the size of this cubicle was such that there was little ,r"oom left for any extra equipment or ,1Usicians! So when Maida Vale 5 required modernising, the need for a larger cubicle was obvious. Because of the existing studio structure, it was necessary to swap the cubicle and studio roles, thus creating a very large cubicle (or control room) and a small studio. Studio 4 was also included in the refurbishment which resulted in an integrated complex, allowing either cubicle to use any or all studio areas. The final design also includes a vocal booth, a mezzanine floor in Studio 4 and a machine room-cum-apparatus room. The Technical Features The sound desk chosen was an SSL 4000 'G' Series with forty-eight mono and eight stereo channels, and com- puter automation. This is the latest Top: Studio 4 at Maida Vale version of what has become the Bottom: The Control Room of Maida Vale 5 3 ENG INF No 38 THE OLYMPUS SATELLITE PROJECT As featured on page I, BBC Enterprises million, to its development.