Broadcast Engineering Museum open days 2024

[ppppenguin]

The Broadcast Engineering Museum (aka the Broadcast Engineering Conservation Group) will have a a spring opening on Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th May.

Our regular autumn opening, part of Heritage Open Days, will be on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15 September.

Opening times will be 11am to 4pm.

There will be new exhibits and demonstrations but we're still working on them. More news nearer the time. Please come along and bring your friends. Admission free, donations welcome.

A report on our last open days is in our newsletter:
https://us4.campaign-archive.com/?e=2261dc034d&u=f13f525348a35c5e21e0f8878&id=98fc987bd4

You are welcome to join our friends group. No fees, no obligations. Just send me your name and email address by personal message and I'll add you to the database.

Visitors are also welcome at other times by appointment. Please use the contact email on our website: becg.tv or send me a message.

41 Capper Avenue
Hemswell Cliff
Gainsborough
DN21 5XS
https://maps.app.goo.gl/eL96bntGppQqHFKT9

[ppppenguin]

We've just sent a note to all our friends showing our 2024 open days.
https://mailchi.mp/6d258672eec6/heritage...2261dc034d

If you would like to become a friend of the Broadcast Engineering Group please send me a message with your name an email. There are no fees or obligations, you just need to consent to receiving emails from us.

Open days, all 11am to 4pm
Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th May.
Saturday 14th and Sunday 15 September.

We will also have stall at Retrotech on 12th May. Please come along and talk to us. Perhaps even buy some of the junk very fine equipment we are selling to raise funds. Among the things we'll be offering are Linn Sondek LP12 (pickup arm is damaged), an early Roberts radio, a Philips Schmidt projection TV optical unit with MW6/2 CRT and a quantity of NOS TCC electrolytics 100/400/32uF 300V.

[ppppenguin]

We're busy getting ready for our spring open days on 25/25 May. https://becg.org.uk/event/late-may-opening-days/ There will be many new exhibits including the Harris 40kW transmitter that used to transmit BBC1 analogue from Crystal Palace. This was rescued by the late Lucien Nunes with help from crowdfunding to cover the cost of transport. We are pleased to honour his memory by putting it on display.

We're open from 11am to 4pm. There will also be guided tours.

Finding us: https://becg.org.uk/finding-us/

[ppppenguin]

Our open days were a great success, even though Sunday's weather was horribly wet.

Thanks to a valiant effort by Trevor Brown and Paul Marshall our TR70 2" quadruplex VTR was fully working and showing excellent pictures. These are very complex machines and needed frequent skilled attention when in service. Back then each fault was fixed as it happened. Trevor is one of the few engineers anywhere who fully understands these machines and was capable of tracing the dozen or more problems that had accumulated. He was helped by having a complete spare machine from which he could borrow modules. This was the one that came from the collection of the late Lucien Nunes Vaz.

Next open days are on 14/15 September as part of Heritage Open Days. A shame we clash with Biggleswade on the 15th but our date was fixed a long time ago while Biggleswade has been moved at least once.

[Mike Watterson]

Thanks to a valiant effort by Trevor Brown and Paul Marshall our TR70 2" quadruplex VTR was fully working and showing excellent pictures. These are very complex machines and needed frequent skilled attention when in service. Back then each fault was fixed as it happened. Trevor is one of the few engineers anywhere who fully understands these machines and was capable of tracing the dozen or more problems that had accumulated.

I'm impressed. I've seen them and wasn't allowed to touch. I get the impression they make the VCRs and VTRs I did service look like toys (though N1500 is a bit meccanno flavoured). The 1/2″ EIAJ reel to reels were very simple compared to a U-matic (and much lighter).

I can't imagine a TR70 being carried upstairs and the lift in the BBC Belfast looked ancient. Though I don't remember what model(s) they were using in mid 1970s.

The TR70 is from 1967?

I'd have liked to have seen that.

A random one from pintrest.nl circa 1968
   
Not Trevor Brown and Paul Marshall. and possibly artificially colourised.

[ppppenguin]

I think ours is a slightly later TR70B. About 750kg so not easy to move - its castors aren't wonderful.

The 1"broadcast VTRs (C-format and the less common B-format) arrived in the late 1970s. They gradually replaced quadruplex. We have several working C-format VTRs and a number of non-working ones. We have just one B-format which partly works. The head drum is tiny, much smaller than even VHS.

[ppppenguin]

Some photos from the open days. Taken by John Huddlestone who is usually found at the Crich tram museum.

I think that satellite truck was receiving the contribution circuit from some kind of religious channel. Why? Probably because it was easy to find and not encrypted. For obvious reasons we're not allowed to transmit from the truck. So it's just as well that we don't have working high power amplifiers.

We had a visit from a guy who works for the company that originally made the satellite truck. He was able to call up the original manufacturing documents and diagrams. Since the truck has been modified in various ways this is very useful indeed.

[ppppenguin]

More photos.

[Doodlebug]

Is anyone doing a weekly trawl on eBay etc for items pertaining to
Broadcast TV , that would be of interest to BECG ?
As you know Jeffrey, it was on eBay that the CAT9 was found.

[ppppenguin]

I'm pretty sure that two of our trustees keep an eye open.