BECG - Heritage Open Days 2023

[ppppenguin]

The Broadcast Engineering Museum will be open on Saturday and Sunday, 9 and 10 September as part of Heritage Open Days. We're open from 11am until 4pm both days.

Just three weeks to go!

There will lots of new things to see this year. There will be two more trucks you can come aboard.

* Our "Vivat" truck will have its first public outing. This has been seen on "The Crown" It will be on display in Studio 1.

* Also in Studio 1 will be our ABC-Thames truck. This has only just come back from the paint shop and looks splendid.

* The Central Apparatus Room (CAR) has been refurbished and we're starting to install equipment.

* We're hoping to show vintage TV on the cinema-size screen in Studio 2.

* We recently acquired the Yaxley Collection of historic public address equipment. We will be showing a selection of items from that including a Marconi Reisz microphone that was once used by King George V.

Most of last year's attractions will be there - 'Southern' TV OB truck, the videotape and telecine collections, broadcast camera demonstrations along with the themed display of Coronation Street cameras down the years facing our very own 'Rovers Return' bar (sorry, it doesn't serve beer . . .).

Parking this year is in our own car park, but you may use the adjacent antiques centre car park if you wish. Please don't park in the housing estate next to us - that will cause us problems!

Last year was a frantic rush to open after just 9 months of our trust's ownership of the semi-derelict building. A year on and we have a building with all its windows repaired, roofs not leaking (just about, anyway) and more and more of the huge space having been refurbished and coming into use. We even have hot water in the loos.

These details, maps and other instructions will soon go live on our website.
Please check in at: https://becg.org.uk/event/heritage-open-days-2023/

The event is FREE, but donations would be gratefully accepted.
If you're coming, it would be good to let us know so that we can judge numbers.

The address is: Broadcast Engineering Museum, 41 Capper Avenue, Hemswell Cliff, GAINSBOROUGH, Lincolnshire, DN21 5XS

[ppppenguin]

More photos.

CAR as we found it:    

CAR a few days ago, with some of the racks in position. Hiding under the colourful cloth is DICE, the world's first digital NTSC<>PAL standards converter:    

More on DICE in IBA Technical Review volume 8 which can be downloaded here: https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=kZF58QkZu1NO9K0JYw0bfmabV2pRQVXAFGb7#folder=4636614185&tpl=publicfoldergrid&returl=https%3A//u.pcloud.link/publink/show%3Fcode%3DkZF58QkZu1NO9K0JYw0bfmabV2pRQVXAFGb7%23folder%3D4636614185%26tpl%3Dpublicfoldergrid&page=login

[ppppenguin]

We've just sent a message to all on our friends email list: https://us4.campaign-archive.com/?e=2261...ff5a246c80

If you would like to join the friends of the BECG please send me a PM with your email address. There are no fees or obligations. You just have to consent to receiving emails from us. We promise we won't bombard your inbox

[ppppenguin]

Here's DICE in position in the newly refurbished CAR (Central Apparatus Room)
http://marconiintelevision.pbworks.com/w...verter.pdf
Also the IBA Tech Review volume 8 which can be found online.
https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=kZF58QkZu1NO9K0JYw0bfmabV2pRQVXAFGb7#returl=https%3A//u.pcloud.link/publink/show%3Fcode%3DkZF58QkZu1NO9K0JYw0bfmabV2pRQVXAFGb7&page=login

The other photo shows what CAR looked like when we acquired the building.

[Mike Watterson]

Wonderful!

[ppppenguin]

The nice set of nine matching 19" racks came from Harefield Hospital TV. They got them from the BBC many years ago.

Lots more work needed in CAR. Starting with technical power distribution and cable trays. We made holes in the walls to take the trays. One is just visible above DICE in the 2nd photo. Then lots of planning, fitting kit and wiring it up. Provisionally we're putting vintage CCUs (camera control units) etc in the racks nearest DICE. They look more interesting than most kit and will be the most visible to visitors who will normally be behind a barrier.

CAR is starting to look like my sketch from a few months ago.

[ppppenguin]

And yet more kit goes into CAR. Those Marconi picture and waveform monitors look suspended in mid air.

The weather looks great for next weekend so I hope we'll see lots of visitors.  We're open from 11am until 4pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Trucks will be on the move during the week.

* "Vivat" truck will have its first public outing. This has been seen on "The Crown" It will be on display in Studio 1.

* Also in Studio 1 will be our ABC-Thames truck. This has only just come back from the paint shop and looks splendid.

We should also have our BBC radio car and at least one guest OB truck.

[Doodlebug]

It's now high time that BECG had a link on the British Heritage Television site.
They do have a link page...........
https://405-line.tv/links/

[ppppenguin]

Thanks, Albert. I've sent a note to our webmaster.

Long before the BECG was officially born we were definitely around and busy: https://405-line.tv/tv70/ Our Yorkshire Tyne-Tees truck went to Ally Pally. Several of us are credited at the end of the page. Taking a big truck on the road takes a lot of money and effort, as well as wear and tear on the truck itself. I doubt we'd do that kind of gig again. We're all the best part of 20 years older too. If a big vintage truck needs to go more than a moderate distance it will need sponsorship and a low loader. That's how Vivat did its commercial jobs for The Crown

[djrm]

I managed to get to the open day today, I was very happy to see the progress made since my visit last year. Seeing some of the Yaxley collection alone was well worth the trip. Someone whose name I forgot to get gave me a very detailed talk about the history of 625 television from its early days in eastern Europe during and after WW2, I had no idea it has been going so long. Thanks to all concerned. Some photos attached below, David: