Gordon Bedford |
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By Ian Copland I came to Meldrum from the KOS TMT (5 years), which was primarily involved in low power relay stations and MF stations like the 2kw MF stations at Glasgow and Edinburgh, so you can imagine the leap I did, having to look after stations like Meldrum, Durris and Knockmore as well as the ancient MF transmitters at Redmoss, some of which looked like giant meccano sets. The test load for the larger TXs was stacks of very large light bulbs, all being pre war! Even a Docherty mod TX which must have been a first and the alignment was something else. I did have some experience with the UHF77s however having spent some time at Selkirk and Blackhill and a year on the shift at KOS before I joined the TMT at KOS, luckily. There were 5 STEs after I arrived at Meldrum in 1975 aged 29, and Gordon Bedford was outstanding in that the other three were older than Gordon by at least 10 years and had been in the war; but they were really great guys as well as being well versed in TXs and a it was a great pleasure and very enjoyable to be a part of the Meldrum Team. I have great respect for those guys, from the EIC (Ron Salino) and the AEIC (John Henderson), to the night watchmen and office staff. There were also five TX. Engineers as well, all much older than me, except for wee Greig Smith who was slightly younger than me and also from KOS. When I arrived, as well as looking after the Meldrum area, we also had to do two man (ste + eng), shift work as the 405 line Txs had to be attended to (Marconi 5kW), during broadcast hours and also the monitoring of most of the relays including Durris and Knockmore. Remember the old TIP 2s.? (I think that is what they were called.). Sometimes we had to dash away! Most were within an hours journey. Gordon was very knowledgeable in the whole lot thankfully, from stripping down Klystron trucks and drying out the focus coils after water leaks! As well as the intricate lining up of the old PYE UHF Modulators and getting rid of the “streaks” in the pictures by getting that “Pulse and Bar” perfect. After humping those R&S Polyscopes around in the back of Landrovers (later Rangerovers!). Then there were those “RF Test sets” for the relays and Txs. Remember remember the fun we had!! Gordon retired and then worked at the Aberdeen Hospital, servicing all kinds of medical equipment using his vast electrical and electronic knowledge (he must have been in his element!), until he finally retired at 65. I met him quite a few times and his mind was as active as ever with a very keen interest in the technology, keeping abreast with the latest computers, internet, satellite TV etc (He even had a steerable dish on the side of his house). I remember them all.... Ron Salino, John Henderson, Gordon, Alan Walker, Bill Sutherland, Goeff Cutler, James Sim, Alistair Paterson, Jack Cowie, Greig Smith, Paul Bohan, Bill Buchan, Reg Goodwin. Of course there were many additions later on, temporarily, as the Meldrum Team slowly disappeared, and I finally moved to IVT TMT.
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