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BBCeng.info
Recollections of BBC engineering from 1922 to 1997 |
The British Broadcasting Corporation web site is: www.bbc.co.uk |
Web Site Guide
Places to start
| If you have heard about the fine reputation of BBC engineering and want to find out what was actually achieved - | - try the Eng Inf Newsletters which are packed with fairly short articles covering a wide and representative range of activities. |
| If you are looking for pictures or text about a specific person or facility etc. - | - try using Google search on the Home page. (It seems to take Google's web crawlers a few weeks to find new items on the site, so you might not find all items this way initially.) |
| If you have acquired an old item of BBC equipment and want to find out more about it - | - try Technical Instructions. Also try EDI Sheets and Registered Designs in the Designs section. |
| If you have noticed some of the BBC transmitter masts in the UK or abroad and want to know about the working lives of the people who built and operated them - | - try Transmitter Projects and Transmitter Operations, or download the book On Air. |
| If you want to learn the basics of broadcast engineering or about detailed technical issues - | - try Technical Reviews and Reference. |
| If you are researching BBC history - | - try War Reminiscences and "Reminiscences" associated with each activity (e.g. Comms Ops). |
| If you are trying to get in touch with others - | - try Information Exchange & Contact. |
Structure
Hopefully it is clear from the Home page that the site is structured to reflect BBC engineering activities. To some extent the names of the activities are the same as the names of BBC Departments, but names and functions changed over the years and so there is not necessarily a direct correspondence. Some topics do not fit within an activity, hence the additional menu bar. It is probable that the structure will change as the web site develops.
The Status list below indicates how much content is located in each section. The Pages column shows the approximate number of A4 sheets needed to print the contents (although reading from a screen is recommended, rather than using paper!).
This list is included
mainly to help visitors gain an overview. The
New Items page has the definitive list of
items added to the web site.
Status on 29 May 2008
|
Pages |
Pictures |
Engineering activity menu |
Notes |
| 6 | 0 | Research | has an impressive list of achievements and one reminiscence article. |
| 137 62 778 1000 |
181 0 0 500 |
Designs | is well populated with descriptions, pictures, reminiscences and a large amount of data for reference (62 pages of Annual Reports, 778 listing coded designs and about 1000 pages containing 702 Engineering Design Information sheets). |
| 14 | 33 | Equipment | has a couple of reminiscences going back to about 1929. It also has pictures related to D&ED which was formed in 1987, together with reunion pictures. |
| <1 | 0 | Sites, Buildings and Structures | is almost empty. |
| <1 | 0 | Studio Projects | is almost empty. |
| 50 | 35 | Comms Projects | has one reminiscence article. |
| 11 | 9 | Transmitter Projects | has two reminiscence articles. |
| 1 | 90 | Training | has many course pictures. |
| 853 3 |
1100 | Eng Inf | contains a MAJOR RESOURCE that charts BBC engineering achievements. It includes every issue of "Eng Inf" the Quarterly Newsletter for BBC Engineering Staff. Also the history of EID. |
| 13 | 9 | Studio Ops & OBs | has two reminiscence articles. |
| 9 | 7 | Comms Ops | has one reminiscence article. |
| 214 | 270 | Transmitter Ops | has MAJOR articles on some important transmitting stations and several reminiscence articles. Some items are linked from a list of named transmitting stations. There are several films (All films can also be accessed on the Video page - see below.) |
| 0 | 0 | Receivers | is empty. |
Other menu items |
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||
| 8 | 0 | New Items | is updated every time there is an addition to the web site, so it is worth checking. |
| 11 | 9 | Videos | plays 9 videos. |
| 13 | 2 | Books | is mainly about On Air - A History of BBC Transmission, but a list of other relevant books is also included. |
| 3 | 0 | Reference | has links to this web site and many others. |
| 77 | 45 | Technical Reviews | has 4 fairly lengthy articles about relevant aspects of broadcast technology. (The pictures are mainly line drawings.) |
| 1 | 0 | Engineering Division | is presently just a brief overview of the organisation that was responsible for the BBC's engineering activities. |
| 11 | 0 | War reminiscences | is shown on this menu because it includes two articles that encompass several engineering activities (so the articles do not fit logically under other headings). |
| 10 | 1 | About | provides background information about this web site. |
| 13 | 8 | Info Exchange & Contact | provides a route for contacting others who have an interest in the topics covered by the site. |
| 12 | 3 | Old News | (accessed via a link at the foot of the Home Page) is an archive of News items shown on the Home page. |
| 1 | 2 | Pinky | - don't forget to click on the web site emblem. |
| 3313 | 2304 | TOTAL |