It was as an Engineer (MP1) that I joined Studio Planning and Installation Department’s (SPID) OB Unit in January 1969. I was assigned to the team working under Geoff Key’s project management on the new Type 2 Colour Mobile Control Rooms. (Three Type 1’s had already been built in-house to prove the aaproach). The Type 2s were (as I recall) the first BBC colour scanners to be built under commercial contract. A total of nine had been budgeted, with financial approval staged in three groups of three.
The vehicle contracts for all nine were placed with Pye TVT in Cambridge. Cameras were from Pye and EMI (LDK 3, LDK 5 and EMI 2001 – I cannot recall which went with which group of scanners).
I worked as a Engineer in the SPID systems test and acceptance team on Pye’s premises in Cherry Hinton, Cambridge and Royston with Mike York from Spring 1969 ‘til July 1970.
We covered video, power and air-conditioning systems; Dave Le Breton was responsible for camera test and acceptance. (One strong recollection – ensuring video timing tolerance exceeded 0.1 degree at PAL subcarrier frequency by cable cutting).
Sound, Comms and EMX systems test and acceptance was done by Duncan Stewart, Bob Smith, Bob Packer. Pye TVT managers included Dick Ellis (of published fame – ‘The Pye TVT Story’; ISBN189834017X) and Fred Steed (who had a passion I recall for the then-novel hot gas bypass arrangement in the air-conditioning systems to alleviate compressor power surges).
The scanners CMCRs 4 – 12 were assigned to London, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff and Glasgow.
We worked in the handover phase with many excellent staff from operational departments in those areas. Others from there can tell the rest of the story of these scanners better than I can.