BBC Comms Department (Including Lines Department, and the Transmission Comms Ops and Comms sections of Transmission Engineering Dept.)


Note: This web site is totally independant of the BBC, and nothing included on it necessarily represents the BBC's views. It has been set up solely for the interest and benefit of ex-Communications Department staff.

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Welcome to the BBC Comms Dept. Web Site
Latest Addition - November 2007

News

Transmissission Reunion: The Transmission reunion organised by David Sandbrook, was on Wednesday 31st October. see here for the details of some photos that are available. There are more details on the BBC EngInfo web site (see below for the link)

15th August 2007: Gerhard Wagner's "Praktikantenheft" (Work Book). Gerhard was working in the ATA as an international trainee student thirty years ago in 1977, when he kept a training book (in English) (See the link below).

22nd June 2007: Mike Jordan has updated his web pages with even more new photos of the demolition of the of BHX See here.

8th February 2007: Link added to Mike Jordon's web pages of Stories from BH Lines and Comms Departments.

7th February 2007: Request for information: Now Found! Alan Baukham and David Reddington have recently told me that the photos of the Comms Department closing down party of January 2001, in the DG's suite, are on David's web site (See here).
Also added: Dick McCarthy's bother's London Connections diagram of the London TV circuits from about 1965. (See page link below)
I have now fixed the broken link to David Savage's reminicences about his time in Lines Department.

28th November 2005: Alan Baukham tells me that Alan Bowman has his name and photo on the 'Friends Reunited' web site. Alan Baukham says "For any oldies, this gentleman used to run the BBC telecoms room (later ATA) back in the 60's-70's."

7th May 2005: More sad news: I understand via Clive Rickerby, Roger Garner and Vic Howett that Ron Metcalf died last week from a heart attack.

21st December 2004: Geoff Atkinson died on Saturday 11th December. I understand that he had been poorly for some time with Altzheimers and recently also developed cancer. Comms Department was well represented at the funeral on Monday 20th December (Dave Buttle has some digital pics of ex-Comms people taken outside). During my time in Comms Ops, I found Geoff a very likeable and experienced boss. He was well liked and respected by everyone I met. I am sure he will be sadly missed.

8th June 2004: Some sad news for all those who knew Frank Rice. Unfortunately he has passed away after several months of illness. I worked with Frank for several years. He was a very experienced, capable, and likeable person, and a great character. I had a lot of respect for him.

17th May 2004: The Broadcast Engineer's Reference Book, edited by Joe Tozer is available. It has contributions from several ex-Comms Dept. & ex-Transmission Engineering Dept. people. See here for some interesting details.

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As you will see by clicking on the links below, what we have here is rather limited at present, so I hope all you ex-members of Comms Department can come up with more good stuff. Please send: Amusing or interesting stories; Descriptions and/or diagrams of interesting Comms systems that are no longer in use (RTF or plain text files preferred); relevant photos (jpegs if possible); News of Pub Meets and Reunions etc. There is a very nice example describing life in Lines Department written by David Savage, which can be found on the 'On Air' book web site (See: here) If we have enough material, I will try and re-structure the site so that things are in some sort of order, such as by section, or chronologically. Please do not send anything that might offend anyone, or which may be restricted BBC information, or anything you know to be of a sensitive nature.

Please tell me what you would like to see on the site, so any feedback is most welcome. Please e-mail me with comments and new material. My e-mail address is: e-mail - 2445 bytes, or if you prefer, 'phone me on: 0121 709 0236.

"What Are They Doing Now" Page (With thanks to Sue Fairbrass)
Others may be interested to know what you are doing now. If you would like your details included please e-mail me, and I will post them on the page. I suggest that we keep each entry to not more than about four lines of text. If you have a business, or personal, web site you would like to share, please include the URL, and I will add a link to it. If it is a personal web site, you may like to add a link back to this site.
Updated 16 December 2005

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