CMCR9 show season 2017

CMCR9, in the 1970s, with rigger driver, Ron Lane. Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have received the message below from Jerry Clegg, which gives details about the events that CMCR9, Pebble Mill’s original CM1 scanner, and another OB truck, LO23, CMCR54, will be exhibited at:

“The new show season is almost upon us. Steve Harris will be exhibiting the heritage scanner North 3/CMCR9 together with the former Lo23/CMCR54 (type-7) at the Kelsall Steam Rally near Tarvin in Cheshire on Saturday and Sunday 24th and 25th June 2017. Steve is planning to have both vehicles powered up. You can find details about the Kelsall show on their website using this link :-

 http://www.kelsallsteamrally.co.uk/costs-2/

After Kelsall, the next event for North 3 will be the Wilmslow Show on Sunday 9th July, which this year is at a new venue which is :-

The Carnival Field, Altrincham Road, Wilmslow SK9 5NG

The website for the Wilmslow Show is :-
 
 
We look forward to meeting up with some of you at these shows.”
 

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Ron Lane with CM1

Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

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The photo is of rigger driver, Ron Lane, with OB scanner, CMCR9, which was his pride and joy. Apparently he used to regularly black the wheels, and keep the truck looking its best. The truck was built in 1969 and was BBC Birmingham’s original CM1. The scanner is probably stationed at the Royal Show, Stoneleigh.

It is this scanner that has been restored by Steve Harris and his team, and now tours round different exhibitions each year.

This photo was originally shared on the Pebble Mill Engineers Facebook group. Thanks to Stuart Gandy for making it available.

The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Malcolm Hickman: ‘Ron was a great guy. Always had a tin of tyre black gloss in the cab.’

Louis Robinson: ‘The Royal Show is my best guess too. The OB team from Birmingham did a great job for us (Michael Coley, John Miller and me) with the Exhibitions Unit. Then the BBC (London) decided to go with Manchester… mistake.’

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Colin Pierpoint blog – Part 16 Comms on Location 2

CMCR9 photo by John Abbott, no reproduction without permission

CMCR9 photo from John Abbott, no reproduction without permission

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Here is the continuation of Colin Pierpoint’s blog about his BBC career).

I did 5 days in Wales for Songs of Praise to BBC Wales from St Asaph. Several days in Hastings for a cricket OB. (A great moment here. There was a delay in setting up the link signal which was received at Swains Lane in North London. The London Comms Engineer there said on the RT (Radio telephone) “I suppose we are waiting for Birmingham are we?” So Paul in the Birmingham links van replied “No, actually we are waiting for the London Links van to arrive”! I did a link at the Oval Cricket Ground for a test match, working late into the night sending VTR recorded on site to the Television Centre VT.  And of course I did Edgbaston several times (My first ever radiolink which was a bit of a disaster! The Cricket Ground were having a management meeting when we arrived for the Vision Circuit Test and they had all parked where the links van should be. I sent requests to move their cars but they would not come out. Our van was one from Wales and all the mains sockets were different from ours!) I also did the radiolink for the opening of the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) by the Queen [see comment at the bottom of this post]. It was freezing cold with snow on the ground and I had to stand outside CMCR9 with a field telephone in my hand for ages, doing a lines test which had problems. It was at the NEC on a later OB that I was ordered off the site by the Shop Steward because I was not a member of the ABS (Association of Broadcasting Staff). I went to tell the Engineering Manager in the scanner (CMCR) first, who agreed that it was best if I leave, and then reported it to the CPE in Pebble Mill. In fact, all I had missed was the derig and making the tea for our rigger-driver! It was the Rigger-Driver Jim, who asked me to leave! He should have waited until I finished making his tea before he told me.

There was one cricket match Television OB while the BBC were having strike action. Sound was cut for some programmes but not all. The Engineering Manager came to my links van and said “What action have you taken to ensure that our sound is not cut?” So I said that on yesterday’s cricket match from somewhere else (not mine) the OB had rung the Television Centre and said can you guarantee that our sound will not be cut? So they cut it! I told the EM that because of this I was keeping my head down. He said “Good Idea” and our sound was not cut. (Although I was not in the union at that time, I did contribute to the strike fund. Later I also joined BECTU  trade union at Wood Norton and did go on strike for one day in support of my colleagues). I also did a midpoint at Daventry Transmitter site; it was only a test in case of London flooding, but a chance to talk to my transmitter colleagues.

Sometimes we operated a repeater inside the telephone exchange. This is a box of BBC equipment used to correct the frequency response before it is passed on to the nearest BBC centre. (Later this was stopped when the Post Office union decided that their staff should do it). I did repeaters in Kettering, Coventry, Hanley and Shrewsbury. I did the repeater for the famous broadcast for the BBC anniversary at Sudley Castle. Very embarrassing!

You will remember that I preferred to take the Comms self-drive car for lines tests. My own Land Rover was getting rather elderly and unreliable at the time and if it brike down on official dury, it would have been my fault. So I thought that by using the Comms Department car there would be no problem if it stopped working. How wrong I was! At Burghley Park for the horse trials I took the self drive car which did break down! I was crossing the course near the finishing post when the engine stopped half way across the track; right where the horses would be finishing the event! An image entered my mind of people at Pebble Mill watching the trials on BBC2 as the horses went round an abandoned car at the finishing post, saying “Isn’t that the Comms Self drive car?” So I rang the transport office Neville Mowl and they called out the AA. It seems that I had flooded the carbuettor with an automatic choke (Ford Escourt). The AA man told me that I should have told him where I was and not where the car was, but I had to move about and get on with testing the cross course cables as there was less than an hour to transmission.

An interesting lines test was at Holme Pierrepont, the national watersport centre. The man on the gate let me in a few times, and then said “You have been through here too often today, I am not letting you in again”! So I showed him my BBC pass. When he saw the name Pierpoint, he thought there was a fiddle somewhere but couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Meanwhile, the Post Office Engineer, who I was working with, went in and out past me without being stopped once!

Colin Pierpoint

The following comment was left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Malcolm Hickman: ‘Jim Lloyd and I were stood by the link on the roof of the NEC because it was a grade 1. It was hissing down, so we took shelter in a walkway that crossed the roof. There were 2 men stationed there who were in suits and they had shoulder holsters with guns. We could see a semicircle of people inside the building at the end of the walkway. We did look a bit scruffy in rigging jackets and duffle coat and as the queen got a bit closer, they told us to get out, so we never actually got to shake hands.’

 

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Colin Pierpoint blog, part 13 – Pebble Mill at One pilot

 

CMCR9, photo from John Abbott, no reproduction without permission

CMCR9 (on Gardeners’ World), photo from John Abbott, no reproduction without permission

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Here is the thirteenth part of Colin Pierpoint’s blog about his BBC career]

I think the Pebble Mill at One programme needs no explanation to our readers, but I was asked by the  Deputy Manager Comms and Engineering Services, John Stark, to be the communications co-ordinator for the pilot programme, which was to try out the system. The mixing point or gallery was the Birmingham scanner CMCR6 or 9. This was parked in the garage area where there was a wallbox with tielines to the Communications Centre. I was rushing round from here to VT and Comms Centre trying to get circuits established. I don’t think everyone in Operations knew that I had actually been allocated to do this, perhaps I should have explained to those I came into contact with. The reason for using the scanner was that Studio A at Pebble Mill must have been in use. On other days the scanner was at Gosta Green to give colour facilities on a drive in basis. (Gosta Green studio was never converted to colour, and was eventually sold as a black and white studio).

Colin Pierpoint

 

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CMCR9 on show at Shrewsbury Steam Rally

Photo by Steve Harris, no reproduction without permission

Photo by Steve Harris, no reproduction without permission

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The veteran TV OB scanner North3 / CMCR9 will be on show next weekend at the Shrewsbury Steam Rally, Onslow Park, Shrewsbury. Details may be found on their website :-

http://www.shrewsburysteamrally.co.uk/

Please note that the show is not open on Saturday, but only on Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday. The Shrewsbury Rally is easy to find and a great day out, with something to entertain all the family, young or old!

Eric’s generator will be powering us and it is hoped to have either the EMI 2001 and/or a PC80 camera working into the scanner. Fingers crossed for some good weather!

Jerry Clegg