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Re: valve cooling?

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On 01/07/2026 13:07, JMB99 wrote:
> Daily Mirror - Tuesday 19 January 1937
> 
> MYSTERY VANS TO TELEVISE THE CORONATION
> A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
> THREE grey-green plain vans are on their way to the B. B. C. — a vital 
> but "hush-hush" link in the B. B. C.'s Coronation broadcasts of television.
> Yesterday I was able to inspect the layouts of these mysterious vans.
> The first has a little window at the side through which the nose of a 
> television scanner peeps. This van will be driven along the route to 
> vantage points where the B. B. C. can televise the Coronation procession.
> Following it will be a second van containing apparatus costing more than 
> £4,000. There is a special ultra-short-wave transmitter, working below 7 
> metres, which will broadcast the television from the route to the B. B. C.
> Signals will be picked up by several receivers around London — one of 
> them probably on Broadcasting House itself — and re-broadcast from the 
> television station at Alexandra Palace.
> The third van contains the other B. B. C. secret apparatus. If the 
> electric power mains break down it will not stop the broadcast, for the 
> B. B. C. " makes its own juice."
> Post Office engineers are laying down special cables all over London, so 
> that travelling B. B. C. commentators can plug in their microphones.
> "Lobby"— Mr. de Lotbiniere. the Outside Broadcast Director—is still 
> giving tests to special commentators who will describe on the air the 
> progress of the ceremony and the procession.


I wonder why everything was so shrouded in secrecy: "grey-green plain 
vans", "hush-hush", "B. B. C. secret apparatus".

Was it commercial-in-confidence (not wanting to give away too many 
secrets to TV companies from other countries) or was it secret in the 
sense of Official Secrets Act or Defence of the Realm Act?

Or was "secret" a bit of OTT hype, referring to "not a lot of people 
know that" technology? I reckon that's what it is, because the article 
explains that the camera, the "uplink" to the studio and the backup PSU 
are contained in the vans, so they aren't keeping it secret to that extent.

The equipment cost £4000. That's about £242,000 in modern prices, 
according to 
https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator 
. I'd have thought that might be quite low for broadcast-quality camera 
and lens, satellite uplink, generator/battery, sound-mixing desk that 
might be found in a modern scanner van

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valve cooling? "J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> - 2026-06-28 20:51 +0100
  Re: valve cooling? Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> - 2026-06-28 20:55 +0100
    Re: valve cooling? liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid (Liz Tuddenham) - 2026-06-28 22:59 +0100
      Re: valve cooling? "J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> - 2026-06-29 04:39 +0100
    Re: valve cooling? snipeco.2@gmail.com (Sn!pe) - 2026-06-28 23:01 +0100
      Re: valve cooling? Roderick Stewart <rjfs@escapetime.myzen.co.uk> - 2026-06-29 11:04 +0100
        Re: valve cooling? Charles Hope <clh@candehope.me.uk> - 2026-06-29 10:30 +0000
          Re: valve cooling? JMB99 <mb@nospam.net> - 2026-06-29 14:48 +0100
            Re: valve cooling? "J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> - 2026-06-29 17:14 +0100
              Re: valve cooling? liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid (Liz Tuddenham) - 2026-06-30 09:04 +0100
                Re: valve cooling? "J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> - 2026-06-30 09:27 +0100
                Re: valve cooling? liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid (Liz Tuddenham) - 2026-06-30 10:28 +0100
                Re: valve cooling? "J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> - 2026-06-30 18:56 +0100
                Re: valve cooling? JMB99 <mb@nospam.net> - 2026-07-01 13:07 +0100
                Re: valve cooling? NY <me@privacy.net> - 2026-07-01 15:46 +0100
                Re: valve cooling? Old John <watcombeman@yahoo.co.uk> - 2026-07-01 06:26 +0000
                Re: valve cooling? Max Demian <max_demian@bigfoot.com> - 2026-07-01 11:48 +0100
                Re: valve cooling? liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid (Liz Tuddenham) - 2026-07-01 12:11 +0100
        Re: valve cooling? JMB99 <mb@nospam.net> - 2026-06-29 14:44 +0100
      Re: valve cooling? Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> - 2026-06-30 10:44 +0100
        Re: valve cooling? "J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> - 2026-06-30 19:03 +0100

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