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General Vintage Technology Discussions For general discussions about vintage radio and other vintage electronics etc. |
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3rd Dec 2018, 12:41 am | #1 |
Nonode
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Walsall Wood, Aldridge, Walsall, UK.
Posts: 2,873
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Hum and noise in BBC Sound Radio broadcasts?
Hi!
In my younger days I had considerable difficulties in getting extraneous hum and noise out of the valved equipment I looked at as I didn't understand the principles like I do now, which brings me to another discussion item – that is how quiet BBC sound radio broadcasts were, and still are, from the general hum and noise point of view! What precautions did the BBC go to in the valve days? Did they use electronic h.t. stabilisation for the early audio stages of their sound radio transmitters, or were their engineers simply so careful enough with the circuit design to be able to get good quiet backgrounds with conventional h.t. smoothing & decoupling? We take the absence of extraneous hum and other background noise for granted in all our consumer audio gear nowadays, but Paul's humming AMG111 I helped him with recently reminds me this wasn't always the case! Can any Member recall any BBC Sound Radio broadcast plagued by excessive hum or other unwanted background noise? Chris Williams
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3rd Dec 2018, 7:43 am | #2 |
Octode
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Bracknell, Berkshire,UK.
Posts: 1,175
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Re: Hum and noise in BBC Sound Radio broadcasts?
I assume you are referring to off air broadcasts and not BBC Sound which is what they call iPlayer nowadays?
Dave |
3rd Dec 2018, 9:31 am | #3 |
Octode
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Manchester, UK.
Posts: 1,875
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Re: Hum and noise in BBC Sound Radio broadcasts?
I can't answer your question, but I remember (from a short placement) that there were radio studios in the basement of BH from which the Northern Line was sporadically audible - at least, that's the engineers' story as I remember it.
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3rd Dec 2018, 9:45 am | #4 |
Nonode
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Worcestershire, UK.
Posts: 2,534
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Re: Hum and noise in BBC Sound Radio broadcasts?
I may still have somewhere a BBC television sound recording, recorded in the US in 1938 during freak propagation conditions. This was, I think, given to me by Andy E.
As Jasmine Bligh's microphone is faded up, (induction-type) background hum is really noticeable. I was rather shocked to hear this. Steve |
3rd Dec 2018, 10:14 am | #5 |
Pentode
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Alton, Hampshire, UK.
Posts: 161
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Re: Hum and noise in BBC Sound Radio broadcasts?
When I worked in operations and maintenance at the beeb (World Service) in late 70's and early 80's Bush House was mid way between valve and transistor broadcast equipment. The valve amplifier chains and studios built around GPA4 and C9 amplifiers all used bulk psu's in the racks with passive component filtering for HT supplies. It was the careful design of the these PSU and amplifiers that gave the low hum and noise. From memory, most hum issues arose from faulty valves and unbalanced circuits - every piece of equipment was balanced in and out using transformers so very resilient to induced hum and noise.
BT link circuits could be the cause of some additional hum and noise especially on temporary circuits set up for special event (Saturday afternoon sport feeds stick in my mind). The transistor equipment also generally used bulk psu's with electronic voltage control and stabilisation. I cannot really comment on how the transmitters dealt with filtering and stabilization but I'm sure someone on the forum will have experience in that area. Jon |
3rd Dec 2018, 11:12 am | #6 |
Guest
Posts: n/a
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Re: Hum and noise in BBC Sound Radio broadcasts?
At the start of Broadcasting House all the amplifiers where run from batteries, charged overnight.
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3rd Dec 2018, 11:58 am | #7 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Kington, Herefordshire, UK.
Posts: 3,675
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Re: Hum and noise in BBC Sound Radio broadcasts?
I was involved the re-engineering of the Bush House control room around 1981, which was a process akin to milking a porcupine, given that the old kit continued to operate whilst we built and tested the new stuff around it, only swinging the jumpers over to the new blocks on the distribution frame when programme schedules allowed. Once that bit was running smoothly, the old kit was powered down and taken out.
Most of the control room amplification was done on C9 valve amplifiers, eleven plug-in modules to a half-bay panel with the twelfth position occupied by a common power supply. These ran reliably for years on end, largely because they were never switched off, odd failures being dealt with by hot-swapping. On one occasion, the wrong batch of C9s were switched off. The absence of Green (WS) was swiftly noticed, and the rack switched on again. Seven amps of eleven came back! The only goof which surpassed that on my watch was when we cut the wrong PSN/50 and reconnected it with choc-blocks just in time to prevent Lilliburlero fron going off the air... |
3rd Dec 2018, 12:45 pm | #8 | |
Heptode
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: East London, UK.
Posts: 761
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Re: Hum and noise in BBC Sound Radio broadcasts?
Quote:
There's an interesting read here http://underground-history.co.uk/bbcbh.php about an unfounded rumour of a platform for BH on the line - the article concludes with "Update 2006: Over the last couple of years, extensive work has been done in the refurbishment of BBC Broadcasting House. In fact, "refurbishment" is rather a weak word to describe the work... As the facade is a listed building, this couldn't be changed, but essentially, the building's innards have been completely gutted and rebuilt so that the studios are now on floating foundations to attempt to reduce the noise from the Underground" |
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3rd Dec 2018, 5:39 pm | #9 |
Hexode
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Weymouth, Dorset, UK.
Posts: 422
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Re: Hum and noise in BBC Sound Radio broadcasts?
I noticed on the broadcasts of radio Jersey when they carry the local parliament debates there is a considerable amount of hum noticeable, in fact when someone stops speaking you can here the hum cone up and the AGC brings up the gain.
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3rd Dec 2018, 8:17 pm | #10 |
Nonode
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Walsall Wood, Aldridge, Walsall, UK.
Posts: 2,873
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Re: Hum and noise in BBC Sound Radio broadcasts?
Hi!
Sorry – I didn't make it absolutely clear in my first question – it does refer to "off–air" broadcasting rather than the time–shifted iPlayer/BBC Sounds recordings! To digress a bit, from a repair point of view, the use of good–quality metal or diode rectifiers together with modern electrolytics gives an unsmoothed h.t. of quite a bit more than the original set maker could get, allowing a preliminary stage of h.t. smoothing between the rectifier and the O/P transformer or main h.t. line to be added whilst still giving the set–maker's designed h.t. voltage. Murphy Radio always quoted mains–voltages of 240–245V a.c. on most of their Radio Service Sheets, so the relatively (lower) voltages quoted for many a.c./d.c. technique chassis wasn't entirely down to lower nominal mains voltages, a point made by Spreadbury in his second volume of his TV Servicing books, who wrote "advantage cannot be taken of higher mains voltages as everything has to be scaled down to 200V DC operation" to suit those who only had that supply available at the time! In the 1960s and 1970s more thought was given to improving performance by increasing the available h.t. line voltage, but with valves, germanium transistors, transformers and other components becoming more scarce and costly year on year, I always repair equipment to give the original maker's nominal stated voltage! Chris Williams
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It's an enigma, that's what it is! This thing's not fixed because it doesn't want to be fixed! Last edited by Chris55000; 3rd Dec 2018 at 8:36 pm. |
3rd Dec 2018, 8:27 pm | #11 |
Nonode
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Surbiton, SW London, UK.
Posts: 2,801
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Re: Hum and noise in BBC Sound Radio broadcasts?
In the early days of BBC Radio London the audio suffered from dialling clicks of the Strowger type. I believe this was cured by using lower impedance land lines.
I believe that the landlines to Wrotham were affected by flooding in 1968 and the transmitters relayed MW transmissions ! |
3rd Dec 2018, 8:35 pm | #12 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 14,007
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Re: Hum and noise in BBC Sound Radio broadcasts?
The GEC BRT400-series of receivers - which were used by the BBC for off-the-air monitoring of SW/MW transmissions at places like Caversham - did indeed use electronic hum-reduction rather than the more-usual lots-of-L-and-C in the HT supply.
When you listen to some of the off-air recordings of international SW broadcasts that often show up on the likes of Radio4 or BBC WS when they're discussing a historic military-coup or invasion or something, there's often quite a bit of hum! Though I guess this is more likely to be originating at the transmitter end. |
3rd Dec 2018, 8:44 pm | #13 |
Nonode
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Coulsdon, London, UK.
Posts: 2,169
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Re: Hum and noise in BBC Sound Radio broadcasts?
If 50Hz hum or 100Hz ripple was transmitted by the BBC in 1938, it makes me wonder what was the audio modulation bandwidth at that time?
Has anyone actually measured the frequency of that hum on that 1938 recording? Could it be 60Hz hum or 120Hz ripple? Is it possible that the hum was an artifact of the demodulation process in the American receiver? |
3rd Dec 2018, 10:17 pm | #14 |
Tetrode
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Southend-on-Sea, Essex, UK.
Posts: 60
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Re: Hum and noise in BBC Sound Radio broadcasts?
Further to Alvin's recollections above, I was a Technical Operator at Broadcasting House in the late 70s and I recall the rumble of passing tube trains being heard quite clearly in the basement studio B10 I think. I also remember instances when quiet recordings had to be stopped as the rumble become too obtrusive.
When working in what was called the Continuity Suites (home of Radio 1, 2, 3 and 4) the desk operator would listen to the studio output "off air" (Armstrong receivers) to monitor and log any problems with the transmitter - usually Wrotham. Happy days really. Most of the audio amplifiers in the Control Room area were indeed valve - and painted in battleship grey of course! Actually there were some great stories going around BH about other noises heard late at night during the night shift that were attributed to the resident ghost, but such things are off-topic! Last edited by dryjoint; 3rd Dec 2018 at 10:29 pm. |
4th Dec 2018, 11:21 am | #15 |
Heptode
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: East London, UK.
Posts: 761
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Re: Hum and noise in BBC Sound Radio broadcasts?
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4th Dec 2018, 11:48 am | #16 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Leominster, Herefordshire, UK.
Posts: 16,536
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Re: Hum and noise in BBC Sound Radio broadcasts?
Ahh, but did you know or even meet each other?
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4th Dec 2018, 2:58 pm | #17 | ||
Nonode
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Worcestershire, UK.
Posts: 2,534
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Re: Hum and noise in BBC Sound Radio broadcasts?
Quote:
Quote:
I spent yesterday looking for this old recording... I still haven't found it! If I do, I'll post it online. Steve Last edited by Panrock; 4th Dec 2018 at 3:10 pm. Reason: accuracy |
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4th Dec 2018, 5:35 pm | #18 |
Hexode
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Weymouth, Dorset, UK.
Posts: 422
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Re: Hum and noise in BBC Sound Radio broadcasts?
I visited the BBC monitoring station at Caversham/Crowsley in the mid 80's and remember that all the receivers were fed from big lead acid batteries that were on permanent float charge. The audio inputs were completely hum free.
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4th Dec 2018, 7:47 pm | #19 |
Tetrode
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Southend-on-Sea, Essex, UK.
Posts: 60
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Re: Hum and noise in BBC Sound Radio broadcasts?
I think I started in 1978, so probably we just missed each other. It was a great place to work and was my first job after school. Lucky indeed.
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5th Dec 2018, 2:13 pm | #20 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Penrith, Cumbria, UK.
Posts: 3,687
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Re: Hum and noise in BBC Sound Radio broadcasts?
On H.F. transmitters (well, the Marconi B6122 / BD272 types), the a.c. valve filaments in the modulator stage were centre-tapped with the 2nd stage valve fils being fed via centre-tapped rheostats. The rheostats were adjusted for hum-balance at performance test time.
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