How do they get the pictures back from the BBC helicopter? It was sending 
back live pictures from the Heathrow incident this afternoon. Is it a flying 
satellite truck? Does it need an expensive gyro stabilised dish? Or is this 
one of the few remaining uses for ground based links receiving sites?

Stephen wrote:

> How do they get the pictures back from the BBC helicopter? It was sending back
> live pictures from the Heathrow incident this afternoon. Is it a flying
> satellite truck? Does it need an expensive gyro stabilised dish? Or is this
> one of the few remaining uses for ground based links receiving sites?


Paul Daniels is inside using some magic.

J

"Stephen"  wrote in message 
news:fmo2m4$2sv$1$8302bc10@news.demon.co.uk...
> How do they get the pictures back from the BBC helicopter? It was sending 
> back live pictures from the Heathrow incident this afternoon. Is it a 
> flying satellite truck? Does it need an expensive gyro stabilised dish? Or 
> is this one of the few remaining uses for ground based links receiving 
> sites?

Ground based. Was 40 watts of 2.5GHz from the Chopper in my day (25 years 
ago). RX sites I used were Milbank and LWT's roof.
I wish someone would tell the monkey camera man to stop playing with the 
zoom like a kid with a new camcorder. It was making me giddy. The camera 
work theses days is as bad as the US stuff has always been.

Graham

Graham wrote:

> Ground based. Was 40 watts of 2.5GHz from the Chopper in my day (25 years 
> ago). RX sites I used were Milbank and LWT's roof.
> I wish someone would tell the monkey camera man to stop playing with the 
> zoom like a kid with a new camcorder. It was making me giddy. The camera 
> work theses days is as bad as the US stuff has always been.

South of England ITV company TVS used to use a helicopter for two purposes.
The first was as an 'eye in the sky', just like the one being discussed here. 
but also as an SHF mid point for OBs on the ground.

TVS had a gyro controlled receive aerial at Chillerton Down (and later at 
Bluebell Hill I think ?). These two masts were LOS to anywhere on their patch 
at helicopter altitudes.
The helicopter would link to either of those rx sites, as well relaying 
pictures from the ground. That was almost 20 years ago, before SNG really 
kicked off (particularly for regional TV).

Google brings up this single photo:-

http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/tv/tvpics/helo.jpg

-- 
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

Stephen wrote:
> How do they get the pictures back from the BBC helicopter? It was sending 
> back live pictures from the Heathrow incident this afternoon. Is it a flying 
> satellite truck? Does it need an expensive gyro stabilised dish? Or is this 
> one of the few remaining uses for ground based links receiving sites? 
> 
> 

Dead easy now.

BBC has a partly equipped helicopter based in Norwich. With a digital 
downlink and even an omni aerial on the Tx and Rx, reception would be 
possible certainly at the supporting Sat-truck which would be also doing 
the ground camera.
Reception would also be possible at the main receive sites at Crystal 
Palace for example although more power is needed.

ITN used to have a camera helicopter on standby but it's gone now.

CastleAir in S Wales have several sets of equipment and for an event 
like this, could be around in avery short time.

We used to use the 40W Tx in the Marathon coverage and it works fine 
from way past Greenwich to White City.

Often the main problem with long distance reception is the fact that 
(believe it or not) the earth is curved and the helicopter goes below 
the horizon when trying to get low pictures (as it did when we covered 
the return of that bloke Alex Rose who went round the world)

We did live from a Jumbo Jet a number of years ago and could receive 
pictures in Norfolk from just north of London - admittedly using a 
pointy aerial inside the nose cone and about 40W of 2.56GHz.

Mike

(one-time helicopter installation bloke and event planner!!)

m wrote:

> 
> 
> Stephen wrote:
> > How do they get the pictures back from the BBC helicopter? It was
> > sending  back live pictures from the Heathrow incident this
> > afternoon. Is it a flying  satellite truck? Does it need an
> > expensive gyro stabilised dish? Or is this  one of the few
> > remaining uses for ground based links receiving sites?
> 
> Dead easy now.
> 
> BBC has a partly equipped helicopter based in Norwich. With a digital
> downlink and even an omni aerial on the Tx and Rx, reception would be
> possible certainly at the supporting Sat-truck which would be also
> doing the ground camera.  Reception would also be possible at the
> main receive sites at Crystal Palace for example although more power
> is needed.
> 
> ITN used to have a camera helicopter on standby but it's gone now.
> 
> CastleAir in S Wales have several sets of equipment and for an event
> like this, could be around in avery short time.
> 
> We used to use the 40W Tx in the Marathon coverage and it works fine
> from way past Greenwich to White City.
> 
> Often the main problem with long distance reception is the fact that
> (believe it or not) the earth is curved and the helicopter goes below
> the horizon when trying to get low pictures (as it did when we
> covered the return of that bloke Alex Rose who went round the world)
> 
> We did live from a Jumbo Jet a number of years ago and could receive
> pictures in Norfolk from just north of London - admittedly using a
> pointy aerial inside the nose cone and about 40W of 2.56GHz.
> 
> Mike
> 
> (one-time helicopter installation bloke and event planner!!)

Here's a pic of ITN's helicopter.

http://www.snglinks.com/pics/go_itn.jpg

Pity it's gone. Had some nice rides in it!

ITN now, I believe, hire one in as required and fit a digital link.
I've used the link equipment from it at Downing St. Got some pics of
that gear if anyone is interested.

-- 
Ashley
For Windsor Weather see www.snglinks.com/wx

Ashley Booth wrote:

> 
> 
> Here's a pic of ITN's helicopter.
> 
> http://www.snglinks.com/pics/go_itn.jpg
> 
> Pity it's gone. Had some nice rides in it!
> 
> ITN now, I believe, hire one in as required and fit a digital link.
> I've used the link equipment from it at Downing St. Got some pics of
> that gear if anyone is interested.
> 

We used ITN Heli a couple of times for BBC when it was based at that 
airfield near High Wycombe (forget the name).
   Mike

"m"  wrote in message 
news:478FEACA.6060409@tiscali.co.uk...
>
>
> Ashley Booth wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Here's a pic of ITN's helicopter.
>>
>> http://www.snglinks.com/pics/go_itn.jpg
>>
>> Pity it's gone. Had some nice rides in it!
>>
>> ITN now, I believe, hire one in as required and fit a digital link.
>> I've used the link equipment from it at Downing St. Got some pics of
>> that gear if anyone is interested.
>>
>
> We used ITN Heli a couple of times for BBC when it was based at that 
> airfield near High Wycombe (forget the name).
>   Mike
>

Was it Booker ?

In article , m 
scribeth thus
>
>
>Stephen wrote:
>> How do they get the pictures back from the BBC helicopter? It was sending 
>> back live pictures from the Heathrow incident this afternoon. Is it a flying 
>> satellite truck? Does it need an expensive gyro stabilised dish? Or is this 
>> one of the few remaining uses for ground based links receiving sites? 
>> 
>> 
>
>Dead easy now.
>
>BBC has a partly equipped helicopter based in Norwich. 

Partly equipped?. Presume it has aerials and power ready to connect?.

This one that sits there waiting for the BBC to call on it or is it a
rented one?..

-- 
Tony Sayer

Phi wrote:

> 
> "m"  wrote in message
> news:478FEACA.6060409@tiscali.co.uk...
> > 
> > 
> > Ashley Booth wrote:
> > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > Here's a pic of ITN's helicopter.
> > > 
> > > http://www.snglinks.com/pics/go_itn.jpg
> > > 
> > > Pity it's gone. Had some nice rides in it!
> > > 
> > > ITN now, I believe, hire one in as required and fit a digital
> > > link.  I've used the link equipment from it at Downing St. Got
> > > some pics of that gear if anyone is interested.
> > > 
> > 
> > We used ITN Heli a couple of times for BBC when it was based at
> > that  airfield near High Wycombe (forget the name).   Mike
> > 
> 
> Was it Booker ?

When I used it it was based at Denham.

-- 
Ashley
For Windsor Weather see www.snglinks.com/wx

"m"  wrote in message
news:478FA56E.2000301@tiscali.co.uk

[snip]

: : ITN used to have a camera helicopter on standby but
: : it's gone now.
: :
: : CastleAir in S Wales have several sets of equipment and
: : for an event like this, could be around in avery short
: : time.

Weren't they the lot who did the helicopters for Treasure Hunt with Anneka 
Rice many moons ago..? ISTR the comms on those were interesting, I think 
they used full duplex from Annie's radio on VHF/UHF to the copter then 
back down to a truck parked next to a BT street cab..!

They could do it all on mobile phones now, of course.

Ivor

In message , Ivor Jones 
<ivor@thisaddressis.invalid> writes
>"m"  wrote in message
>news:478FA56E.2000301@tiscali.co.uk
>
>[snip]
>
>: : ITN used to have a camera helicopter on standby but
>: : it's gone now.
>: :
>: : CastleAir in S Wales have several sets of equipment and
>: : for an event like this, could be around in avery short
>: : time.
>
>Weren't they the lot who did the helicopters for Treasure Hunt with 
>Anneka Rice many moons ago..?
They were indeed.

> ISTR the comms on those were interesting, I think they used full 
>duplex from Annie's radio on VHF/UHF to the copter then back down to a 
>truck parked next to a BT street cab..!
As a final "Best of" programme at the end of one series they did a 
surprisingly detailed technical run-down of how it was all achieved. 
They also endeavoured always to include at least one shot of the "Comms 
Helicopter" in each show.

>They could do it all on mobile phones now, of course.
Not sure how effective or reliable they would be up in the air. 
Someone here will know, though!
-- 
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

On Fri, 18 Jan 2008 21:32:37 +0000, Ian Jelf  wrote:

>Not sure how effective or reliable they would be up in the air. 
>Someone here will know, though!

IME complete waste of time. No noise cancellation on the microphone and not
enough audio from the speaker to overcome the ambient noise. Possibly good
enough in an emergency for passing a (repeated) message and hoping the guy on
the ground managed to understand it.


Geo

"Geo"  wrote in message 
news:6hf4p3hg2vb9o0o6n7tcuqaijdj29upcqa@4ax.com...
> On Fri, 18 Jan 2008 21:32:37 +0000, Ian Jelf  
> wrote:
>
>>Not sure how effective or reliable they would be up in the air.
>>Someone here will know, though!
>
> IME complete waste of time. No noise cancellation on the microphone and 
> not
> enough audio from the speaker to overcome the ambient noise. Possibly good
> enough in an emergency for passing a (repeated) message and hoping the guy 
> on
> the ground managed to understand it.
>
>
> Geo

When I travelled on the London Eye about five years ago, there was no (O2) 
mobile signal throughout the top half of the ride.

Doctor D wrote:
>
> When I travelled on the London Eye about five years ago, there was no (O2) 
> mobile signal throughout the top half of the ride. 

I've found you tend to get that effect on GSM services, if the phone can 'see' 
too many cell base stations. I noticed exactly the same effect a few hundred 
yards away on the roof of the LWT tower, and also passing over the QE2 bridge 
at Dartford.

-- 
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

On Sat, 19 Jan 2008 18:18:43 GMT, Geo wrote:

>> Not sure how effective or reliable they would be up in the air. 
>> Someone here will know, though!
> 
> IME complete waste of time. No noise cancellation on the microphone and 
> not enough audio from the speaker to overcome the ambient noise. 

One would just use a cellphone as the link kit and use a decent comms 
headset to derive the audio send and to listen on. But the chances are a 
cellphone wouldn't work from several hundred feet.

-- 
Cheers                                              new5pam@howhill.com
Dave.                                             pam is missing e-mail

"Mark Carver" <mark.carver@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:5vh7ffF1lv5e8U1@mid.individual.net...
> Doctor D wrote:
> >
> > When I travelled on the London Eye about five years ago, there was no
(O2)
> > mobile signal throughout the top half of the ride.
>
> I've found you tend to get that effect on GSM services, if the phone can
'see'
> too many cell base stations. I noticed exactly the same effect a few
hundred
> yards away on the roof of the LWT tower, and also passing over the QE2
bridge
> at Dartford.
>

Although when I recently flew from Oslo to Rome I accidently left my phone
on in my handluggage and received lots of SMS operator messages when I
arrived, "Welcome to Denmark, Welcome to Germany, Welcome to Switzerland,
Welcome to Italy...etc"

I suspect that having a reliable service for voice communication would be a
bit of a problem.

//Clive.

Ivor Jones wrote:

> 
> Weren't they the lot who did the helicopters for Treasure Hunt with 
> Anneka Rice many moons ago..? ISTR the comms on those were interesting, 
> I think they used full duplex from Annie's radio on VHF/UHF to the 
> copter then back down to a truck parked next to a BT street cab..!
> 
> They could do it all on mobile phones now, of course.
> 
> Ivor
> 

Standard way of doing talkback and audio for mobile sources.
Have to choose frequencies carefully as one is receiving/transmitting 
continuous carrier in the Helicopter simultaneously.
The favourite way (in the old days when frequencies were more easily 
available) was using VHF (around 70Mc/s) on one hop and UHF (around 
400Mc/s) on the other.
The audio from the presenters or effects mic is either carried on the 
audio subcarrier of the vision link  or preferably on a separate audio 
link to avoid break-up in vsion causing breakup in sound.(as in London 
Marathon coverage)
That sort of thing can be covered by using an alternate camera source 
but audio breakup is very disturbing.

When we did a 'live' Challenge Annika many years ago around London, this 
is the way we did it.
I suspect that on the original recorded versions, the vision link back 
to the studio may well have been 'monitoring only' and a quality version 
recorded on the camera edited in later.

Mike

"m"  wrote in message
news:47949E7C.4030507@tiscali.co.uk

[snip]

: : When we did a 'live' Challenge Annika many years ago
: : around London, this is the way we did it.
: : I suspect that on the original recorded versions, the
: : vision link back to the studio may well have been
: : 'monitoring only' and a quality version recorded on the
: : camera edited in later.

I don't think they ever had a video link back to the studio on Treasure 
Hunt..? Certainly not one visible to the contestants, at any rate.

Ivor

On Jan 21, 1:44 pm, "Ivor Jones" <i...@thisaddressis.invalid> wrote:

> I don't think they ever had a video link back to the studio on Treasure
> Hunt..? Certainly not one visible to the contestants, at any rate.

No I think you're right, there was no live video link back. Some of
the locations were in other countries too. Would have cost a fortune
back in 1983.

On Jan 17, 6:58 pm, m  wrote:

> CastleAir in S Wales

No - they're in Cornwall.

http://www.castleair.co.uk/

David

"Ivor Jones" <ivor@thisaddressis.invalid> wrote in message 
news:5vjlt4F1muef2U1@mid.individual.net...
> "m"  wrote in message
> news:47949E7C.4030507@tiscali.co.uk
>
> [snip]
>
> : : When we did a 'live' Challenge Annika many years ago
> : : around London, this is the way we did it.
> : : I suspect that on the original recorded versions, the
> : : vision link back to the studio may well have been
> : : 'monitoring only' and a quality version recorded on the
> : : camera edited in later.
>
> I don't think they ever had a video link back to the studio on Treasure 
> Hunt..? Certainly not one visible to the contestants, at any rate.

Certainly the contestants couldn't see where Anneka was - Kenneth Kendall 
made a point of saying that at the beginning of every episode, so it must 
have been true! But I wonder whether Wincey had some sort of video feed or 
someone giving a behind-the-scenes commentary to her, because the always 
seemed to know what was going on.

David wrote:
> On Jan 17, 6:58 pm, m  wrote:
> 
> 
>>CastleAir in S Wales
> 
> 
> No - they're in Cornwall.
> 
> http://www.castleair.co.uk/
> 
> David

Sorry my mistake.
Just down from St mellion and can't be far from the Cornish Pastie 
factory that is only inches inside Cornwall to keep within the Trades 
Descriptions Act!!

Mike

On Mon, 21 Jan 2008 06:02:06 -0800 (PST), Mark Carver 
wrote:

>> I don't think they ever had a video link back to the studio on Treasure
>> Hunt..? Certainly not one visible to the contestants, at any rate.
> 
> No I think you're right, there was no live video link back. Some of
> the locations were in other countries too. Would have cost a fortune
> back in 1983.

The one in Australia sticks in my mind but the only location I remember within
it was the top of the Sydney Opera House.

"Paul Ratcliffe" <abuse@orac12.clara34.co56.uk78> wrote in message 
news:slrnfp9sm7.7t0.abuse@news.pr.network...
> On Mon, 21 Jan 2008 06:02:06 -0800 (PST), Mark Carver 
> 
> wrote:
>
>>> I don't think they ever had a video link back to the studio on Treasure
>>> Hunt..? Certainly not one visible to the contestants, at any rate.
>>
>> No I think you're right, there was no live video link back. Some of
>> the locations were in other countries too. Would have cost a fortune
>> back in 1983.
>
> The one in Australia sticks in my mind but the only location I remember 
> within
> it was the top of the Sydney Opera House.

See http://fp.martinunderwood.f9.co.uk/Treasure%20Hunt/ for details of all 
the locations.

Mortimer wrote:

> 
> 
> See http://fp.martinunderwood.f9.co.uk/Treasure%20Hunt/ for details of all 
> the locations. 
> 
> 

Oh dear! No information on the one I planned for Children in Need (I think).

It was all live and she took off from what was a building site by The 
Thames (now City Hall) and we did live coverage all through the city as 
far as (I think) the Whitbread Brewery near Barbican.

I must look up the details.

Mike

"m"  wrote in message 
news:47952590.3040800@tiscali.co.uk...
>
>
> Mortimer wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> See http://fp.martinunderwood.f9.co.uk/Treasure%20Hunt/ for details of 
>> all the locations.
>
> Oh dear! No information on the one I planned for Children in Need (I 
> think).
>
> It was all live and she took off from what was a building site by The 
> Thames (now City Hall) and we did live coverage all through the city as 
> far as (I think) the Whitbread Brewery near Barbican.
>
> I must look up the details.

I'm sure the adminstrator of the site would be delighted to receive any 
information that he doesn't yet have.

Mortimer wrote:
> "m"  wrote in message 
> news:47952590.3040800@tiscali.co.uk...
> 
>>
>>Mortimer wrote:
>>
>>
>>>
>>>See http://fp.martinunderwood.f9.co.uk/Treasure%20Hunt/ for details of 
>>>all the locations.
>>
>>Oh dear! No information on the one I planned for Children in Need (I 
>>think).
>>
>>It was all live and she took off from what was a building site by The 
>>Thames (now City Hall) and we did live coverage all through the city as 
>>far as (I think) the Whitbread Brewery near Barbican.
>>
>>I must look up the details.
> 
> 
> I'm sure the adminstrator of the site would be delighted to receive any 
> information that he doesn't yet have. 
> 
> 

Remembered when I woke up it was actually called 'Challenge Annika'
(amazing what comes to mind when waking up! - mayb it was the rear view 
that promoted it?)

Mike

"m"  wrote in message
news:4795CBBE.7040909@tiscali.co.uk

[snip]

: : Remembered when I woke up it was actually called
: : 'Challenge Annika' (amazing what comes to mind when
: : waking up! - mayb it was the rear view that promoted
: : it?)

Ah, different series (and it's Anneka). No live comms back to base needed 
or used.

Ivor

"Mortimer"  wrote in message
news:13p9ls8tcjpse0c@corp.supernews.com
: : "Ivor Jones" <ivor@thisaddressis.invalid> wrote in
: : message news:5vjlt4F1muef2U1@mid.individual.net...
: : : "m"  wrote in message
: : : news:47949E7C.4030507@tiscali.co.uk
: : :
: : : [snip]
: : :
: : : : : When we did a 'live' Challenge Annika many years
: : : : : ago around London, this is the way we did it.
: : : : : I suspect that on the original recorded versions,
: : : : : the vision link back to the studio may well have
: : : : : been 'monitoring only' and a quality version
: : : : : recorded on the camera edited in later.
: : :
: : : I don't think they ever had a video link back to the
: : : studio on Treasure Hunt..? Certainly not one visible
: : : to the contestants, at any rate.
: :
: : Certainly the contestants couldn't see where Anneka was
: : - Kenneth Kendall made a point of saying that at the
: : beginning of every episode, so it must have been true!
: : But I wonder whether Wincey had some sort of video feed
: : or someone giving a behind-the-scenes commentary to
: : her, because the always seemed to know what was going
: : on.

They always used to do a run-through the day before, with someone else 
standing in for Anneka. Everybody else in the crew (apart from Kenneth 
Kendall) knew exactly what was supposed to happen and when.

This was mainly so that they could be sure that the whole thing would fit 
into the 45 minutes allowed, also so that they knew the helicopter 
actually had permission to land where it was supposed to, although I 
remember hearing that Keith (the pilot) would always fly where he was 
asked to, I think in the whole series they were only led totally off track 
a couple of times.

Ivor

The message <fmo2m4$2sv$1$8302bc10@news.demon.co.uk>
from "Stephen"  contains these words:

> How do they get the pictures back from the BBC helicopter? It was sending 
> back live pictures from the Heathrow incident this afternoon. Is it a
> flying 
> satellite truck? Does it need an expensive gyro stabilised dish? Or is this 
> one of the few remaining uses for ground based links receiving sites? 


Going back to the original question, how did they get permission to
operate over Heathrow so soon after the crash?

MB

"Ivor Jones" <ivor@thisaddressis.invalid> wrote in message
news:5vmp1gF1mvkv1U1@mid.individual.net...
>
> They always used to do a run-through the day before, with someone else
> standing in for Anneka. Everybody else in the crew (apart from Kenneth
> Kendall) knew exactly what was supposed to happen and when.

That could be it - maybe Wincey knew what was happening simply from the
timings on the rehearsal, coupled with "Anneka's just left point X two
minutes late so she'll get to point Y two minutes late as well". I wondered
whether Graham (cameraman) or Frankie (video recordist) might have been
giving a running commentary back to Wincey because she seemed to know the
exact moment when things happened "Ah, Anneka's just putting on a life 
jacket
and she's about to jump into the sea" even though Anneka herself may not 
have
said it.

> This was mainly so that they could be sure that the whole thing would fit
> into the 45 minutes allowed, also so that they knew the helicopter
> actually had permission to land where it was supposed to, although I
> remember hearing that Keith (the pilot) would always fly where he was
> asked to, I think in the whole series they were only led totally off track
> a couple of times.

I remember when they were in the Lake District they ended up getting poor
old Keith to land in a farmer's field so Annie could run up to a house and
ask for directions!

The "Making Of" programme (the Derbyshire episode at Haddon Hall) was very 
interesting. Off-duty Anneka (kept under "house arrest" at her hotel) looked 
very fetching in a short yellow skirt...  I always wondered what was to stop 
her doing her own research on places of interest once she knew the area, in 
case any of the places she researched were used: she had to be able to sound 
knowledgable about the area for her episode intro and to fill in any awkward 
silences, without being a know-all who had sussed out the likely places in 
advance.

MB wrote:

> Going back to the original question, how did they get permission to
> operate over Heathrow so soon after the crash?

I'd like to know how they're allowed over Heathrow; period ?

-- 
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

These days BBC News "HeliTelly" uses a 2.065 GHz COFDM link (Gigawave I 
think) with 4 Watts o/p. Receive sites in London are at Millbank Tower and 
Television Centre and use a multipanel antenna and diversity receiver. Most 
BBC SNG vehicles also have COFDM receivers capable of receiving the 
helicopter so that it can operate just about anywhere.
Regards Mike (BBC London)

"Stephen"  wrote in message 
news:fmo2m4$2sv$1$8302bc10@news.demon.co.uk...
> How do they get the pictures back from the BBC helicopter? It was sending 
> back live pictures from the Heathrow incident this afternoon. Is it a 
> flying satellite truck? Does it need an expensive gyro stabilised dish? Or 
> is this one of the few remaining uses for ground based links receiving 
> sites?
>

The message <0rIlj.1153$HV6.911@newsfe4-win.ntli.net>
from "Mike Hastings"  contains these words:

> These days BBC News "HeliTelly" uses a 2.065 GHz COFDM link (Gigawave I 
> think) with 4 Watts o/p. Receive sites in London are at Millbank Tower and 
> Television Centre and use a multipanel antenna and diversity receiver. Most 
> BBC SNG vehicles also have COFDM receivers capable of receiving the 
> helicopter so that it can operate just about anywhere.
> Regards Mike (BBC London)

> "Stephen"  wrote in message 
> news:fmo2m4$2sv$1$8302bc10@news.demon.co.uk...
> > How do they get the pictures back from the BBC helicopter? It was sending 
> > back live pictures from the Heathrow incident this afternoon. Is it a 
> > flying satellite truck? Does it need an expensive gyro stabilised
> > dish? Or 
> > is this one of the few remaining uses for ground based links receiving 
> > sites?
> > 


One thought, were the pictures actually live?  As usual with rolling
news they seemed to be showing the same pictures most of the afternoon
so the first ones could easily have been done without a radio link.

It is probably in the AAIB's interest to have early overhead pictures of
an aircraft crash site in case the aircraft is destroyed by fire so it
is possible the authorities might assist in getting something airborne
with camera as soon as possible i.e. the airport closed.

MB

Mortimer  wrote:

> The "Making Of" programme (the Derbyshire episode at Haddon Hall) was very
> interesting. Off-duty Anneka (kept under "house arrest" at her hotel) looked
> very fetching in a short yellow skirt...  I always wondered what was to stop
> her doing her own research on places of interest once she knew the area, in
> case any of the places she researched were used: she had to be able to sound
> knowledgable about the area for her episode intro and to fill in any awkward
> silences, without being a know-all who had sussed out the likely places in
> advance.

I remember one episode when they landed the helicopter at the end of a
pier and Anneka leaped out and started running hell for leather towards
the shore, while the helicopter took off again to cover the action from
the air, as it often did.

A large group of people had foregathered and were gesticulating wildly.
"It looks as though the locals know where I'm supposed be going," opined
Anneka. As she drew level with the crowd they bundled her, protesting,
towards the Ladies'.

-- 
Alan Pemberton
Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England
To e-mail me directly, please visit
<http://www.pembers.freeserve.co.uk/index.html#Mail-me>

"Alan Pemberton" <Spambox@pembers.freeserve.co.uk.invalid>
wrote in message
news:1ib6l2s.93q6m2qdhkxdN%Spambox@pembers.freeserve.co.uk.invalid

[snip]

: : I remember one episode when they landed the helicopter
: : at the end of a pier and Anneka leaped out and started
: : running hell for leather towards the shore, while the
: : helicopter took off again to cover the action from the
: : air, as it often did.
: :
: : A large group of people had foregathered and were
: : gesticulating wildly. "It looks as though the locals
: : know where I'm supposed be going," opined Anneka. As
: : she drew level with the crowd they bundled her,
: : protesting, towards the Ladies'.

The mind boggles..! Any idea which one that was..? I have some of the old 
ones on VHS somewhere...

Ivor

On Tue, 22 Jan 2008 20:50:48 +0000, Mark Carver
<mark.carver@invalid.invalid> wrote:

>MB wrote:
>
>> Going back to the original question, how did they get permission to
>> operate over Heathrow so soon after the crash?

Simply that there were no flights into the place for quite a while
until the fire cover returned for the northern runway.  

>I'd like to know how they're allowed over Heathrow; period ?

There is (was?) a published helicopter transit route right over
Heathrow.



--

MB wrote:
> The message <fmo2m4$2sv$1$8302bc10@news.demon.co.uk>
> from "Stephen"  contains these words:
> 
> 
>>How do they get the pictures back from the BBC helicopter? It was sending 
>>back live pictures from the Heathrow incident this afternoon. Is it a
>>flying 
>>satellite truck? Does it need an expensive gyro stabilised dish? Or is this 
>>one of the few remaining uses for ground based links receiving sites? 
> 
> 
> 
> Going back to the original question, how did they get permission to
> operate over Heathrow so soon after the crash?
> 
> MB

You will have noted that the shots were from the south and that runway 
was completely out of service so not a problem.

Mike

The message 
from m  contains these words:



> MB wrote:
> > The message <fmo2m4$2sv$1$8302bc10@news.demon.co.uk>
> > from "Stephen"  contains these words:
> > 
> > 
> >>How do they get the pictures back from the BBC helicopter? It was sending 
> >>back live pictures from the Heathrow incident this afternoon. Is it a
> >>flying 
> >>satellite truck? Does it need an expensive gyro stabilised dish? Or
> >>is this 
> >>one of the few remaining uses for ground based links receiving sites? 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Going back to the original question, how did they get permission to
> > operate over Heathrow so soon after the crash?
> > 
> > MB

> You will have noted that the shots were from the south and that runway 
> was completely out of service so not a problem.

> Mike

Was the helicopter already there to show Gordon Broon leaving for China?  

MB

MB wrote:

> 
> Was the helicopter already there to show Gordon Broon leaving for China?  
> 
> MB

Quote in Ariel from 'UK assignments Editor'

"Just before five to one" - "I put the newscopter on standby, telling 
them to flightplan from Redhill, where it is based, to Heathrow" - 
8minutes, I told them - Lift, Lift, Lift" - "Next day it emerged that 
Air Traffic Control had given it just 5minutes for a single journey 
through their airspace" - "Air Traffic then shut down the airspace with 
a huge exclusion zone, preventing other helicopters from getting in." - 
" It was gratifying and exasperating to see that so many of Friday's 
papers had ripped images off our News 24 coverage"

Mike

The message 
from m  contains these words:



> MB wrote:

> > 
> > Was the helicopter already there to show Gordon Broon leaving for China?  
> > 
> > MB

> Quote in Ariel from 'UK assignments Editor'

> "Just before five to one" - "I put the newscopter on standby, telling 
> them to flightplan from Redhill, where it is based, to Heathrow" - 
> 8minutes, I told them - Lift, Lift, Lift" - "Next day it emerged that 
> Air Traffic Control had given it just 5minutes for a single journey 
> through their airspace" - "Air Traffic then shut down the airspace with 
> a huge exclusion zone, preventing other helicopters from getting in." - 
> " It was gratifying and exasperating to see that so many of Friday's 
> papers had ripped images off our News 24 coverage"

> Mike


Thanks, if there was just five minutes of coverage then was it was just
recorded and playbacked on the ground?

MB

Ivor Jones <ivor@thisaddressis.invalid> wrote:

> "Alan Pemberton" <Spambox@pembers.freeserve.co.uk.invalid>
> wrote in message
> news:1ib6l2s.93q6m2qdhkxdN%Spambox@pembers.freeserve.co.uk.invalid
> 
> [snip]
> 
> : : I remember one episode when they landed the helicopter
> : : at the end of a pier and Anneka leaped out and started
> : : running hell for leather towards the shore, while the
> : : helicopter took off again to cover the action from the
> : : air, as it often did.
> : :
> : : A large group of people had foregathered and were
> : : gesticulating wildly. "It looks as though the locals
> : : know where I'm supposed be going," opined Anneka. As
> : : she drew level with the crowd they bundled her,
> : : protesting, towards the Ladies'.
> 
> The mind boggles..! Any idea which one that was..? I have some of the old
> ones on VHS somewhere...

No idea. It was obviously a coastal location - lots of quaint old stone
etc, if I remember rightly. I think the real location of the clue was a
museum or visitor centre of some sort, but then it usually was.

-- 
Alan Pemberton
Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England
To e-mail me directly, please visit
<http://www.pembers.freeserve.co.uk/index.html#Mail-me>