BBC TV OBs and North 3

Outside Broadcasts (OBs) are any radio or TV programmes which are not produced in a studio. Radio outside broadcasts have taken place since the 1920s, from events such as the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. These are principally a description of the event by a commentator, with 'live' sound from the event. This format was taken into television, and is still used today. One of the first major television OBs was the Coronation of King George V in 1937, which was only broadcast to a small audience who could afford a set, and lived with in the Alexandra Palace reception area around London.

Television closed down during the war, and re-opened in 1946. As television began to develop in coverage, programme making skills improved and the number of sets grew. 

By 1950 the BBC had started a plan of building transmitters all over the country, starting with Sutton Coldfield in Birmingham, then Holme Moss in the North, before extending also into Scotland and Wales. A fleet of specially built Outside Broadcast 'Mobile Control Rooms' (MCRs, or 'scanners' in BBC parlance) was gradually increased to give coverage of events all over the UK. These were of course for production in black and white, using the same 405 line standard as had been in use since 1936. In the early 60s a new service using 625 lines, transmitted on UHF was inaugurated, at first with just one channel, BBC2.

Britain did not adopt colour television until 1967, after a long period of testing and decisions being made over what system would be adopted. Colour had been slow to get going in the USA, and there was a fear that sets would be too expensive and unreliable for ordinary people to own. Manufacturers were unwilling to make the investment in colour unless there was likely to be a strong demand. There was a long period of indecision about which of several colour systems should be adopted for the UK, which didn't help.

For the launch of colour, three experimental Colour MCRs were built by BBC engineers in association with Pye, one of the major TV equipment makers. These were fitted with Pye 3-tube colour cameras, and were used on the first scheduled colour transmission, the Wimbledon Tennis Championship. Even while this was in progress, Pye were building an improved version, the Type 2 CMCR.

To roll out colour all over the UK the BBC made a huge investment in a fleet of 9 new CMCR 'scanners', each fitted with four cameras plus capacity for two more. Each camera alone cost more than a new luxury detatched house. The colour TV monitors were also very expensive- each cost more than an E-Type Jaguar. 

The picture above shows the production gallery of a Type 2 scanner in use in the 1970s. The vehicle is divided into the vision technical area at the front, production gallery in the middle and sound control at the back. The vehicle is 34 feet long and weighs over 14 tons. 

 A total of nine Type 2 units were ordered from Pye, three were to be equipped with a further modified Philips camera, the PC80, while the other six were to be fitted with EMI type 2001 4 tube cameras, which had been adopted as standard in the London studios at TV Centre. At first, CMCR9  (North 3 as it later became) was the only Pye camera unit based at London, the other two (CMCRs 7&8) going to Manchester; North 1 & 2. After about a year, C-9 was exchanged with C-6 (EMI) based at Birmingham, making all the London fleet of 6 units EMI equipped. This made sense logistically, as the crews and maintenance workshops would be already familiar with these cameras.

In 1979, due to increased OB requirements at Manchester, C-9 was moved there, becoming North 3. It remained in service until 1982. It is thought that North 3's final OB was the Open Golf at Troon.

It was subsequently sold to a company who intended to re-equip it, but they ran out of money and it was sold off at auction. It was bought by a private collector, then passed to another enthusiast who intended to start a museum, but it didn't happen, so N3 just ended up stored in an old aircraft hangar in Devon. Steve contacted the owner after buying most of the equipment rescued from another Type 2 scanner, North 1 (C-7).