Understanding a few things (long)

Its the master breaker for the house. If it has a test button in it ists likely also an RCD.

Its use is to isolate all teh non-transco type bits of wire so that yiu can fifddle with your part P without kiling yourself ;-)

I'd do both frankly.

Sure. Just do not tell them you are doing it or have done it.

Take time to thoroughly understand what you have - this seems to be the first step - pay heed to sesnible safety advice and ignore the regulation junkies, and just get on with it.

Most electricians are 97% gibbon, genetically speakiung, which is silghtly less than the average 'shed junkie' DIY makeover tosser, for whom most regulations are intended.

Reedmber rulse are made ffor teh 1% who need proteting from themselves, and enforced by those of below average intelligence, ino rder to give them gainful employment.

I spent about 6 weeks trying to get a bloody FENSA certificate on a window in the house I was selling: I wish I had lied and said 'it was installed with the others pre 1985' or whatever.

What the BCO don't see, he can't get upset over.

Might be ELCB, firemans switch, RCD, switchfuse, I dont know, havent seen it.

insulation

what does that mean, do you mean its not connected?

that'll be yer earth rod.

yup

bathroom

whats wrong with the present earth?

why would it be? What do you think is carrying the power from your naerest town on wooden poles? Since you have appear to have TT I'm guessing youre out in the country.

why the (!)?

im not even going there, expect nonsense over that one.

he is? Are you? I dont know.

NT

If it's technical don't bother, there won't be such a thing as 'Broadcast Engineering' before long, it's rapidly getting consumed into 'IT'.

Have a read of this:-

Some of it might be. But installation/ maintenance will always be required. You can't make the actual programmes using 'IT' - apart from cartoons and special FX, possibly.

It will, but I come from the installation/equip supply side of the business, and technical knowledge (as you and I might know it) is hard to find these days. I remember turning up at the 'South Bank' with a Tek VM-700 test set a couple of years ago, all the engineers (but one) glazed over at the sight of it.

Very true, but that's operational. That not withstanding, technically qualified staff are still needed to make proper quality productions, how many 'apprentices' are there in your craft ?

That's true. One company I freelance for were having real problems to find general purpose engineers. Who would have to work shifts.

If you mean LWT, are you saying they don't own all the necessary test gear these days? Nothing surprises me anymore...

In terms of production as I know it, IT is restricted to post. And is so specialised that it still needs dedicated personnel. After all, knowing how to 'drive' something isn't the same as knowing the road it needs to go down. ;-)

An editor still needs an eye for editing - regardless of the mechanics - as does a dubbing mixer.

Ones who had a decent broad based training I got from the BBC? And as Thames did?

None.

Remote-control cameras in studio, very high bandwidth links to India or China.

You'd need a dog (to make sure no-one touched the cameras) and a man (to feed the dog) but that's about it.

Owain

Although hot head cameras do, of course, exist, and have been used in simple stuff like news where the cameras are stationary, or on the end of a manned jib, the idea of completely remote controlled pedestals of the type used on studio drama like bits of Coronation Street, Eastenders, etc is rather far fetched. And it's not even as if TV cameramen are that well paid these days.

And a remote control camera would be pointless on location drama - it would need more people to move it and set it up on location than is needed to operate it. Then there's the problem of communication between talent, director and cameraman. They need a pretty intimate relationship to produce satisfactory stuff.

I'm also trying to envisage all those remote controlled lights getting themselves out of the van and setting up. And plugging themselves in. ;-)

The dog handler would probably cost more. ;-)

Apply to ITV for a job on their management team :-)

As Dave P says that's impractical for drama or sports production.

What is threatened these days is original production, it's all too easy to put 30 remote cameras in a building or location and hey-presto you've got Big Brother, Fame Academy, or I'm a Non Entity Get me Out, hours and hours of telly (on digital channels 24/7) for bugger all cost. (I should know, I was involved in setting up the original Dutch Big Brother house)

Proper telly costs, unfortunately there is not a proportionate increase in available revenue with the current expansion of channels, because the advertising cake (and licence fee) are more or less static.

Don't expect things to improve !

If you put 30 cameras down a sewer people would watch it. More interesting than the above anyway.

Funnily enough, Joseph Bazalgette the designer and engineer who built London's sewers,

Looking at it now, it seems to be a big switch, I guess I could find pictures but I can't be bothered since I don't want to play with it anyway.

Yes sorry that's what I ment, the T+E is double insulated, the outer insulation has been cut off leaving about 10cm of red, black and uninsulated earth cable. While the red and black wires goto the Henley box, the earth wire has been cut back by 10cm, leaving just bare wire stubs where the outer cover has been removed.

Having no clue what an earth rod looks like you may well be right, but to me it just looks like a standard water pipe with a cap soldered onto it, the earth wire connects with one of those metal bands with a do-not remove tab on it.

Nothing as such, of course I have no way of testing.. Nothing I can recall has ever broken in a way to blow a fuse.

I just thought there were limits and sizes defining how much length you can have in the way of tails before the CU. I'm in a reasonably new development (30-40 maybe) in a largish 'new town'... Not in the country.. AFAIK not many houses in my area have power from poles, on this estate at least it all comes in underground. I have reasons to doubt that I have TT, mainly because on the outside white box, I can see the two tails and earth wire going into the house. By time it gets to the CU I can only see a the tails, but no earth apart from the 'earth rod'

Well the T+E has only been installed for maybe 20 years but it crumbled on the exposed wall to such an extend we took it out of service, further more it was loosely clipped to the wall which was structurally unsound anyway (part was rebuilt). It had no RCD protection, and was on a high ring main fuse circuit, even though the cable looked underated.

Competent enough to know what wires go where and replace and install new fittings but also competent enough to know that this job is beyond our technical knowledge... The whole point of my post was simply to understand a few things, purely because I am interested.

So what.

On a 20 yr old install you cant expect it to be compliant.

odd that youd have TT in town. I havent seen it or tested anything, but it does sound like TT. It may just be a non compliant install though.

crumbled

unsound

normal for 20-30 yr old wiring. The potential for dterioration from uv is one reason its not done now, though that can be stopped by painting it.

Well, I reckon a lot more detail and precision would be needed to ascertain your earth situaiton. It sounds like TT, but who knows, its all a bit vague, either that or I am.

NT

Rather more than 20 years ago there were restrictions on the length of 'tails' between meter and CU. If you wished to exceed them, the LEB would insist on MICC or similar.

But as we enter the 'exciting digital vision for everybody'[1] of television, drama will be a increasingly decreasing part of the output. Aren't the 'reality' television programmes already predominantly filmed with fixed, remote control cameras? The talk-to-camera shows selling saucepans, sex or salvation could probably be done fully remote-control.

Ah, talent, location drama and satisfactory stuff ... well, there'll still be Dads Army repeats on The Dads Army Repeats Channel, The Dads Army +1 Repeats Channel, The Sitcoms Channel, The Let's Laugh About The War Channel, The Highlights Of 2D-Television Channel, ...

Give the Koreans another five years ... Until then, plenty of media studies graduates can do an MA in Television Illumination Unpacking And Positioning.

Put the dog in front of the camera and save a presenter's fee.

Owain

Exactly.

I knew that, but your mentioning it and sewers gave me an idea. Instead of cameras down sewers (but using the same technology) why not put cameras in coffins before they're buries. Then Bazalgette could give us Decomposing Relatives The Authentic After Death Experience.

Owain

If heredity means anything, Bazalgette would do better with the sewers...!

Not so sure. ITV's profits are up, and they major on drama - although some would prefer something more adventurous than police type series.

Depends. Fly on the wall stuff, yes. Others will use wobbly cam. ;-)

Only one I had anything to do with before 'they' found it out was Auction World, and that used operated cameras. 3. With very bored operators.

I prefer to remember him as the floor assistant (call boy) on Panorama, etc, when it came from Lime Grove. With CPS Emitron b&w cameras. And he was a very pleasant person.