15-09-2020, 07:52 AM
John, did you know Colin Grimshaw, the IC TV studio technician?
I got to see some obscure bits of Imperial College as a result of my involvement in the Student TV (STOIC). We had cables running from the studio in the Elec Eng building under Exhibition Road to the Southside Halls of Residence and under Prince Consort Road to the Beit buildings.
Every now and then we found a duff joint and had to go down to fix it. We had to work with the estates manager who on occasion lent me top level college master keys. Went down to Level 0 in the EE building which was the main IC boiler house and checked in with the duty manager so he knew there were people working in the tunnels. Then into the tunnels themselves which were surprisingly well lit. There were even mains sockets at regular intervals. Odd minor steam leaks made some parts uncomfortable. On one occasion we had to go into a switchroom which had either Freon or CO2 fire extinguishing systems. These had to be locked off before we were allowed in.
When IC Radio started they used a leaky feeder aerial system around the Southside halls to prevent radiation outside the college boundaries. An odd side effect was that you could receive a good signal on the other side of Exhibition Road in the main college buildings by putting your radio near any structural metalwork. We reckon the signal was being carried under the road by the pipes and cables in the service tunnels.
I got to see some obscure bits of Imperial College as a result of my involvement in the Student TV (STOIC). We had cables running from the studio in the Elec Eng building under Exhibition Road to the Southside Halls of Residence and under Prince Consort Road to the Beit buildings.
Every now and then we found a duff joint and had to go down to fix it. We had to work with the estates manager who on occasion lent me top level college master keys. Went down to Level 0 in the EE building which was the main IC boiler house and checked in with the duty manager so he knew there were people working in the tunnels. Then into the tunnels themselves which were surprisingly well lit. There were even mains sockets at regular intervals. Odd minor steam leaks made some parts uncomfortable. On one occasion we had to go into a switchroom which had either Freon or CO2 fire extinguishing systems. These had to be locked off before we were allowed in.
When IC Radio started they used a leaky feeder aerial system around the Southside halls to prevent radiation outside the college boundaries. An odd side effect was that you could receive a good signal on the other side of Exhibition Road in the main college buildings by putting your radio near any structural metalwork. We reckon the signal was being carried under the road by the pipes and cables in the service tunnels.
www.borinsky.co.uk Jeffrey Borinsky www.becg.tv
