Home
What's New
Pensions & Compensation
Service Records, Medals & Badges
Welfare, Support & Contact
Special Support Programmes
Armed Forces Memorial
Veterans Community
Raising Awareness
Veterans World
Veterans Advisory & Pensions
Committees (VA & PC)
|
THE EXTREME ENGINEERING BEHIND THE BFBS
In the Falkland Islands an off duty soldier flicks through the TV channels – Eastenders, Top Gear, a Hollywood film, X-Factor, Manchester United vs. Barcelona, news. In married quarters in Cyprus, a thankful mum gets on with the housework whilst her three year old is kept amused by Thomas the Tank Engine. A group of Gurkha soldiers at Kandahar are watching a Nepali film whilst over at FOB Shawqat a handful of Marines are listening to the football commentary. Perched on his armored vehicle in the Canadian prairie, an infantryman brews up, with Lady Gaga belting out at full volume from his radio. The common connection is BFBS, the forces radio and TV service.
No one can deny the difference BFBS makes to morale for our armed forces, allowing them to hear and see a bit of normality and remain connected with life back home. The service itself has changed beyond all recognition from the clichéd WWII image and Two Way Family Favourites. Today, BFBS delivers 10 digital TV channels, three worldwide radio stations, a network of 10 local radio services and command information to any location across 15 time-zones including direct to Royal Navy ships and RFA vessels.
Getting live radio and the best of British TV into remote and hostile places involves much more than finding a satellite and pointing a dish. Of necessity, BFBS Technology has developed unique systems to transmit TV over-air in Afghanistan without the need for special receiving equipment. Similar technology is used in the Falklands, on a myriad of cable systems in Germany and on navy Ships. Unlike telecommunications equipment, TV and FM transmitters are radiating many kilowatts of power and need to do so continuously for years on end. Engineering this equipment for the dust and heat of Helmand, or the wind and salt in the Falklands is where the years of BFBS experience pays off, avoiding the 'gotchas' that trip up many infrastructure providers. If the radio or TV goes off during a Celtic vs. Rangers match, the very last thing you want is a bunch disgruntled Scots Guards looking for someone to blame!
Such is the effect on armed forces morale to be able to kick back and watch some TV or listen to the radio that BFBS has to be one of the "first in" services to operational areas. From Bosnia, the two Gulf wars and Afghanistan, wherever British forces set up, BFBS' civilian engineers are right behind with radio and TV transmitters, often risking their own lives under enemy fire.
The audience for BFBS radio and TV isn't confined to soldiers on operations; it includes all overseas bases and isodets and extends to include their families whether living on or off camp. The range of programmes BFBS spreads across its 10 TV channels reflects the needs of a diverse audience, but also takes into account the daily viewing habits in each location and time zone. Most programmes cannot be relayed live when they are on in the UK - Coronation Street, for example, would appear at lunchtime in Canada, 10pm in Cyprus and well after midnight in Afghanistan. Similarly, post-watershed adult material can't be shown on a TV in a different time zone when children would normally be watching. When a soldier chats to his wife back home by phone or email, she will want to discuss this week's Eastenders, or the latest contestant voted off X-Factor. BFBS aims to show these highly topical, "must see programmes" within 24 hours anywhere in the world. All TV services are encrypted and managed down to individual viewer level. Without this content protection and viewer control in place, rights holders would not allow the service to show any films, sport or current TV. This level of complexity in scheduling and time zone content control is probably unique to BFBS and calls for unusual and challenging technical solutions.
The BFBS engineers responsible for delivering these transmissions are multi-skilled and adaptable. Whether it is adjusting a 20kW transmitter, erecting aerials or setting up
a live camera link over IP from Camp Bastion, it is very much about getting the job done, no matter what. Several BFBS engineers have military backgrounds, whilst in Afghanistan the engineers (who are permanently posted) are a mixture of former Gurkha soldiers and civilians. Fear is not an option in theatre, and BFBS is one of the few military contractors, whose staff regularly flies outside the wire to install and maintain transmitters, adjust satellite dishes, tune TVs and deliver FM radio at all the main bases, forward operating bases and many of the patrol bases.
During the 2010 World Cup, Royal Marines were operating in a particularly hostile area of Helmand Province, suffering casualties and living on ration packs for several weeks, all of which was affecting morale. Moreover, England was due to play a crucial match. Out of the blue, a helicopter landed in the compound and a stocky BFBS engineer jumped down carrying a satellite dish under one arm and a TV under the other. Within minutes he'd set it up in the mess tent and tuned it in to BFBS TV just in time for the kick off. Immediately, morale changed and for the first time in weeks, the Marines felt in touch with normality. His particular engineer has been in theatre for over 1,700 days and is well on his way to receiving a second long-service campaign medal. Like all his colleagues, he will tell you this is just routine.
The common objective of BFBS staff is to deliver radio and TV welfare to serving soldiers and their families anywhere in the world. The company behind BFBS, the Services Sound and Vision Corporation (SSVC) operates as a not-for-profit registered charity under a MoD contract. Without a profit motive to distract focus (any excess or secondary income is ploughed back into delivering the service), SSVC has consistently over-delivered against contract to its audience, and does so using a unique combination of highly dedicated staff, ingenious technology and years of invaluable experience, perhaps best captured by the phrase "Extreme Engineering".
|
|
