John Howell

Here’s another vehicle to identify, this time I don’t know the answer! what was ‘H729‘?

Alan Taylor

It was the first Roving Eye. Built in 1953 on a Daimler chassis. The camera was originally a Marconi 1B, but later updated to a Marconi Mk III. I’m not sure which one is shown in the picture.

It was the first time that the BBC decided to built an OB vehicle which could transmit live pictures while moving.  There was an onboard generator and a radio link with a range of up to a couple of miles.  The aerial was directional, but used gyro control to keep it automatically pointing in the correct direction irrespective of how the vehicle moved. 

I’m pretty sure it was the vehicle featured in the opening title sequence for Saturday Night Out, driving out of the Wembley OB base, but I can’t find a video of it to check for sure.  The vehicle was extensively used on that series.

Colin Hassell

Here you’ll find the Saturday Night Out opening sequence, about 11 mins in.

It’s from the Alexandra Television Society’s You Tube channel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNBSUDgPeps