Broadcast Hub

When the Original Broadcast Network was installed by the Rediffusion company the single-story building occupied by the department of Linguistics was chose as the location for the centralised equipment needed for the system. As well as the video line amplifiers themselves, 3 UHF tuners were provided to receive the available terrestrial broadcasts (BBC1, BBC2 and ITV) from Emley Moor, and then hugely expensive video recorders, so that material could be recorded and later played out to wherever on the campus it was required via the distribution network.

LTC was a logical choice as it was the approximate geographical centre of the campus, and ensured that no location had disproportionately longer cable runs to connect it to the centre. From the hub the cable routes fanned out from here to the relevant parts of the campus, using the ducts provided for the purpose in the covered walkways that linked all the buildings on the campus.

As YSTV gradually replaced the Rediffusion equipment with newer items it was logical to retain the same location so that cables could be re-used and the transition period when both systems were operating made easier. As a result all the equipment was still installed there in last 2006 when a message was received that the University had decided to demolish the building in order to replace it with a new three-storey humanities building.

After much messing around the equipment and cables were eventually relocated to a weatherproof box on the concrete steps up to the Central Hall balcony, still providing much the same function of distributing the video fed from the station out to the colleges.