London Marathon coverage in the 1990s

[commseng]

Yes to identify which dish was which, and allowed a colleague in a helicopter to confirm that the dish supposed to be receiving them was on pan.
If you were into the black dish and it was obviously pointing the wrong way you could call on the RT.

The other reason for coloured dishes was to blend in with the background. Not so important on the roof of a 27 story building, but there were places where you did need to be inconspicuous.