  After a discussion of the Griesmer and Heller bound for the distance of a
convolutional code we present several codes with various parameters, over
various fields, and meeting the given distance bounds. Moreover, the Griesmer
bound is used for deriving a lower bound for the field size of an MDS
convolutional code and examples are presented showing that, in most cases, the
lower bound is tight. Most of the examples in this paper are cyclic
convolutional codes in a generalized sense as it has been introduced in the
seventies. A brief introduction to this promising type of cyclicity is given at
the end of the paper in order to make the examples more transparent.
