Testcard F - NOT amateur radio

Many in the UK will recall this iconic testcard from the early days of colour TV. 

Telly addict? - NOT amateur radio

 

One of my son's cats yesterday watching the TV.

Pre-war TV in the UK - NOT amateur radio

At first, the BBC broadcast 30 line TV.  Later in the 1930s (1936?) they started 405 line transmissions which closed during WW2. Most viewers were in London. YouTube has some historical stuff from 1937.

Worldwide TV - NOT amateur radio

One of the external links on my website is to a place linking to TV stations around the world. Some definitely work. Watching TV from overseas can be educational.

See https://broadcast-live.com/television/englishusa.html

1950s UK TV - NOT amateur radio

Quite a few readers were children in the UK in the 1950s and may like a dose of nostalgia!  You may well enjoy this link.

See http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/

Christmas TV - NOT amateur radio

From the BBC website, Christmas TV viewing figures. I am not a royalist at heart but cannot think of a president who would do as well as our current queen. At 90 years old she does a remarkable job. Her husband Philip is 95! Charles will have a hard act to follow.

1. The Queen at 3pm - BBC One and ITV - 7.7m
2. Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special - BBC One - 7.2m
3. The Great Christmas Bake Off - BBC One - 6.3m
4. Mrs Brown's Boys Christmas Special - BBC One - 6.1m
5. Call The Midwife - BBC One - 6.1m
6. EastEnders - BBC One - 5.9m
7. Coronation Street - ITV - 5.8m (not including ITV +1)
8. Doctor Who - BBC One - 5.7m
9. Frozen - BBC One - 4.7m
10. Emmerdale - ITV - 4.2m

Old UK radio and TV clips

If you were young in the UK in the 1950s you may be interested in these two sites dealing with radio and TV in the 1950s. There are many old clips that take you back nearly 60 years.

http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/radio/index.htm  
http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/

   

SeeSaw - a new internet TV resource in the UK

Online TV service SeeSaw launched today, offering 3,000 hours of content from Channel 4, Five and older BBC programmes. This is an interesting development in Internet TV in the UK.  I don't watch that much TV myself, but my wife will love it.

DXTV - 1938 style!

There is a fascinating clip on YouTube of 405 line BBC TV being received in New York (from London) presumably by F2 or multi-hop sporadic-E propagation in 1938. This is the only example of a pre-WW2 live 405 line BBC TV transmission known to be recorded. The image shown left is of the female TV announcer. The signal comes and goes as the QSB takes the signal out of sync. Totally fascinating.

See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SniB0JEDGs