Party Vibe

@tryptameanie 981670 wrote:

Now what they need on that test card is a girl playing noughts and crosses with an insanely evil looking doll…..

SE and NO used Test card F for a few years although until 1980s it was normally derived via sent from a photo slide scanner normally only found in a TV studio and needed a specialist operator whereas the Philips and FuBK (Fernseh) patterns could be generated purely just the 1970s era tech (a hybrid of digital and analogue electronics). the BBC themselves used a modded PM5544 for some tests especially on BBC2, British Telecom sometimes used a blanco PM5544 shortly after the closedown of London Weekend Television. In the UK the test pattern would not be on the entire night until TV started again and the TV transmitter would eventually get turned off to save electric.

The studio announcer would often remind people to turn off the TV set and pull out the mains plug.

This was because we British ommitted some protection circuits to make our TV sets cheaper than those in NL, DE and DK; those would shut off the line output stage (that created a very strong voltage of about 25 000 volts to make the cathode ray tube operate). It used the TV signal for its timining reference; if this was absent the unprotected circuit without a signal tried to lock onto the random noise; to the point it could overheat and cause the TV set to catch fire!

Singapore TV used TCF but changed the centre picture to be better for multicultural skin tones; I suspect the X on the chalkboard was also in the correct locations (it is the centre marker) – the BBCs version was off several milimeteres until some prof fixed it in the late 1990s!

very old TV’s (from 1940s era) did use a mains trafo for the EHT (like the one in a microwave) but these were unreliable and often failed in dangerous ways (often discharging toxic smoke and hot pitch)

The LOPT was an a component in a very early type of switch mode power supply; all of these still use a trafo but feed it a much higher frequency than 50 Hz (that way the trafo can be much smaller).

For PAL colour TV in Europe this is 15 625 Hz.

If you still have a working CRT telly anywhere at home switch it on and you should be able to hear this high frequency (although older people often cannot hear it).

the LOPT circuit and CRTs were made safer over the years but British sets in particular were prone to defects in this area (the transistors overheated and blew up) but at least by then didn’t usually also light the rest of the circuit boards on fire. As the CRT got quite warm it was not uncommon for pet cats to sleep on top of TV sets; they can hear the line frequency (and higher ones too). In the 1970s one chap was saved from a nasty accident because a LOPT circuit had failed and was making a very harsh utrasonic noise which made his cat suddenly jump off the TV and bolt straight out of the door. he decided to follow it out of curiosity; just as he was outside the door the room filled up with smoke and the tube imploded (scattering glass everywhere).

German and Scandinavian ones were more reliable but cost more and would not work correctly in the UK as the frequencies used were different (some were sold here with modified circuits but were very expensive).

it was only in the late 80s/90s the Japanese made “all Europe” sets.

The TV repair man (who always looked older and more stressed than your Dad) was once a common sight in many neighbourhoods. He often kept his spare components in empty pipe tobacco tins. as he often had to haul the heavy set into his car and back to the workshop for testing (which had to be done carefully to avoid getting shocked).

Iif he was married his wife would rarely enter the workshop so it was also a suitable place to smoke a pipe and listen to prog rock or pirate radio stations (a perk of the job was some components were also useful for building transmitters 😉 )

One of the maintenance engineers in my team at work used to do TV repair (which is good as he knows one end of a soldering iron from the other) – we are expanding one of our residential homes and all the UK the nurse call system suppliers don’t even want our business because they can’t make their profits from selling the accessories like tails (with the red button for the nurse call) or charge for maintenance callouts as he can repair any busted call points/tails with knackered wiring and add extra devices and I already obtained the pager transmitter from a specialist company.

Residents get TV for free in their rooms (if their relatives do not bring their set from home we keep a few spares and Freeview boxes) – TVs are cheap these days so they are often donated to the home when a resident leaves or pases away.

TBH the bulk of adult Europeans who still watch linear TV are increasingly now middle aged and seniors which is starting to cause problems for public service broadcasters (although their downsizing of youth programming since the 1990s and the scandals affecting the BBC have made things worse) – especially in UK, NL and DE younger people often do not perceive any value in paying the TV license.

Not sure how Denmark is coping although the unique language, high intelligence and tech awareness of citizens might help (a Denmark “TV/multimedia” license is €322 / £260!)

One unfortunate thing I’ve noticed is in spite of DR and TDC (teledanmark) working co-operatively (unlike British Telecom which now competes with established broadcasters via sports channels as well as providing services) and putting a lot into the EBU for a small country; many productions (especially USA funded ones) do not get shared with Denmark and other Nordic countries for fear of piracy and political reasons.

In the 1980s the BBC Receiving Station had a big tower of VHF antennas pointed towards Scandinavia and would record DR as well as the Soviet broadcasters on HF (which was one reason why me and my friends cheap pirate transmitter caused a bit of bother, as we must have totally swamped their receivers!)

If anyone asked the journos at Caversham just why the BBC was going to such trouble to monitor a broadcaster 1000km away in a supposedly friendly nation – they would be told something like “we are helping DR make sure the sound is good quality for the Eurovision”.

Although not a complete fib; it was of course much easier and cheaper to post a spool of tape from Copenhagen to London or use a BT line to send the audio!

The real reason (which the engineers explained to us) was that Thatcho told them and GCHQ to “keep an ear on what those lefties, anarchists and gay people in DK are broadcasting as they are probably helping the Soviets” – although most of the Crowsley park lot were themselves also “anarchists, lefties and queers” which is why we didn’t get in big trouble for the pirate station :laugh_at: