Re: How good were 1950's/1960's Band 1 TV receivers?


<pedwards@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1185825932.220339.326730@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I've just bought (from Oxfam!) a copy of a BBC TV 25th anniversary
publication from 1961. Absolutely fascinating - it gives a good
technical history from pre-war years to early 625 line and colour test
transmissions.

But what impressed me the most was the coverage areas of those early
VHF transmitters - especially Holme Moss. It covered almost the whole
of northern England (coast-to-coast) and even north Wales (including
Anglesey).

Now I appreciate that the range of a VHF ground wave is proportional
to the wavelength, and that the wavelength here is about twice that of
present-day FM, but all early VHF (valve/transistor) FM radios I have
used have been hopelessly insensitive by modern standards and I find
it amazing that a VHF TV transmitter could have covered an area with a
100 mile radius!

So, does anyone know how easy/hard it would have been to receive Holme
Moss in Lancaster or Liverpool or Lincoln around 1960? Did they have
to put up 10 element aerials with pre-amps?



A 10 element array for Ch 2 would be quite a sight!
Here, about 3 miles due North of Manchester BBC
Holme Moss was receivable with the proverbial wet piece of string
there is a three element Yagi to this day near here,
I wondered if they were ripped off when it was installed,
When I mentioned this on another occasion Bill Wright
suspected it might have been installed prior to Oct 1951
and may have originally been receiving Sutton Coldfield
on CH4.

Another interesting fact about this part of the world is
that from the mid 60s, BBCtv was broadcast from
Winter Hill on CH12, .but all the existing Band III aerials
were cut for CH9, often with a CH2 dipole sharing the
same boom and results on CH12 were often poor.
Most people stuck with BBC from Holme Moss
rather than change to a wideband Band III aerial.

For a long time the early evening opt-outs from Leeds
and Manchester were both called Look North.
Very confusing.
--
Graham.
%Profound_observation%


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