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TV Breakdown Appreciation Thread

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JV
James Vertigan Founding member
Markymark posted:

It was called RBS, the BBC’s main transmitters had ( where possible) and alternative source. My local Tx Hannington which was off air fed by Rowridge, had Crystal Palace as an RBS source ( for the BBC, and Mendip for C4)

Lower order transmitters and relays had no back up source should the parent die.


ITV and C4 used to have a backup transmitter for London/SE at Croydon in the event of failure at Crystal Palace. IIRC it was actually fed from one of the Meridian transmitters (possibly Hannington?) as on occasions when it was tested you would get ITV/C4 South Teletext and pressing Reveal on P100 would show the Rowridge three letter transmitter code.
SP
Steve in Pudsey
It was only the Teletext that was off air from Hannington/Rowridge, it had proper circuits for the programme feeds.

The teletext inserters for the London region were at Crystal Palace so the DR set up at Croydon used that RBS solution.
NY
NYTV
This may not be a breakdown perse, but an interesting situation caused under duress. Baltimore is unique in that the TV stations are neighbors, as WJZ 13 and and nearby houses had to evacuate due to a crane nearly falling over, which was being used to fix a television transmitter. WJZ would end up broadcasting outside the studio and from the garage of WBFF Fox 45, which also provided technical support. WBAL 11 also would decamp to Maryland Public Television
Last edited by NYTV on 3 July 2019 8:07am
NY
NYTV
In New York, Fox station WNYW was renovating their newsroom on August 21, 2018 when a "spectacular" computer failure prevented WNYW from airing the 5pm and 6pm newscasts. The 10pm newscast would end up being presented from FNC HQ and by Fox News's Shepard Smith and would adopt FNC's graphics. WNYW would then broadcast from FNC the following day until they returned to their building.
Last edited by NYTV on 3 July 2019 6:29pm
SC
Si-Co
James Vertigan posted:
Markymark posted:

It was called RBS, the BBC’s main transmitters had ( where possible) and alternative source. My local Tx Hannington which was off air fed by Rowridge, had Crystal Palace as an RBS source ( for the BBC, and Mendip for C4)

Lower order transmitters and relays had no back up source should the parent die.


ITV and C4 used to have a backup transmitter for London/SE at Croydon in the event of failure at Crystal Palace. IIRC it was actually fed from one of the Meridian transmitters (possibly Hannington?) as on occasions when it was tested you would get ITV/C4 South Teletext and pressing Reveal on P100 would show the Rowridge three letter transmitter code.


I hadn’t realised there was a “hidden” transmitter code on Oracle P100. Was this the case across the country? I assume only certain transmitters (not necessarily each parent transmitter) were included.
SP
Steve in Pudsey
Not on Oracle, but Teletext

*

Image from https://www.tvwhirl.co.uk/teletext/itv-teletext/
IS
Inspector Sands
Si-Co posted:

I hadn’t realised there was a “hidden” transmitter code on Oracle P100. Was this the case across the country? I assume only certain transmitters (not necessarily each parent transmitter) were included.

Teletext was sent out to computers at transmitter sites which then inserted the service onto the vision. It was sent to only about 25 (of the 50ish) main transmitters. They could have had 25 different regional versions but in reality they followed ITVs, so for some the only difference will probably have been that three letter code. I've no idea how the data got to the other 25, presumably a data link between TXs in the same region


There was a page that moved around over the years but was always tucked away in the high numbers that showed the queue of pages being sent out to the transmitters. That didn't have the full list of three letter codes, one in each region was replaced by the regional name: LON instead of CRY, CEN instead of SUT etc

I did have a brilliant document that explained the whole Teletext production and distribution chain and explained this page. However I sent it off to one of the teletext nostalgia sites years ago and never saw it again
JV
James Vertigan Founding member
From MB21 - I think this is the entire list of Teletext transmitter codes... *
Si-Co and Steve in Pudsey gave kudos
IS
Inspector Sands
That's a similar (and later) page the to the one which I was referring to. That for some reason had some regional names too, and was one list for both channels, it also had statistics for their central systems.

I notice that the above has HFR too, wonder why C4 had its own system, a backup maybe?
CH
channel4squares1
thegeek posted:
Andrew Wood posted:
BBC Alba had a rather long breakdown of 50 minutes this evening. At 21:10, despite there appearing to be no problems, a breakdown caption was shown with audio of the programme continuing over it. However, within moments, the audio began breaking up and was removed. The breakdown caption then began animating with a looped audio of the original BBC Alba music - though this stopped and re-started several times. At one point, the programme's audio returned, but then the Alba music played again. Eventually, at 21:25, the programme was replaced by 'This is BBC Alba'. At 21:59 it dropped to the breakdown caption again - even though the next programme had begun and the audio was playing - with vision restored at 22:00.

*

That slate is from the launch pres package.

When the 'this is BBC Alba' carousel was a lot less stable than it is now, and was a bit prone to crashing, I'd occasionally marry the breakdown slide with Radio nan Gaidheal audio, and cut that to air while giving the server a kick - otherwise the viewer would would have had their radio listening interrupted. (It was a task not helped by the playout suite being unmanned during the day and the MCR being in a somewhat distant location)


I've seen that happen during "This is BBC ALBA" before, even before there were any programmes that day.
SP
Spencer
James Vertigan posted:
From MB21 - I think this is the entire list of Teletext transmitter codes... *


I think there might be a few missing from that. I'm pretty certain I remember seeing RID for Ridge Hill and I think there was BIL for Bilsdale.
IT
itvblocks
Just now on Wimbledon, the commentator left his microphone on during an interview XD

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