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TV Breakdown Appreciation Thread

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CO
commseng
I do not miss working on the old frame distribution when telegraph was buzzing about.
The swing between + and - 80V didn't half make you jump when it went up your arm.
Always keep the other hand in your back pocket was good advice, as long as you didn't fall off the wooden ladder.
Data comms is far safer these days!
bilky asko and thegeek gave kudos
MA
Markymark
I do not miss working on the old frame distribution when telegraph was buzzing about.
The swing between + and - 80V didn't half make you jump when it went up your arm.
Always keep the other hand in your back pocket was good advice, as long as you didn't fall off the wooden ladder.
Data comms is far safer these days!


Used to be at 16&2/3rds Hz, which seemed to hurt more than 50 Hz does. (Not that I make a habit of giving myself electric shocks)
CO
commseng
Ringing for phone circuits and control lines was 17Hz, or if generated from the mains it was 16 2/3Hz.
Telegraph was a lot more spikey, heaven only knows what frequencies it had crawling all over it.
GE
thegeek Founding member
The one time I had a chance to dig a field telephone out of the cupboard to try to track down a minor 4-wire fault, my colleagues had just finished warning me about keeping my fingers clear of the terminals when it was ringing, when a rather more major digger-meets-fibre incident occurred elsewhere and took up a fair bit of our evening.
(Keeping things back on topic, I seem to remember it took out some of the Box Plus channels for most of the night, along with a bunch of contribution circuits and a chunk of the BBC website.)

8 days later

RO
robertclark125
I'm not quite sure what happened here, but I think the opening titles didn't play, and Paul Frost was sort of caught out.

RO
robertclark125
Another one from City Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, though this time, I think Tyne Tees are innocent victims. The entertainment starts from 6:14. What actually happened, the cut from the Disney ident, to the cartoon? How on earth did the timings, showing the VT clock, end up a mess?

BA
Bananas
Another one from City Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, though this time, I think Tyne Tees are innocent victims. The entertainment starts from 6:14. What actually happened, the cut from the Disney ident, to the cartoon? How on earth did the timings, showing the VT clock, end up a mess?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0vWVOdhL5Y


Really doesn't warrant a "how on earth" and really wasn't a "mess". Chill...
RO
robertclark125
Are my thoughts on the titles not being able to run, on the clip with Paul frost, correct?
SP
Steve in Pudsey
I think the Donald Duck cartoon is a different recording, or something has been chopped out in editing the clip to put on YouTube. Tyne Tees have either gone to the feed from Thames early or Thames have rolled the tape late.
JA
james-2001
I think the Donald Duck cartoon is a different recording, or something has been chopped out in editing the clip to put on YouTube. Tyne Tees have either gone to the feed from Thames early or Thames have rolled the tape late.


Looks to me likes Thames rolled the tape of the "Christmas at Disney" ident late, but cut to the Donald Duck cartoon at the right time, so most of the Disney ident got cut off.
itvblocks and Steve in Pudsey gave kudos

14 days later

RO
robertclark125
I remember posting about a video on YouTube, said video no longer there, where Granada goes into corrie. But, a few seconds after the the titles start, the tape pauses. It goes to a holding slide, and the Granada ca apologising for the breakdown. Was that simply a case of someone hitting the pause button? It was in the 1980s
SP
Steve in Pudsey
September 1994 and The Big Breakfast lose sound for a few minutes. Nothing too exciting except a very plain "Temporary Fault" caption which I assume came from C4 pres

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