2009: Annual BBC RBS tests

They still use that Ceefax logo as a bumper for when it starts and ends on BBC Two, quite surprising as it hasn't been used since the early 1990's. Saying that the current Ceefax look has been relatively unchanged since 1996.

Here in Tacolneston-land, my BBC1 recording was as expected, but when the BBC2 recording switches to the RBS at 3:05:20, all I get is rolling black, until it goes back to the direct link at 3:59:40. Was it just an issue with my recording, or did everyone in east Anglia get the same?

so anyone know how selkirk, or the lack thereof, affected scottish reception?

No idea, I'm in Bristol, but it sounds like it didn't work there. Maybe they will attempt to fix it and run another test a bit later on?

The BBC 2 RBS test was 04:30 to 05:32, those times you mention are for BBC 1

I can't say for Tacolneston, but all was well from Sandy Heath. Rolling black would suggest to me the test failed.

Didn't you read the reply above yours?

It was earlier than that, they changed to the light blue 'Ceefax' logo in 1989.

It is odd how the slide used to start/end Ceefax in vision has the 80's logo, especially as it was up to date for years (I think its a retro thing)

The off-air slide isn't so strange though - it's some sort of backup which kicks in should Ceefax not be available -maybe at the transmitter - presumably it was installed many years ago and no-one's bothered to update it

Indeed I did, I just wanted to add my belief and agreement with mulder that it was a test failure and not a recording problem. However, thinking about it, if it was a failure I find it strange that there were no (visable) attempts to fix the failure while the test wass on air.

My mistake. The BBC1 recording is the one with the problem. TCJ appears, then when the switch to RBS takes place, it goes to rolling black, with tone and speaking clock.

Interesting, Louis. If Test Card J appeared at all, then it was an RBS, because the analogue network was only fed with Pages from CEEFAX during the tests. TCJ was fed directly to Crystal Palace (and only to CP) so your sighting of it means that the RBS worked up to some point in the chain, and then dropped out. If tone/speaking clock continued to be radiated it sounds like a video amp failure at one of the RBS receivers.

I think TCJ was initially on network. Observing Hannington, TCJ replaced News 24 on BBC 1 analogue at 03:00:40. The RBS test seemed to start at 03:05:05, with a 5 second loss of syncs. That loss of syncs would be been longer, the further out from London you are.

Here's a log of my observations:-

BBC 1

03:00:40 TCJ Network
03:05:05 U Link pulled, no syncs
03:05:10 RBS TCJ feed of CP
03:59:40 TCJ Network
03:59:55 News 24


BBC 2
04:30:00 TCJ Network
04:35:05 U Link pulled, no syncs
04:35:10 RBS TCJ feed of CP
04:59:20 A video glitch !
05:30:40 TCJ Network
05:31:43 Ceefax in vision pages