The transmitters which broadcast BBC 2 in colour from July '67 onwards were Belmont, Crystal Palace, Emley Moor, Rowridge, Sutton Coldfield and Winter Hill. Wenvoe and Tacolneston were added in earlly autumn but Black Hill and Durris, in Scotland, along with Divis and, I think, Pontop Pike, were black-and-white only until November or December 1967.
They must have been stuffing the signals down 3 MHz '405 line' circuits initially at the tx sites that were 'b/w' to start with ?
With my uber-pedantic hat on, the first transmitter to radiate colour was Alexandra Palace, because there were 405-line colour tests from 1955 onwards.
Once Crystal Palace took over from Ally Pally as the London area BBC-tv transmitter, there were frequent 405 line colour tests during the daytime trade test periods. These were only transmitted in London; the rest of the country had the regular Test Card C transmissions.
Long before BBC-2 began, there were two UHF test transmitters at Crystal Palace, one on channel 33 and one on channel 44. These were used to trial various types of modulation before the parameters for the UHF services were settled upon. And once regular trade tests began in advance of the launch of BBC-2, they included colour films, slides and colour bars.
The 'soft launch' of colour in July 1967 could not be made from all the existing BBC-2 transmitters because some of the GPO links were not suitable to carry a colour signal. As the launch period went on, more transmitters were added as these links became available, and by the time of the official launch in November, all BBC-2 transmitters in service were carrying colour programmes.
With my uber-pedantic hat on, the first transmitter to radiate colour was Alexandra Palace, because there were 405-line colour tests from 1955 onwards.
Once Crystal Palace took over from Ally Pally as the London area BBC-tv transmitter, there were frequent 405 line colour tests during the daytime trade test periods. These were only transmitted in London; the rest of the country had the regular Test Card C transmissions.
As I mentioned a page or so back, these were pre-PAL so used a modified form of NTSC.
I know that Baird developed colour TV a lot earlier than that, but I don't suppose that was ever actually broadcast
Apparently I hear that Sir David Attenborough and Chris Evans will be attending a ceremony this coming Wednesday evening at 9.15pm when the Crystal Palace transmitter will be illuminated by a "spectacular lightshow" to mark the end of the digital switchover in London.
According to our friends over at "Digital Spy" the company which operates the UK's TV transmission infrastructure Arqiva is planning to use 200,000 watts of energy efficient lighting to illuminate the 219-metre tall tower in south London. It will requirie the same wattage as used to illuminate the Eiffel Tower in Paris and will culminate with a beam of light shooting up the tower and radiating out over London to represent the power of TV signals.
Apparently I hear that Sir David Attenborough and Chris Evans will be attending a ceremony this coming Wednesday evening at 9.15pm when the Crystal Palace transmitter will be illuminated by a "spectacular lightshow" to mark the end of the digital switchover in London.
According to our friends over at "Digital Spy" the company which operates the UK's TV transmission infrastructure Arqiva is planning to use 200,000 watts of energy efficient lighting to illuminate the 219-metre tall tower in south London. It will requirie the same wattage as used to illuminate the Eiffel Tower in Paris and will culminate with a beam of light shooting up the tower and radiating out over London to represent the power of TV signals.
Actually, by pure co-incidence 200,000 watts is also the ERP of each of the DTT muxes from CP post DSO.
So am I right in thinking that just leaves Tyne Tees and Northern Ireland. They really should have sped up the process slightly at least to ensure all regions switched over in time for the Olympics.
Anyone know what time stage 2 takes place on Wednesday?
BBC 1, ITV, and C4 analogues will probably die at their first programme junctions after 00:01hrs Wednesday.
Freeview channels will probably vanish between 00:30 and 01:00, to return on their new frequencies and power before 02:30hrs. Though the official restoration time is 06:00hrs for CP, and 18:00hrs for the last of the relays.
BBC Mux will probably also be off between 00:30 and 03:00 ish
C5 analogue (from Croydon) is reported in some quarters as remaining on until 09:00hrs
So am I right in thinking that just leaves Tyne Tees and Northern Ireland. They really should have sped up the process slightly at least to ensure all regions switched over in time for the Olympics.
Next up is Heathfield (E Sussex) and Dover/Bluebell Hill (Kent). Starts end of May, completes mid June.
Then I think the Olympics technical lock down starts (July 1st ?) so no DSO work permitted until the Paralympics are over in Mid Sept. Tyne Tees DSO starts a few days after the Paralympics end.
