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#1
10-31-2019, 11:28 AM
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UHF TV in England...
Up till 1964 there was no UHF TV in England, you had BBC on Low band & ITV & a (very) few BBC TX's on high band, all using 405 lines with positive video modulation & AM sound. In 1964 BBC2 (the original BBC was then called "BBC1") fired up on UHF on a different system using 625 lines, negative video modulation & FM sound, so a simple UHF to VHF converter wouldn't work. if you wanted to watch BBC2 you needed a new dual standard TV & a UHF antenna, most people didn't bother with BBC2....
Fast forward to November 1969 when BBC1 & ITV fired up on UHF 625 lines joining BBC2 with colour. (BBC2 had been in colour since 1967) About 60%/70% of the population could now get all 3 channels on 615 lines UHF from the get go & people started to buy/rent 625 lines UHF black & white or colour TV's; (You could then get old 405 lines VHF only TV's free or for very few pounds) Over the next 2/3 years dozens of 625 lines UHF TX's fired up around the country & almost everyone could now get 625 lines UHF if they wanted & by the mid 1970's England had become a de facto all UHF country, very few people now watched 405 lines VHF TV. The 405 lines VHF TX's were kept going till the early/mid 1980's but very few people actually watched them & no one seemed to notice as the last ones were turned off in Jan 1985... Nowadays all the Digital TV TX's are on UHF & you get dozens of channels, some of them in HD... Last edited by Colly0410; 11-01-2019 at 01:30 PM. 
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#2
11-01-2019, 01:45 AM
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This month in the UK we celebrate 50 years of colour on what were then our 2 main channels, BBC1 and ITV. I will be part of the team bringing "Southern" outside broadcast (remote) truck to an event in Birmingham in the English midlands on Saturday 16th November.
https://becg.org.uk/event/colour-tv-comes-to-town/ On the Friday evening before the event we hope to be going on air live from the truck on ITV news.
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#3
11-01-2019, 11:11 AM
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#4
11-01-2019, 01:49 PM
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I'm presuming that England (& the rest of the UK of course) was the first de facto (then de jure in 1985) UHF country in the world? I know some areas of America & Canada were known as UHF islands as there were no VHF TX's in range, South Bend Indiana was one AFAIK, there must have been others as well...
There were some very remote parts of the UK that couldn't get UHF TV right up till VHF close down in 1985 & had to watch old 405 lines VHF TV's that'd only get BBC1 & ITV up till then, I presume they'd have been TVless till satellite TV fired up in the late 1980's. Heard they'd get friends/relatives to record their favourite TV shows for them..
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#5
11-04-2019, 05:49 PM
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We had UHF-equipped sets in Spain in 1963 (I'm looking at one right now) though according to the official history of TVE, they didn't start broadcasting on the UHF band until 1966 with the introduction of TVE2. I cannot believe they were building and selling UHF-equipped sets with nothing to receive for three years before the TVE2 launch, so maybe there is some discrepancy in the history.
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#6
11-09-2019, 10:41 AM
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I really like the quality of the DTV reception, it's either perfect or nothing at all. 
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#7
11-11-2019, 08:45 PM
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Not only will DTV transmitters continue to broadcast on the VHF-High band, there will be more transmitters on VHF - not only VHF-High (Band III), but also on VHF-Low (Band I and Band II) as well. Soon, ALL US broadcast TV will be on channels 36 and below. The spectrum auction paid TV stations to switch from UHF to VHF (low or high), switch from VHF high to VHF-Low (Including the legendary public TV station WGBH), or give up their spectrum altogether (and even these have the option of remaining licensed TV stations, including must-carry status on cable and satellite providers, if they could find a transmitting station that would sell or donate some of its bits). Locally, WTLW in Lima, Ohio, moved from channel 44 to channel 4. Last edited by Robert Grant; 11-11-2019 at 09:03 PM.
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#8
11-11-2019, 09:22 PM
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Lima, Ohio, huh ?!? Sure do wish Fair Radio still sent out catalogs like they oncet did.. For all us wannabe Mad Scientist types, a new Fair Radio catalog was almost as good as Christmas...I even managed to "Steal" a '55 COLLINS R-390A that had all the correct Collins paint daubs from under Phil Sellati's nose...Rick Mish offered me $5K, or 2 of his "Museum" grade restos for it... Ahh, the Good ol' Daze...
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Benevolent Despot
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#9
11-12-2019, 01:09 AM
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#10
11-12-2019, 10:26 AM
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#11
11-12-2019, 01:35 PM
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jr
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#12
11-12-2019, 05:58 PM
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We've had a channel 9 physical around here since the digital start.
Its not hard to get at all. Lots of people get it on a UHF double bowtie antenna. High VHF would be really easy, even compared to UHF, to get if the FCC assigned just a bit higher power. Low vhf would need substantially more power from the power line than analog, or more bays, to get reliably digital.
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#13
11-12-2019, 06:56 PM
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Hi VHF example: WLS-TV in Chicago, RF channel 7 for both analog (55 kW ERP) and digital (4.75 kW ERP). Low VHF caps: analog 100kW; digital 10 kW or 45 kW depending on location. In general, the licensed digital power is adjusted downward to solve interference issues. High VHF caps: analog 316 kW; digital 30 kW or 160 kW depending on location. In general, a particular station's licensed digital power is adjusted downward to solve interference issues.
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#14
11-12-2019, 08:31 PM
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What I observed on visits to England in 1976 and 1980, all UHF yagis even in the most seemingly remote areas. In all kinds of mountings, in different directions from the same chimney.
Some VHF-Hi yagis were observed and those classics that were just an "X" for low VHF or FM (both- I was told) About every other place we stayed had something like a Philips 20-inch color with 4-presets, no knobs anywhere. There was no "channel 4", only BBC1, BB2 and ITV. Maybe 4 came along by 1980 in the bigger cities, there were Philips BW sets loops and set-top zig-zag helicals, one of which I was given as a token for repairing some electrical items with fused plugs where we stayed. The older folks seemed rightly afraid of 240 V and were glad to let some kid sort it out for them. A few years ago, while looking on a UK website called "antenna hacks", I learned much about our evolving band changes here in the US notably the UHF band has shrunk, with fewer active transmitters in any given area. The UK's classic UHF antenna solutions with several bands and narrow-spectrum yagis are a good fit for most of the US, at least where UHF predominates. A friend of mine from TV servicing past predicted we would still need a broadband antenna to get everything available, even after I and most others were sure VHF low was gone! First WPVI-6 in Philadelphia remains on 6 with with other new VHF-lo channels, WDPN 2 in Phl and WACP 4 in S. Jersey and now a channel 5 in lower Delaware! One Channel Master 1160 still gets them all, no matter how repacking affects them 
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"When resistors increase in value, they're worthless" -Dave G Last edited by DavGoodlin; 11-16-2019 at 08:51 PM. Reason: WDPN error
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#15
11-13-2019, 01:27 AM
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In the UK, Channel 4 started in 1982. It was rolled out nationally over a short timescale. The UHF channels had been assigned as part of thejoint BBC/ITV band planning process which gave 4 channels to each transmitter. The aim was to achieve full national coverage (99% of population?). Channel 5 was shoehorned in much later. A bit of a bodge job, with large areas not covered.
The 405 line services in Bands I and III (Low and High band VHF) were finally tuned off in 1985. These bands have not been used for TV since then. There are still a surprising number of antennas visible.
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