UHF TV in England...

[Colly0410]

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...