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General Vintage Technology Discussions For general discussions about vintage radio and other vintage electronics etc.

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Old 27th Mar 2017, 9:20 pm   #201
ms660
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Default Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.

Whitehall 1212!!

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Old 27th Mar 2017, 9:58 pm   #202
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Default Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ilikevalvesme View Post
555-01xx is reserved for fictional use (TV, films, etc).
Mark, thanks for that clarification.
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Old 27th Mar 2017, 10:56 pm   #203
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Default Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.

In the UK it used to be 01-246-8071, which I think was Dial a Recipe. You'd see it on estate agent's boards and on the side of vans in TV programmes.
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Old 27th Mar 2017, 11:31 pm   #204
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Default Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.

Not sure if I am seeing things or what..but in the Virgin TV advert for showing how fast their Broadband is - due to fibre optic cable - is that a coax cable they actually show on screen?
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Old 28th Mar 2017, 1:46 am   #205
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Default Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.

Nah. You're all wrong. They didn't have anachronisms back then.
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Old 28th Mar 2017, 1:18 pm   #206
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Default Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.

The fake UK telephone numbers that can safely be used in TV programmes etc. are documented on an OFCOM page:

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-tele...bers-for-drama

I've used this when creating fictitious examples in computer software documentation.
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Old 28th Mar 2017, 1:30 pm   #207
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Phone numbers for UK drama... https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-tele...bers-for-drama I don't say this much but well done Ofcom, many proper area codes unlike the USA 555 one.

And there is the morse code sent at less than 5WPM and the words coming out at 50. At least in most (old) films the letters were right for the start of the message. Saved a lot of boredom for the film watcher if they could read morse and for those that can't merrily adding to the scene seting.
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Old 29th Mar 2017, 8:22 am   #208
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Default Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.

Quote:
Originally Posted by cheerfulcharlie View Post
Not sure if I am seeing things or what..but in the Virgin TV advert for showing how fast their Broadband is - due to fibre optic cable - is that a coax cable they actually show on screen?
Yes I saw that, coax obviously looks more 'technical' than fibre.

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Old 29th Mar 2017, 8:55 am   #209
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Default Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.

I see that 'fibre' has now become the 'product', rather than the delivery medium!
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Old 29th Mar 2017, 10:13 am   #210
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Default Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.

Whilst in the works gym yesterday I watched the 1968 film 'The Battle for Anzio', great all star cast, but in the scene where the lead characters drive a jeep up to a location looking over the city of Rome, the buildings in the distance are festooned with TV antennas!
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Old 29th Mar 2017, 3:09 pm   #211
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Default Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.

Quote:
Originally Posted by cheerfulcharlie View Post
in the Virgin TV advert for showing how fast their Broadband is - due to fibre optic cable - is that a coax cable they actually show on screen?
Virgin is fibre to the cabinet, the link into the building is co-ax. It's then split to feed the set top box and router. The phone is a separate pair of wires. Advertisements are not typically big on technical accuracy.
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Old 21st Apr 2017, 8:52 pm   #212
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Default Air Crash Confidential

Having watched a couple of episodes I have noticed that often the investigators can be seen studying circuit diagrams trying to find problems.

I wish them luck as the circuits are of old valve radios.

Does this often happen?
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Old 21st Apr 2017, 9:30 pm   #213
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I have seen several of these and the scenes are staged by rather non technical personnel for an audience of generally non technical people.
If you look at some you can spot oscilloscopes on shelves or the background that are free running with no probes connected or connected to the cal output and have nothing to do with any sort of fault investigation but just to make a investigation lab look interesting.

I would expect real crash investigation labs to be rather dull looking and not have flight critical components rolling around desks!!

There was one programme where a critical hydraulic actuator froze causing a crash in which it was tested by supposedly cooling it down on a test rig by someone stood next to it blasting it with a CO2 fire extinguisher to make it very cold! not very scientific and was waiting for the chap to keel over after breathing in all that CO2!!!

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Old 22nd Apr 2017, 1:52 am   #214
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Default Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.

Carbon dioxide is heavier than air; so if you are standing up and aiming the extinguisher down, you won't be breathing much of it in. Even if you did, you'd be fine as soon as you brothe some "ordinary" (i.e., with 20% oxygen in it) air. Carbon monoxide is about the same density as air and also binds to haemoglobin, so your blood's oxygen-carrying capacity is reduced even after you get into fresh air -- urgent medical treatment is required in cases of heavy exposure to CO.

Carbon monoxide is also inflammable (the blue part of a carbon-based fuel flame is where the carbon atoms are acquiring their second oxygen, after picking up the first one in the redder part of the flame; soot is unreacted carbon, and serves to indicate that there is not enough oxygen even to partially oxidise all the carbon), so definitely would not be used in a fire extinguisher!
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Old 22nd Apr 2017, 5:26 pm   #215
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Default Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.

My understanding from when I was a First Aider is that the small proportion of Carbon Dioxide that is present in atmospheric air is a factor in the breathing reflex. Ambulances carry a bottle of CO2 as part of their kit that can be added to Oxygen where a patient has difficulty in breathing. I well recall from the numerous brewery trips that we had at college that if you leaned over a fermentation vat and sniffed ( as we were sometimes encouraged to do - carefully), the high CO2 concentration would make you breathe in sharply.
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Old 22nd Apr 2017, 5:42 pm   #216
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Default Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.

I recall seeing a TV programme a while back, where the brave (foolhardy?) presenter exercised on a stationary bicycle while breathing his own exhaled air. The carbon dioxide had been scrubbed from this re-cycled air using a canister of soda-lime if I recall correctly. The unfortunate presenter, because of the lack of carbon dioxide in the gas he was breathing, didn't start gasping, he simply fell off the bike. A salutary tale, I think.
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Old 24th Apr 2017, 8:54 am   #217
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Default Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.

This is correct. It's the CO2 that causes the awareness of lack of oxygen. It's a drawback of the Davis Submarine Escape Apparatus, which is a chemical re-breather.
I often wonder why the technique isn't used for gassing unwanted dogs, etc.. It would cause far less distress.
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Old 24th Apr 2017, 9:02 am   #218
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Default Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.

No more discussion about carbon dioxide please. It has nothing to do with the title of this thread or vintage technology.
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Old 16th Aug 2017, 11:37 pm   #219
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Default Re: Technology related anachronisms on TV and in films etc.

I've just watched a bit of 'The Heart of the Matter'; A 1953 film starring Trevor Howard, and set in WW2.

In one of the offices is an Ultra Coronation Twin radio...not released until 7 years after the war.
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Old 29th Oct 2017, 11:48 am   #220
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Default Youth & Vinyl

Just seen on the Quest TV channel a pre-owned watch advert featuring a record deck. The tone arm is lifted from rest position straight to towards the centre, film is cut just before the deck switches off! Never did see the record played, I wonder if they thought they had a faulty player.

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