Multi channel television: 60s style.

[SteveCG]

In the late 70s if you lived outside of Cambridge it was possible to receive something on every 405 line BI & BIII channel - albeit some channels stronger than others! Usable DX was Belmont on B7, Croydon on B9, CP on B1.

[FERNSEH]

Upto 1968 where I live near Gateshead it was possible when the conditions were right to receive the old Emley Moor transmitter on channel B10. No doubt if I had erected a proper aerial reception would have been more reliable. Then the mast collapsed and was replaced with the concrete structure which is not as tall and so then there was hardly any trace of the CH10 transmissions at all.

DFWB.

[KeithsTV]

When we first had a TV I always wondered why there were 12 positions on the channel switch as we could only get programmes on channels 4 & 8 in Birmingham. It was also a little puzzling that when we went to my grandparents on the Wirral their programmes were on channels 2 & 9 and not 4 & 8.

At university in Bangor the TV in the hall of residence could receive English TV from Holme Moss & Winter Hill and Welsh TV from Llanddona & Arfon. The ITV channels were 9 and 10 respectively. As an experiment I connected a band 3 tuned circuit from a scrap turret tuner in series with the aerial feed and found it was easy to notch out either the signal from Arfon or Winter Hill. I was tempted to leave it in place but which signal should be "removed"?

I later lived in Beaumaris on Anglesey and although we got a strong UHF signal from Llanddona about 5 miles away we were in the shadow of the transmitter and our signal was reflected off the mountains on the other side of the Menai Straits. I used to comment we got the repeats at the same time and sometimes they were in colour. However if you pointed your aerial at the gap in the Great Orme it was virtually line of sight to Winter Hill 80 miles away and no ghosting.

Keith

[Hybrid tellies]

In the late 1960's we lived in the coastal village of Coverack in West Cornwall. There was good reception of 405 line TV from BBC1 on ch2 from North Hessary Tor and Westward TV on ch12 from Caradon Hill using a modest loft aerial. Under normal conditions you could pick up the sound of HTV on ch10 from St Hilary, but during tropo lift conditions you could get excellent reception of HTV on ch10 from St Hilary sometimes lasting for days. Southern TV on ch11 from Chillerton Down was also watchable during such occasions despite the side splash from the strong local ch12 signal. During these openings ch9 was just a spectacular 405 line pile up between Westward TV from Stockland Hill, LWT/Thames from Croydon and Channel TV from Freemont Point.
Sporadic E openings during the summer months would just wipe out BBC1 on ch2 but some parts of the village were on ch1 from Redruth. Although there pictures were un affected they would sometimes find themselves watching BBC1 whilst listening to French TV sound.
When I moved to Bath quite a few people I knew could get reliable 405 line reception of ATV Midlands from Membury on ch12 just using simple roof or loft aerials.
Some of my family lived on the Wirral they could get the local BBC1 and Granada from Winter Hill on ch's 9 and 12 plus BBC1 North from Holme Moss on ch2. Using their normal aerials a lot of people could also pick up Yorkshire on ch1o from Emley Moor as well as BBC Wales and HTV Wales from Moel y Park on ch's 6 and 11.

[beltinge bore]

I grew up in Muswell Hill (North London) no more than half a mile from Ally Pally (which may explain a lifelong interest/obsession with transmitters). CH1 from Crystal Palace could be had on a piece of wet string (15 miles away at most) CH9 was another matter. We lived on the north side of "the hill" and I found that with a Horizontal Pol. Ch11 aerial a very good Anglia signal from Mendlesham could be had.
Further experiments with an ex WD aerial mast gave me CH8 Lichfield and CH10 Dover. Amongst others.
In those days a lot of program output varied from region to region (Anglia broadcast Rawhide on Sunday evenings for instance) which made me (13 at the time) popular with my western mad Grandma but my football mad father would have me scouring the available channels on a Sunday afternoon for the regional version of the "Big Match" (he was a referee and football mad!) Any game featuring his beloved Arsenal resulted in a bit of pocket money to spend in Crescent Radio in nearby Wood Green.
In the early 70's I had a girlfriend who shared a flat 8 floors up in Whitehall Court Muswell Hill one of her flatmates was a lovely Geordie girl who used to watch Tyne Tees (CH 8 I think) on nothing more than a set top ribbon type aerial.
I dabbled in DX TV with a modified BUSH TV53 with good results from many continental stations dependent on weather/sporadic E conditions.
Great fun! Happy days
Regards Steve

[dazzlevision]

Hello,

Here are some of my off-screen photos taken during DX-TV openings from the early-mid 1980s.
NRK Norway, RUV Iceland (?) and co-channel on channel 9 between Croydon and Winter Hill.

The reception location was in West Oxfordshire.

Regards,

Dazzlevision

[dazzlevision]

And a couple more:

Tyne Tees Television - Pontop Pike?

Comparison of local Oxford Ch4 caption and S4C from Wenvoe, near Cardiff.

Dazzlevision

[pichacker]

If only I had a camera all those years ago.......

UHF
Around early 1980ish there was a superb opening and I used a tweaked VC52 to watch PTT NED for nearly a week. Leki the lion kept me thoroughly entertained as did the radio shows that were played with the test cards. The October 87 storms finally took down my aerial and that was the end to that. RIP Triax Unix 92

VHF
Back to the original thread, here in Ramsden Heath, it was easy to get BBC1 on CH1, London on 9, Southern on 10, and Anglia on 11 using a length of wire in the aerial sockets of TV's fresh from the jumble sales. Different regional programs were common. So I'd be upstairs in my bedroom watching "Soap" or "No Honestly" which at the time were not available on the CP UHF feed to my parents set. (And of course it was after my bed time)

I do miss the fresh smell of hot burning "'dropper dust"!!

[Focus Diode]

Fascinating Dazzlevision! I recognise Bill Steel on the TTT photo. Must've been taken on a Saturday morning as the announcers were always casually dressed at that time. More likely to be Bilsdale ch29 I would imagine. Looks like a CH4 ETP-1 test card floating in the background, Stockland Hill for example carried C4tv on ch29.

The HMV set showing the CH4 logo looks like a 2635 19" 950MkII chassis.

Cheers,
Brian

[dazzlevision]

Hello Brian,

Although I can't confirm the model number, it is indeed a Thorn 950 Mk2 set and I still have it. In my opinion, the best UK dual standard mono TV chassis ever produced.

Regards,

Dazzlevision

[Focus Diode]

Here's a 2635 I worked on a couple of years ago carrying out the ultimate test, the "Avengers" alternating black and white title sequence. Although I never had one for multichannel or DXTV reception I'd imagine the performance to have been excellent for receiving adjacent channels.

Cheers,
Brian