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uk.tech.digital-tv (Digital TV - General) (uk.tech.digital-tv) Discussion of all matters technical in origin related to the reception of digital television transmissions, be they via satellite, terrestrial or cable. Advertising is forbidden, with no exceptions. |
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When we had analogue TV and the signal to noise ratio was poor we would
say the picture was snowy. When we had satellite TV with FM video and the signal to noise ratio was poor we would say the picture had sparklies. They were white or black. You had to tune the receiver to the midpoint where the white and black were about the same intensity. On modern HD CCTV snow can look like sparkles. Not at all like 'snow'! We should have called 'snow' sparklies. But how were we to know? Anyway, I well remember the excitement when I first dragged in a feeble CNN from 27.5W, sometime in the 1980s. I used to watch CNN a lot after that, then it was fascinating meeting some of the people I'd seen on screen when years later I worked for CNN at their various London premises. Bill |
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On Sat, 17 Mar 2018 15:56:18 +0000
Bill Wright wrote: When we had analogue TV and the signal to noise ratio was poor we would say the picture was snowy. When we had satellite TV with FM video and the signal to noise ratio was poor we would say the picture had sparklies. They were white or black. You had to tune the receiver to the midpoint where the white and black were about the same intensity. On modern HD CCTV snow can look like sparkles. Not at all like 'snow'! We should have called 'snow' sparklies. But how were we to know? Anyway, I well remember the excitement when I first dragged in a feeble CNN from 27.5W, sometime in the 1980s. I used to watch CNN a lot after that, then it was fascinating meeting some of the people I'd seen on screen when years later I worked for CNN at their various London premises. Bill The time that I most appreciated CNN was when I stayed at the Shanghai Sheraton for one night instead of the Chinese Guest House that we were staying in for the duration while I was working there. This was in December 1988. The Guest house had several Chinese-language stations, including one that showed the News in English at 11 pm every evening. -- Davey. |
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On 18/03/2018 08:41, Brian Gaff wrote:
Yes and nowadays of course the signal breaks up a bit with bloccky stuff and vanishes altogether. Does anyone recall that Indian satellite that did direct broadcast on uhf using fm, but could be resolved by slope detection using an am receiver. It was actually only seeable for a short time when it was under test before its final positioning unfortunately. It was way over the top end onf band five. Times have certainly changed. Brian I remember it but don't know of anyone in the UK receiving it. Bill |
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Back in the day I did as i had a set which could have its if switched
separately to its tuner and pos/neg modulation. It was quite snowy and most of the time merely had some kind of test pattern on it. I suppose if we had had access to a proper fm demodulator for it, it might have been better. It must have been back in the 1970s which seems ages ago now. I can well remember the very first time I found sporadic E with an old receiver and with a bit of wire on the shed roof Sveridge's Radio test card was there on a band 1 channel. Amazing really. Now hat have we got, nothing much, Still since I could not see it I guess its just as well. I still have some Polaroid's of the test cards. Brian -- ----- - This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from... The Sofa of Brian Gaff... Blind user, so no pictures please! "Bill Wright" wrote in message news ![]() On 18/03/2018 08:41, Brian Gaff wrote: Yes and nowadays of course the signal breaks up a bit with bloccky stuff and vanishes altogether. Does anyone recall that Indian satellite that did direct broadcast on uhf using fm, but could be resolved by slope detection using an am receiver. It was actually only seeable for a short time when it was under test before its final positioning unfortunately. It was way over the top end onf band five. Times have certainly changed. Brian I remember it but don't know of anyone in the UK receiving it. Bill |
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Bill Wright wrote:
On 18/03/2018 08:41, Brian Gaff wrote: Yes and nowadays of course the signal breaks up a bit with bloccky stuff and vanishes altogether. Does anyone recall that Indian satellite that did direct broadcast on uhf using fm, but could be resolved by slope detection using an am receiver. It was actually only seeable for a short time when it was under test before its final positioning unfortunately. It was way over the top end onf band five. Times have certainly changed. Brian I remember it but don't know of anyone in the UK receiving it. Bill https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAcab_IDTiU -- --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus |
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Bill Wright wrote:
On 18/03/2018 08:41, Brian Gaff wrote: Yes and nowadays of course the signal breaks up a bit with bloccky stuff and vanishes altogether. Does anyone recall that Indian satellite that did direct broadcast on uhf using fm, but could be resolved by slope detection using an am receiver. It was actually only seeable for a short time when it was under test before its final positioning unfortunately. It was way over the top end onf band five. Times have certainly changed. Brian I remember it but don't know of anyone in the UK receiving it. Bill https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAcab_IDTiU I am aware of that piece featuring Steve Birkhill, but isn't it all Ku and C band? -- Graham. %Profound_observation% |
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In message , Ashley Booth
writes Bill Wright wrote: On 18/03/2018 08:41, Brian Gaff wrote: Yes and nowadays of course the signal breaks up a bit with bloccky stuff and vanishes altogether. Does anyone recall that Indian satellite that did direct broadcast on uhf using fm, but could be resolved by slope detection using an am receiver. It was actually only seeable for a short time when it was under test before its final positioning unfortunately. It was way over the top end onf band five. Times have certainly changed. Brian I remember it but don't know of anyone in the UK receiving it. Bill https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAcab_IDTiU I remember Steve Birkhill's whiz-kid articles in the late 1970s and early 80s. Lots of amateur DIY satellite stuff. Which magazine did they appear in? -- Ian |
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Television, formerly practical Television.
I did get that early sat, but you needed to find a pass where it was low elevation, and I'm on top of a hill, so could just about get it. The problem was that it seemed to move about so it was not quite geosynchronous either, that was because it was gradually being shifted on station I assume. I bet the old junk yard up at that orbit if full of old stuff now. Future space archaeologists will be flying out and collecting them for museums. Brian -- ----- - This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from... The Sofa of Brian Gaff... Blind user, so no pictures please! "Ian Jackson" wrote in message ... In message , Ashley Booth writes Bill Wright wrote: On 18/03/2018 08:41, Brian Gaff wrote: Yes and nowadays of course the signal breaks up a bit with bloccky stuff and vanishes altogether. Does anyone recall that Indian satellite that did direct broadcast on uhf using fm, but could be resolved by slope detection using an am receiver. It was actually only seeable for a short time when it was under test before its final positioning unfortunately. It was way over the top end onf band five. Times have certainly changed. Brian I remember it but don't know of anyone in the UK receiving it. Bill https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAcab_IDTiU I remember Steve Birkhill's whiz-kid articles in the late 1970s and early 80s. Lots of amateur DIY satellite stuff. Which magazine did they appear in? -- Ian |
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On 20/03/2018 10:15, Brian Gaff wrote:
Television, formerly practical Television. I did get that early sat, but you needed to find a pass where it was low elevation, and I'm on top of a hill, so could just about get it. The problem was that it seemed to move about so it was not quite geosynchronous either, that was because it was gradually being shifted on station I assume. I bet the old junk yard up at that orbit if full of old stuff now. Future space archaeologists will be flying out and collecting them for museums. Brian There's a lot of it up there now. Half a million items according to this: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/news/orbital_debris.html You'd need a very big dustbin lorry to collect that lot. -- Chris |
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