Picture(s) of the day....

[Peter.N.]

Quite a few down here still Jim, I keep meaning to take photo's of them, mostly 'H' and 'X' band 1. There is a thread dedicated to them on the Vintage Radio Forum.

Peter

[CitroJim]

Quite a few down here still Jim, I keep meaning to take photo's of them, mostly 'H' and 'X' band 1. There is a thread dedicated to them on the Vintage Radio Forum.

Peter

I plan to post it there Peter. I enjoy that thread immensely... I like how they determine which transmitter they pointed to and which channel. Awesome knowledge

[Vic Evans]

June solstice in barn

[NewcastleFalcon]

Nice image Vic for your debut on Pictures of the day. The POTD always needs debutants to turn into regular posters, so feel free to join in on a regular basis. Always something new to see on this thread.

June solstice in barn

I had a feeling your barn had made a previous appearance on the FCF, and yes this was on your debut on the classics spotting thread



Neil

[Peter.N.]

Quite a few down here still Jim, I keep meaning to take photo's of them, mostly 'H' and 'X' band 1. There is a thread dedicated to them on the Vintage Radio Forum.

Peter

I plan to post it there Peter. I enjoy that thread immensely... I like how they determine which transmitter they pointed to and which channel. Awesome knowledge

If you were a TV engineer that also installed aerials Jim you knew all the transmitters you could reach in your location so did the chap in the next door region and they used to talk to each other. The early superhet TV's often had a little plate on the tuning circuit with the transmitters on Band 1 listed by name but with the advent of Band 3 and changes in propagation it became a bit of a night mare but most of these antennas were in the '50s/'60s and there weren't to many about then. The TV service information during the test card pre colour TV gave information on all the relay stations so if you had a good memory (which I never have) you would learn them day by day but I'm sure you having been in the trade would be aware of most of this. Band 1 signals had a terrific range, BBC 1 here came from North Hessary Tor at the far end of Devon but there are still old aerials pointing to it from below the top of the hill and were still receiving a reasonable signal

Peter

[CitroJim]

If you were a TV engineer that also installed aerials Jim you knew all the transmitters you could reach in your location so did the chap in the next door region and they used to talk to each other.

Oh yes, I still can Peter, both in Somerset and up here in Paggers

The 'H' in my pictures would have been looking a Oxford but the Band III array at Sandy Heath. Here was very much a fringe-area for 405 line (and indeed was for 625 line UHF TV too) and back in 405 days, the BBC (Band I) came from Oxford and the ITV (Band III) from Sandy...

Yesterday I spent the whole day (and evening) in my special happy place, Salcey Forest, at a major running event...

Forestry England are busy logging...

Quite a nicely stacked pile

[NewcastleFalcon]

POTD Barn & Sunlight Club No 2



Neil

[Peter.N.]

Their weren't as many stations when I started, only 5 I think. We initially got BBC from Alexandra Palace, a bit weak but not to bad, this was in Petts Wood of course, we subsequently had Crystal Palace which we could see and delivered a tremendous signal.

Looks a nice place for a run Jim or anything else for that matter.

Like you tractor picture Neil. There are lots of old barns and old tractors down here.

Peter

[CitroJim]

Their weren't as many stations when I started, only 5 I think. We initially got BBC from Alexandra Palace, a bit weak but not to bad, this was in Petts Wood of course, we subsequently had Crystal Palace which we could see and delivered a tremendous signal.

Down where I was born and brought up Peter, we were spoilt for choice! BBC and Harlech (later HTV West) from Wenvoe in South Wales and Westward from Stockland Hill - A choice of two ITVs were good... Both fairly local and relevant. Both booming signals too!

And then, when UHF and the Mendip transmitter came along, we were still the beneficiary of booming signals

Up here, right up until digital, we only had Anglia from Norwich and that was very remote from here. Unless you went for Oxford and Central, which was just as remote.

We were on the fringe of both and indeed, even today, for Band IV/V Freeview we still are. Reception in this area remains a bit challenging, hence why Milton Keynes was cabled from the start and even here in Paggers we had a (now long defunct) VHF cable system. Out side some houses, if you know what you are looking for, you can still find the old distribution boxes...

Houses still on Freeview often have quite big aerial arrays around here...

[bobins]

POTD Barn & Sunlight Club No 2

Neil

I'm guessing a Fordson Major or Super Major.

[NewcastleFalcon]

I did take a few pics of it. Maybe there are some identifying features in this one... but I don't know what it is.

The image gets bigger with a couple of clicks.

Neil

[Peter.N.]

In the 60's there was an explosion of new stations Jim. When we married we moved to a village between Sevenoaks and Maidstone at about 400' asl somewhere near the antenna mast halfway down Wrotham hill, in my workshop I could pick up a station on every channel from 6 - 13 the latter one being a Welsh BBC repeater. On channel eleven I could receive Mendlesham and by changing polarity the Isle Of Wight.

Peter

I shall get told off for going off topic.

[CitroJim]

I shall get told off for going off topic.

No, never happens here Peter, this is not the Vintage Radio Forum - we would there for sure

BBC on Channel 5, Westward on Channel 9 and HTV on Channel 10 as I recall

[NewcastleFalcon]

I shall get told off for going off topic.

No, never happens here Peter, this is not the Vintage Radio Forum - we would there for sure

A useful little mantra though for the thread is keep it visual. If the flow of responses ends up in post after post of prose liven the prose up with an accompanying picture. Keeps the thread visual in the main.

So I reckon we need 3 pics from Peter to get back into credit and 47,000 from Jim. Shouldn't be too much to ask

Better remain in credit myself with this token pic of a bridge over a mucky stream to cover my prose-ey reply.

Neil

[mickthemaverick]

Here's one of our pet toucan, we don't believe in gilded cages

Woody