The London television service

Abstract

This paper describes a television broadcasting station recently built by the British Broadcasting Corporation in a part of the Alexandra Palace, London, N. The development of the television service in this country is traced from the early attempts to promote an experimental service of transmissions on low standards of definition to the establishment of a highdefinition public service.The paper is divided into six parts.Part 1 touches briefly upon the history of television development in this country, and describes in some detail the transmission of low-definition pictures from B.B.C. stations during the years 1929 to 1935.Part 2 deals with the recommendation of the Television Committee that a station for transmitting high-definition television should be established, and it discusses various factors upon which the subsequently appointed Television Advisory Committee based its decisions regarding the choice of the Alexandra Palace site, the operating wavelengths, and standards of definition.Part 3 describes the arrangement of studios and apparatus rooms at the Alexandra Palace station. The problems of studio acoustics, production lighting, and the provision of essential supplies, are also dealt with.Part 4 describes the layout and arrangement of the control room and transmitter equipment installed for the vision and accompanying sound transmissions.Part 5 is concerned with the plant developed to enable current events and other programme items taking place at some distance from the Alexandra Palace to be televised. Some account is given of the use of land lines to carry television signals.Part 6 is a brief consideration of the reception results of signals from the Alexandra Palace since the beginning of the service, and embodies the result of signal-strength surveys made in the vicinity of, and at distances from, the station.Finally, the various types of television receivers and aerials are discussed.