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The End Of 405 Lines Television...

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Katie Bush
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Not long away is the 30th aniversary of the end of 405 lines television in the UK.. I was full of flu, but did manage to switch on a 405 lines set for the closedown.. What a sad end.

I can remember in the days after switch off, turning the set on, on several occasions "just in case" and can recall seeing a static image, like a stored frame, from the last second of transmission.. I have no idea how long after switch off it remained "on air" but I seem to recall there being a caption to remind viewers that the VHF television service was now closed.

Interestingly, a day or so after the closure, on the local BBC news "Look North" from Leeds, there was an article about a guy from Sheffield (I think) who was still watching programmes on a 405 lines set (several of them in fact).

I was well and truly intrigued by this, and the article covered a little tour of this eccentric's house.. Upstairs, in what had been a bedroom, there was a couple of racks which filled the alcoves either side of the fireplace, and had rows of panels, festooned with connecting cables, in each alcove.. It was of course an analogue standards converter.

If I remember it correctly, this guy was, or had been, an engineer in television broadcasting.. He had built only one converter, and for the benefit of the BBC, it was their programmes that he was displaying on his tellies.

I've had a very quick peek on the net, but can't find any reference to him.. I wondered if anyone here might remember the news article? I have a name stuck in my head "Steve Birkett" or "Steve Burchill" or something along those lines (405 of them I wouldn't wonder :) ).

I also wondered if, come the day, anyone had anything in mind as a sort of 30th aniversary event?

What memories do you have from the end of 405 lines?

Marion

 
Posted : 21/08/2013 12:57 am
Katie Bush
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This is odd. I thought I was aware of all 625 to 405 converters that had been built. I wonder if it was an ex BBC CO6/501. This occupies 2 rack bays.

This was almost thirty years ago, but it didn't look like what I recall as an ex BBC, or ITV, converter.. From what I remember, it looked more like something built by a true enthusiast, with lots, and I do mean lots, of large PCBs, for a guide I'd say A4 and A3 (in terms of paper sizes) sized PCB, or Vero boards.. There was a lot of external wiring running between the two alcoves, and although he did explain the function of the system, it's a long time, and time fades the memory.

I do remember there was a receiver section (tuned to the BBC's local station) followed by the converter section(s) and finally an RF output section.

As I recall the CO6/501 has two sections occupied by the input line stores, and output lines stores, giving the appearance of two toriodal structures, stacked one above the other, in the rack.. This guy's converter (as far as I can recall it) did not have these distinctive structures.. Of course, the same technology could have been laid out differently, I suppose?

As I say, this was nearly thirty years ago, and it may well have been scrapped in later years, or assuming he was an older man, could have been dumped by his family after his death.. I'd guess at a million and one reasons why it may not be known about today.

Out of interest, I may try contact "Look North" just to see if they can shed any light on the story.. I will be busy over the next few days, but will dig a little deeper before giving up. (or should that be; giving Eyup? :) )

Marion

 
Posted : 21/08/2013 5:17 pm
Jayceebee
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Steve Birkhill I'm sure was ex BBC and was a regular contributor on satellite television in PT magazine. Now I'm not 100% sure of this but I believe he was the designer of the Amstrad DRX100 satellite receiver.

John.

 
Posted : 21/08/2013 8:03 pm
Katie Bush
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Could it be our one and only David Boynes

To be honest, Trevor, it could be absolutely anyone.. The only proviso would be that they lived within the catchment area of the Emley Moor transmitter, and were living in the area covered by the BBC's studios in Leeds.

As far as my long distant and dim memory can go, it was someone in or near Sheffield.

Marion

 
Posted : 21/08/2013 11:07 pm
Jayceebee
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If it's Sheffield then it's a good bet it was indeed Steve Birkill. It appears from this site it was the Amstrads tuner he designed.

http://www.rwt.co.uk/old/rwtabout.htm .

John.

 
Posted : 21/08/2013 11:37 pm
Anonymous
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Steve wasn't living there in 1984/5 for sure,was working for a company on the
English/Welsh border concerned with Satellite TV and had a house near work.

Hugh

 
Posted : 22/08/2013 8:22 am
Refugee
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I can remember early CCD cameras. They had two dies in them and one was covered in black tape.
It acted as a frame store and was read while the other was exposed to the focused image.
I did not do an awful lot of work on them though.

 
Posted : 22/08/2013 2:54 pm
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