160-MILE TEST IN TELEVISION

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 151, 12 April 1950, Page 2

160-MILE TEST IN TELEVISION

ROBOT CONTROL OPERATED Reception of television in Birmingham from London over the £250,000 robot radio link constructed by the General Electric Company for the Post Office was demonstrated in Birmingham recently for the first time, says the “Daily Telegraph.” Studio pictures of Tvlary Malcolm, the announcer, received at a distance of 160 miles were as good as those normally seen' in London. Film reproduction was not quite up to the same standard, but the BBC apologised for a fault at the London end. This link is entirely' automatic in operation. The television signal hops in a pencil beam from tower to tower in a cabin of six stations. If any one station fails, an automatic switch over to duplicate equipment, which is al ways in readiness, takes place immediately. The Post Office intends tt> test this system against a cable link to decide which is the more economical in operation. In any case it is proposed to extend the radio link north to Huddersfield, Edinburgh, and eventually Aberdeen. Most Advanced in World As an alternative to television it could carry 600 simultaneous telephone conversations. It is claimed that this link, working on a pencil beam of about 30 centimetres, is the most technically advanced system of its kind in the world. The stations are at the Museum Exchange in London, Harrow Weald, Dunstable, Blackdown Hill, near Daventr.y. Turners Hill, Birmingham, and Telephone House, Birmingham. The average height of the qdwers is 100 ft. Each repeater station'-receives the signal from tlie previous one, amplifies it 10 million times, and then broadcasts it oil to the next. The aerials comprise six-inch rods mounted within bowl-shaped-reflectors 14ft across. One control' engineer in Birmingham and another in London are the only persons needed for operation. If any fault develops a bbll rings at the Birmingham end. By a system of lights on a small board the operator can tell where the fault is, and wheth- - er the duplicate gear has taken over.