Reception In Britain Was Touch And Go

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29872, 12 July 1962, Page 11

Reception In Britain Was Touch And Go

LONDON, July 11 British television viewers early today saw—for about 30 seconds—the first live transatlantic television picture.

The picture, "bounced" across the ocean from Andover, Maine, by the Telstar satellite, was picked up by the giant 870-ton aerial at Goonhilly Downs. Cornwall —a mile from where the radio pioneer, Guglielmo Marconi, made the first transatlantic sound broadcast in 1901

But it was touch and go before the picture was picked up and flashed to viewers less than five minutes before the satellite was passing out of range on its sixth orbit.

Officials described the first attempt as "somewhat disappointing” but a further attempt on Telatar's seventh orbit was said to be “encouraging." The picture came through clearly for nine minutes on this attempt, although there was no sound For the first attempt British Post Office and television technicians waited tensely as the casts for Telstar's signal were made. Mr W J Bray, second in command of the Post Office team, said at 11.45 pjn.

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G.M.T. that the giant aerial had begun searching the predicted orbit. Nine minutes later, he said: “I am afraid so far we have not been able to get a signal,” Then, exactly on .midnight, the lines of dots and dashes on the television screen began to change Mr Bray said: “We are just beginning to get the carrier signal from the Telstar satellite but we are having some difficulty resolving it. The signal is of course a weak one . . . however. we are making progress”

Then the recognisable picture of a man emerged from the flurry of "snow” on the monitoring screen. At first it was moving up the screen—"slipping” as if the vertical hold on the set needed adjusting. It became synchronised and for about 30 seconds a still photograph of a man—thought to be Mr Fred Kappel president of the American Telephone and Telegraph Corporation, which developed Telstar—was visible before ft suddenly disappeared into the- "snow*’ again. The satellite was only capable of transmitting for about 30 minutes before it disappeared again over the horizon.