Towers for TV times
QUESTION
Now that TV in London is digital, are the masts at Crystal Palace and Sydenham still in use? THE Crystal Palace transmitting station opened on March 28, 1956, replacing the Alexandra Palace transmitter, where the BBC had started the world’s first scheduled TV service in November, 1936.
It’s in a high- profile position towards the north- east corner of Crystal Palace Park and is distinguished by its Eiffel-tower-like lattice tower.
The initial transmissions were from a temporary 235ft mast until the existing 719ft tower was completed in 1957, becoming the tallest structure in Britain. It is now the fourth tallest.
Crystal Palace has played a significant role in TV history. It was crucial in early experiments of UHF colour transmission. In 1969, it was the first to be completely reengineered with new UHF 625-line colour systems for BBC and ITV. Channel 4 was added in 1982.
Other firsts include the introduction of digital terrestrial TV in 1998 and HDTV from December 2009.
In 2010/11, the existing analogue antenna was replaced by new high-power digital antennas, and major modifications were made to existing buildings to accommodate the new equipment for the digital switchover (DSO).
New power supplies and back-up generators were installed along with the new high- power transmitters themselves. At DSO in April 2012, Freeview transmission power was increased from 20kw to 200kw and analogue TV signal was switched off and replaced.
Crystal Palace remains the country’s most important transmitting station, with nearly 12 million people receiving its output. It broadcasts to an approximate 40- mile radius spanning the whole of Greater London and many of the surrounding counties, including parts of Surrey, north Kent, south and east Essex, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire, with fringe reception possible in areas of Oxfordshire and Sussex.
The adjacent Croydon station is the site of the second- highest lattice tower in the UK, the main structure standing at 500ft. It stands on Beulah Hill in South Norwood, just beyond the western fringe of the Sydenham Hills that provide the grounding for the Crystal Palace station.
Unusually, the two stations are barely a mile apart. At this site ITV was first transmitted in 1955, and it has been popularly known as the Crystal Palace ITV transmitter. Croydon hosted the transmitters for the analogue Channel 5 service from the start of broadcasting in 1997 until DSO, and reserve transmitters for ITV1 and Channel 4. Following the privatisation of the Independent Broadcasting Authority transmitter network in 1991, Croydon became the main broadcasting base in Greater London for the first private owner, NTL Broadcast, and initially their successor Arqiva.
But when Arqiva acquired National Grid Wireless (the second post-privatisation operator of the former BBC transmitter network), Croydon lost its status as Arqiva’s main London base to Crystal Palace.
Since DSO, no television has been broadcast from Croydon, and it serves as a backup for Crystal Palace digital services. Digital and analogue radio services are still broadcast from Croydon.
Gerald Thornton, London E11.
QUESTION
As a child in the Seventies, I attended ‘beach missions’, run by a travelling Christian group. Are they still around? FURTHER to the earlier answer, I was part of the large team that ran the early beach missions at Llandudno.
In our second year, four of us rode our tandems all the way from Bedford (200 miles) to take part.
We slept on church hall floors, and that year someone had discovered a cheap supply of air beds. They did us well for a couple of nights then began to let us down.
Farm labourer Lance Pibworth and young doctor Verna Wright taught us how to keep the children happy and to speak on the front at evening open-air meetings when the Welsh enjoyed singing hymns.
Sixty years later, I expect to lead the songs of praise on our local Clevedon Bandstand. Same message, but I don’t know quite as much as I thought I knew back in my teens.
Bill Spencer, Clevedon, North Somerset.
QUESTION
From a standing start, over a distance of 100m, who would cross the finishing line first, a cyclist or a runner? THIS idea featured in several cycling and outdoor magazines a few years ago.
Given a moving start, the bicycle would win easily, with cycle sprinters travelling at about 44mph while top running speeds ( over short distances) are around 25mph. But a standing start would even up the race because a significant amount of energy is required to get the bicycle in motion.
Outside magazine, a popular U. S. publication, asked Dr Jim Martin, a former track racer specialising in sports science and cycling bio- mechanics at the University of Utah, to compare the 100m speed for a top athlete and a top cycle sprinter.
Dr Martin used power data from Sean Eadie, the 2002 match sprint world champion, and compared it to Usain Bolt’s 100m world record of 9.58 seconds.
From a standing start, it is obvious that the longer the race gets the more likely the cyclist is to win, as the runners are already slowing down after 100m and the cyclists are just gaining speed.
The result was very close with Eadie winning by a mere 0.16 seconds. Bolt pulls ahead at the start but Eadie passes him at 89.7m. The race is almost too close to call — it might make a fun event.
G. S. Stuart, Stirling.
QUESTION
Has anyone ever seen a dog running out of a butcher’s shop with a string of sausages, or other piece of meat, in its mouth? FURTHER to earlier answers, when my late father was growing up in the late Twenties and early Thirties, he had a dog named Dash. There was a butcher’s shop just around the corner from where he lived in with his two older brothers, sister and parents.
As many older readers will know, a butcher’s front window was open to the elements and all the meat and sausages were hung from hooks in the window.
One day Dash came racing in the front door, which was always open, dragging a string of sausages along with him.
My father’s older brother took the sausages from Dash, washed them, cooked them and the family sat down to an unexpected treat. Later that day the butcher himself came calling, angrily demanding money for the sausages, as he had recognised the dog.
My father’s dad — my grandad — told him in no uncertain terms to clear off unless he could prove the existence of said sausages.
Of course the butcher couldn’t and he stalked off — but not before telling the family they were barred from his shop.
Sue Tofield, Dunstable, Beds.