Re: Audio Precision System One Dual Domani Measuirement Systems

[Mike Tomlinson]

If everything is on a ring, why are there an odd number of breakers?

Both ends of the ring connect into the same breaker.

32A breaker = 16A down each leg of the ring. If each leg were fed from
its own breaker, switching one breaker off would turn the ring into a
32A radial using 16A wire!

 

[Mike Tomlinson]

The breakers are 4 pole?

No, single pole on the phase wire.

 

[Mike Tomlinson]

Try
being a little clearer next time, will you?

Terrell's a twit. Killfile fodder.

 

[Mike Tomlinson]

How are sockets connected on a radial circuit? Separate terminals for in
and out?

Yes, connecting screws each side of the socket. On the side, not on the
back, unless the socket has push-fit connectors (yuck).

 

[Terry Casey]

From <http://www.hywel.org.UK/bbc2launch/>

QUOTE

When BBC2 launched on April 20th 1964, ...


UNQUOTE

<panto mode.

Oh no it didn't!

</panto mode>

The launch of BBC2 was PLANNED for April 20th 1964 but a fire at
Battersea Power Station blacked out large areas of west London -
including the Television Centre - shortly before BBC2 was due to start.

As a result, BBC2 opened at 1130 on April 21st 1964 and the first
programme was Play School.

Nine years earlier, the BBC had wiped all news of the start of ITV off
the front pages by killing off Grace Archer in The Archers. Of course,
there was only one ITA transmitter in 1955, so only a small proportion
of the population could see it anyway.

But BBC2 started off with only one transmitter in exactly the same way
but still managed to get the 'non-event' on every front page the
following day!

I've always wondered if somebody might have been seen furtively slipping
out of the back door of Broadcasting House that Monday afternoon before
setting off to walk down to Battersea Bridge with a box of matches in
his coat pocket ...

 

[Mike Tomlinson]

(Nor worse, though it sometimes was.)

NTSC = Never Twice the Same Colour. NTSC TVs had (still have?) a "Hue"
control for the user to twiddle when skin tones started looking a bit
green.

 

[Mike Tomlinson]

http://hostedmedia.reimanpub.com/TFH/Step-By-Step/display/FH01NOV_OUTLET_03.jpg

The ground wires in that picture appear to be in bare copper, borne out
by the person using a multimeter with a probe resting on the ground
wire. If so, that's pretty shoddy. What's to stop it coming into
contact with the exposed hot and neutral screws on the outlet body as
the outlet is pushed back into the box?

UK wiring regulations require earth (ground) wires to be sheathed in
green and yellow sleeving where it is exposed.

 

[David Looser]

Maybe it would have been better to have one 625 line network on VHF,
like most other countries used until analog closedown.
Of course going from 405 to 625 would have meant ther was no room for
two networks there.

The original plan, drawn up in the early '60s, was to re-engineer Bands 1
and 3 for 625-line operation once the 405-line service was switched off; but
it never happened. I guess that the powers that be thought that the spectrum
could be more usefully used for other purposes.

David.

 

[Dave Liquorice]

Yes, connecting screws each side of the socket.

Completely open as well not shroded at all. Don't like that, damaged
cover plate and very easy for little (or not so little) fingers to
make contact with a live screw.

 

[David Looser]

<panto mode.

Oh no it didn't!

</panto mode>

OK, two can play at this game:

<panto mode>

Oh yes it did!

The launch of BBC2 was PLANNED for April 20th 1964 but a fire at
Battersea Power Station blacked out large areas of west London -
including the Television Centre - shortly before BBC2 was due to start.

In fact BBC2 *did* launch on April 20th, from a news studio at Alexandra
Palace, I've seen the recording. Not suprisingly the headline news item was
the power cut!

OK so a brief news programme wasn't what the BBC had in mind for the 'Grand
Opening' of BBC2, but a programme was broadcast on BBC2 on April 20th.

As a result, BBC2 opened at 1130 on April 21st 1964 and the first
programme was Play School.

No, the first programme on BBC2 was a news bulletin, on April 20th.

David.

 

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Also, the screws are pretty well recessed (on decent quality sockets
anyway) It's difficult to touch them with a finger accidentally.

Yes - that was one of the things wrong with the design. The faceplate can
be removed separately - rather like grid switches in the UK. Excellent
idea for re-decorating. But having the terminals so easily touched when it
is removed just poor design.

 

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

I've always wondered if somebody might have been seen furtively slipping
out of the back door of Broadcasting House that Monday afternoon before
setting off to walk down to Battersea Bridge with a box of matches in
his coat pocket ...

No, no, no it was hit by flying pig dung.

Geoff.

 

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

The original plan, drawn up in the early '60s, was to re-engineer Bands 1
and 3 for 625-line operation once the 405-line service was switched off; but
it never happened. I guess that the powers that be thought that the spectrum
could be more usefully used for other purposes.

More likely they thought that getting the free TV from France was too
much competition.

UHF only TV's could not receive it.

Geoff.

 

[Clive]

NTSC = Never Twice the Same Colour. NTSC TVs had (still have?) a "Hue"
control for the user to twiddle when skin tones started looking a bit
green.

Correct. I still have one of the first Sony sets to enter the county
which had to use a slight variant of NTSC to get past the PAL patents,
it's fitted with a hue control which in effect rotates the quadrature
subcarrier (as in NTSC) to get the correct skin tones (the wrong colours
being caused by sub-carrier side band attenuation).

 

[David Looser]

More likely they thought that getting the free TV from France was too
much competition.

You forgot to add the smiley!

Just on the offchance that you meant this seriously I'd ask just how many
people in the UK would actually want to watch French TV?

UHF only TV's could not receive it.

Many TVs sold in the UK had multiband tuners, and frequency converters were
easily obtainable. So of all the many factors that stopped the British
watching French TV that one was by far and away the easiest and cheapest to
solve.

David.

 

[David Looser]

BBC's service to the US over cable seems to be pretty serviceable. They
have at least one channel on our local 999-channel digital system, and
they also have a number of offerings on OTA PBS. PBS is a nationwide
consortium of TV and radio stations, mostly initially operated by large
universities.

The last time I was in the States I complained to someone about just how
utterly dire all the radio stations were that I had tried to listen to on
the radio in my rental car. The response was "try PBS" which I did, and
found that about 50% of the output was simply a relay of the BBC world
service.

David.

 

[hwh]

The original plan, drawn up in the early '60s, was to re-engineer Bands 1
and 3 for 625-line operation once the 405-line service was switched off; but
it never happened. I guess that the powers that be thought that the spectrum
could be more usefully used for other purposes.

Of course it could, but harmonizing spectrum with the continent might
have been beneficial as well. Have these plans been published?

gr, hwh

 

[J G Miller]

BBC's service to the US over cable seems to be pretty serviceable.

You do need to realize that many of the programs on BBC America
are not BBC programs or programs made for shewing on BBC, but
are in fact programs made by or produced for the commercial
tv network ITV, and possibly one or two for the state owned
commercial tv network Channel 4.

PBS is a nationwide consortium of TV and radio stations

Actually PBS is a separate organization from the local
tv stations, it is not a consortium, so local stations
affiliate with and pay PBS to carry the network programming
to fill their schedules.

And PBS is TV only. Public radio stations affiliate primarily to
NPR (some to American Public Media, and even fewer to Pacifica)
not PBS.

Except in a very few cases where they pay PBS to broadcast
the audio from PBS's Newshour.

In the case of the Detroit public TV station, WTVS, is a little
unusual at it has always been non-university owned (the Detroit Educational
Television Foundation) unlike neighboring WUOM Ann Arbor
(University of Michigan) and WKAR East Lansing (Michigan State University).

 

[J G Miller]

The response was "try PBS" which I did,

Rather difficult since there are no PBS *radio* stations.
PBS is a *television* network.

and found that about 50% of the output was simply a relay of the BBC
world service.

A typical sign of an Public Radio International affiliate station
(previously known as American Public Radio, the smaller rival
to NPR).

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Radio_International>

Carrying a PRI relay of BBC World Service is far cheaper than
paying for NPR programming, so many smaller public radio
stations prefer this option for obvious reasons.

 

[J G Miller]

Maybe it would have been better to have one 625 line network on VHF

Of course it would have been better for the public, but it was better
for the Thatcher administration and business friends and supporters
to sell off the spectrum for commercial use since higher profits
could be made that way instead of tv broadcasts.