I imagine if I was sitting in Leeds in the early 90s I’d switch to the network channel and someone (bt) configuring it to the right network region and I’d see a coloured testcard? How would I have known the right region had been switched ?
Well, I've seen Thatcher blamed for an awful lot in my life time but that is a new one! Fascinating read, as is this thread.
I remember when my parents moved from Sky to Virgin just after the merger and I got to experience true video-on-demand, via an actual television, for the first time. The idea I could just call up a show from a menu and watch it was mind-blowing. Of course, having a fibre network they were able to be so ahead of the game. Nowadays, streaming is the be-all and end-all but back then on Virgin it was incredibly novel.
(24-07-2022, 09:49 PM)harshy Wrote: [ -> ]I imagine if I was sitting in Leeds in the early 90s I’d switch to the network channel and someone (bt) configuring it to the right network region and I’d see a coloured testcard? How would I have known the right region had been switched ?
The testcard would have carried a caption indicating the source? Granada colour bars, or a recognisable circuit identifier (e.g. KRS-57), etc.
(24-07-2022, 10:11 PM)Aplus1 Wrote: [ -> ] (24-07-2022, 09:49 PM)harshy Wrote: [ -> ]I imagine if I was sitting in Leeds in the early 90s I’d switch to the network channel and someone (bt) configuring it to the right network region and I’d see a coloured testcard? How would I have known the right region had been switched ?
The testcard would have carried a caption indicating the source? e.g. Granada colour bars, etc.
Aye, bars and tone with some sort of identification, normally the airport-style 3-letter code eg. GRA.
(24-07-2022, 10:12 PM)telebox2001 Wrote: [ -> ] (24-07-2022, 10:11 PM)Aplus1 Wrote: [ -> ]The testcard would have carried a caption indicating the source? e.g. Granada colour bars, etc.
Aye, bars and tone with some sort of identification, normally the airport-style 3-letter code eg. GRA.
The tone was actually two tones simultaneously, the combination of which identified the originating company, and a box of electronics would display the company name as an audio/video parity check in the MCRs. I gather some engineers could indentify the company from just listening to the tone ?
Basically the same method as the DTMF tones on a telephone keypad