Note the similarities here between the mid 80s NBN Television advert and Channel 7 advert… Anyone would think that NBN wanted to become the affiliate of Channel 7, moreso if you consider it started airing Home And Away in 1989, showing episodes one year behind Channel 7… Why would you start screening a show you know you won;t be showing in 2 or 3 years time???
I always found UHF degraded differently, and I think more watchably. I don’t know how to describe it that well, but I think it’s down to the nature of the interference often being electrical noise in the VHF band. Channel 2 was particularly bad for it, and the most unwatchable of all the channels I had in the analogue days - at least after Channel 31 boosted their signal in the early 2000s.
It’s not the best comparison, but here’s a screenshot I took of DX reception of TVT-35 Launceston (from Geelong) -
While here was normal reception of the ATV-10 signal - note the banding across it - that would get worse, and I think make it harder to watch
I only have a very small number of analogue TV captures lying around on my PC that didn’t first go through a VCR - so it’s hard to demonstrate what I mean. I suppose UHF became ‘dotty’ while VHF had more banding/rolling?
I can’t explain how, but I have a memory from when I was young (playing with the TV settings) where I thought that the UHF channels (SBS, Ch31 Sydney) came in with better picture clarity than the VHF channels. I thought ‘hey it must be a higher frequency so the picture must be higher in definition’.
Coming from a long history of watching poor analogue signals…
WIN signal appears to just be weak, but more prone to interference because of it
TEN signal is just interference, possibly another signal was often sneaking into your region*
I don’t know if it’s because some of the transmitter equipment was changed towards the end or whatever else, but the ABC’s VHF-2 signal here in Sydney wasn’t particularly clear for the final two years or so of analogue from my experience.
Down in Ocean Grove where we had the old TV. I do remember Melbourne reception to be quite good with I think the rolling effect that you posted.
I wish I was older back then so I could have the know how and DX
Also, UHF seemed to be better but the only interference that I could think of that can happen on UHF would be the odd faulty electronic and maybe a high powered radio system but those would be rare.
Before I went to school on the day of the Analog Switchoff. I decided to turn on the TV out the back and it looked spotty just like this video
The quality of Channel 2 reception certainly took a dive as the years went on. I certainly in the dying days/years of analogue it was very spotty. I don’t know why so someone more technical might be able to say, but I guess there was so much more electric interference compared to earlier years? Probably just from devices within the home??
Yes I do remember when reception of ABV2 got worse in the last 15 years before analog switch off, in particular in Geelong, didn’t know anyone there who could receive it clearly. Digital TV cured these problems.
Also UHF on analogue had much better picture resolution than VHF, SBS used to tout this fact in their promotion of moving exclusively to UHF. I remember staying at a motel in Goulburn in 1990 watching Full House on Prime (on UHF) I coul’dnt believe the sharper picture quality than when I watched it on HSV7.
I was surprised in the summer of 1991/92 going to the Goulburn Valley region for holidays just how sharp the UHF picture was for ABC and Southern Cross with just an indoor rabbit ears antenna. It was better than VIC TV on Channel 6. And we were probably considered on the outskirts of the main coverage area (Goulburn Weir).
ABN2 reception was always an issue out where I used to live (Richmond/Windsor area). It always used to suffer from very bad ghosting reflection whenever a plane flew over (the RAAF base is nearby) and the usual static interference. Many locals put up the “Wollongong aerials”, which produced a far superior picture on the ABC and being on UHF, didn’t suffer the same problems as low band VHF.
On a side point, when SBS moved their analogue transmissions from the ABC tower at Gore Hill to the Artarmon tower, they were given a boost in height and power (850kw from memory). None of the other stations could be picked up on standard rabbit ears antennas indoors but SBS was watchable even with snow. A mate of mine had a VHF only antenna and the reception of SBS was just as good as the VHF channels.
Analogue UHF seemed to work well in urban areas, but my recollection is that it struggles with trees and hills more than dial VHF did, as I remember being up in Port Stephen’s and NBN on VHF 3 was much clearer than UHF.
UHF was always a problem in Newcastle, hence why NBN stayed at Channel 3 until the very end. Translators fixed the problems in areas such as Kotara and inner Newcastle later on.
That’s probably the reason why in some parts of Sydney, if a house has a UHF antenna pointed towards Wollongong, that same house has a Band III VHF antenna (which therefore doesn’t cover VHF-2), even for many years before analogue switchoff.
I remember when it happened back in April 2002. There was a notice about it on The Sunday Telegraph back then & prior to the change in transmission, I used to get good reception of SBS via a separate home-made UHF antenna that was mounted inside the attic at my home near Campbelltown. The VHF transmissions (ABC, Seven, Nine & Ten) were also well received via the VHF antenna that was also mounted inside the attic.
After the change, the reception of SBS wasn’t as good as it used to be, which ultimately led to the household on putting the antenna outside on top of the roof.
Area’s of Perth’s northern suburbs (especially those adjacent to the ABC AM radio tower) had tremendous issues with analogue reception of the ABC for a number of years before the digital switchover. My parents used to live a few suburbs away and the static / ghosting was the main motivation for them purchasing their first set top box back around 2005.
In my experience, it is possible to get an optimum analogue picture on any frequency given ideal reception conditions. I think that a newly installed UHF transmitter taking over from aging VHF equipment could lead to a better picture quality. But the most common cause of differences in picture quality would be reception problems caused by receiver location, terrain, antenna systems etc. I’ve seen advantages and disadvantages to each frequency used.
The biggest problem for Band I (0, 1 and 2) was electrical impulse interference caused by overhead power lines and associated transformers not grounding properly. This looked like horizontal static across the screen and would get progressively worse in drier and windier weather and was impossible to overcome no matter how good the antenna installed. The band is also the most susceptible to lightning and interference from motors - cars, garbage disposals etc. However, the band had a big advantage in that the signal strength did not degrade as much with distance so stations could be received a lot further from their transmitter.
Band IV and V (UHF) were the opposite - a lot less natural and man-made interference occurs at those frequencies, so when the signal level was lower there was less static in the picture. However, the UHF signals do not travel as far (hence the much higher transmission power) and are much more line-of-sight (blocked by hills). They are also attenuated by things like (esp wet) foliage. Also, the signal loses strength quickly in long coax cable runs compared to lower channel numbers.
Band III (6-12) are in the middle - less susceptible to interference than Band I and (much) better signal strength than UHF so not affected by distance, line of sight and cable run issues.
Another factor from the analogue days is that commonly transmitters for different stations were at different sites. So a location might get better reception on some stations than others not related to the channel number.
On this day, 26 January 1980, the first episode of The Saturday Night Show on ATV10.
This was essentially a revival of Penthouse Club / Saturday Night Live which HSV7 had axed at the end of 1979, featuring live coverage of “the trots” with variety segments in between each race.
Ten managed to get original Penthouse host Michael Williamson (who had left hosting the original a few years earlier) and put Everyday co-host and just-axed newsreader Annette Allison into the co-host chair.
This show had a gloriously short life. I think Ten saw the error of their ways pretty early in the peace and realised just why Seven had let the show go at the end of 1979… audiences were somewhat more sophisticated and would not watch slabs of harness racing in between variety segments, and also the Penthouse/SNL other drawcard, Tattslotto, was still appearing on Seven.
YouTube: kylegalley
The clip also includes a promo for Prisoner at the 7:35 mark
@TV.Cynic not sure how well you know Brisbane’s North, but when I was in my school years in the 90’s, nobody who lived along the Ferny Grove Line after Mitchelton and as far north as Albany Crk ever got clear SBS or Briz31 reception due to Enoggera Hill at the Enoggera Army Barracks.
With just simple rabbits ears, ABC, 7, 9 and 10 were crystal clear (perfect, in fact) and SBS was non-existant maybe very faint at best. Even with a proper antenna setup, SBS was never clear on analog in these suburbs. Digital on SBS-36 wasn’t strong, but the signal was at least solid and never dropped out. But it was always around 70% while the commercials + ABC were always 100%.
Several of our neighbours and friends of mine who lived in the same area all said the same thing. For some people, they never got to watch SBS until SBS moved to Ch7 post restack.
