Albert's Attic Gallery

Practical Television in 1950

Television resumed in Britain shortly after the Second World War, but by 1950 there were still only two transmitters, Alexandra Palace in London and Sutton Coldfield in the English Midlands. The rest of the country eagerly awaited the novel new service. A new magazine, 'Practical Television', commenced publication, edited by FJ Camm. Mr Camm was to become a legendary editor, retaining the post for many years. The magazine was designed to appeal to the trade, to enthusiasts, and to ordinary people who had a television set or who were thinking of getting one. Home construction was important because of the high cost of manufactured sets. It was a time of experimentation, of ex-radar picture tubes, of uncertain and varying mains supplies, of wooden aerial masts, of tram interference, and most of all of great excitement when that tiny black and white screen flickered into life!

In this section of our website there are pages from 1950 that are of particular interest to aerial nerds like me, and a few other items of more general interest.

Practical Television, now known as Television and Home Electronics Repair, is a publication that I heartily commend to you. Essential reading for anyone involved in the television and consumer electronics industry, it has been a constant source of trade news, views, and technical information for over fifty years.

My grateful thanks to Roger Bunney for scrambling into his loft and raiding his archives on my behalf. You can read Roger's DX and Satellite Reception column every month in Television and Home Electronics Repair.

It seems that as early as 1950 some 'unenlightened' local authorities were giving tenants with TV aerials a hard time! There's news of an ambitious plan to build a cross-channel television link, and Mr Camm ends with the comment that 405 is quite enough picture lines, higher definition only being visible under laboratory conditions! We don't want this dodgy continental 819 line television over here, thank you very much!

Previous

Next