BBC Test Cards
BBC Test Cards
[
画像:1940's Test Card A]
The first in a long line of imaginatively titled BBC Test Cards,this is Test Card A.
It was broadcast in the late 1940's and is credited as the world's first television test
card to be transmitted.
The 2.5 MC frequency grating was of most interest to engineers, hence its location in the
centre of the circle.
Although a great improvement on anything previously available,
Test Card A and it's near relative, card B was criticised for not having sufficient
testing features.
Test Card B has been lost! A photograph exists of a studio, with a partial view of
Test Card B on a stand. George Hersee described it in his 1967 work, but it is believed
that no copies of the full card remain in existence, unless of course, you know
better?
It was similar to card A but with an extra greyscale strip below the
circle. The letterbox just above "A" moved to the top of the card. It was never
actually broadcast, but was used for camera line-up at Alexander Palace.
[画像:An Announcement Is being Made In Sound]
[
画像:Test Card C / BBC R&D 320 JPEG Version Dec 96]
Test Card C (Digitally remastered)
This first made an appearance in 1948 and was
used by the BBC and other agencies into the 1970's.
One problem with Test Card C was that it wasn't created from a specification. This led
to numerous variants, each local transmitter held a different version. It was however
immensely popular.
[
画像:Test Card D / BBC R&D 320 JPEG Version Dec 96]
Test Card D made its first appearance in 1964 in glorious 405 line B&W accompanied
by state of the art mono sound.
It replaced test Card C, on which the design was based.
This was the first Test Card to be produced in response to a technical specification.
Test card E, very similar to D, but with modified "sinusoidal" frequency
gratings for the new 625 line service on BBC 2.
Whilst being correct from an engineering
viewpoint, the TV trade didn't like the way this image looked on their sets and complained
vociferously. Test Card E was withdrawn after only one days transmission in April 1964. It
has since been used abroad.
[画像:Test Card E (Vidcap)]
The most famous test card of all, Test Card F, still in use today by the BBC and used
in 30 other countries. Designed by George Hersee and featuring his daughter Carole Hersee,
it made its first appearance on BBC2 in 1967.
You can have your own copy
of the original direct from the
BBC FTP site
[画像:Test Card F / BBC R&D 320 JPEG Version Dec 96]
[
画像:Original BBC2 Colour version of Test Card F]
Left is the original version of Test Card F, BBC2. Did you know that the X on the
noughts and crosses board was included to indicate the approximate centre of the card?
The
key differences between the original and today's version are the labels for the frequency
grating and the addition of a colour bar at the top.
In 1984, Test Card F was converted to an electronic version. However this example
pre-dates this, and is a strange hybrid from 1981. The Test Card is generated by a slide
scanner, but the identification is electronically overlaid, as the slide says
"BBC2". The colour bars have been introduced at the top, and in this example
have been poorly superimposed.
When the electronically generated version first came in
to use, there was no station identification. It was several months before a new character
generator became available to overlay the ident caption, which, when it arrived, was very
plain.
Test Card G used by the BBC at various times, although only broadcast
occasionally. It is a slightly modified version of the standard Philips PM5544 test
pattern. It was the first "electronically generated" test card from the BBC.
[画像:Test Card G / BBC R&D 320 JPEG Version Dec 96]
Here's an off-screen photograph of Test Card G as seen on BBC2 in the seventies.
Test
Card G also had a few seasonal variations, such as when BBC engineers decorated TCG with a
Christmas BBC2 caption.
Others may remember this "Test Card G", from Pye. It is a modified Test Card
C with an extra outer circle.
Unfortunately there was often confusion as broadcasters,
television manufacturers and other trade organisations gave different cards the same
names.
[画像:Pye Test Card G]
Often the test card captions would provide additional information as this
"Reduced Power" version of Test Card D demonstrates.
[
画像:Card D - BBC 1 Reduced Power]
[
画像:Trial Slide A (TCF)]
An early variant of Test Card F, before the famous picture of Carole Hersee was
chosen.
(This was never broadcast)
Another very early non-broadcast version of Test Card F. I don't know what these were
used for, or when they were used.
[
画像:Trial Slide 1 (TCF)]
[
画像:BBC2 Test Card 21st June 1997]
A New BBC Test Card?
This electronically generated image was broadcast on 21st June
1997 on BBC2 between 3am and 4am. It was accompanied by a 4-tone test tone, ranging from
extremely low frequency to a very high shrill.
BBC2 stayed up all night on this occasion, during the rest of the night the normal TCF
and tone was used.
It was also broadcast between 0329 and 0344 on 5th Oct 1997 from Crystal Palace.
On 5th Oct 1997, whilst BBC2 was broadcasting the above, BBC1 was showing this
slightly modified Test Card G. It was accompanied by the standard BBC1 stereo tones. For
both of these, sound was in NICAM but there was no teletext or PDC signals. BBC1 and BBC2
both switched over to these images at the same time, and reverted back to Test Card F at
the same time. It is thought they were broadcast only from Crystal Palace, unless of
course you spotted them elsewhere?
They were broadcast as part of a switching test by
the BBC. If there were ever a major incident at Television Centre, London, BBC Network
Television would evacuate to Pebble Mill, Birmingham. A switch would be thrown so that
Birmingham were in control of the network, where they would then attempt to run as normal
a service as possible.
These two test cards were transmitted from Birmingham, in order to test that the
switching facility worked.
[画像:Test Card G, BBC1, Special Test on 05 Oct 97]
[
画像:Test Card F, BBC1, Oct 97, New Logo Caption]
With the launch of the new BBC logo, both test cards were changed
to reflect the new caption.
These were both first seen from 0630 on 4th October 1997 and last seen on BBC1
at 0706 on 9th November 1997.
Unfortunately BBC1 now broadcasts 24 hours a day, showing the new
rolling news channel instead of closing down overnight. Therefore we
have probably seen the last test card on BBC1 and the days of the test
card on BBC2 are numbered. BBC2 already stays up all night with the
Learning Zone, with opportunities for the test card limited to early
morning weekends and educational holidays.
[
画像:Test Card F, BBC2, Oct 97, New Logo Caption]
Broadcast on BBC1 on 18 March 1993 as part of "Comic Relief" week. Anyone
know who the would-be Carole Hersee is?
Seen in and around Television Centre, but not by the public, the Tellytubbies
launch their own test card.
This early widescreen Test Card was broadcast by the BBC
as part of digital tests on Astra 1D in mid March 1998. It does not have
a designation letter, although it is clearly Test Card F adapted.
Introduced in November 1999, Test Card J and Test Card W
[画像:Test Card J]
[画像:Test Card W]
Test Card J replaced TCF, both sport a new centre image, rescanned
from the original photgraphic work and showing much more of the picture. Test
Card J has been broadcast on BBC2, Test Card W was shown on "Have I Got
News For You" and on News 24 during the BBC Power Failure on 20th June
2000.
Last Updated 29 Mar 2000
