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Show TELEVISION DISCOVERS MAIN STREET New Electronic Science Born in Cottage r " j f -TV--.'f I foot UHF transmitting tower was erected outside the cottage. The interior in-terior was stocked with television transmitting equipment. Inside, it looked much like any other station, but its special tubes and circuits were designed for UHF rather than VHF channels now standard for video transmissions. Bridgeport was picked for the field tests because the undulations of its terrain make line-of-sight television tele-vision transmission difficult. In addition, ad-dition, it lies in a "fringe" television tele-vision area, picking up remote signals sig-nals from New York and New Haven. Under these extreme test conditions, condi-tions, the Bridgeport station, which was given the experimental designation desig-nation of KC2XAK by the Federal Communications Commission, began be-gan picking up the video signals of Station WNBT, the National Broadcasting Broad-casting Company's New York outlet out-let which beams off the Empire State antenna. These signals, in turn, were rebroadcast via UHF to Bridgeport area. To pick up this broadcast, engineers engi-neers of the RCA Victor Division designed and built 50 UHF experimental experi-mental sets, and 50 tuners to permit per-mit present set owners to receive 'both UHF and VHF telecasts. The test equipment, together with various experimental receiving receiv-ing antennas, was installed in local lo-cal homes within a 25 mile radius of Success Hill. In about half the homes, there were no receivers and service men installed both UHF and VHF antennas. This permitted comparison com-parison of the pictures picked up direct from New York and New Haven with those beamed over the Bridgeport experimental unit. There were hundreds of offers of voluntary cooperation from residents resi-dents of Bridgeport and its suburbs. The homes selected for the tests were carefully spotted to obtain a full area study. Engineers made regular rounds of the test homes over a period of months to analyze the pictures and to compile reception recep-tion ratings. But even this was not enough for a full picture. A station wagon was equipped with precise measuring equipment and receivers, and a truck was fitted out with a collapsible collapsi-ble antenna that could be quickly elevated. Making Signal Patterns Up and down parkways, highways, high-ways, country roads and lanes, the unique electronic caravan rolled along with police cars fore and aft. Nearly all of the television industry in-dustry moved into Bridgeport on the invitation of RCA. Sixty-four manufacturers, in fact, descended on the industrial town to use the UHF signals. In hotel rooms, homes, stores and display rooms the technicians of the industry designed de-signed and set up equipment that would pick up the unwavering signal sig-nal from Success Hill. They developed devel-oped tuners to be attached to present pres-ent sets; they perfected new antennas; an-tennas; they devised effective equipment for combined UHF-VHF reception. Members of the Federal Communications Commu-nications Commission, headed by Wayne Coy, then chairman of the FCC, visited the workshop. RCA engineers and technicians maintained main-tained a steady flow of information into the Commission headquarters, and on the basis of this technical data the plan for a national service began to take shape. In August and September of 1951, Mr. Coy and more than a hundred engineers from TV stations throughout America Amer-ica attended demonstrations of the (This is the last of a series of three articles on the coming of a nationwide television service.) To the people who will receive this new ultra high frequency television tele-vision service, various considerations considera-tions will govern their selection of home equipment. In some areas, under the FCC plan, only UHF channel will be received. re-ceived. Present set owners, who have perhaps been picking up a distant VHF signal, will be able to purchase a simple and inexpensive inex-pensive fixed channel tuner to go with their present sets. For residents of areas where several sev-eral UHF channels can be received, full range tuners have been designed. de-signed. In many new television areas, the projected coverage will include both types of service. And combination combina-tion UHF-VHF sets are likely to be the industry's answer. These sets will probably gravitate toward the major population centers since the allocation plan envisages both services serv-ices in all but three of the country's 50 major market areas. In addition to tuners and combination com-bination sets, the public will probably prob-ably have an opportunity to purchase pur-chase various types of antenna for UHF reception. In the course of their long experimentation, RCA engineers designed 1 numerous effective ef-fective receiving antenna of remarkable re-markable varied shape. One of the simplest is known as a "bow-tie" and looks just like an enlarged version ver-sion of this male neckwear. Another is known as a "Double V", and consists con-sists of twc sets of dipoles (metal rods cut to a critical length) attached at-tached to a pole in the form of two Vs. There is a parabolic antenna, with metal bars attached to a curving semi-circular shaft, and there is an antenna with the colorful color-ful name of "Yagi." These are the antenna wihch in a few years might dot the rooftops of farms and ranches and city residences. resi-dences. When new stations begin to go up, the industry will undoubtedly un-doubtedly standardize on a few of many experimental antenna models, mod-els, giving full consideration to both performance and sightliness. The industry has already made formidable gains in overcoming the problem of designing UHF station transmitters with sufficient power to provide required area coverage. The first test models were one kilowatt, kilo-watt, but units of from 10-12 kilowatts kilo-watts are now being tested. Ample Power New gain antenna have also been developed, and the industry is looking look-ing toward UHF antenna that can radiate 200 kilowatts more than ample power to meet nearly all conditions. Of course, the UHF service has its limitations like every other service. UHF transmissions, like VHF, are dependent on line of sight between transmitting and receiving antennas. In addition, they are more directional and the location of transmitter sites is of prime importance. im-portance. Mountains, hills and other physical impediments can block effective transmission. In addition to promising television to presently vacant areas, UHF offers of-fers new hopes for thousands of set owners who live in "fringe" areas. These areas are on the outskirts of the effective telecast coverage from present VHF stations. ,To obtain a home picture in these fringe areas, towering antennae are frequently required, and often the pictures are too faint and j "noisy," and lack the contrast re- SUCCESS HILL The lofty antenna of the Bridgeport UHF station towers over the white frame station house at the left. In the foreground is a station wagon equipped with UHF re-, ceiver and portable antenna. It has been used to test signal strength throughout the Bridgeport Bridge-port area. Station KC2XAK is the first and only UHF station in the country to operate on a regular daily basis. It Is located lo-cated on the crest of Success Hill on Bridgeport's outskirts. quired for enjoyable home viewing. New stations are the obvious answer an-swer to fringe viewing, but if they are VHF stations they might conflict con-flict with the signal, however faint, from the more distant VHF transmitters. trans-mitters. With UHF, however, new stations sta-tions with new channels can go up in the very shadow of existing transmitters and a clear, bright picture pic-ture can be enjoyed by everyone. A small Cape Cod cottage which sits atcp a wooded hill on the outskirts out-skirts of Bridgeport, Conn., is the cradle of a new electronic science. For two years, field tests on the transmission of television signals in the upper regions of the air waves have centered around the cottage. Out of these tests has come a new system of video transmission that will soon have a very real impact on the life of residents of Tazoo City, Miss., and Thief River Falls, Minn., and Wolf Point, Mont. Center of Interest Despite its lack of pretension, the cottage has been a prime attraction attrac-tion in recent months for government govern-ment leaders, for scores of executives execu-tives in the radio and television industry, in-dustry, for some of the nation's outstanding electronic scientists, engineers and technicians. Even the Connecticut StatevPolice have been lured there for extra-curricular duties. Since December 30, 1949, the little cottage on Success Hill has housed the first and only Ultra-High Frequency Fre-quency television station in the nation na-tion which operates on a regular daily basis. It has been the field headquarters for the television industry's in-dustry's march into the untapped UHF band. The station was built by the Radio Ra-dio Corporation of America and the National Broadcasting Company Com-pany as the culminating move in a long campaign to find sufficient space in the air waves for a national nation-al television service. A lofty. 250- latest UHF equipment, xney saw a clear, flickerless picture brought in by a variety of tuners. At last UHF was ready. Mr. Coy spoke of 3,000 television stations in America "soon," with two-thirds to three-quarters' in the UHF band. "I am sold on UHF," the FCC chairman declared, and the industry in-dustry echoed his words. Service to Mankind Today, there are 2,400 AM and 680 FM radio stations in America. Daily broadcasts reach 95 per cent of the country. More than 105,000,-000 105,000,-000 radio sets have been sold. There are more than 43,000,000 radio equipped homes. It can be claimed, without exaggeration, that in a quarter-century radio has become as much a household utility as the electric light or the telephone. All signs indicate that television will acquire a comparable status in the next decade. The industry, in typical private enterprise fashion, has gambled millions on the perfection perfec-tion of VHF and the development of UHF. It has paved the way for small-town television, and the speed with which the small towns capitalize on this opportunity is in part a local question. Under FCC procedure, television station license applications will be accepted for a fixed period. It is then the responsibility of local people peo-ple businessmen, educators, newspaper news-paper publishers, bankers, labor and religious leaders to see that local license applications are filed and that the opportunity does not go by default. The government won't build the stations. The broadcast industry operates op-erates under the old American tradition of free enterprize. Industry In-dustry can provide the equipment, the government can provide the license, but the people of America must make the final decision or whether their towns will be linked to the world via television. |