AP Wartime mystery

[Terry]

A post over at uk.tech.broadcast points to this post about a mysterious television demonstration that took place at Alexandra Palace during WWII ...

[ppppenguin]

Heard this before and not sure of its authenticity. I've got a copy of Pafford's memoirs and some of the content doesn't seem to tally with what others have written. I'll try to have a closer look.

One definite error is that the AP transmitter was used to counter Y gerat, not X gerat.

[ppppenguin]

I've been chatting to Paul Marshall about this. Paul has done extensive research on early TV in the UK.

First thing to note is that the post is by Simon Vaughan, the APTV archivist, so it's more credible than something by your average enthusiast.

Paul and I agree that there is no real evidence of television in those photos. The photos that purport to be "off screen" just don't look right. Quality is a bit too good, there's no classic Emitron shading. They look flat an square cornered which is not possible with the monitors of the time. The photo with a 2nd partial image to the right might be 2 monitors side by side but could well be a reflection. You can't tell if it's a mirror image or not.

[Amrad]

Deleted by OP.

[peter scott]

Although the monitors had rounded corners is it not the case that the images displayed on them did not fill the screen fully but were fully square to the corners?

   

As to the lack of Emitron tilt and bend shading was this not largely eliminated by the Super Emitron which was available and in use since 1937?

Peter