The commentator says the first live TV broadcast of the rugby
international was 80 years ago, in 1938.

How did they do that? There was only one transmitter (Alexandra
Palace) and the match was presumably played at Murrayfield or
Twickenham. Would GPO lines be used? Which system was used - Baird
or Marconi?

Should read 1938, I know but I thought the commentator said 1937.

In article ,
Scott wrote:
The commentator says the first live TV broadcast of the rugby
international was 80 years ago, in 1938.

How did they do that? There was only one transmitter (Alexandra
Palace) and the match was presumably played at Murrayfield or
Twickenham. Would GPO lines be used? Which system was used - Baird
or Marconi?

Pawley mentions coverage of Wimbledon in 1937 using a radio link to get
pictures back to the studio. I assume the same could have been used at
Twickenham a year later. The EMI system had been formally adopted in Feb
1937.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England

In message , Scott
writes
The commentator says the first live TV broadcast of the rugby
international was 80 years ago, in 1938.

How did they do that? There was only one transmitter (Alexandra
Palace) and the match was presumably played at Murrayfield or
Twickenham. Would GPO lines be used? Which system was used - Baird
or Marconi?

The year sounds plausible as, according to Christopher Martin-Jenkins in
his book "Ball by Ball: The Story of Cricket Broadcasting", the first
ever television cricket coverage was from the 1938 Lord's Test between
England and Australia (page 57).
--
John Hall
"Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history
that man can never learn anything from history."
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

On Sat, 24 Feb 2018 17:01:44 +0000, Scott
wrote:

The commentator says the first live TV broadcast of the rugby
international was 80 years ago, in 1938.

How did they do that? There was only one transmitter (Alexandra
Palace) and the match was presumably played at Murrayfield or
Twickenham. Would GPO lines be used? Which system was used - Baird
or Marconi?

According to Radio Times listings from genome.ch.bbc.co.uk the first
broadcast of Rugby was 19 March 1938 at 1450hrs. There was a
broadcast from Wimbledon (for the Davis Cup) seems to have been on
24th July 1937 when the transmission was described as a "relay".
Looking on tvobhistory.co.uk it seems to have been transmitted using
"wireless" technology but THE first OB was the 1937 Coronation on 12th
May when the "newly laid balanced pair cable" was used from the site
at Hyde Park Corner.

On Saturday, 24 February 2018 20:59:33 UTC, charles wrote:
In article ,
Scott wrote:
The commentator says the first live TV broadcast of the rugby
international was 80 years ago, in 1938.

How did they do that? There was only one transmitter (Alexandra
Palace) and the match was presumably played at Murrayfield or
Twickenham. Would GPO lines be used? Which system was used - Baird
or Marconi?

Pawley mentions coverage of Wimbledon in 1937 using a radio link to get
pictures back to the studio. I assume the same could have been used at
Twickenham a year later. The EMI system had been formally adopted in Feb
1937.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England

I think that was the first "outside broadcast" of a sports event.

Fairly easy to get line of sight from all three sports venues mentioned to Alexandra Palace, so probably just wireless relay.

Although both Baird and EMI system were used from the start of broadcasts in November 1936, the 405 line electronic system was predominantly used (and remained in service for nearly fifty years apart from the war).

On Sun, 25 Feb 2018 03:15:58 -0800 (PST), "R. Mark Clayton"
wrote:

On Saturday, 24 February 2018 20:59:33 UTC, charles wrote:
In article ,
Scott wrote:
The commentator says the first live TV broadcast of the rugby
international was 80 years ago, in 1938.

How did they do that? There was only one transmitter (Alexandra
Palace) and the match was presumably played at Murrayfield or
Twickenham. Would GPO lines be used? Which system was used - Baird
or Marconi?

Pawley mentions coverage of Wimbledon in 1937 using a radio link to get
pictures back to the studio. I assume the same could have been used at
Twickenham a year later. The EMI system had been formally adopted in Feb
1937.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England

I think that was the first "outside broadcast" of a sports event.

Fairly easy to get line of sight from all three sports venues mentioned to Alexandra Palace, so probably just wireless relay.

Although both Baird and EMI system were used from the start of broadcasts in November 1936, the 405 line electronic system was predominantly used (and remained in service for nearly fifty years apart from the war).

So more likely to be 1938 at Twickenham (which Scotland won !!!) than
1937 at Murrayfield. What would the wireless relay look like?

In article , R. Mark
Clayton wrote:
On Saturday, 24 February 2018 20:59:33 UTC, charles wrote:
In article , Scott
wrote:
The commentator says the first live TV broadcast of the rugby
international was 80 years ago, in 1938.

How did they do that? There was only one transmitter (Alexandra
Palace) and the match was presumably played at Murrayfield or
Twickenham. Would GPO lines be used? Which system was used - Baird
or Marconi?

Pawley mentions coverage of Wimbledon in 1937 using a radio link to
get pictures back to the studio. I assume the same could have been used
at Twickenham a year later. The EMI system had been formally adopted in
Feb 1937.

-- from KT24 in Surrey, England

I think that was the first "outside broadcast" of a sports event.

Fairly easy to get line of sight from all three sports venues mentioned
to Alexandra Palace, so probably just wireless relay.

"Murrayfield" is in Edinburgh, so a bit difficult to get line of sight to
Alexandra Palace. But, I could see it from my bedroom window when growing
up.

Although both Baird and EMI system were used from the start of broadcasts
in November 1936, the 405 line electronic system was predominantly used
(and remained in service for nearly fifty years apart from the war).

As I said, the EMI 405 service was formally abopted (to the exclusion of
the Baird system) in Feb 1937. Up till then the service was a mix of the
wo systems.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England

In article , Scott
wrote:
On Sun, 25 Feb 2018 03:15:58 -0800 (PST), "R. Mark Clayton"
wrote:

On Saturday, 24 February 2018 20:59:33 UTC, charles wrote:
In article , Scott
wrote:
The commentator says the first live TV broadcast of the rugby
international was 80 years ago, in 1938.

How did they do that? There was only one transmitter (Alexandra
Palace) and the match was presumably played at Murrayfield or
Twickenham. Would GPO lines be used? Which system was used - Baird
or Marconi?

Pawley mentions coverage of Wimbledon in 1937 using a radio link to
get pictures back to the studio. I assume the same could have been
used at Twickenham a year later. The EMI system had been formally
adopted in Feb 1937.

-- from KT24 in Surrey, England

I think that was the first "outside broadcast" of a sports event.

Fairly easy to get line of sight from all three sports venues mentioned
to Alexandra Palace, so probably just wireless relay.

Although both Baird and EMI system were used from the start of
broadcasts in November 1936, the 405 line electronic system was
predominantly used (and remained in service for nearly fifty years apart
from the war).

So more likely to be 1938 at Twickenham (which Scotland won !!!) than
1937 at Murrayfield. What would the wireless relay look like?

There's a description in Pawley - but no pictures:

A frequency of 64MHz was used..... At the OB end a 1¼kW transmitter was
used. mounted in a vehicle. ... using an aerial supported by two tripod
masts 30ft high, The use of open wire feeders for a high transmitting
aerial presented difficulties, but in 1938 a flexible lightweight cable was
produced by co-operation between the BBC and the Telegraph Construction &
Maintenance Company. This permitted the use of an 80ft fire-escape to
support the aerial, which enabled it to be erected in about 5 minutes.

there is then a reference to: T.C.Macnamara, "Outside Broadcasts in
Television", World Radio, 22 July 1938.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England

On Sun, 25 Feb 2018 11:50:58 +0000, charles wrote:

there is then a reference to: T.C.Macnamara, "Outside Broadcasts in
Television", World Radio, 22 July 1938.

T.C. (Terence) Macnamara later became Chief Engineer at ATV, my ultimate
boss, i.e. at the top of the pyramid!

--
TOJ.