High Definition TV Service - Alexander Palace, London, UK
N 51° 35.668 W 000° 07.747
30U E 698844 N 5719840
The BBC TV mast is one of the oldest TV transmission sites in the world and the world's first regular high definition TV service was started here, by the BBC in 1936. The antenna is still in use today as a relay station operated by Arqiva.
Waymark Code: WMVFA4
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/11/2017
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A Greater London Council blue plaque, at the base of the building housing the transmitter tells us:
Greater London Council
The world's
first regular
high definition
television service
was inaugurated
here by the BBC
2 November
1936
Wikipedia has an article about the Alexandra Palace television station that tells us:
The Alexandra Palace television station in North London (grid reference TQ297901) is one of the oldest television transmission sites in the world. What was at the time called "high definition" (405-line) TV broadcasts on VHF were beamed from this mast from 1936 until the outbreak of World War II. It then lay dormant until it was used very successfully to foil the German Y-Gerät radio navigation system during the last stages of the Battle of Britain. After the war, it was reused for television until 1956, when it was superseded by the opening of the BBC's new main transmitting station for the London area at Crystal Palace. In 1982 Alexandra Palace became an active transmitting station again, with the opening of a relay transmitter to provide UHF television service to parts of North London poorly covered from Crystal Palace.
The transmitter is owned and maintained by Arqiva.
The BBC website also advises:
Alexandra Palace is situated in North London and known around the world as the birthplace of television.
In fact it was never owned by the BBC, but in 1935 the Corporation leased the eastern part of the building from which the first public television transmissions were made. In 1936 it hosted trials between the EMI-Marconi and Baird television system to decide who would carry the television standard for the future.
Studio A was equipped with the Marconi-EMI Emitron system, while Baird installed his mechanical systems in Studio B. The Emitron camera proved far superior to Baird's cumbersome film technique, which never developed beyond an experimental stage.
These early transmissions were famously introduced by one of the very first presenters, Elizabeth Cowell, with the words "This is direct television from Alexandra Palace…"
From 1936 until the early 1950s, except during the Second World War, Alexandra Palace remained the major production centre for BBC television, broadcasting landmark programmes such as The Grove Family and historic events including the 1953 Coronation. After 1956 it was used exclusively for news broadcasts.
The BBC continued to produce television programmes at Alexandra Palace for the Open University until 1981 when the University moved out to purpose-built premises north of London in Milton Keynes.