Thread: Test pattern?
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Old 11-17-2021, 07:16 PM
W.B. W.B. is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by W.B. View Post
As I'd noted in earlier posts, the color circular test pattern design (first unveiled in 1965) originally had two variations, coded by region as per the order of a diagonal black/white wedge at the bottom of the outer lower right quadrant. TP's with this layout:



were for stations east of the Mississippi with 'W' calls; five stations were confirmed to use it - KYW Channel 3 and WIBF (later WTAF and now WTXF) Channel 29 in Philadelphia, PA; WCMC (now WMGM) Channel 40 in Wildwood, NJ; WFLD Channel 32 in Chicago, IL; and WNDT (now WNET) Channel 13 in Newark, NJ / New York City (the last actually confirmed to be color). And as laid out here:



was for west of the Mississippi with 'K' calls. Only one station, to date, has been confirmed to use it, and then with a B&W print: KAET (Channel 8) in Phoenix, AZ.

My question is, how many "old-timers" on this forum remember either layout, and who else would've used either prior to the wedges at bottom right being eliminated? Certainly those stations weren't the only ones . . . ?
Turns out that the second one in order on this post was the earliest known variant. One other TV station is confirmed to have used it: KYW-TV itself, during its last full year (1964) in Cleveland while Westinghouse Broadcasting (Group W) owned the station.


And the other zigzag wedge dated at the earliest to 1965:
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