This little nugget of fortean TV history has always intrigued me...
Some of you may have heard of Jeff Kadet. He is both a crack TV-DXer (who has achieved some pretty amazing loggings in his career, like eastern Colorado UHF translators received in Illinois!) and the proprietor of oldtvguides.com.
Back in his younger days, he logged an absolutely bizarre signal that defies a simple explanation. In his words:
"During the early am one morning in 1973, when I lived in Bethesda, MD, this mystery channel 7 came on the air under WMAL about 20 minutes before they signed off. The CCI was 20 KHz offset to WMAL, so channel 7- (minus). After WMAL cut their carrier this test pattern appeared. I called the FCC to find out where VV28999 was licensed to but they had no record of it. The station was coming from the direction of the Pentagon."
The photo (which I wish was bigger and clearer) shows an old-style RETMA test pattern with those crudely labeled VV28999 "calls" AND some other handwritten stuff underneath. I'd love to see if advanced photo sharpening software (something above and beyond Photoshop) could render those writings legible. (That would probably clear up the mystery once and for all.)
I don't know what significance, if any, lies in the notation that the signal came "from the direction of the Pentagon." Atfer all, in that part of suburban D.C., you can't throw a stone without hitting SOME government institution, so if it were some government experimental or clandestine transmission, it could have come from a variety of sources.
FWIW, my more prosaic theory follows. I think it may have been a simple case of unusually strong leakage from some CATV or MATV system in the area. Remember, with analog signals and CATV, local stations are often not carried on the same channel as used for OTA broadcasting due to the potential for CCI between the retransmitted CATV signal and any remnant of the on-air signal that may leak into the system. Often in those days, local CATV companies still utilized those channels on their systems for minor services (program guides, public access, time and weather) that were less critical, where a bit of CCI now and then wouldn't generate complaints. *I* think that some small, El Cheapo system was using channel 7 for some less than exciting purpose, and had up that crude TP as a place-filler or test.
Of course, that still leaves the mystery of the odd "calls," the scrawled writing, and the fact that it would be highly unusual for CATV leakage to be strong enough to be noted under full-power WMAL before they signed off. (Unless the leak was really close, like a block or two away.) But the alternatives are rather sensitive and may earn a visit from the guys in the "black helicopters." ;D
So, what do YOU think?
Some of you may have heard of Jeff Kadet. He is both a crack TV-DXer (who has achieved some pretty amazing loggings in his career, like eastern Colorado UHF translators received in Illinois!) and the proprietor of oldtvguides.com.
Back in his younger days, he logged an absolutely bizarre signal that defies a simple explanation. In his words:
"During the early am one morning in 1973, when I lived in Bethesda, MD, this mystery channel 7 came on the air under WMAL about 20 minutes before they signed off. The CCI was 20 KHz offset to WMAL, so channel 7- (minus). After WMAL cut their carrier this test pattern appeared. I called the FCC to find out where VV28999 was licensed to but they had no record of it. The station was coming from the direction of the Pentagon."
The photo (which I wish was bigger and clearer) shows an old-style RETMA test pattern with those crudely labeled VV28999 "calls" AND some other handwritten stuff underneath. I'd love to see if advanced photo sharpening software (something above and beyond Photoshop) could render those writings legible. (That would probably clear up the mystery once and for all.)
I don't know what significance, if any, lies in the notation that the signal came "from the direction of the Pentagon." Atfer all, in that part of suburban D.C., you can't throw a stone without hitting SOME government institution, so if it were some government experimental or clandestine transmission, it could have come from a variety of sources.
FWIW, my more prosaic theory follows. I think it may have been a simple case of unusually strong leakage from some CATV or MATV system in the area. Remember, with analog signals and CATV, local stations are often not carried on the same channel as used for OTA broadcasting due to the potential for CCI between the retransmitted CATV signal and any remnant of the on-air signal that may leak into the system. Often in those days, local CATV companies still utilized those channels on their systems for minor services (program guides, public access, time and weather) that were less critical, where a bit of CCI now and then wouldn't generate complaints. *I* think that some small, El Cheapo system was using channel 7 for some less than exciting purpose, and had up that crude TP as a place-filler or test.
Of course, that still leaves the mystery of the odd "calls," the scrawled writing, and the fact that it would be highly unusual for CATV leakage to be strong enough to be noted under full-power WMAL before they signed off. (Unless the leak was really close, like a block or two away.) But the alternatives are rather sensitive and may earn a visit from the guys in the "black helicopters." ;D
So, what do YOU think?
