Hi, as a radio amateur, who is interested in historical things, I like this stories from the beginning of the radio age. You could got busted for transmitting and receiving - as today. And you built your own illegal equipment - as today. Well, nothing changed in the last 100 years . I can dimly remember Radio Luxembourg, Radio Caroline, Radio Veronica, etc. Unfortunately I'm too young, so I experienced only the fade of ship based off-shore broadcast stations. In the eighties of the last century I had a short episode with receiving overseas satellite television, but I got bored quickly. Today I stick with shortwave radio. Regular stations, clandestine and pirate stations. That's real fun . It seems like that. It's astonishing how often lots of people can see a new trend or a new business model, while the 'professionals' don't see it. Think of on-line vs. print or think about the music business. They don't really have a business model that reflects the current situation. Regarding the 'tv tax' in Germany I guess it is the money that prevents the system from dying. Regards Gyro
Yeah, same here, plus I was living in the west of the UK, far from the action. You could occasionally pick up Caroline for brief periods, before it got lost in all the competing AM stations. Even Luxembourg, who were supposed to have real monster transmitters, was intermittent at best. We did have a quasi-pirate station broadcasting from the Irish Republic in the 80s or 90s that came in clear and strong, but I dont recall its name. In the mid-80s I worked the night shift for a year or so, and used to take a SW receiver to help me make it through the night. Most UK stations went off-air at midnight back then, thereafter I hopped around English language broadcasts on SW. Deutche Welle had a good programme, also stuff like Radio Jerusalem, Moscow, Voice Of America and my favorite - an hour each night from Radio Tirana - communist Albania at its best ! I wish I'd taped some of those shows, they were [unintentionally] hilarious.
Good morning, funny, I too thought about Radio Tirana while writing my last post. In a changing world Albania was one of the last countries with die-hard communists. Fidel Castro looked like a wimp and masked capitalist compared to the folks steering Radio Tirana at that time . Depending on how tired I am I used to tune in the 40m band nearly every night. Listening here and there for a few minutes. It's interesting to see how news topics are weighted in different countries and systems. Sometimes I just listen to music programmes, even if I don't understand the language. Chinese music is often hard to stand for european ears . Wish there were more programmes with old fashioned music from the 1920-1960. Most nights I end with BBC or Deutsche Welle. They are strong enough in my area to make listening to them easy. Regards Gyro
One of the most endearing things about Radio Tirana [apart from the lectures of the People's Hydro-Electric Plant, etc] was when they signed off, by playing what I assume was the Albanian national anthem. But it seemed that the only copy they had of it was on scratchy old 78 rpm vinyl...or so it sounded. I just loved the low-tech ambience of it all.
More correspondence from the TV Licence people - I'm now an official target ! If anyone wants to follow this up, I've started a thread in the Alchemy & Accident forum. Also - as discussion about radio is veering off-topic here, maybe we should continue with that there too ?
I've come across several people who have not had a television for a number of years, some by accident and others by design. They all seem perfectly normal well adjusted people who do not seem to have missed out, and appreciate radio, books and getting out to visit theatre, cinema etc. Couldn't do it myself, even though I commend others who have no tv. A bit like my thoughts on vegetarianism or being teetotal.
Well...speaking as a non-TV owning vegetarian and virtually teetotal... To be honest, I dont think I ever really got into the habit of watching TV in the first place. When I was a kid there wasn't so much of it anyway, only 3 channels and nowhere near 24-hour broadcasting. When people talk about "cult" childrens TV from that era, I dont even recall most of the titles. But then, I got into reading at quite an early age and I think I just found that more exciting... read about things then go out and try to emulate them. I recall reading about Yetis and, when we had a snowy day, going out into the local fields to search for them. I think I really believed finding one locally was possible. I didn't, though
Good morning, ah, the famous 'ant movies' they show after playing the national anthem and shutting down the regular programme around midnight . Uh, everyone knows that Yetis are not endemic in GB. Well, my parents had a tv set and so I watched a lot tv as a child. But I was out in the woods, too. Then I found out that it is more fun to take apart every tv and radio I could reach. The only problem was that I could not re-assemble them and bring them back to a working state in most cases . Regards Gyro
Well I have a TV (three to be exact) and the problem I have is with TV overload; there are simply too many stations (200) to choose from and it’s impossible to keep track of what’s on at any given moment By the time I peruse through every station deciding what I want to watch; I’ll pickup the show halfway through Hotwater
Hi, show some geek attitude and with a little help from the electronics department you can multiplex through the 200 programmes, scale them down (the tv picture, not the programme itself and montage all of them on a single screen. Now you can follow all programmes at the same time. Ah, before I forget it. This approach has some drawbacks. After 15 minutes of watching you head might explode. Regards Gyro
Hi, hell no, Santa is endemic everywhere in the world. But Yeti, well, he and his fellows have their homes in the Himalayas. Maybe one or another Yeti came down from the hills over the centuries. But I guess they regretted their journey into civilisation very quickly. Regards Gyro
The multiplexer is a good idea and along with a DVR which will allow me to capture each show on digital recording; to watch at my convenience Hotwater
tv is a powerful brainwashing tool-ive shot out more than one--read lisenten to music do art write go outside and keep the tv locked up----your my hero keep up the good work---your more advanced than the sheep ,who are kept in a constant state of panic---i wish u well--Peace from the bottom of my heart
My made-for-TV saga begins eight years ago. While living with my ex-husband, we were getting free cable, when suddenly -- poof! -- it was gone! So, since we could hardly afford to pay for heat, much less cable, we decided to forgo the cable and instead watched our movie collection... over and over and over and over again... until we got insanely bored with it. After I divorced him, I moved to the city to be with my new beau. And we, too, could hardly afford anything, so once again, cable was out of our budget. So we continued to have a TV that we only used for video games and movies. One day, a down-and-out pal of ours decided he was going to move and he needed a TV. So we gave him ours. >> FF I am now on my own and without a TV. My new boyfriend (future hubby) lends me his TV. I am getting cable from my roommate, so I hook it up -- and use it three times to check the weather channel. Now, my hubby has this massive TV that sits in our livingroom forever silent, because he watches all his shows online and I watch two shows with him -- Stargate Universe, and the Big Bang Theory. Otherwise, I don't like, nor feel the need, to watch TV.
I could easily watch TV probably eight hours in a row when I was in my last year of college... wasn't much on studying without some type of background noise. Silence drove me crazy. I majored in Mass Communication and I've always been pretty addicted to knowing the latest news, trends, etc. I do envy those of you who can live without one and have an actual life. I tried, for a while, to avoid TV but it just drove me crazy.
I don't know how tv brainwashes, i mean i watch what i want, when i want to, and i think about what i want when i want to, so i still feel in control no matter how much tv i watch.
Yeah...but on the other hand, what you do watch is programmes made and schedualed by someone else, you have no control over how they're made... what if all programmes contain subliminal messages designed to influence you ? Not saying they are...just playing devil's advocate And on the other hand, some people are quite capable of brainwashing themselves...I'm sure we all meet people for whom soap characters and their lives are more real than actual real life.
I didn't have a TV for 2 years and it didn't bother me at all. The only reason I have one now is because I live with other people. I don't think it's weird, and actually, it's kind of liberating (my second year sans TV I also downloaded select shows and had Netflix, so got to choose what I wanted).
