The ITV network map from 1978

[Arran]

The ITV network map from 1978 showing connections between regions and transmitters

[George 1978]

The picture is obviously too small for me to see properly, but it looks fascinating - indeed, I thought one of the many reasons why Thames and LWT were dominant on the network was because of the straight-forward, uncomplicated way of transmitting things nationally from London.

The map is not to scale of course and looks rather like one of those British Rail route maps.

[Arran]

The original I have is bigger but the forum software wouldn't show it full size.

[George 1978]

Don't worry about it Arran - I tried to put a picture of my own on here a few years ago which had a lot of detail on it, and it was small that I said that one actually needed a microscope in order to view it! I started a thread about the problem about Picture Sizes in the Members' Lounge which had passed most people by.

[George 1978]

Actually, it was just a few weeks ago rather than a few years ago, but my point is taken.

[80sChav]

The picture is obviously too small for me to see properly, but it looks fascinating - indeed, I thought one of the many reasons why Thames and LWT were dominant on the network was because of the straight-forward, uncomplicated way of transmitting things nationally from London.

The map is not to scale of course and looks rather like one of those British Rail route maps.

Here, here George, but it's an amazing insight and a great piece of Geography non-the-less

I can just make out Leeds on the right hand side for Lincolnshire - which was then South humberside as well as Lincolnshire after it was Lincolnshire as a "whole County". It is amazing to think though that it's rue that the Leeds Region spread right down over "The wash" just into Kings Lynn - that is nearer Norwich and questionably in the South of England, pending on people's view-point!

[Richard1978]

I used to go on holiday most years to Wells Next The Sea in North Norfolk where it was easier to pick up Yorkshire television, especially with the aerial installed on my Gran's caravan.

[George 1978]

I briefly stayed in King's Lynn only last year to see something at the Corn Exchange there, (had my work cut out getting a taxi to the hotel), and on the Premier Inn room TV, Look North (Lincolnshire and Humberside) and Calendar were the regional news programmes on BBC 1 and ITV, although local radio-wise, it was BBC Radio Norfolk on 104.4 MHz FM (I once picked up via atmospheric conditions on that frequency back in 1994), and no sign of BBC Radio Lincolnshire. Pre-1974, Anglia would have been available in King's Lynn, as it would have been over the Humber in Hull and Bridlington. I was disappointed that Slough was too close to London to get anything but BBC London News, being the first town heading west after leaving the M25.

I used to spend money buying different aerials for my bedroom set so that I could pick up both Central and Yorkshire in the days of regional programmes other than news and adverts. It was pure escapism seeing Mike "TV-am" Morris on screen telling us about things in Sheffield or Leeds, rather than seeing Dominic Heale going on about who had been murdered in Nottingham or Leicester.

I am looking forward to see whether South Today or Spotlight will be on my Premier Inn room TV on BBC 1 at 6.30 pm weekdays when I get to Bournemouth.

[George 1978]

The UK Free TV website used to be great when it came to different regions and transmitters although it doesn't seem to do that anymore.

[Pensky]

Hi all, I’m reading this thread with great interest. In the early 80s, not quite in my teens, my family moved to Swaffham in Norfolk due to my dad seeking work.

Reception of ITV channels Anglia, Central and Yorkshire television, in the town, was the norm. Some of my pals received only one ITV, others had two or even all three. The great thing was that in those days, regional ITV could be vastly different from one another, and carried a lot of different programmes.

And I used to enjoy watching the different regional news programmes/sports and adverts. In the early 80s, in a mind numbingly boring little town in Norfolk, this was about my only window into a wider UK/world (apart from my CB radio).

And yes, even today in North Norfolk, e.g Kings Lynn, the reception of Yorkshire (instead of Anglia), is I think still the norm. I believe that’s down to historical TV transmitter reasons from Belmont, lots out there on that so I won’t bore you today.

In 1982 we moved from Swaffham to Felixstowe (Suffolk). I remember one of the first things I did, after enthusiastically setting up the aforementioned CB, was to check the TV reception, and in addition to the intended Anglia TV, we received TVS (which had recently taken over from Southern), broadcasting from Dover and a really strong signal, all the time. And to my utter delight, I was able to pick-up Thames and LWT, albeit quite grainy.

All through the 80s and into the mid-2000s, on high atmospheric days, Felixstowe could receive analogue TV signals from Belgium, Holland and Germany, but their sound frequencies were different, so although we got clear pictures, sound reception was a problem.

Very rarely we picked up Danish TV and American Forces TV from Germany. We also regularly received French TV, but that just looked a scrambled mess because their broadcasts were SECAM, not PAL. Eventually around the mid-80s, my dad was interested enough (in DX reception) and bought a 360deg aerial rotator and a multi standard TV, happy days, simpler times.