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G0TEZ > TODAY 20.07.14 22:57l 69 Lines 2769 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 5F0031G0TEZ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Jul 21
Path: IZ3LSV<IW0QNL<ED1ZAC<VK2DOT<GB7PZT<GB7COV<GB7CIP
Sent: 140720/2034Z @:GB7CIP.#32.GBR.EU #:3329 [Caterham Surrey GBR] $:5F0031G0T
From: G0TEZ@GB7CIP.#32.GBR.EU
To : TODAY@WW
When Neil Armstrong took that walk, I was on holiday in a small chalet,
miles from the nearest TV set which meant work to me. It wasn't until late
on the 20th that I realised the moon landing was supposed to be that
night.
My wife and I took a tour of all the local pubs to see if one had a colour
TV set in the bar. CTV was very thin on the ground in 1969 and we only
found one in a pub where the regulars were watching a Cassius Clay fight,
(remember him ?)
Naturally, we were NOT going to ask them to change channel!
We went back to our chalet and listened to the running commentary on a
transistor radio we had with us. When it got past midnight, we switched
off and went to sleep.
Suddenly, I awoke and had a strong feeling I must switch the radio on.
I reached down and pressed the button in time to hear "Armstrong is on the
ladder now, the 'A small step for man (he missed out the 'a', A giant leap
for mankind."
I listened for a few more minutes then went back to sleep. It was dark.
I later found out thet the precise time of the step was 02.54 GMT on the
21st. In fact, both on the LEM and at Houston was a plaque type clock with
the words GREENWICH MEAN TIME above the time.
The reason for the long delay after landing was that NASA wanted the first
step to take place at peak viewing time for American audiences, so no need
for that search for a public TV set.
NASA used EDT for home consumption and, GMT or 'UT' not UTC for
international communication.In fact, they have used GMT for a lot of the
other space activity since then as have the ESA and the Russian missions.
The BBC has been showing the whole thing from Sputnik to Skylab recently
and the 'remastered' film is very impressive.
Those of us who watched the real thing will remember the way the sky
changed colour from purple to green and back on the launches and I even
had customers who complained about the quality of the pictures. Explaining
the huge distances involved did not do much to mollify them.
The US TV system at that time was a mixture of the Field Sequential System
and NTSC (we all know that joke.) The Russian transmissions were a lot
better as they were using SECAM and, during one launch, the Mexican
Olympics were being broadcast from next door, Using th PAL system. It
certainly showed up the differences.
SO, not a lot of Brits took a great interest in the moon landing and remem
bering now mkes me feel very old, especially as neil Armstrong died last
year and Patrick Moore, the British astronomer and presenter who knew
Armstrong and a lot of other astronauts personally, died shortly
afterwards.
73 - GB7CIP, G0TEZ @ GB7CIP
Message timed: 21:33 on 2014-Jul-20
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