Bell & Howell Apple II update

From: Dan Veeneman <dan_at_ekoan.com>
Date: Thu Jan 24 13:38:03 2002

At 11:09 AM 1/24/02 -0700, Dick wrote:
>Well, I don't know what sort of equipment you were dealing with, but it was
>well into the '80's before I ever saw a piece of NTSC video equipment with BNC
>connectors on it.
>
>Those BNC's were generally used for 50-ohm equipment and not used with 75 ohm
>video gear. BNC's were all over the EE labs, but not on the video
>distribution amplifiers I occasionally saw.
>
>I didn't work in the video industry, John, but I did work with computers all
>the while.

I may be sorry for getting into this conversation, but I can't let this one
slide.
I did work in the (satellite) video industry in the early 1980's, and BNC
connectors
were all over the place, for both NTSC and PAL. Everything from tape decks to
genlocks to headends used them, and had for quite a while. Video monitors
from that period were almost always equipped with BNC, unless you tried to use
a converted consumer television receiver.

> Monitors of the time, at least of the NTSC-compatible type, were
>typically equipped with PL-259 connectors on the rear.

Not true, at least in the video industry.

>By the time consumer video equipment became popular, the PL-259, which was
>also common in the '70's for other 75-ohm applications e.g. antennas and the
>like, had been replaced by the 'F' types in video hookups, since those were
>MUCH cheaper.

The PL-259 was in use primarily for carrying VHF and UHF signals, not baseband
video. F-type connectors appeared on consumer-grade equipment where the
performance loss was deemed acceptable, and yes, cost was a factor, not just
for the connector but for the labor to assemble it properly.

As I said, I may be sorry to have chimed in on this nearly off-topic
conversation,
but when I see blanket statements being made that are obviously incorrect I
have
a hard time remaining silent.


Cheers,

Dan
Received on Thu Jan 24 2002 - 13:38:03 GMT