Half of the units shown in this view of the RCA television transmitting
room in the Empire State Building are studio transmitters, half video
transmitters. In the pipes which coil beneath the ceiling are audio
(sound) and video (picture) signals which are combined in what is called
the "antenna filter." This is the television step that make it possible
to transmit both picture and sound simultaneously from a single antenna.
Through the uppermost pipe (shown disappearing through the wall in the
upper left section of the photograph) the television program that
originated in the NBC studios many blocks away rides up to the antenna
on the Empire State Building for its final plunge into the air. (NBC
photo, 11/5/36)
Television Control Room
A view of the control panel in RCA's television transmitting station in
the Empire State Building. The section of the panel before which
the engineer is standing is the audio rack -- identical with the panel
used in everyday sound broadcasting. Then, see the third section with
the small buttons? That's the video picture line amplifier and the
Buttons control the images shown on the "Kinescope" (or television
screen) and on the smaller screen, called the oscilloscope. In the
immediate foreground, the radio like receiver and then the control
equipment racks, the large switches you see being attached to storage
batteries. "Radio link" is the name used for one the two methods used in
transmitting pictures from NBC studios to the room shown in this
picture. When the picture comes by radio link it comes through the air.
The other system of transmission is by coaxial cable. A few inches above
the "Kinescope" (which shows up here as a white square) you may be able
to discern a short plug -- like the one you see every day on telephone
switchboards. This deceptively ordinary looking piece of wire is
actually the termination of the coaxial cable. (NBC photo 11/5/36)
Tubes Used in Television
These high frequency tubes shown in this photograph are used in RCA's
television transmitting station in the Empire State Building. They were
photographed in the tube room where 220 tubes, worth more than $25,000,
are kept in reserve at all times. This large reserve is necessary
because of the extensive tests being conducted. The tubes photographed
are used to amplify the video or television picture signal (NBC photo
11/5/36)
