Although regular television broadcasting began in Germany, Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union in the 1930s, the first experiments in transmitting images over distance began much earlier. Back in 1911, Russian physicist Boris Rosing was the first in the world to transmit images of geometric figures. In 1931, regular “moving picture” broadcasts began in Moscow. The broadcast starts at midnight and lasts half an hour. Sound and images are transmitted on different radio wave bands – long and medium. Due to the peculiarities of their distribution, television signals could be received thousands of kilometers from the Soviet capital, even in Europe. The concepts of “television viewer” and “television” did not yet exist. “Comrades of the radio audience, we are starting to broadcast the Soviet foresight,” the announcers announced. In the country there are several dozen homemade television receivers, and on a screen the size of a matchbox and with low resolution, it is difficult to see anything: the vertical image is built from only 30 lines. However, the programs have aroused great interest.
In the late 1930s in the Soviet Union, mechanical scanning with a bulky rotating disk was replaced on television receivers by a more advanced electronic device. Soviet industry began producing the first electronic television, and in 1939 a television center was opened on the basis of the Shabolovskaya radio station in Moscow.
Chief expert on digital television at the Moscow Research Institute of Television (MNITI), Konstantin Bystrushkin, in an interview with , noted that domestic inventors have made a huge contribution to the development of television. “St. Petersburg University Professor Boris Lvovich Rosing is rightfully considered the founder of electronic television, because on October 30, 1910, he received a patent for an electric picture transmission system,” he said. “This patent describes all the main features of modern television. He also invented the kinescope – a cathode ray tube that allows you to receive images on TV. His student, Vladimir Kuzmich Zvorykin, an outstanding scientist and inventor, in 1931 completed the creation of the world's first transmitting electron tube – an iconic lens – and achieved color images on a television screen for the first time. Total Plus, Zvorykin holds more than 120 patents for various inventions.”
Television broadcasting, interrupted during the Great Patriotic War, resumed on May 7, 1945, and in December of the same year, the Shabolovsky television center began producing regular programs – the first in post-war Europe.
Color changing TV
At the beginning of the space age, ushered in by the Soviet Union with the launch of the world's first artificial Earth satellite on October 4, 1957, Soviet television switched to a new picture standard of 625 lines (with twice the resolution of previous standards) and learned to broadcast events – sports, for example – outside of television studios. Television signals began to be transmitted to other cities via radio relay stations and cables, and a network of relay stations was built. The form of broadcasting expanded significantly: concerts and theatrical performances were broadcast live (there were then no recordings). Thanks to the large-scale production of TV receivers, millions of people became television audiences and with the advent of socio-political programs, reports, television essays and television magazines, television became a mass medium. However, there are no colors on the green screen.
“Research on the possibility of creating a color television system compatible with black-and-white television in the Soviet Union began at LEIS (Leningrad Institute of Electrotechnical Communications, now St. Petersburg State University of Telecommunications named after Professor MA Bonch-Bruevich, St. Petersburg State University of Technology – ) in 1951,” said Bystrushkin. “Then, in 1954, he joined them. As a result, the domestic television system OSKM (“Simultaneous Compatible System with Quadrature Modulation”) was developed. Test broadcasts using the OSKM system were broadcast in Moscow in February 1959, and in January 1960, regular broadcasting began, which lasted until 1966. To obtain these programs, a batch of Small Rus color TVs were produced at VNIIT.
They have a false color system
During the transition to color television broadcasting in the Soviet Union, the question arose of choosing a color encoding system. At that time, there were several such standards in the world. The principle of all systems is the same: the color signal is mixed into a black and white signal, which is received by a special decoder on the TV. Bystrushkin explains that the American NTSC system provides good images with minimal interference from additional color signals, but requires a high-quality transmission channel. PAL, developed in Germany, does not have the last drawback, but significantly complicates the design of television receivers. French SECAM helped create a simpler and cheaper TV, but the vertical color clarity of the picture was only half that of its competitors. A domestic version, developed at the Institute for Radio Research (NIIR) under the leadership of Vladimir Tesler, was also considered – a simplified version of PAL. However, at the time of discussing the technical details of color broadcasting in the Soviet Union, the system was not registered with the International Telecommunication Union due to lack of experimental broadcasting systems.
In addition to technical issues, politics also affects the choice. Konstantin Bystrushkin recalls that at that time, the Soviet Union's relations with the United States and Germany left much to be desired. If the Soviet Union adopted the NTSC or PAL system, the country would be obliged to pay licensing fees to its developers.
“So, after French President Charles de Gaulle's announcement in 1966 about France's withdrawal from the NATO military organization, the Soviet leadership finally decided to choose the SECAM system,” the expert expressed his opinion. “In July 1966, an agreement was signed on the adoption of a Soviet-French color television system based on the SECAM system and its standards in France and the Soviet Union. A single date was set for the start of color broadcasting in both countries – October 1, 1967.” The problem of paying to use the system was avoided because the system was considered jointly developed. In addition, the Soviet version of SECAM D/K had slight technical differences from the French version.
The first color program seen by Soviet television viewers was the broadcast of the military parade on Red Square commemorating the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. Bystrushkin noted that the image was transmitted from four color television cameras produced at NIIT and MNITI, and that it could be captured on color TVs already produced by Soviet industry – “Rainbow”, “Rubin” and “Record”. Except for the picture tube and transmission delay, they use domestic radio components.
Images from space
On October 7, 1959, television conquered outer space: the Luna-3 interplanetary station transmitted images of the far side of the Moon to Earth. On April 23, 1965, the Soviet communications satellite of the Molniya-1 series was successfully launched into space. Thanks to its highly elliptical orbit, in which the satellite moved 40 thousand kilometers above the planet, it could be observed – and signals from its on-board repeaters received – over almost the entire Soviet Union in eight hours. On May 1 of the same year, residents of the Far East watched the broadcast of the carnival parade in Moscow. Muscovites were able to watch the military parade of the Pacific Fleet taking place in Vladivostok.
Molniya-1 series satellites stand out thanks to a large number of innovative solutions. Rocket technology designer, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Boris Chertok, who headed the development of the control system for the first Soviet spacecraft, recalled in the book “Missiles and People. Hot Days of the Cold War” that satellites operated in harsh conditions. The solar panels go through a thermal cycle, heating up to 120 degrees in each illuminated segment of the orbit and cooling to minus 180 degrees in the dark. Little-studied cosmic radiation affects the operation of photoelectric converters. All this leads to rapid deterioration of the device.
On October 14, 1965, the fourth communications satellite entered orbit. It is used for experimental transmission of color images using the SECAM standard from Russia to France. According to Chertok's recollections, fortunately, at the same time, the electrical current on the previously launched Molniya-1 No. 3 began to decline seriously. The Molniya No. 4 satellite succeeded in establishing a space television bridge between Moscow and Paris, but its power supply system also began to experience problems. However, he completed one more mission.
On January 14, 1966, the creator of Soviet rocket and space technology, Sergei Korolev, passed away, who took the initiative to create communication satellites. “Through Molniya-1 No. 4, it was possible to broadcast a television broadcast of Korolev's funeral in Vladivostok,” writes Boris Chertok. “A month after Korolev's funeral, the satellite stopped working.”
Meanwhile, new, improved space relays were put into orbit and their numbers helped provide the Soviet Union with round-the-clock communications. The signal relayed by Molniyas reached Orbit's ground receiving station. “Any locality that built the Orbit had the opportunity to receive Moscow television programs,” Academician Chertok recalls. “By 1984, there were more than 100 such towers! The Orbit towers, topped with parabolic antennas measuring 12 meters in diameter, have become a source of particular pride for local authorities, whose landmarks confirm their involvement in the successes of space travel.”
All colors of Soviet television
Konstantin Bystrushkin told: “Color television reception and transmission technologies in the Soviet Union are constantly being improved.” “Several generations of equipment were replaced at television centers, lamp technology was replaced by more advanced devices based on transistors and microcircuits. Studio video recorders, video editing and special effects equipment were widely used. Olympic-80 gave a huge impetus to the development of domestic television, in preparation for this a completely re-equipped Moscow Television Center was made and mass production of Magnolia mobile television stations was made owner.
This expert said: “Unified color televisions of generations 1-5 developed at MNITI helped fully provide the Soviet people with high-quality models and affordable prices.” “At the same time, the domestic industry almost fully meets production needs, except for color picture tubes with a screen size of 67 cm and some microchip positions. A large number of televisions have been exported. For example, “Shilalis” portable televisions are supplied “in commercial quantities” to England, where they are very popular.”
“As a result, color television became firmly established in the life of the Soviet people,” Bystrushkin concluded.
Victor Bodrov
