Test Card J is a test card

Test card

A test card, also known as a test pattern in North America and Australia, is a television test signal, typically broadcast at times when the transmitter is active but no program is being broadcast...

, an image used to determine the quality of a broadcast television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 picture. It is an updated version of Test Card F

Test Card F

Test Card F is a test card that was created by the BBC and used on television in the United Kingdom and in countries elsewhere in the world for more than four decades...

, which was created by BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 engineer

Engineer

An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...

 George Hersee

George Hersee

George Hersee was a BBC engineer, who is most famous for his development of Test Card F. This design came about after Hersee was asked to intervene by the committee charged with the creation of technical standards for the new colour TV services.Hersee was born in Sussex, England...

, and is used to test analogue television signals. It first appeared in November 1999.

Differences

The centre picture in Test Card J is a new version of the picture at the centre of Test Card F

Test Card F

Test Card F is a test card that was created by the BBC and used on television in the United Kingdom and in countries elsewhere in the world for more than four decades...

, rescanned from the original transparency, to make the colours in the image look more accurate. The centre picture was also re-aligned within Test Card J to put the cross on the noughts and crosses

Tic-tac-toe

Tic-tac-toe, also called wick wack woe and noughts and crosses , is a pencil-and-paper game for two players, X and O, who take turns marking the spaces in a 3×3 grid. The X player usually goes first...

 board at the exact centre of the screen, where it was originally intended.

A green square at the top of the screen, which does not appear in Test Card F

Test Card F

Test Card F is a test card that was created by the BBC and used on television in the United Kingdom and in countries elsewhere in the world for more than four decades...

, is used within Test Card J to facilitate an easier observation of chrominance to luminance delay.

The negative black squares in the left hand step pattern should flash on and off at 1 Hz

Hertz

The hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications....

. This is to aid in the detection of frozen digital links.

On its last appearance during the early hours of 12 January 2009, Test Card J was broadcast on BBC One (and later BBC Two). There was no music and the audio was replaced with an automated female voice rendition of the speaking clock

Speaking clock

A speaking clock service is a recorded or simulated human voice service, usually accessed by telephone, that gives the correct time. The first telephone speaking clock service was introduced in France, in association with the Paris Observatory on 14 February 1933.The format of the service is...

, played on the right audio channel, and a steady 1 kHz tone on the left audio channel on BBC One, and a steady 0.44 kHz on BBC Two.

Test Card J was also broadcast on terrestrial television in the early hours of 18 July 2010, from 02:45am.

Sightings

Due to the onset of 24 hour television, Test Card J (or any other test cards) are rarely broadcast, now only used in engineering tests and transmission problems. Test Card J's broadcast on 18 July 2010 is an example of this. The times before that were 9 January 2008, 5 January 2007, 23 January 2006 and 7 January 2005, and 9 January 2004. It was also seen on 3 and 4 December 2003, 15 December 2002, and August 2000. Its unscheduled appearances were 22 July 2003, 14 August 2001 and 27 July 2001.

The last annual analogue TV RBS Tests were in the early hours of Sunday 18 July 2010. The times were 02:15 - 03:15am for BBC1 and 03:30 - 04:30am for BBC2. Test Card J was present during these tests.

See also

• Test Card W
  Test Card W
  Test Card W is a test card, an image used to determine the quality of a broadcast television picture. It is an updated 16:9 widescreen version of Test Card F, which was created by BBC engineer George Hersee. Test Card W is similar to Test Card J, the latter being a 4:3 version...
  
  
• List of BBC test cards
• Test card
  Test card
  A test card, also known as a test pattern in North America and Australia, is a television test signal, typically broadcast at times when the transmitter is active but no program is being broadcast...
  
  
• Carole Hersee
  Carole Hersee
  Carole Hersee is a costume designer who is best known for appearing in the centrepiece of the iconic United Kingdom television Test Card F, which aired on BBC Television from 1967 to 1998 and was revived in 2009...
  
  
• Bubbles the Clown

External links

• History of BBC test cards
• The Test Card Circle Details of the UK's Trade Test Transmissions including the history of the BBC and ITA Test Cards, a look at the music used and full details about the Trade Test Colour Films shown from the late fifties to 1973.