![Stratovision](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Stratovision.jpg)
Stratovision was an airborne
television transmission relay system using aircraft flying at high altitudes. In 1945 the
Glenn L. Martin Company
The Glenn L. Martin Company—also known as The Martin Company from 1957-1961—was an American aircraft and aerospace manufacturing company founded by aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin, and operated between 1917-1961. The Martin Company produc ...
and
Westinghouse Electric Corporation
The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was renamed "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in ...
originally proposed television coverage of small towns and rural areas, as well as the large metropolitan centers, by fourteen aircraft that would provide coverage for approximately 78% of the people in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. Although this was never implemented, the system has been used for domestic broadcasting in the United States, and by the U.S. military in
South Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
and other countries.
Technology
Because the broadcasting antenna for Stratovision is usually hung beneath the aircraft in flight, it naturally has a great command of
line-of-sight propagation
Line-of-sight propagation is a characteristic of electromagnetic radiation or acoustic wave propagation which means waves travel in a direct path from the source to the receiver. Electromagnetic transmission includes light emissions travelin ...
. Although transmission distances are dependent upon atmospheric conditions, a transmitting antenna above the Earth's surface has a line of sight distance of approximately .
A Stratovision 25 kW transmitter operating from at 600 MHz will achieve a
field intensity In physics, field strength means the ''magnitude'' of a vector-valued field (e.g., in volts per meter, V/m, for an electric field ''E'').
For example, an electromagnetic field results in both electric field strength and magnetic field strength.
A ...
of 2 millivolts per meter for a high receiving antenna up to away from the aircraft.
Early tests
Stratovision tests were undertaken between June 1948 to February 1949. The first phase was undertaken by the Glenn L. Martin Co. and Westinghouse using a twin-engine
PV-2 aircraft flying at that transmitted with 250 watts on 107.5 MHz and 5 kW on 514 MHz at
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
,
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
so that recordings could be made at various locations ranging from
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...
to
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
and
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
.
The second phase of testing was undertaken by these companies using a stripped-down
B-29 Superfortress
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...
flying at . The plane was equipped to receive a relay transmission from
WMAR-TV
WMAR-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios and offices are located on York Road (Maryland Route 45) in Towson (though with ...
in Baltimore, which was then relayed over a 5 kW video transmitter and a 1 kW audio transmitter for reception on 82-88 MHz with a television set tuned to Channel 6.
The aircraft received its originating signals from circular dipoles attached to a streamlined eight-foot (2.5 m) mast atop of the aircraft's vertical tail fin. The retractable long broadcasting antenna hung vertically beneath the aircraft. It was composed of a two-element turnstile array for video and a single-element circular dipole for sound transmissions.
The receivers, transmitters and necessary air-conditioning were all powered by the plane's engines using three 15 kVA, 500 Hz alternators. Without air conditioning the transmitters in the interior of the aircraft would have generated a temperature of 134 degrees Fahrenheit (57 degrees Celsius) with an outside air temperature of 25 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 4 degrees Celsius).
On 23 June 1948 the system's airborne transmitter rebroadcast the
Republican National Convention
The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...
, being held in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, to the surrounding nine-state area during the 9 to 10 pm
EDT time period. As part of the activity, a receiver was set up in a hall in
Zanesville, Ohio
Zanesville is a city in and the county seat of Muskingum County, Ohio, United States. It is located east of Columbus and had a population of 24,765 as of the 2020 census, down from 25,487 as of the 2010 census. Historically the state capita ...
, a small city on the outskirts of the broadcast area, to demonstrate to invited newspaper reporters that the system was capable of reaching "small town and farm homes".
Air & Space
''Air & Space/Smithsonian'' is a quarterly magazine published by the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Linc ...
magazine, Vol 22 No 3, August 2007, "Broadcast Bomber", p. 18
The tests were watched by many television viewers who sent in reception reports. From these reports it was calculated that Stratovision would require only eight relay planes to provide a transcontinental network, and six additional planes to provide coverage to 78% of the United States. Charles Edward Nobles, the head of Stratovision for Westinghouse, said in his report:
:"''The major technical problems of the system have been solved, and the commercial development awaits only the crystallization of public demand for the expanded services offered by airborne broadcasting, application of the system by the radio industry to meet this demand, and the clarification of channel facilities available to make possible this application.''"
Education
In 1961 a nonprofit organization,
Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruction
The Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruction (MPATI) was a special broadcasting initiative designed to broadcast educational television programming to schools, especially in areas where local educational television stations are either d ...
, commenced a Stratovision service from the
airfield of Purdue University. The effort began as a three-year experiment funded by the
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...
. The program organized, produced and transmitted educational television programs four days a week from a
DC-6AB aircraft flying at over the community of Montpelier in north central Indiana.
MPATI delivered its programs to television channels 72 (call sign KS2XGA) and 76 (KS2XGD) in the UHF band, by transmitting videotaped lectures from the aircraft to an estimated potential 5,000,000 students in 13,000 schools and colleges. The aircraft were equipped with two videotape machines and two UHF transmitters.
When MPATI signed on it used an
"Indian head" test pattern card which was shown for five minutes before and between programs. The service ended in 1968 when it became embroiled in legal action over their application of Stratovision in a controversy with the Westinghouse company.
Propaganda
Vietnam War
During the Vietnam War, the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
used Stratovision television technology when it flew ''Operation Blue Eagle'' from 1966 to 1972 over the
Saigon
, population_density_km2 = 4,292
, population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2
, population_demonym = Saigonese
, blank_name = GRP (Nominal)
, blank_info = 2019
, blank1_name = – Total
, blank1_ ...
area of
South Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
. The television programs were aimed at two audiences on two channels: one was aimed at the general public and the other was intended for the information and entertainment of US troops who were stationed in South Vietnam.
On January 3, 1966, a
''Broadcasting'' magazine article, "Vietnam to get airborne TV: Two-channel service —one for Vietnamese, other for U.S. servicemen—starts this month", noted:
''Television broadcasting in South Vietnam ... begins January 21 and it's going to be done from the air. Two airplanes, circling above the ground, will broadcast on two TV channels—one transmitting Saigon government programs; the other U.S. programs. The project is being handled by the U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...
. Also involved are the U.S. Information Agency
The United States Information Agency (USIA), which operated from 1953 to 1999, was a United States agency devoted to " public diplomacy". In 1999, prior to the reorganization of intelligence agencies by President George W. Bush, President Bill ...
and the Agency for International Development
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bil ...
. Work on modifying two Lockheed Super Constellation
The Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation is an American aircraft, a member of the Lockheed Constellation aircraft line. The L-1049 was Lockheed's response to the successful Douglas DC-6 airliner, first flying in 1950. The aircraft was also produc ...
s has been underway by Navy electronics experts at Andrews Air Force Base
Andrews Air Force Base (Andrews AFB, AAFB) is the airfield portion of Joint Base Andrews, which is under the jurisdiction of the United States Air Force. In 2009, Andrews Air Force Base merged with Naval Air Facility Washington to form Joint B ...
... The project is an outgrowth of a broadcasting plane used by the Navy during the Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
n and Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...
crises when both radio and television were beamed to home in those countries.''
The same article went on to report that during the Baseball
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
of October 1965 Stratovision had also been used to bring the games to the troops. The aircraft had picked up
Voice of America
Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...
radio broadcasts from
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
and relayed the signal to a ground broadcasting station. The Agency for International Development (AID) had purchased through the military
Post Exchange Service, 1,000 monochrome, 23-inch television sets modified to operate on a variety of domestic power sources, and which had been airlifted to South Vietnam on December 28, 1965. They were to be put into community facilities around Saigon. AID was also spending $2.4 million to supply a total of 2,500 TV sets to South Vietnam.
The entire project was under the control of Captain George C. Dixon, USN. He claimed to be installing AM, FM, shortwave and TV transmitters on the aircraft which would get their power from an onboard 100 kW diesel-fueled generator. The planes would not only relay programs from
film chain
A film chain or film island is a television – professional video camera with one or more projectors aligned into the photographic lens of the camera. With two or more projectors a system of front-surface mirrors that can pop-up are used in a m ...
kinescope
Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program on motion picture film, directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor. The process was pioneered during the 1940 ...
s and video recorders, but they would also have live cameras to create their own live programs.
Ground transmissions would be received from the aircraft on TV sets tuned to channel 11 for Armed Forces Television, and channel 9 for programs in Vietnamese. On radio the broadcasts would be tuned to 1000 kHz for AM and 99.9 MHz for FM.
On 7 February 1966, ''Broadcasting'' magazine reported that after working out a number of technical problems that the first show on channel 9 would begin at 7:30 p.m. and feature South Vietnamese Prime Minister
Nguyen Cao Ky
Nguyễn () is the most common Vietnamese surname. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as Nguyen. Nguyên (元)is a different word and surname.
By some estimates 39 percent of Vietnamese people bear this su ...
and U.S. Ambassador
Cabot Lodge in a videotaped production, followed by channel 11 at 8 p.m. with
General Westmoreland
William Childs Westmoreland (March 26, 1914 – July 18, 2005) was a United States Army general, most notably commander of United States forces during the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1968. He served as Chief of Staff of the United States Army from ...
introducing a two-hour program which incorporated one hour of the
Grand Ole Opry
The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...
filmed in
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
. After that the Vietnamese channel would be seen for one and half hours a day and the U.S. channel for three hours daily.
On 8 February 1966 ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' article "South Vietnamese Watch First TV Show" reported that South Vietnamese viewers had to strain their ears because the speakers on the TV sets would need to be amplified if they were going to be heard by a room full of people watching
THVN
Vietnam Television ( vi, Đài Truyền-hình Việtnam,Old spell in Vietnam abbreviated THVN), sometimes also unofficially known as the National Television ('), Saigon Television (') or Channel 9 (', THVN9), was one of two national television bro ...
-TV channel 9. The U.S. programming on NWB-TV channel 11 was
Bob Hope
Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 5 ...
in a two-hour special called ''Hollywood Salute to Vietnam'', followed by half-an-hour of the ''Grand Ole Opry'' and another half-hour of the quiz show ''
I've Got a Secret
''I've Got a Secret'' is an American panel game show produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman for CBS television. Created by comedy writers Allan Sherman and Howard Merrill, it was a derivative of Goodson-Todman's own panel show, ''What's My Line ...
''. The regular line-up of shows included ''
Bonanza
''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 13, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 432 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running western, the second-longest-running western series on U ...
'', ''
Perry Mason
Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and 4 short stories, all of which involve a cli ...
'', ''
The Ed Sullivan Show
''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television program, television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in Septembe ...
'', and ''
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' was an American late-night talk show hosted by Johnny Carson on NBC, the third iteration of the ''Tonight Show'' franchise. The show debuted on October 1, 1962, and aired its final episode on May 22, ...
''.
1999 NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
EC-130 Commando Solo
The Lockheed Martin EC-130 series comprises several slightly different versions of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules that have been and continue to be operated by the U.S. Air Force and, until the 1990s, the U.S. Navy.
The EC-130E Airborne Battlefie ...
was used in propaganda warfare during the
1999 NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) carried out an aerial bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. The bombings continued until an a ...
with questionable success. Production was very cheap, below local TV standards in
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...
with slide show and narration based news. Quality of reception was very poor and area of coverage was rather small.
Iraq War
During the 2000s, the
EC-130 Commando Solo
The Lockheed Martin EC-130 series comprises several slightly different versions of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules that have been and continue to be operated by the U.S. Air Force and, until the 1990s, the U.S. Navy.
The EC-130E Airborne Battlefie ...
has been used to broadcast information and propaganda for the United States over a variety of television and radio frequencies. It has been used in several areas of operation, including
Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...
and
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
.
Pirate television
In 1969, news stories began to appear in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
that
Ronan O'Rahilly
Aodogán Ronan O'Rahilly (21 May 1940 – 20 April 2020) was an Irish businessman best known for the creation of the offshore radio station, Radio Caroline and the band Sheep On Drugs. He also became manager of George Lazenby, who played James ...
, the founder of the
pirate radio
Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license.
In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially w ...
ship based service called
Radio Caroline
Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Alan Crawford initially to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly. ...
, which at that time was not on the air, was about to launch
Caroline Television instead. His plans called for two aircraft, one in service and one as a relief, which would transmit commercial television programs to Britain by Stratovision. Although these stories continued for some time, nothing became of the project. To date no pirate radio or television service has ever operated by means of Stratovision.
Use as a temporary service
The advent of
fibre optic
An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means to ...
cable television
Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broa ...
systems and
direct broadcast satellite
Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna comm ...
services has supplanted Stratovision as a permanent means of television delivery. The Stratovision concept continues to be used as a stop-gap measure where land-based transmitters are not possible and where large areas of territory need to be served with a television program.
Popular culture
* The plot of the 1986 comedy film ''
Riders of the Storm
''Riders of the Storm'' is a 1929 American silent film, silent Western (genre), Western film directed by J.P. McGowan and starring Yakima Canutt, Bobby Dunn and Ione Reed.McGowan p.103
Cast
* Yakima Canutt
* Bobby Dunn
* Ione Reed
* Dorothy Ve ...
'' (also known as ''The American Way'') is based on a similar concept, with a group of Vietnam veterans running a
pirate television
A pirate television station is a broadcast television station that operates without a broadcast license. Like its counterpart pirate radio, the term pirate TV lacks a specific universal interpretation. It implies a form of broadcasting that is u ...
station ("S&M TV") from a
B-29
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fly ...
that was constantly in flight.
* A similar system, using helicopters, is mentioned in the 1950
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein (; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accu ...
story "
The Man Who Sold the Moon
"The Man Who Sold the Moon" is a science fiction novella by American author Robert A. Heinlein, written in 1949 and published in 1950. A part of his ''Future History'' and prequel to "Requiem", it covers events around a fictional first Moon landi ...
".
References
External links
*
*
*{{cite web , title=Stratovision , url=https://www.earlytelevision.org/stratovision.html , website=earlytelevision.org
American inventions
1948 establishments in the United States
Telecommunications-related introductions in the 1940s
Television technology
Propaganda in the United States
Educational television