unexplained tv broadcast interruption

[frinster]

Sorry that this sounds completely vague, but I seem to remember seeing something on tv ages ago about something that happened on tv years and years back when the tv transmission was interuppted or hijacked for a few minutes with strange voices and noises.

All sounds a bit spooky, just wondered if this rings a bell with anyone else?

[Buenchico]

I don't remember any particular incident, but I wouldn't regard it as particularly unusual. When there's unusually high atmospheric pressure over Western Europe it's not unusual for domestic radio and TV signals to suddenly disappear under signals received from France, Germany and further afield.

Also, solar flares on the sun's surface can sometimes lead to what radio enthusiasts call a 'lift'. When this happens, there can be very brief periods when radio signals carry much, much further than usual. (e.g. a taxi company in London could suddenly hear transmissions from, say, another company using the same frequency in Canada).

If a solar flare occurs during a period of abnormally high pressure, radio and TV signals across a vast area could "go crazy" for a short while, with 'mysterious voices' and noises being heard from TV and radio sets. (You might, for example, be watching BBC1 in Leeds and suddenly hear a guy on a building site in Latvia using his walkie-talkie. Such effects usually only last for only a few seconds or, at most, for a few minutes, but they're not particularly rare).

Chris

[saxy_jag]

War of the Worlds? Although that was on radio. They ran a documentary about it and showed footage from the recording studio of it being made.

[frinster]

hmm no i don't think that was it, i seem to remember it was something that shouldn't have been broadcast or that was done by tv pirates (yaaaar)

[naomi24]

I remember my aunt telling me about this - she said it really spooked her. I don't know any more about it though. Sorry.

[naomi24]

This bugged me, so I've just spoken to my aunt and she said as far as she can remember, the television screen went black, and a message broadcast to say that if men did not stop what they were doing, the earth would be destroyed. Perhaps this will jog other people's memories.