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Foreword

Television is a technology. Paradoxically, as the technology has become more complex and refined, its details have gradually been thrust into the background of public consciousness. The average person is kept informed about the politics and the personalities and the increasing financial turbulence of the television industry, but knows very little of the underlying science and technology.
This handbook embodies much technical knowhow and experience in areas such as mechanics, optics, electronics, and even human physiology, as applied to early television. When all is said and done, television is what the French call "trompe l'oeil" - an optical illusion made possible by the persistence of vision.
NBTVA is far more than a talking shop; it is a group of highly skilled experimenters and constructors who keep television history alive by facing the challenges faced in the early days by the pioneers such as J.L.Baird.
As the 40th anniversary of the NBTVA approaches, I salute the memory of its contributors who are no longer with us: the names of Doug Pitt, Grant Dixon and Denis Asseman come to mind.
The hope for the future is that the NBTVA can recruit bright young people who are good with their hands. Those are sort of people who gave television its start nearly a century ago. This handbook will act as an inspiration to show them that it is not impossible to build a working television system.

Malcolm Baird
President NBTVA
April 2010