I entered the room with a sense of expectation. It was 1950 and Uncle Joe had acquired his first television set. We had driven to his home in Wicklow to see this modern phenomenon. The set, in its polished wooden case, sat on a small table in the corner of his heavily furnished sittingroom with its flowered wallpaper and thick curtains. He had a large aerial installed on his roof to capture those elusive signals from across the Irish Sea.
With a sense of ceremony, he switched on the set. As a nine-year-old, I was intrigued to see him patiently and masterfully tuning the device, converting that snowy screen into shadowy images transmitted live from the BBC. I watched those grainy, black-and-white pictures with awe and I think Uncle Joe was proud to demonstrate that wonderful technology to me.
Uncle Joe would not have known then that he himself would play a small but significant part in a little piece of related history – the setting up of Ireland’s first television transmitting mast. In 1959, as county engineer for Wicklow, he collaborated with the Board of Works in building an access road through the boggy slopes to the summit of Kippure Mountain on the Wicklow-Dublin border. This was the site chosen for the first transmitter for the newly established Irish television station and I remember Uncle Joe driving me up “his road” to witness its construction.
Historic pictures
Raidió Teilifís Éireann broadcast its first live television transmission at 7pm on New Year’s Eve, 1961. My father, like so many others, bought his first television set in order to receive that much-anticipated broadcast. By that time, TV screens had become a little larger and the wooden encasements had been largely replaced by plastic. I recall watching eagerly to see those historic black and white pictures on the original 405-line VHF system originating from the Montrose studios and transmitted via the mast on Kippure. I thought of Uncle Joe and “his” road that evening. Kippure was the first of the original five transmitters to come into service.
Now, on my wide-screen TV, I see clear colour pictures transmitted from many parts of the world. I watch, once again intrigued, but this time my fascination is from seeing how my four-year-old granddaughter can so adeptly select her favourite channels using the remote control. How technology has advanced.
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