XPost: uk.tech.broadcast, uk.tech.digital-tv, uk.rec.audio   
   XPost: sci.electronics.repair   
   From: k.type@example.invalid   
      
   In article <9mifiiFbrvU1@mid.individual.net>,   
   david.looser@btinternet.com says...   
   >   
   > "J. P. Gilliver (John)"  wrote in message   
   > news:cRmH5almZ5APFw1+@soft255.demon.co.uk...   
   > > In message , Geoffrey S. Mendelson   
   > >  writes:   
   > >>Eiron wrote:   
   > >>>   
   > >>> Can I just mention another example of European Union lunacy?   
   > >>> Voltage is standardized at 230v +- a fudge factor so that the UK   
   > >>> can keep to 240v and the rest of Europe can keep 220v with no plans   
   > >>> for any country to adopt 230v. Now that is dumb!   
   > >>   
   > >>No, it makes perfect sense. A long time ago England was 240 volts and   
   > >>continental Europe was 220 volts, both 50Hz. I don't know when this   
   > >>was standrdized up until WWII France used 120 volt 60Hz AC.   
   > >   
   > > (Are you sure? I thought their TV standards - even the early ones - were   
   > > 50Hz-related, which would not be a good idea if they really had 60Hz   
   > > mains.)   
   > >>   
   >   
   > Indeed, French TV standards were all based on a 50Hz field rate. (the French   
   > had a 441-line transmitter operating from the Eiffel Tower before the war,   
   > famously taken over by the Germans and operated by them for the duration.   
   > After the war they went one better than everybody else and adopted an   
   > 819-line standard. But colour transmissions (SECAM of course) were on   
   > 625-lines. The 819 line standard was finally abandoned in the 1980s ).   
   >   
   > In the 1950s French mains, at least in some parts of the country, was still   
   > at 110V or thereabouts, but at 50Hz. I'm not sure when they changed to 220V   
   > but certainly by the 1980s French mains was standardised on 220V/50Hz.   
   >   
      
   In Italy, in 1964, a friend found that his electric razor wouldn't work,   
   so he switched it to 110V. Problem solved!   
      
   When he finished shaving, he complained his razor seemed to be getting   
   unusually hot. I looked up at the nearest light bulb and noted that it   
   said 130V!   
      
   --   
      
   Terry   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)