Below this first Technical Abbreviations section you will find abbreviations for ITV Contractors and TV-specific acronyms.

TECHNICAL ABBREVIATIONS

These general technical expressions include some that you will hear regularly. Not all of these are used in broadcasting but they are all likely to be encountered in technical literature or as markings on equipment.

• AC - alternating current
• AF - audio frequency (often called low frequency in continental Europe).
• AGC - automatic gain control
• aircheck - recording of a radio programme with the music removed (apart from the opening and close of records), so that presenters can review their programmes without having to listen through the records
• airplane dial - circular dial on radio receivers (like the old Zenith consoles had). Most times they have a vernier tuning knob and span 300 degrees or so.
• AM - (British) Air Ministry
• amp - amplifier
• ANB - Army-Navy-British (on headsets, etc.)
• AP (plus number) - Admiralty Pattern (type number, on all manner of British Navy equipment)
• APC - automatic picture control (to maintain contrast level)
• AVC - automatic volume control (in radio, effectively the same as AGC)
• AVO - a particular UK make of multimeter (AVO stands for amps, volts, ohms) but often applied to any multimeter
• AWG - American Wire Gauge. Almost the same as the British SWG.
• B+ - high-voltage supply, generally termed HT in Britain
• BA - (humorous) boatanchor
• BC - broadcast
• BF - basse fréquence (French); see AF
• BGM - background music
• Black Beauty - (ironic) a type of shiny black capacitor, popular in the 1950s and 60s but now likely to cause severe problems in equipment
• boatanchor - (humorous) Although there are different interpretations of this term, generally any radio that is ‘hollow state’ or tube-type is liable to be considered a ‘boatanchor’. Units produced from WWII until the mid-1960s are probably the most popular examples of the genre. The origin of the term ‘boatanchor’ becomes self-evident after carrying a DX100 (a classic anchor) to your car and noticing how much longer your arms have become. Boatanchors may be transmitters or receivers... and no 'anchor’ station is complete without an assortment of like-aged station accessories such as microphones, transmit/receive relays, vintage SWR bridges and so on.
• bottle - (humorous) valve
• BPO - British Post Office
• Breveté - Patent (French word)
• bug, dead bug - (humorous) integrated circuit
• BVA - British Radio Valve Manufacturers Association
• BWO - backward-wave oscillator
• cascade - in cascade = in series
• cermet - ceramic-metal construction
• chassis - chassis potential is the potential of the chassis; it may be the same as earth if the chassis is earthed (grounded); alternatively on AC receivers it be connected to the Return of the mains supply and thus Live. Some TV receivers had chassis at half-mains potential.
• cheater cord (USA) - TV sets in particular had plug-in power cords that were captive to the back of the set so that, when the owner removed the cover in order to pull the tubes and check them on the tester at the supermarket, he wouldn't get shocked. The cord that the repair shop used to plug into such a chassis was known as a Cheater Cord.
• condenser - older name for capacitor
• CRT - cathode ray tube (TV picture tube)
• crystal triode - early name for transistor
• CTV - colour television
• CW - continuous wave, also applied to Morse code operation over radio links
• DAB - digital audio broadcasting, i.e. digital radio (colloquially 'dead and burried')
• DAT - digital audio tape
• DBGM - Deutsche Bundesgebrauchsmuster, post-war German for ‘registered design’
• DC - direct current
• DCC - digital compact cassette
• deck - colloquial term implying chassis, at chassis potential
• DOG - digitally originated graphic
• DRGM - Deutsche Reichsgebrauchsmuster, pre-1945 German for ‘registered design’ (colloquially 'Dirty rotten German make')
• Dsat - digital satellite television
• DSB - double sideband
• DSP - digital signal processing
• DTT, DTTV - digital terrestrial television
• DVM - digital voltmeter
• DX - long-distance
• EHF - extra high frequencies, 30-300GHz
• EHT - extra high tension (measured in thousands of volts)
• EIA - Electronics Industry Association (USA body)
• EIAJ - Electronics Industry Association of Japan
• elco - Continental name for ELectrolytic COndenser (capacitor)
• EMF - electro-motive force (measured in volts)
• FAQ - frequently-asked question
• FET - field-effect transistor
• firebottle - (humorous) valve
• Flower Power - (humorous) Germanium transistor, so-called because of the common misprint in books arising from confusion during the hippy (flower power) era with the flower Geranium
• fluid state - see Hollow State
• freezing lotion - aerosol can of freezing liquid (useful for identifying faulty capacitors and transistors)
• GB - grid bias, Gaumont-British
• G-G - grounded grid
• gimmick - a capacitor made by twisting two pieces of insulated wire together
• GPO - General Post Office (Great Britain), Government Printing Office (USA)
• Griefkit - (humorous) rhyming name applied to a certain brand of do-it-yourself radio and electronics construction kits, popular in the USA and Britain from the 1950s-1980s. The name is cruel because the quality of these kits has not been surpassed since, although not every constructor was up to the task of assembling them.
• Ground - North American term for Earth
• HC - hard copper (wire)
• HF - high frequency, Hoch Frequenz, Haute fréquence (used in continental Europe to mean what most English speakers call RF or radio frequency), otherwise the frequency band 3-30MHz
• hollow state - (humorous) thermionic, the opposite of solid state
• HT - high tension (measured in hundreds of volts) or handie-talkie (hand-held transceiver)
• humbug - humorous name for a type of capacitor that looks like a boiled sweet or candy, also known as a Black Beauty (q.v.)
• HV - high voltage (same meaning as HT)
• ident - short for station identification, either visual (television) or audio (radio and television)
• i.p.s. - inches per second (tape recording speed)
• ISEP - International Standard Equipment Practice. A style of plug-in cards and racks popular in the 1960s and 70s
• JAN - Joint Army-Navy (USA)
• KG - Dutch for short wave
• KW - German for short wave
• LF - low frequency (radio, 30-300kHz) or in continental Europe this means what we English speakers call AF or audio frequency
• LO - London (BBC/ITV telegraphic code), local oscillator
• LOPT or LOPTX - line output transformer
• LS - loudspeaker
• LT - low tension
• LW - long wave
• m - metres
• mF - microfarad (logically it should stand for millifarad but nobody counts in millifarads)
• MF - medium frequency (radio, 300-3,000kHz) or multi-frequency
• MGS - miscellaneous government surplus
• mil. spec. - military specification (high quality standard)
• mmF - micromicrofarad (older name for picofarad)
• mod - model, modification, modulation
• MOMI - Museum of the Moving Image (London)
• MW - medium wave
• NAB - National Association of Broadcasters, an American body responsible for making many broadcast-industry standards.
• NF - noise figure, a measure (in dB) of the noise generated by an amplifier compared to a perfect (noiseless) amplifier. Not to be confused with noise factor, which is something else
• NFTVA - National Film & Television Archive (part of the British Film Institute)
• NICAM - Near Instantaneously Companded Audio Multiplex
• NMPFT - National Museum of Photography, Film & Television (Bradford)
• NSN - (on components) NATO stock number
• OB - outside broadcast (known as a ‘remote’ in the USA)
• OC - French for short wave
• O/C or open - open circuit
• octalox - loktal (series of valves)
• OM - French for medium wave
• ORACLE - Optional Reception of Announcements by Coded Line Electronics, the ITV acronym for teletext
• OT - old-time, old-timer
• OTR - old-time radio
• P as B - programme as broadcast, i.e. a recording made 'live' at the time of broadcast, with nothing deleted
• PA - power amplifier or public address
• PCB - printed circuit board or Poly Chlorinated Biphenol, a hazardous substance
• pF - picofarad
• pigtail - a flexible termination for single-core (solid) wire, made by wrapping the wire in a spiral around a piece of rod or screwdriver
• PS - power supply
• PSU - power supply unit
• PTT - press-to-talk (method of switching from receive to transmit) or Post, Telegraph and Telephone administration
• PU - power unit or (gramophone) pick-up
• PWB - printed wiring board (alternative expression for PCB)
• pwr sup - power supply
• Q - abbreviation for capacitor or transistor on circuit diagram, alternatively the figure of merit for a tuned circuit
• Rat Shack - colloquial name for a nation-wide chain of electronics hobby shops in the USA, often used semi-humorously
• RCM - Radio Component Manufacturers
• RCMF - Radio Component Manufacturers Federation (former UK trade body)
• rcvr - receiver
• resistance - older name for resistor
• RLM - Reichsluftfahrtsministerium (former German air ministry)
• RMA - Radio Manufacturers Association (former UK and US bodies, independent of each other)
• rock - colloquial term for crystal
• Röhre - German for valve
• RS - can stand for Radio Shack (Tandy) or RS (Radiospares) when used as a prefix to part numbers. Check the context.
• RTMA - Radio & Television Manufacturers Association (former US trade body)
• RTR - ready to run or reel-to-reel
• RTTY - Radio teletype (teletypewriter traffic sent over a radio circuit rather than by wire)
• RU - rack unit – see U
• rx - receive, receiver
• SAE - self-addressed envelope
• SASE - self-addressed stamped envelope
• sand-state - (humorous) solid-state or silicon
• S/C or short - short circuit
• s.c.c. - silk-covered cotton (wire)
• secteur - French for mains
• SGDG - sans garantie du Gouvernement, literally ‘not guaranteed by the government’, often found next to patent markings on French items
• SHF - super-high frequencies, 3-30GHz
• shunt - in shunt is an older expression for in parallel
• smoothing bomb - (colloquial) electrolytic capacitor
• solid state - device using semiconductor technology or components
• spaghetti - (colloquial) Systoflex (or similar) sleeving, for protecting bare wires
• spkr - speaker (loudspeaker)
• SSB - single sideband
• suicide cord - also known as a 'Widow Maker', this is a power cord with a plug on one end and either bare wires or alligator clips on the other. It was used in radio and TV workshops to apply power to a chassis that was out of the cabinet.
• sustaining programme - unsponsored programme provided without advertisements or idents by the network, which can then be re-broadcast by other stations without the need to obliterate commercials or another station’s ident
• SW - short wave
• SWG - Standard Wire Gauge
• three-wire fuse - humorous term for transistor (also known as solid-state electric fire)
• Talkie-walkie - French for walkie-talkie
• TI - Technical Instruction
• TR - transmit-receive
• trafo - (German) transformer
• tranny - (colloquial) transformer or transistor
• transcribed programme - a recorded programme as opposed to a programme transmitted live
• transcontinental - series of valves introduced in Europe during the late 1930s. Most of these had side contacts and red metallised envelopes or steel cases
• transmission copy - the play-out copy of a programme which was recorded prior to being transmitted
• TTY - teletype (often used as a synonym for teleprinter)
• tube - USA: (electronic) valve
• tube - UK: if used as an abbreviation, generally means a CRT
• tuning wand - a non-metallic (usually Delrin) tool made to fit and adjust a screw / slug / core / etc. of a tuned circuit component. Being both non-magnetic and non-conductive, the tool itself will not cause a shift in the tuned circuit, either by adding inductance (adding permeability) or by adding capacitance.
• T/V - an early abbreviation for television, soon replaced by TV
• TWA - travelling wave amplifier
• TWT - travelling wave tube
• tx - transmitter, transmission, transmission date
• U - Unit of height (1.75") in 19" equipment rack practice. Panels are measured in number of U height.
• uF - microfarad (the u stands for the Greek letter mu)
• UHF - ultra-high frequency, 300MHz-3GHz (before WWII this term also embraced what we now call VHF)
• UKG - Polish for VHF
• UKW - German for VHF
• UL - Underwriters’ Laboratory, a test house in the USA
• U/S - useless, unserviceable
• USW - ultra-short wave, older term for VHF
• vacuum state - see hollow state
• vacuum tube - valve
• valve - France: rectifier valve. Lampe is the general term for a valve
• variac - trade name for variable transformer but now used generically
• VC - variable capacitor
• VCR - video cassette recorder
• VF - video frequency or voice frequency (i.e. audio frequency) according to context
• VGC - very good condition
• VHF - very high frequency (30-300MHz)
• VLF - very low frequency (3-30kHz)
• vol - volume
• VOM - volt-ohm meter, multimeter
• VR - variable resistor
• VSB - vestigial sideband
• VT - valve, thermionic or valve, transistor (abbreviation used on circuit diagrams), or videotape
• VTR - video tape recorder
• VTVM - vacuum tube voltmeter, i.e. VVM
• VVM - valve voltmeter, what people used before high-impedance multimeters became widely available
• Walkie-talkie - portable hand-held radio transceiver
• WARC - World Administrative Radio Conference
• WG - waveguide
• widow-maker - see Suicide Cord
• x - general cypher used to shorten words (see examples below)
• xcvr - receiver
• xfmr - transformer
• xistor, xstr - transistor
• xmit - transmit
• xmtr - transmitter
• xtal - crystal
• 73 - Best Regards (telegraphic and amateur radio expression)

ACRONYMS & ABBREVIATIONS SPECIFIC TO TELEVISION

• AP - Alexandra Palace (BBC Transmitter).
• ARC - aspect ratio converter
• BAS - composite video
• BF - Burst flag (same as Burst gate)
• BG - Burst gate
• CAR - central apparatus room
• CCTV - closed-circuit TV
• CFF - Children's Film Foundation
• CNR - Children's Newsreel
• COI - Central Office of Information
• COIS - COI Shorts, or PIFs.
• COR - central operations room
• CS - combined syncs (see MS).
• CTV - colour television.
• DVE - digital video effects (generator)
• FBAS - colour composite video
• FD - Field Drive, a signal used to drive cameras and other studio equipment.
• FR - Film recording (see also TR)
• FX - effects (sound effects or visual effects)
• GFX - graphics
• Harry, Hal and Harriet - proprietary graphics and video editing systems by Quantel Ltd.
• HD - Horizontal Drive (see Line Drive).
• HM - Holme Moss (BBC transmitter).
• IBA - Independent Broadcasting Authority (now ITC)
• IN - Insert
• ITA - Independent Television Authority (later became IBA)
• ITC - Independent Television Commission or Incorporated Television Company
• KRS - King's Reach Studios (LWT/London Studios, South Bank)
• LD - Line Drive, a signal used to drive cameras and other studio equipment.
• Lines - Termination room for sound and vision landline circuits
• LO - London (BBC/ITV/PO telegraphic code).
• MB - Mixed Blanking, the combination of line and field blanking, a signal used to drive cameras and other studio equipment.
• MCR - master control room or mobile control room (if a scanner van)
• MS - Mixed syncs, the combination of line and field synchronising signals, a signal used to drive cameras and other studio equipment. Also known as Combined Syncs.
• NTSC - National Television System Committee (USA standards body)
• OAR - Off Air Recording
• OB - outside broadcast.
• OOV - out of vision
• PA - presentation assistant (BBC)
• PDA - pulse distribution amplifier
• PIF - Public Information Film, generally made by the COI
• PLUGE - PICTURE LINE-UP GENERATING EQUIPMENT (gives a signal used to set gain and lift on monitors; not a transmitted test signal)
• PRES - Presentation
• PROM or PROMO - Promotion
• PSA - public service announcement, the radio equivalent of a PIF on television
• Q - Cue
• QUAD - 2" Quadruplex VTR
• SC - Sutton Coldfield (BBC transmitter)
• sc - subcarrier
• SNF - staff, no fee (BBC expression for material not requiring copyright or performance fees)
• SOVT - Sound On Videotape (used in promotion scripts, etc)
• SCAR - Spur Central Apparatus Room (BBC TVC, London)
• SPG - Synchronising Pulse Generator, produces a master source of LD, FD, MB and MS.
• TARIF - Technical Apparatus for the Rectification of Inferior Film (colour grading, essentially).
• TCD - Telecine Dub
• TJ - BBC abbreviation for a slide scanner (because an early slide scanner product was the American Tel-o-jector).
• TK - BBC abbreviation for telecine, a device for televising 16mm or 35mm motion picture film (tele-kine, because the ‘correct’ pronunciation of cine is kine).
• TNR - Television Newsreel
• TR - BBC abbreviation for telerecording
• TVC - (BBC) Television Centre
• VAR - Vision Apparatus Room
• VCR - video cassette recorder.
• VD - Vertical Drive (see Field Drive).
• VDA - video distribution amplifier.
• VT - videotape.
• VTR - video tape recorder.

ITV CONTRACTORS

• ANG - Anglia
• ATV - Associated
• BDR - Border
• CAR - Carlton
• CEN - Central
• CHA - Channel
• GPN - Grampian
• GRA - Granada
• HAR - Harlech
• ITN - Independent Television News
• LNN - London News Network
• LWT - London Weekend
• MER - Meridian
• SOU - Southern
• STV - Scottish
• THS - Thames
• TVS - Television South
• TSW - Television South West
• TTT - Tyne Tees
• UTV - Ulster
• WTV - Westward
• WES - Westcountry
• YTV - Yorkshire

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