h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The black and white fuzzy wuzzy on an untuned channel that goes "chrchrchrchrchrch"? It looks like black and white dots dancing round.

I read in a Bill Bryson book that, technically speaking, you're watching the Big Bang (or something).

What's it called?

'Snow' is a popular term

Collins describes snow as: "the random pattern of white spots on a television or radar screen, produced by noise in the receiver and occurring when the signal is weak or absent"

http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/snow

White noise

(snow too yes)

In Sweden it's known rather poetically as "The war of the ants".

I can't help but hear post 5 in Stephen Fry's voice.

I always knew it as "static" might be a regional thing.

The problem is that it can be more entertaining than some of the broadcast stuff

Thanks peeps.

I keep hearing "fuzzy wuzzy telly" in Worzel Gummidge's voice

I'd call it "static" or "snow".

I miss the old 'snow' on cathode ray tubes.
Today's new flat screens just go to black at the loss of signal
and then to a blacker shade of dark when powered down.

~jwf~

I don't :P

As a young man I was won't to leave the telly on in my student digs planning to watch it all night. Of course I'd been woken in the wee small hours by the 'CHHHHHHHTTTTTT!' noise. A black screen and silence is definitely an improvement.

Although I know what you mean.

I have fond memories of a night in 1967 when i realised
the station had gone off air and I became fascinated by
the snow. I stared at if for at least an hour and after a
bit I began to see hints of pastel colours like the aurora
borealis - emphmeral, shifting, dancing like ghosts in the
white/grey tundra.

But the best part came when I finally decided to turn it
off and noticed that the light shrank quickly from a full
screen to a large, perhaps one inch diameter dot in the
center of the 21in screen. it remained glowing but fading
and shrinking to a single pin-point - it seemed to last for
several minutes. I'm sure my eye retained a memory of
its final glow long after it actually died away - I'm sure
because I turned it on and off several times to experience
the effect. Fascinating stuff. This was way back in the days
when a kilo of Mexican ditch weed was full of twigs and
bugs.



~jwf~