I quote form a web site:
“Probably the most famous American B&W test pattern is the so-called “Indian Head” monoscope pattern. This pattern was originated by RCA in 1939; it was designed to be generated using a special tube called a monoscope, a CRT which had a metal plate target on which the pattern was printed. The black lines of the pattern would interrupt current flow as the pattern was scanned to provide the desired video output. These tubes could only handle black and white – no shades of gray hence they had to be simulated either with a halftone dot pattern or with patterns of fine lines…”
From http://www.videouniversity.com/tvtestpa.htm
In spite of the original technology and purpose of this pattern, it persisted for a long time on American and Canadian TV Stations.
Now I remember seeing this on the old TV’s.
oh my, dating myself
Hmm, I don’t imagine they played the Star Spangled Banner at signoff and signon every day in Canada, did they…?
Actually, I think that sometimes they played both the Canadian and American anthems at sign-off, but I really don’t remember that clearly. I DO remember when we went to the movie theatre, they always had us stand and wait for the Canadian National Anthem to be played before they started the movie. Maybe that was because I was a military brat.