The Test Card Gallery – TV test patterns from around the world. Do any TV stations still have test patterns? They used to show these things for a few minutes just before coming on the air in the morning and before going off the air at night.

Yes boys and girls, there was once a time when TV stations did not stay on the air all night. Most stations also played the national anthem before sign-off too and there was at least one that had a guy reciting the poem High Flight while showing images of jets. Ah the good old days. I am grateful to my mother for occasionally allowing me to stay up late enough to see that.

You can see a lot more test patterns in this two minute Youtube video. The one I remember from when I was a kid (before the color bars) was similar to the famous Indian head test pattern but it didn’t have the Indian and there were other differences but I remember the big circle in the middle, the four smaller circles in the corners and some other lines or symbols or something.