Rownshire Town Broadcast Hijacking Rownshire Public Archives 2016-07-01 | In a lesser known case of broadcast hijacking, a Rownshire Television teletext news broadcast displaying news information about a suspected rabies outbreak in the summer of was hijacked by a individual who has not yet been identified.This tape was found in the RWNS-TV archives and was given to the owner of this channel on request.More information can be found on the ;
Rownshire Institute of Defensive Sciences alert state tape - early 2000s? Rownshire Public Archives 2025-02-23 | This tape was given to me by an individual working within an archival group - this group works on behalf of private and governmental clients, and archives video footage at datacentres around the UK.He explained to me that this tape - reference "MOD-5371" - was used as a 'state confirmation tape'. Simply put, these tapes would be left in dead drops or covert locations where they could be retrieved by a field operative. They would allow other units to determine the status of a secure site that otherwise may have no communications equipment - usually because having communications equipment would be a security risk.The Rownshire Institute of Defensive Sciences used these tapes until the early 2000s - even after the town was destroyed, the Institute carried on with biological and chemical testing until some point in the early 2000s, when work suddenly ceased.This tape was the last state confirmation tape. I've no idea what Veronique Station is. I'm going to focus on figuring out what.The final few second of the clip appear to show some kind of recital. The origin of this recital has not been determined. I would like to know more about this clip. If you have any information, please reach out to me at:rownshire@gmail.com
Strange and unknown Rownshire TV broadcast hijacking [read description] Rownshire Public Archives 2025-01-21 | This is one of the most obscure and important pieces in my archive.I was given this tape a long time ago by an alleged Rownshire resident who, upon hearing about my research project, gave me a box full of personal effects. Most of them were, frankly, junk. However, this tape stood out to me as it seems to be another local hijacking. It might be entirely fake, but it is certainly important.Here are some points to note:1. The hijacking was clearly inspired by the so-called 'Captain Midnight' hijacking which took place in 1986 in the on April 27, 1986 in Ocala, Florida. There is no link between the perpetrator of the Captain Midnight hijacking and the Rownshire hijackers that I can see. I believe this was, at best, a disgruntled group of television broadcasting enthusiasts who wanted to make a statement like the "Telewizja Solidarnosc" hijackers in 1985.2. This dates the hijacking to some time after 1986. Rownshire simply disappeared off the map some time between 1987 and 1989. Given how long it would take enthusiasts to deliver underground tapes such as the clearly inspirational Midnight tape from the United States to the UK, I would put it at 1988 and no earlier.3. I do not know much about that Doctor Who episode. The Max Headroom comparisons are obvious. It leads me to doubt the authenticity of this tape somewhat, but coincidences do happen, I suppose. 4. The "Unit" probably refers to the local British Army unit who were posted to the Institute of Defensive Sciences. They wore no visible insignia, were seemingly drawn from more elite units such as the Parachute Regiment if their equipment was anything to go by, and they were treated with suspicion by some members of the public. By all accounts they caused no real issues, as it was not an active military posting like the Northern Ireland conflict was.I hope this footage is informative.
Rownshire-issued survival kit prototype - incomplete Rownshire Public Archives 2025-01-21 | This video footage is from the same batch of tapes given to me a long time ago by an assistant who has since passed - see my last video for more information on that.At some point in the mid-1980s it was decided that Rownshire residents should be issued with protective equipment in case of 'emergencies' at the nearby Institute of Defensive Sciences (sometimes referred to as the Institute, the Defensive Sciences Institute, and the IDS). What these 'emergencies' were that the kits provided protection against are unknown, but I still consider it interesting due to the strong links between those 'emergencies' and the end of Rownshire as a town.
BBC Rownfax emergency system test - 2010 reverse engineered footage Rownshire Public Archives 2025-01-12 | This footage was given to me a long time ago, and was recorded in perhaps 2010 or 2011.The assistant who recorded this footage was working on a personal project that involved extracting 'demo' and 'take' files from old computers involved in carrying out broadcasts on Rownshire television, and then using reverse engineered software to view them on a more modern computer. The old files were only meant to be used on a proprietary piece of software which only ran on some allegedly Acorn Computers manufactured systems. This allowed him to record footage of all sorts of broadcasts - many are pretty dull and depict very simple colour bar testing, test card patterns and orders for local support personnel. On the other hand, some of them help us build a bigger picture of what happened in Rownshire during the 1980s.This footage is of the Rownfax system. Rownfax - sometimes stylised as ROWNFAX - was a system which was somewhat similar to the TeleText and CEEFAX systems used across the United Kingdom at the time. It was intended to display local alerts, local weather and bulletins, and also emergency information. It was similar to the system used by the local RWNS TV station, but it supported further security measures such as a global encryption system to prevent reception outside of the town. It was also 'hardened' against intrusion; I believe this has something to do with the broadcast intrusion which you can view on my channel.I have many other files to sift through, but a lot of them are property of my assistant's estate as he passed away in 2020. I will try and make contact wit them and get the tapes, memory cards and perhaps even computer hardware from him. I am not entirely confident, but I wanted to release this so you all know that this project is still ongoing.
