List of BBC test cards

The only differences were that the frequency bars were juxtaposed, the values were deleted, and an Ilford Panchromatic Response Chart placed below the circle where the letter box had been, the letter box in Test Card A was moved to the top of the card replacing the vertical resolution test.

Heavy modifications of Test Card C were used by ABC Television in Australia[10] and NIRT in Iran.

[11] Pye developed a monochrome variant of Test Card C called Test Card G.[2] It was used in several countries that use 625-line PAL and SECAM, such as People's Republic of Bulgaria,[12] Denmark,[13] Luxembourg,[14] Thailand, Barbados, Malaysia,[15] and Hungarian People's Republic,[16] but not in Britain.

This modified Test Card C also had versions where Reduced Power also appeared in the ident box.

This version of Test Card C was last used in February 1975, and was only ever generated locally at the transmitter.

[5] Test Card G was generally used by local transmitters for opt outs or during times when a particular region was not showing a programme broadcast from London.

[5] Test Card W is an updated 16:9 (1.78:1) widescreen version of Test Card F. A predecessor card, without an identifying letter, first appeared in March 1998 as part of digital tests on the Astra 1D satellite, and was notably broadcast to the public on 6 November 1998 as part of a joke on Have I Got News For You to censor then-host Angus Deayton about discussing Peter Mandelson's life.

[5][23] The high-definition version of Test Card W is visually similar but officially lacks a designation letter.

It was also broadcast in October 1997 from 3:29 am until 3:44 am, when, at the same time, BBC1 showed Test Card G. Both channels reverted over to these at the same time, and reverted to TCF at the same time, as part of a switching test with BBC Birmingham, whereby in the event of a need to evacuate BBC TV to Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham, such as a power failure as happened in June 2000, a switch would be thrown, putting Birmingham in control of the network, until BBC Television Centre could regain control.

Both transmissions were accompanied by a four-tone test tone, ranging from extremely low frequency to a very high shrill.

[5] This test card featured ten-year-old competition winner Hannah Marriott, wearing a red nose.