Perdio Portarama Dual Standard
I have seen examples of the Portarama 1 and 2 which are single standard
405 sets, and the very different Portarama 3 which is 405/625. I am certain that I saw one example of a set which looked like the Portarama 2 but the top section with the handle was above an extension of the cabinet which included a dial and pointer UHF (not rotary) tuner. I cannot find a picture of this variation. Does anyone remember this dual standard version ? |
Re: Perdio Portarama Dual Standard
That's right. A number of Portarama 2 sets were converted to dual standard operation, probably in the factory. Very rare set. So is the Portarama 3.
DFWB. |
Re: Perdio Portarama Dual Standard
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I think this is all three versions. The one you mention is on the top right. They all worked well when tried a good while back. J.
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Re: Perdio Portarama Dual Standard
Wow, never seen the "dual standard" MK2 before!
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Re: Perdio Portarama Dual Standard
Fascinating: I always thought Perdio had gone bust before UHF TV really arrived on the scene.
I wonder what transistors they were using in then UHF strip? |
Re: Perdio Portarama Dual Standard
Well done HCS - there can't be many sets you've not seen. I was not able to fix it in
1972 as I think the LOPT was dud, but I would attempt it today. Perdio's demise is not entirely clear - I have a stereo amplifier from around 1971 with the Perdio Audio brand name (Lion logo) -I have no idea where it was made (UK) or who sold it. Anyway I think the TV IF strip was germanium, AF178,180, tuner probably AF139 or 239. |
Re: Perdio Portarama Dual Standard
The increasing far east imports and the huge development costs of the television side finally finished off a very good British Company.
I can't do it at the moment due to other commitments but I will attempt to beat a path to it sometime this winter. J. |
Re: Perdio Portarama Dual Standard
Hi
The name and logo turned up again in the late Eighties, as old names so often did. This time it was through Colorvision (sic) - black plastic sets fitted with (usually) an Eastern European copy of a Toshiba TV - the innards looked like a Toshiba but the components were at odd angles to each other, something Toshiba would never do. The manager of the local Colorvision shop admitted they knew nothing about TVs and couldn't care less about them - they sold finance. If you walked to buy a TV with cash and didn't want an extended warranty (their 'Dizzy Gold' package) then you were given very short shrift. Of course the inevitable happened and many low-income customers were left with a broken TV and years to run on a worthless HP agreement. Glyn |
Re: Perdio Portarama Dual Standard
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Some info about Perdio:- Perdio Ltd, Dunstan House, St Cross Street, London, EC1 (in 1957). In 1962, name changed to Perdio Electronics Ltd, Bonhill Street, London, EC2 (when Perdio became a public company in 1962) and opened a factory near Sunderland. Established in 1956, by Derek Wilmot and financed by Irish peer, Lord Suirdale. Perdio stood for Personal Radio. Perdio quickly established a big share of the transistor portable radio market. In 1963, they were selling the “KH” high impedance meter adaptor (see Kenure-Holt). In the early 1960’s they also made transistor portable TV sets (The “Portarama”). They struggled to compete with imported far eastern “Empire made” transistor portables and their “Portarama” TV set didn’t do as well as hoped. Consequently, Perdio went into receivership in 1965. By 1965, Perdio also owned: Kenure-Holt Electronics and Electric Audio Reproducers ("EAR") Ltd. The brand was subsequently used on imported radios by others. In 1966, Dansette Products Ltd, a company recently formed to take over the assets of Perdio Electronics Ltd acquired the company. Mr Louis Margolin (of Dansette) became the MD of Perdio and Dansette. Of course, Dansette went bust a few years later (Rank Radio International acquired and used the Dansette brand for a few years in the early 1970s). I don't know what happened to the Perdio brand after Dansette Products Ltd went bust............. Regards, Dazzlevision |
Re: Perdio Portarama Dual Standard
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Advert from Pratical Television January 1966, presumably bankrupt stock?
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Re: Perdio Portarama Dual Standard
Half price! How did Perdio expect to sell what looks like a 'kit set' for £100, a lot of money in 1965. I suspect that the majority of these receivers were sold by Laskys at a more reasonable £51 nine shillings. J.
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Re: Perdio Portarama Dual Standard
In about 1968 the "Television Tube Shop" (in Putney??) sold these off in the form of case, CRT, scan-coils, LOPT and knobs. My friend Bob and I bought such a "kit" each intending to build a 625/UHF-only set in anticipation of all channels moving to that standard which was quite forward thinking! Bob got as far as a raster and probably finished the job but we'd lost touch before reaching that stage. I had a lot of educational catching up to do so mine has stayed as a kit...
Graham |
Re: Perdio Portarama Dual Standard
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The mid-1960s was also the time when the industry was switching from germanium to silicon transistors (and generally from P-N-P to N-P-N as well with a change in which supply-rail was 'earth') so I can easily imagine how a small manufacturer with limited development funds would want to keep as much of their existing design in production and graft in only the bare minimum of what they needed to UHF/625-line-ize it. |
Re: Perdio Portarama Dual Standard
One of these MK2 dual standard Portaramas as described came up on Ebay a year or two back. The picture of the set was very much as described with all the UHF gubbins in an extended top panel. The one for sale also had a toggle switch to turn off the AGC. Apparently it was one of a number modified and used by the GPO to test the real reception conditions of the then new UHF network.
The standard set had absolutely nothing dual standard about it apart from a power socket to feed a UHF tuner. I presume that was a gimmick included so they could market it as 'convertible'. So the dual standard version must include an additional IF strip as well as some timebase switching. I am not aware of any conversion kits, but perhaps the MK2 with UHF was such an animal? |
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I always liked the look of the (particularly earlier) Perdio stuff and I think it was a great shame they came to grief. My personal favourites were the Town & Country radio and the MkI & II Portaramas. I loved its appearance on the opening titles of the BBC's Play for Today which, one may have thought, would have made it more popular - alas it seems not. |
Re: Perdio Portarama Dual Standard
My other interest draws me back to the Laskys advert -
'We prefer not to send these sets by carrier....(but) will send by Express Passenger Train Parcels service at a cost of £4' Those were the days! |
Re: Perdio Portarama Dual Standard
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As far as the Portarama was concerned, the LOPT circuit was VERY Fragile, we sold two in the late sixties, and both had Line Issues, replacing the Transistor and boost diodes. However years later, John Birkett of Lincoln bought some of the redundant stock, particularly the Line Transformers and boost diodes. |
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Alvin PS Hauling this back on topic I had a brief flirtation with a Portorama around 4 years ago picking it up at Wimbledon car boot sale then selling it at Harpenden a few months later......I loved the style of it but couldn't justify the cost of an Aurora at the time so let it go. |
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