Well, would you have left it there?
 

At the recycling centre with yet more rubble when I spotted this poor lonely set among the flat screens. Nearly drove off, but then I couldn't resist and liberated it (with permission).

You'll remember these - the Thorn 1691, this time as an unusual 14" Ultra. Worked straight away (yes, I know, but, hey) - the only problems being a sluggish on/off switch and noisy customer controls.

Luckily I have one of those in-line EHT rectifiers we bought by the bucketload when these sets were current which gave these sets a new lease of life when the potted EHT rectifier failed, so I'm prepared!

The tube's very good and sharp, though my camera isn't.

Now where to put it?

PS No talk about recycling centres' policies, just the TV please!

Re: Well, would you have left it there?
 

Nice find. From the picture tube I'd say it was made in 1977.

Re: Well, would you have left it there?
 

No, I would not have left it there!

My gran had one of these sets, bought probably in 1977. My forgetory thought hers was branded Thorn-Ferguson(?). It helped to start my interest in DX-TV. Pulled in Yorkshire Television on its loop aerial in a suburb in South Birmingham. That was in 1981; a later catch was HTV in Welsh one morning in NE Birmingham.

The tuning control was delightfully smooth and totally lacking in backlash.

Re: Well, would you have left it there?
 

The picture looks period accurate.

Re: Well, would you have left it there?
 

Yes - the Ferguson or Ultra 12" versions were more common with a black or white cabinet.
This 14" with the top mounted sliders is a bit more unusual.

These were far better than the later Ferguslon 38050 with the jittery tuning pot and the mains transformer PCB mounted that didn't take kindly to any jolting. Just the LOPT to let it down.

I don't think this one's ever had the back off!

Re: Well, would you have left it there?
 

Great find! I would certainly have acquired it but they've become awkward at the recycling centres where I live and can no longer purchase electrical goods.

I had a few good finds in the past, the best being a 17" transportable (handle on the top) BRC 1500 with a good Mazda Goldstar CRT!

I also picked up the same 1691 set from a charity shop about ten years ago and is in really good condition. Yes, the LOPT could be troublesome, I wasn't overly keen on fitting the add on EHT rectifier incase the original became intermittent so tried to obtain the correct LOPT. I think SENDZ used to be a good source for replacements.

Regards,
Symon

Re: Well, would you have left it there?
 

Nice find! It’s the same chassis that was fitted to my ‘Thorny-Bush’ TV22, which I pulled out and replaced with the correct Bush chassis last week, it also gave an excellent account of itself after removal, even managed to get the picture geometry somewhere near sensible too.

I think it was the slightly earlier chassis that I had trouble with the lopty on, it was very similar to this chassis, so I took a hacksaw followed by a hammer and chisel to the overwind, found the offending rectifier diode, and replaced it with one salvaged from a colour TV lopty! Still working now! I did try replacing it with a DY86 valve too, which also worked, but it was like having a nest of angry hornets strapped to the lopty… fun experiment though!

Who would have thought these little sets would be of interest now though? Back when I was getting tellies off the tip (around 2004) I was getting these for a couple of quid, never thinking they’d become collectible! Same with all the 14” portable colour things, you couldn’t give them away back then, but now the retro gamers want them! I wish I’d got more of them now.

Regards
Lloyd

Re: Well, would you have left it there?
 

Handsome sets in the faux-woodgrain finish. Well rescued Glyn!

I have one and was surprised to find it fitted with an apparently oversized speaker mounted at angle, so that it wasn't flat to the speaker baffle. I assumed that someone had wedged a later replacement speaker in, but looking at your set it seems to be the same, unless my eyes are playing tricks on me. It's almost as if they designed the cabinet for a narrow speaker, but couldn't source anything suitable.

Steve

Re: Well, would you have left it there?
 

No, your eyes aren't deceiving you! The previous 14" did have speaker problems ISTR so maybe they changed the supplier?
Here's a picture of it beside its 14" predecessor - they certainly managed to reduce the size - and source a better (Mullard) CRT.

Re: Well, would you have left it there?
 

Attractive little set. I rescued a ferguson branded one a few years ago from Freegle. I now just notice the large speaker that looks crammed in!

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=152861

Re: Well, would you have left it there?
 

Well spotted, and good save.
I couldn't have left it there either!. I have a tendency to save old sets too (on the very rare occasion I see one), even though I already have more old CRT sets than I know what to do with :-D

Re: Well, would you have left it there?
 

Looks like one of the survivors in this shot of a cat cafe on fb

Re: Well, would you have left it there?
 

You probably saved it from a fate of being made into a decoupaged display cabinet with Bluetooth speakers...

Terry

Re: Well, would you have left it there?
 

That would have perhaps been preferable as it was in the container destined for 'recycling'.