Ekco T545 portable TV set.
 

Worth keeping and fixing or should it join the rest of the electronic waste that is being cleared out from the upstairs stock room?

It is the Ekco model T545, a badge engineered Hitachi. The special mains lead is missing.

DFWB.

Re: Ekco T545 portable TV set.
 

Def keep David, They are 100% reliable. The two pins on their own are the mains input. A figure 8 lead will just about fit. John.

Re: Ekco T545 portable TV set.
 

Hi John,
Any idea when these sets were first on sale. Was it before I opened the shop in 1972. I'm sure there was a Philips badged version.

Previous to the Ekco T545, the model T544, a truly horrible thing!

DFWB.

Re: Ekco T545 portable TV set.
 

These are excellent little sets. I believe they date from 1972 - see attached picture of Ekco brochure titled "it's Ekco leap ahead year" (1972 was indeed a leap year, with 29 days in February.)

Back in 2010 I bought one from a car boot sale for the princely sum of £1.50 complete with mains lead. It was and still is working, more than 40 years after it was made. It used to pick up Channel 5 surprisingly well, until the analogue switchoff in 2012. And analogue Channel 5 was difficult to receive here.

My set did not have the brown tinted plastic cover over the screen. It's not shown in the Ekco brochure either. Was it an optional accessory?

Yes there was a Philips equivalent to the Ekco T545. I have the full service manual for it.

Re: Ekco T545 portable TV set.
 

That picture of the little set looks as if it has been 'fiddled' with. Maybe it looked a bit sinister in real life. It is certainly very hard to photograph!

OOO! David, that 'orrible T544. Must be voted top for being the worst load of junk ever in the portable TV market. It makes you want to love an AVS..

Pictures of the Hitachi/Ekco/Philips taken this morning. Best caravan receiver! John.

Re: Ekco T545 portable TV set.
 

I have never seen a Ekco portable with a Hitachi chassis before so I would say save it. All the little Hitachi tvs from this time were built like battle ships. They are so reliable and easy to fix if they do go faulty. At digital switch over they were going as cheap as chips at car boot sales. I have a mid 70s one model P20 I got for a tenner last year. Still shows a good picture, just the top section of the aerial missing.

Re: Ekco T545 portable TV set.
 

We must have not sold the T544, if it was a bad un, I would have rembered it. The worst BW chassis I saw from Pye/Ekco I think the 40 series, could be wrong on the number but it was the 6 push button intergrated UHF/VHF tuner that had flying buttons, the IF strip was fixed on the back of the tuner assy. Rotten piece of work.

Re: Ekco T545 portable TV set.
 

Hi Frank, The Ekco T544 was a dreadful set. No idea where it was made, it might have been made in an Eastern Bloc country. It had that look about it.
Pye model 31 was the first set to have the six button integrated tuner, I think the model 40 was a full 19" CRT receiver. That tuner was a disaster for the firm.

DFWB.

Re: Ekco T545 portable TV set.
 

Connected a "figure-of-eight" mains connector to the T545, no results. It's possible there might be links inside the six pin connecter to alter the power circuits when on mains.

DFWB.

Re: Ekco T545 portable TV set.
 

You'd have to look at the schematic! There is jumpers in the mains lead as well as the battery lead, only a different configuration.