28 photos of vintage TV, EMI record making, and a 1950s TV & radio shop
 

Terence Sharp, who's family owned the "C. Sharp & Sons" TV & Radio business in Darlington, in the 1950s, sent me a set of interesting pictures.

I felt I had to make them available so I created a section on the TV camera museum website.

http://www.tvcameramuseum.org/photog...-sharp-p1.html

These are outside the normal content for tvcameramuseum so I have posted the details here for those who wish to look. I particularly like the last photo, echoes of Gerry Wells!

There are also two pamphlets that Sharp & Sons produced as part of the retail promotions.

Re: 28 photos of vintage TV, EMI record making, and a 1950s TV & radio shop
 

Thanks for that. I think I recognized all those tellies! John.

Re: 28 photos of vintage TV, EMI record making, and a 1950s TV & radio shop
 

Nice pics, but link to #17 just seems to throw you back to the top of the page.

Re: 28 photos of vintage TV, EMI record making, and a 1950s TV & radio shop
 

what gorgeous sharp photos (no pun intended). You dont see many that good!

Re: 28 photos of vintage TV, EMI record making, and a 1950s TV & radio shop
 

Very interesting, thanks.
Slightly puzzled by the last one (#31), purports to show 2 panel AVO valve tester.
Zooming in shows 2 panels of valve bases mounted in a sloping wooden cabinet with what looks like an AVO minor sitting on top.
There does seem to be another tester tucked away to the right of the stairs.

peter

Re: 28 photos of vintage TV, EMI record making, and a 1950s TV & radio shop
 

I like the magnifying lens on a stand in front of a television in photo 26

John

Re: 28 photos of vintage TV, EMI record making, and a 1950s TV & radio shop
 

I've fixed the link on photo 17, nothing like a bit of user testing! Thanks.

Yes there are curiosities in picture 31, the more you look the more you see. I don't recognise the tester at the back by the stairs, spotted the Avo minor. The two socket panels for the Avo valve tester, I recall hearing that there were different panels, with different sockets? Maybe they are there just to impress? the actual tester is not in view. I have changed the wording slightly. All good comments.

Re: 28 photos of vintage TV, EMI record making, and a 1950s TV & radio shop
 

Thanks Brian
A fascinating glimpse back into the past, a looks a very well run and organised business.

Re: 28 photos of vintage TV, EMI record making, and a 1950s TV & radio shop
 

A bit scary when photographic history is ones memories!

Re: 28 photos of vintage TV, EMI record making, and a 1950s TV & radio shop
 

Very interesting to look through these pictures.

C. Sharp & Sons seemed to stock a wide variety of brands, I assume they would have carried out repairs and servicing for them all.

Re: 28 photos of vintage TV, EMI record making, and a 1950s TV & radio shop
 

I noticed! Thanks :thumbsup:

Re: 28 photos of vintage TV, EMI record making, and a 1950s TV & radio shop
 

Really good pictures. I was looking at the show room lights. It looks as if the flourescent lights also incorporate a normal filament lamp. I don’t think it’s a ballast lamp . I do seem to remember someone saying in days gone by it reduces flicker using both . Andy

Re: 28 photos of vintage TV, EMI record making, and a 1950s TV & radio shop
 

I love to see pictures like these , thank you for posting them.

Robin

Re: 28 photos of vintage TV, EMI record making, and a 1950s TV & radio shop
 

Hello and good morning .
I have enjoyed all the photos and it takes back to the 1960s when we had two Radio and TV repair shops in Wombwell.
Thank You.
Regards
Kevin.

Re: 28 photos of vintage TV, EMI record making, and a 1950s TV & radio shop
 

Hello,
Thanks for posting these they are very interesting
I think the valve tester at the back is a MULLARD MASTER TEST BOARD ( actually a re-badged Philips CARTOMATIC.), an early card type valve tester (probably a progenitor of the Mullard High Speed Valve Tester.)
Details here http://air-ministry.uk/7629.pdf
Yours, Richard

Re: 28 photos of vintage TV, EMI record making, and a 1950s TV & radio shop
 

Just spent an enjoyable time looking through all those lovely old pictures.
Thanks for sharing.

Re: 28 photos of vintage TV, EMI record making, and a 1950s TV & radio shop
 

I have taken another look at the valve socket panels.
The normal 2 panel AVO valve tester has a bank of thumbwheel switches to select the pin functions. This requires looking up the valve type in a book and selecting the correct switch settings. Probably it was decided that there was far too much room for operator error as well as taking time in a busy shop.
It looks like someone made up a pair af panels with a socket dedicated to a single valve type, far quicker and less room for error, mind you there was still the Heater, Anode and screen volts to set!

The plug on the lead hanging to the left of the panels certainly looks like the B9 plug used on the AVO tester.

Peter

Re: 28 photos of vintage TV, EMI record making, and a 1950s TV & radio shop
 

Thanks to those pictures I've finally been able to identify the TV I was given in 1966. It was a Marconiphone VT63DA but I received it without the cabinet and there were no identifying marks on the chassis. It was a Band 1 only set but it had been converted to receive ITV by fitting an external tuner which had two B9A plugs for power and IF which replaced the RF amp and mixer valves.

I recognised it by the two front panel control knobs, Volume and Contrast.

I believe it was a Plessey built chassis as a TV engineer who came to repair our main TV took a look at it and recognised it.

It had a fault which caused the field hold to be very critical but after getting a meter I found a 500pF capacitor acting more like a resistor which reduced the amplitude of the sync pulse to the field timebase.

I suspect it had a replacement CRT as the original was an Emitron 14KP4 but mine had a Mullard MW36-44 fitted.

It served me well, including watching the moon landing live, for 4 years when I passed it on to a friend when I was given another TV.

Keith