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Vintage Television and Video Vintage television and video equipment, programmes, VCRs etc. |
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13th Dec 2017, 12:09 pm | #1 |
Octode
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Fleet, Hampshire, UK
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Ferguson Colour Set ID
Hi Folks,
I'm trying to find the model of TV I grew up with in my parents house. I believe its early 80s, could be very late 70s though. Its a colour Ferguson set with a plastic faux wood effect case, it had a chunky remote, and the closest I can find is the TX10. I've searched google images a fair bit but cant see the exact model. It had the very same "On" button as the TX10 (seen in attached pic). But I think the channel tuners were hidden behind a panel, and also I seem to remember some red-green-blue near the logo or model name also. Its possible I have a picture of it somewhere, but thought Id ask if any of you TV experts might know off hand. We had the set a long time and it finally left our possession in around 1995 when they bought a bigger Toshiba with state of the art "surround sound" , it still worked perfectly when they gave it away. Cheers Adam |
13th Dec 2017, 12:33 pm | #2 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Near Swindon, North Wiltshire, UK.
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Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID
Unfortunately, Ferguson branded sets of this era could also have a TX9 chassis inside (if it was a 20" model), in addition to a TX10 (for 22" and 26" sets).
In both TX9 and TX10 sets (with the styling your photo shows), the preset tuning controls (of which there were eight) were behind a "pop-out" part of the wood effect loudspeaker grille, at the very bottom. Any idea what screen size your set was? Last edited by dazzlevision; 13th Dec 2017 at 12:36 pm. Reason: Added text.. |
13th Dec 2017, 12:41 pm | #3 |
Octode
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Fleet, Hampshire, UK
Posts: 1,765
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Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID
Thanks for your reply dazzlevision, Sorry no idea on size, perhaps 20'', it wasn't huge. Might have to dig out a pic.
Looking at this thread https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=114586 This TX9 is more like it, infact the red-green-blue bit may well have been on the missing panel here. The LEDs look familiar, I think one may have flashed when the remote was used. Though something still looks out of place, could be the missing panel. I'll see if I can unearth any family pics. Really had some great times with that TV and would be nice to find another some day. |
13th Dec 2017, 1:03 pm | #4 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Oxford, UK.
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Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID
Very reliable and sold/rented in huge quantities. Very good picture for a cheapish set too.
When I was a student in the mid-late 1990s, they were to be found everywhere - in the secondhand furniture shops, reconditioned TV shops, in the pubs, in student digs, and when they gave up the ghost, on the pavement for the bin men. I rescued several, fixed them and distributed them around friends and relatives. Most by now will long ago have succumbed to weak tubes, or been victims of the analogue switch off, but enthusiasts like us may have one stashed away. N. |
13th Dec 2017, 1:48 pm | #5 |
Octode
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Fleet, Hampshire, UK
Posts: 1,765
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Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID
Thanks for that Nick. I suppose the most reliable sets tend to have the tubes run into the ground. All the same be nice to find the model then I can keep an eye out, you never know!
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13th Dec 2017, 2:19 pm | #6 |
Nonode
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Gloucester, Glos. UK.
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Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID
I personally must have rented out at least a hundred or so of that model in the various sizes when I worked in Rumbelows.
Was the mainstay of our business, and nice sets. |
13th Dec 2017, 3:58 pm | #7 |
Nonode
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Dukinfield, Cheshire, UK.
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Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID
We rented and flogged loads of these. The 20-inch TX9's were my favourites as very little went wrong with them and the pictures were very nice indeed. I bought myself one in about 1980 and it soldiered on for many years before the tube started going a bit pink.
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Andy G1HBE. |
13th Dec 2017, 4:07 pm | #8 |
Dekatron
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Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID
I guess it's been on here before but here's a nice little video of the ferguson TX production line
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn_HrHvPinQ
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Kevin |
13th Dec 2017, 4:31 pm | #9 |
Octode
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Fleet, Hampshire, UK
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Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID
What a great video Kevin!
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13th Dec 2017, 4:37 pm | #10 |
Nonode
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Location: Dukinfield, Cheshire, UK.
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Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID
Very much of its time! I think that video shows either the TX90 or TX100 chassis which, IIRC were not a patch on the 9 or 10. The TX90 was (unless my memory is playing tricks again) initially fitted in a cheap-as-chips 14" portable and was not exactly the most reliable design. The pictures always had a soft quality and the colour balance never seemed natural no matter how they were twiddled. Skin tones always reminded me of imported US video-taped shows.
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Andy G1HBE. |
13th Dec 2017, 5:58 pm | #11 |
Heptode
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Luton, Bedfordshire, UK.
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Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID
Anyone who went to school in the eighties and nineties would've been familiar with them as the school's TV's, usually paired up to a similarly vintage Ferguson Videostar and wheeled about on a large stand. Many a happy memory riding up and down the corridors when we were supposed to be returning the set to storage!
I guess they were good workhorse TV's, and iconic in their own right..although they really lacked the flair of their European and Japanese counterparts and were quite simple in comparison. I remember seeing Baird and Logik branded variants, and I think Vestel may have also manufactured and sold their own variants abroad.
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13th Dec 2017, 6:15 pm | #12 |
Dekatron
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Location: Near Swindon, North Wiltshire, UK.
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Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID
Here are two scans of remote control 22" Ferguson colour TVs (not models equipped with Teletext) from their 1981 and 1982 catalogues.
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13th Dec 2017, 6:34 pm | #13 | |
Nonode
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Coningsby, Lincolnshire, UK.
Posts: 2,820
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Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID
Quote:
I had one of the 20" non remote ones with a grey front for a while, it was a lovely set, wish I'd kept it! The video of the production line is interesting, looks way more hi-tech than anywhere I've worked!! Regards, Lloyd |
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13th Dec 2017, 6:54 pm | #14 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, UK.
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Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID
The TX9 and TX10 range of TV sets saved Ferguson Ltd. Both were the result of massive investment in new manufacturing facilities and in due course all that effort paid off.
The earlier 9600 series were very good sets but were expensive to make, being rather over engineered. The cheaper 9800 series was just a load of junk being nothing more than a development of the worthy 8800 series. TX9 and TX10 series chassis was designed from the outset to incorporate remote control systems and teletext. In some respects the TX10 resembled the 2000 series in having separate a separate line output stage and EHT transformer. Best of all TX10 receivers was the 22B5, called the Professional Series. I still have the excellent loudspeakers from one of these receivers. Introduced in 1984 the 22B5 was one of the UK first made sets to have the SCART socket. Early TX9 receivers employed a thyristor power supply. Late in 1980 the chassis was redesigned to incorporate the all new Siemens TDA4600 switch mode power supply chip. This modification vastly improved reliability and the TX9 series became as good as any TV chassis made anywhere in the World. First deliveries of TX9 came in 1979 in the form of the Movie Star portable TV and deliveries of the Ferguson 3785 TX10 in June 1980. DFWB. |
13th Dec 2017, 7:09 pm | #15 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Near Swindon, North Wiltshire, UK.
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Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID
Here's the 22B5 page in a 1984 Ferguson catalogue.
The 22B5 also employed frequency synthesis tuning. |
13th Dec 2017, 9:01 pm | #16 |
Nonode
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Redruth, Cornwall, UK.
Posts: 2,578
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Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID
Hi
I always liked the TX10. I personally think this was Thorn's best chassis, better than the later TX100. Main weak point on the TX10 was the thick film focus control unit, though dead easy to replace. It had a totally reliable Philips diode split chopper transformer which also provides the EHT. The actual line output transformer was quite a small non descript component, not that much larger than a line drive transformer. I seem to recall the field output IC became obsolete and an alternative was supplied with a few modifications to the main chassis. Most of the TX10s I came across had the excellent Mullard 5000 series remote control system. The remote control receiver/decoder, a SAA5012 IC had an output to drive a LED for 'message received' which blinked when a command from the handset was correctly received. The Mullard VM6101 teletext decoders could be driven directly from the SAA5012 and SAA5010 (used in Rediffusion Mk3) without any additional interface circuitry. The Mullard teletext decoders were robust, virtually trouble free, worked very well and highly responsive unlike today's modern digital TV systems! I think some of the later TX9s also used the Mullard R/C system but I do remember more basic R/C sets used the Plessey system The TX9/TX10 were well received in the TV trade. I also liked the 9000 and 9600 series apart from the short lived PIL tubes in the 9000. Regards Symon. |
13th Dec 2017, 9:21 pm | #17 |
Nonode
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Coningsby, Lincolnshire, UK.
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Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID
I forgot, I actually have a Ferguson Movie Star TX9 portable, in near mint condition! Lovely little set, it's obviously been well looked after, and not seen much use, it's not very often I get a TV that doesn't require a complete strip down and wash in the bath. Always produces a good picture, the tube looks nice and bright. I'll have to find some photos of the 2 I've had.
Regards Lloyd |
13th Dec 2017, 11:26 pm | #18 |
Nonode
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: South Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 2,573
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Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID
I had the 16" teletext "portable" TX9. That used the Mullard 5000 series remote. I modified it to include an AV input and a mains isolation transformer. Later I added an additional output to connect an external Nicam decoder.
Only had one major problem when the tuner failed. Keith |
14th Dec 2017, 12:58 am | #19 | |
Heptode
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Luton, Bedfordshire, UK.
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Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID
Quote:
I never actually owned any of the Ferguson sets, but I had plenty of friends who did. When we'd find the odd broken one dumped we'd cart them back home to take the parts out of them, especially the speakers as they were of very good quality. The tubes usually got, well..y'know. We were only kids haha
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14th Dec 2017, 1:10 am | #20 |
Heptode
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Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID
A Movie Star portable spotted during the recent 'Children In Need Rocks The 80s'
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Regards, John |