Two Bush's in the bush! - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

linescan87 · 3rd Nov 2018, 9:29 pm

Just thought I'd share a recent acquisition. A Bush A640 and A823B. My pal gave me a call saying he had seen these two sets advertised on marketplace knowing I'm into old sets (or rubbish as he calls it!)

Anyway contact was made and we made a day out of it going to collect them, when we arrived we were escorted up a field to a tarpaulin beside a ditch, at which point the chap exclaimed "they're in there somewhere!" My heart sank as my dear pal whispered to me "I thought you couldn't keep TV's outside!" I just gave him a look, you know the kind.

However after a short search we located the two sets, they didn't look too bad. The chap, an ex TV man himself, assured me that both sets were in perfect working order when they were last tried 20 year's ago, except the A640 which had slightly poor linearity and would probably be needing a new PCL805. I was not so convinced however it had been a long spin and I didn't feel like going home empty handed, so a deal was done and the sets where extracted from the field to the boot of my mates car.

Back home both sets were placed in workshop, the A640 was set up with a power supply connected to the lopt to help it dry out and a hairdryer on the lopt in the A823B. Today John popped up to see me, and we investigated the A823B, the picture shows how far we got (cheated and nicked the power supply and scan drive board from another set) just wanted to prove the lopt and tube were OK before I got too involved with it. It must of smoked 60 Player's No.6 a day as it's covered in nicotine!

Cheers, John Joe.

Nuvistor · 3rd Nov 2018, 10:00 pm

Those photos bring back a few memories from 40 odd years ago. Were they made in Ireland or UK?

linescan87 · 3rd Nov 2018, 10:07 pm

Hi Nuvistor, the A640 is a Defiant badged uk set. The A823B was assembled here, in Shanowen Rd., Santry.

John Joe.

Nuvistor · 3rd Nov 2018, 10:16 pm

I would have driven past Shanowen Road many times in the 80’s and 90’s on Swords road going to and from the airport.

dazzlevision · 3rd Nov 2018, 10:18 pm

The A832A has UHF and VHF tuners, so an Irish market set. Interesting!

Philips210 · 3rd Nov 2018, 10:42 pm

Hi.

Nice finds and they'll be good projects to get working again. The A823B was the last of the A823 series including the BEAB approval. The LOPTs in these sets were excellent and on par with BRC/Thorn's jellypot LOPTs for reliability. The EHT tray was also very reliable.

The A823B, A823A and A823AV had the two chip decoder which some would say gave inferior colour compared to the earlier one chip decoder as in the original A823. I generally liked these sets but picture quality was not quite up to say a comparable Philips G8 or the excellent GEC 2110 series. Access to the decoder and IF boards was slightly awkward but extension cables were available to work on those panels.

I seem to remember those nasty green flyback tuning capacitors were fitted to some of these sets. They could go O/C intermittently. I remember having a lot of problems with those caps in the Thorn 8000 series. The line output stage has two line output transistors which obviously have to be balanced regarding correct drive conditions as in the Philips G8 chassis.

Regards
Symon

Welsh Anorak · 4th Nov 2018, 4:09 pm

I've never seen that particular variant of the A823 with the VHF/UHF varicap tuner.
The line stage was hard to get to, but then again you seldom needed to. Odd as the tendency for the old CTV25 to eat transformers was well known.
Don't forget to plug the degaussing coils back in!
The 640 looks a bit tired, but hopefully will come back. I think the Eire-made sets didn't have the component references on the boards.

linescan87 · 4th Nov 2018, 6:15 pm

Hi Glyn,

Yes, I soon learned to plug the deguassing coils back in!

John Joe.

3rd Nov 2018, 9:29 pm	#1
linescan87 Heptode Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Meath, Ireland Posts: 551	Two Bush's in the bush! Just thought I'd share a recent acquisition. A Bush A640 and A823B. My pal gave me a call saying he had seen these two sets advertised on marketplace knowing I'm into old sets (or rubbish as he calls it!) Anyway contact was made and we made a day out of it going to collect them, when we arrived we were escorted up a field to a tarpaulin beside a ditch, at which point the chap exclaimed "they're in there somewhere!" My heart sank as my dear pal whispered to me "I thought you couldn't keep TV's outside!" I just gave him a look, you know the kind. However after a short search we located the two sets, they didn't look too bad. The chap, an ex TV man himself, assured me that both sets were in perfect working order when they were last tried 20 year's ago, except the A640 which had slightly poor linearity and would probably be needing a new PCL805. I was not so convinced however it had been a long spin and I didn't feel like going home empty handed, so a deal was done and the sets where extracted from the field to the boot of my mates car. Back home both sets were placed in workshop, the A640 was set up with a power supply connected to the lopt to help it dry out and a hairdryer on the lopt in the A823B. Today John popped up to see me, and we investigated the A823B, the picture shows how far we got (cheated and nicked the power supply and scan drive board from another set) just wanted to prove the lopt and tube were OK before I got too involved with it. It must of smoked 60 Player's No.6 a day as it's covered in nicotine! Cheers, John Joe. Attached Thumbnails

3rd Nov 2018, 10:00 pm	#2
Nuvistor Dekatron Join Date: Aug 2013 Location: Wigan, Greater Manchester, UK. Posts: 9,431	Re: Two Bush's in the bush! Those photos bring back a few memories from 40 odd years ago. Were they made in Ireland or UK? __________________ Frank

3rd Nov 2018, 10:07 pm	#3
linescan87 Heptode Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Meath, Ireland Posts: 551	Re: Two Bush's in the bush! Hi Nuvistor, the A640 is a Defiant badged uk set. The A823B was assembled here, in Shanowen Rd., Santry. John Joe.

3rd Nov 2018, 10:16 pm	#4
Nuvistor Dekatron Join Date: Aug 2013 Location: Wigan, Greater Manchester, UK. Posts: 9,431	Re: Two Bush's in the bush! I would have driven past Shanowen Road many times in the 80’s and 90’s on Swords road going to and from the airport. __________________ Frank

3rd Nov 2018, 10:18 pm	#5
dazzlevision Dekatron Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Near Swindon, North Wiltshire, UK. Posts: 3,609	Re: Two Bush's in the bush! The A832A has UHF and VHF tuners, so an Irish market set. Interesting!

3rd Nov 2018, 10:42 pm	#6
Philips210 Nonode Join Date: May 2007 Location: Redruth, Cornwall, UK. Posts: 2,573	Re: Two Bush's in the bush! Hi. Nice finds and they'll be good projects to get working again. The A823B was the last of the A823 series including the BEAB approval. The LOPTs in these sets were excellent and on par with BRC/Thorn's jellypot LOPTs for reliability. The EHT tray was also very reliable. The A823B, A823A and A823AV had the two chip decoder which some would say gave inferior colour compared to the earlier one chip decoder as in the original A823. I generally liked these sets but picture quality was not quite up to say a comparable Philips G8 or the excellent GEC 2110 series. Access to the decoder and IF boards was slightly awkward but extension cables were available to work on those panels. I seem to remember those nasty green flyback tuning capacitors were fitted to some of these sets. They could go O/C intermittently. I remember having a lot of problems with those caps in the Thorn 8000 series. The line output stage has two line output transistors which obviously have to be balanced regarding correct drive conditions as in the Philips G8 chassis. Regards Symon

4th Nov 2018, 4:09 pm	#7
Welsh Anorak Dekatron Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: North Wales, UK. Posts: 6,918	Re: Two Bush's in the bush! I've never seen that particular variant of the A823 with the VHF/UHF varicap tuner. The line stage was hard to get to, but then again you seldom needed to. Odd as the tendency for the old CTV25 to eat transformers was well known. Don't forget to plug the degaussing coils back in! The 640 looks a bit tired, but hopefully will come back. I think the Eire-made sets didn't have the component references on the boards. __________________ Glyn www.gdelectronics.wales

4th Nov 2018, 6:15 pm	#8
linescan87 Heptode Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Meath, Ireland Posts: 551	Re: Two Bush's in the bush! Hi Glyn, Yes, I soon learned to plug the deguassing coils back in! John Joe.