NZ Thorn "12 inch Companion" B&W TV - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

GLENZ32 · 20th Feb 2014, 11:24 am

Hi guys, I thought this little Thorn TV may be of interest to you all as its vintage and I'm picking early 1970's - BillyT maybe able to give an exact date period for this.

From my service data, the chassis appears to be a model "G" but inside I found another model which is TTV/F1. It is also designed to run on 12 volts so for use in caravans/campers/cars etc it would have been an idea little TV to take away on holiday.

A look inside reveals quite a nicely laid out chassis with two boards which both swing out/hinge down and some point to point wiring beneath the tuner which incorporates the power supply section and vertical amplifier.

These sets still seem to be common and I've seen a lot of them around but as this one was 'free' I couldn't resist as it's tidy cosmetically and did not take much to get it operational again.

As a side note..more vintage sets are potentially going to be coming my way as I've struck up a good contact with an E-waste TV recycling place not far from where I live and it looks like I've two more valve sets waiting - Bell & Philips...cripes....I may need to find storage at this rate!

This is where the Thorn came from!

The component variations seem to be a mixed bag going from older carbon comp resistors to later Philips resistors / trim pots all the way to Japanese capacitors and transistors. I've seen older National/Panasonic sets using these pale blue caps with the Matsushita symbol on them.

Have no idea what brand/type the CRT is..as there is no labels or markings on it. Still has good emission.

It uses an EHT stick rectifier and germanium transistors throughout. I'm picking this would have been an affordable budget little set for the masses as I don't think there was really much choice in the 1970's.

As an actual performer - It gives a good picture. EHT regulation is a bit poor - blooms when brightness is turned right up (maybe stick rectifier is getting tired..variation of about 1KV) 10KV normal running... but apart from that its not bad at all.

So there you have it - another example of an early solid state NZ made Thorn.
Enjoy the photos

Cheers

GLENZ32 · 20th Feb 2014, 11:25 am

More pics...

Hybrid tellies · 20th Feb 2014, 1:38 pm

That is a nice looking little set. The front and sides of the cabinet look very similar to that of the Thorn BRC 980 12" UK 405 all valved portable set from the mid 1960's.

colly0410 · 20th Feb 2014, 2:44 pm

Very nice set, VHF only I see. When did NZ start using UHF?

Heatercathodeshort · 20th Feb 2014, 6:27 pm

As Simon mentions, the cabinet including the handle is very similar to the 980 series UK model from 1966. Your chassis looks to be of superb construction. The chassis does not look Thorn at all, more Japanese.The Brits would never pay for quality..Regards, John.

Billy T · 21st Feb 2014, 8:46 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by colly0410

Very nice set, VHF only I see. When did NZ start using UHF?

UHF transmissions started in the early 1990's and at that time the majority of NZ TVs did not have a UHF tuner! Fortunately, the installed base of VCRs was pretty close to 100% and they all had VHF/UHF tuners so tuning the extra channels was no problem; the VCR became the tuner and the TV was relegated to monitor status.

More recently, set-top boxes gave us retro-terrestrial TV diehards most of the main channels free to air, and now there are more than 40, of which I use only 11, the rest are shopping/religious/asian/ minority interest programming.

Glen's Thorn looks like a Model G alright, circa 1971, but there were some changes made that were not fully documented in the solid state series F & G and I have a hand written circuit note that doesn't seem to align with anything I can see, or anything remotely relevant! My memory does not stretch back that far I'm afraid. Model E was a hybrid solid state/valve mains only, and models F & G were fully solid state 12v/230v.

Cheers

Billy

20th Feb 2014, 11:24 am	#1
GLENZ32 Hexode Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Wellington, New Zealand Posts: 289	NZ Thorn "12 inch Companion" B&W TV Hi guys, I thought this little Thorn TV may be of interest to you all as its vintage and I'm picking early 1970's - BillyT maybe able to give an exact date period for this. From my service data, the chassis appears to be a model "G" but inside I found another model which is TTV/F1. It is also designed to run on 12 volts so for use in caravans/campers/cars etc it would have been an idea little TV to take away on holiday. A look inside reveals quite a nicely laid out chassis with two boards which both swing out/hinge down and some point to point wiring beneath the tuner which incorporates the power supply section and vertical amplifier. These sets still seem to be common and I've seen a lot of them around but as this one was 'free' I couldn't resist as it's tidy cosmetically and did not take much to get it operational again. As a side note..more vintage sets are potentially going to be coming my way as I've struck up a good contact with an E-waste TV recycling place not far from where I live and it looks like I've two more valve sets waiting - Bell & Philips...cripes....I may need to find storage at this rate! This is where the Thorn came from! The component variations seem to be a mixed bag going from older carbon comp resistors to later Philips resistors / trim pots all the way to Japanese capacitors and transistors. I've seen older National/Panasonic sets using these pale blue caps with the Matsushita symbol on them. Have no idea what brand/type the CRT is..as there is no labels or markings on it. Still has good emission. It uses an EHT stick rectifier and germanium transistors throughout. I'm picking this would have been an affordable budget little set for the masses as I don't think there was really much choice in the 1970's. As an actual performer - It gives a good picture. EHT regulation is a bit poor - blooms when brightness is turned right up (maybe stick rectifier is getting tired..variation of about 1KV) 10KV normal running... but apart from that its not bad at all. So there you have it - another example of an early solid state NZ made Thorn. Enjoy the photos Cheers Attached Thumbnails __________________ Visit my Vintage TV & Radio Page - http://nzvintagetvradio.blogspot.com/ Last edited by GLENZ32; 20th Feb 2014 at 11:30 am.

20th Feb 2014, 11:25 am	#2
GLENZ32 Hexode Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Wellington, New Zealand Posts: 289	Re: NZ Thorn "12 inch Companion" B&W TV More pics... Attached Thumbnails __________________ Visit my Vintage TV & Radio Page - http://nzvintagetvradio.blogspot.com/

20th Feb 2014, 1:38 pm	#3
Hybrid tellies Nonode Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: 1966-1976 Coverack in Cornwall and Helston Cornwall. 1976-present Bristol/Bath area. Posts: 2,965	Re: NZ Thorn "12 inch Companion" B&W TV That is a nice looking little set. The front and sides of the cabinet look very similar to that of the Thorn BRC 980 12" UK 405 all valved portable set from the mid 1960's. __________________ Simon BVWS member

20th Feb 2014, 2:44 pm	#4
colly0410 Pentode Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, UK. Posts: 223	Re: NZ Thorn "12 inch Companion" B&W TV Very nice set, VHF only I see. When did NZ start using UHF?

20th Feb 2014, 6:27 pm	#5
Heatercathodeshort Dekatron Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Warnham, West Sussex. 10 miles south of DORKING. Posts: 9,147	Re: NZ Thorn "12 inch Companion" B&W TV As Simon mentions, the cabinet including the handle is very similar to the 980 series UK model from 1966. Your chassis looks to be of superb construction. The chassis does not look Thorn at all, more Japanese.The Brits would never pay for quality..Regards, John.