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Old 13th Oct 2021, 10:07 am   #1
Heatercathodeshort
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Default Philips 20" G8 colour receiver 1977.

PHILIPS 20" G8 COLOUR G20C560/05 1977

A good while back this rather rare Philips 20" G8 was presented to me by another Forum member. The G8 had been with it's original owner from new and had obviously been cared for. It has been stored fully wrapped in a very dry garage. It was time to see if it was possible to get it working and after it's first test I must admit once again I felt I had been handed a very easy repair if you could call it that! All the panels are original dated the last week in 1976 and the first week of 1977 and I can't see anything that has been replaced. The sign off date code is January 1977. [703] It is fitted with the combined tuner/I.F./decoder board.

The 20" version of the G8 is often confused with the 20" 570 fitted with the PYE CT200 chassis is quite rare and was produced late in the G8 production run. The appearance is quite similar but the 570 compared with the G8 is a Wolf in sheep's clothing.
Upon unwrapping the cabinet appeared to be in very good condition with all the knobs and bits and bobs present. Removing the back and examining the panels date codes appears to show that that they are all original the earliest being Christmas week 1976.

A quick check for shorts on the HT line [memories of 800m/a fuse blown and a faulty lopt/tripler] all proved groundless. The only suspect area are the four green plastic cased 2700pf 3rd harmonic tuning caps that after a long period of use went O/C creating havoc in the line output stage. A long search through my pulse capacitors turned up nothing and a search on the Internet proved fruitless other than a supplier from a country I cannot pronounce with at least a 52 week delivery date. If anyone has any suggestions I will be most grateful!

I thought it wise to bring the variac into use. With it set to 120V I hit the mains switch and to my surprise the rustle of EHT was heard. I left it connected for a few minutes then advanced it to 175v. No fireworks and a loud hiss from the speaker. It looked good so far.

After a few moments a raster appeared, a bit small due to the low mains input. I fed a signal into the aerial socket via a modulator and DVD player and to my surprise test card F appeared with full sound. I was still nervous about those green caps but gave it full mains for a minute and after advancing the colour control was rewarded by a good quality colour picture that required a small amount of setting up. The 20" Mullard badged A51-220X is marked 'Made in Japan' I believe manufactured by TOSHIBA appeared to be bright and crisp.

The chassis was covered in dry dust and with the confirmation that it was in fact working, considered that now was the time to remove each panel and give them a very careful clean with a small artists brush and the vacuum cleaner. They all cleaned up well allowing component identification to be easily seen.

It was noticed that the small blue Posistor that forms part of the automatic degauss circuit was missing or at least the blue bit was! All that was left were the two connecting leads with their Porcelain insulating tubes. A hunt through the Philips bits produced a NOS one in it's original Philips packet. Philips Service, 604 Purley Way, Croydon Surrey. Happy Days! With the new posistor fitted you now had the familiar buzz when switching on from cold.

It was now time to set up the purity grey scale and basic convergence. This was soon carried out to produce a very acceptable colour picture. HT was set at 190V, 5V less than stated. It does not sound a lot but it's surprising how this reduction reduces the stress in the line output stage.

The nasty channel selector unit was sprung apart and the Y shaped contact forks were cleaned together with the printed contact surfaces. The earlier arrangement used in the original version of the G8 the 1971 520 series was very satisfactory and once set did not require further attention. Just why Philips produced this later contraption we will never know!

The setting of the presets controlling the 12V supply and frame output mid point voltages were checked and found to be correct and thought it wise not to poke about further unnecessarily and upset the old girl.

At the present time I am only operating it for a limited period just in case those green time bombs decide to awaken..

The cabinet is very good with only a few small chips missing at the bottom corners. It had originally been fitted with a stand. To allow ventilation and protect the base of the cabinet I fitted a set of plastic feet with the appropriate screws, not east to locate!

The front was cleaned with a solution of 'FLASH' crystals, hot water and cloths. A rather spooky thing happened. I have several packets of the old style FLASH, the green crystal type. As I reached down to get a packet from the cupboard under the sink a Flash advert appeared on the TV that was on the counter top just to my left. It was tuned to Sky News or Yesterday at the time. It was the exact moment I picked the packet up!

I am very happy with the results obtained from this late model G8. The picture is exactly as I remembered them back in the 70s. They were very much a landmark model at the time.

The use of the TOSHIBA tube is very noticeable in the red parts of the picture giving a much more vivid brightness than the conventional Mullard Delta gun of the period.

The pictures show the results after basically setting up the convergence and the panels before and after cleaning.

Pictures: Chassis before start. Signals board half cleaned. Signals board fully cleaned. Timebase panel Test card F.
Regards, John.
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Old 13th Oct 2021, 11:00 am   #2
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Default Re: Philips 20" G8 colour receiver 1977.

Hi John,
excellent results. Can't remember the exact year the 20" G8 was introduced, was it 1975 or '76?
Philips made a good job making this compact receiver taking advantage of the combined signals and decoder board which was introduced 1974? designed to replace the separate P C boards employed in the earlier G8 models.
Despite the set's compactness reliability was better than the large screen version.
Along with the 20" Pye 725, the 20" G8 continued to be available from wholesalers in 1978.

DFWB.
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Old 13th Oct 2021, 1:09 pm   #3
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Default Re: Philips 20" G8 colour receiver 1977.

John,

That's really lovely! I've never yearned for a G8 before, but that set looks very appealing.

Presumably ousted by the indestructible KT3 chassis later in '78?

Nick.
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Old 13th Oct 2021, 1:35 pm   #4
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Default Re: Philips 20" G8 colour receiver 1977.

What a nice story, if only all old finds went that smoothly!
Didn't the G11 supersede the G8 prior to the KT3? I only remember due to the countless TDA1170 frame output faults I dealt with!

Regards - Mark
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Old 13th Oct 2021, 2:05 pm   #5
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Default Re: Philips 20" G8 colour receiver 1977.

Yes, there was a 20” CRT G11 set made. I think there were EHT flashover problems, as the cavity connector was located near one corner, rather than top centre…?
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Old 13th Oct 2021, 2:59 pm   #6
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Default Re: Philips 20" G8 colour receiver 1977.

The KT3 was one of the best colour television receivers ever made. I repaired countless numbers and the only faults I ever encountered were an O/C 4.7 ohm surge limiter and the odd tripler that used to trip the power supply at a very fast but quiet rate. The 14" versions had a very good long life tube but the 16" and 20" ones suffered a very short life.

The TDA2600 frame chip in the G11 was destroyed by a useless holder. It was not possible to solder the chip directly onto the board due to the retaining spring and holder. Urgg!

I think the 20" tube may have been employed in a B&O but it was a long time ago! John.
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Old 13th Oct 2021, 2:59 pm   #7
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Default Re: Philips 20" G8 colour receiver 1977.

looks like a mullard 20inch crt from the pictures john, brian
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Old 13th Oct 2021, 3:17 pm   #8
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Default Re: Philips 20" G8 colour receiver 1977.

Yes it is Brian but on the blue label it says 'Made in Japan' I don't think it was financially viable to produce a 20" tube in the UK.

Mullard also imported the 22" A56-120X from Canada during the mad rush for colour in the early 70s. It had a yellow label and may have been manufactured by RCA. It could be recognised by it's slightly blue tinted glass. Unfortunately it had a very short life.

As far as I know it was not fitted in the 22" G8. I only came across it in the PYE 697 series. It was usually the red gun that collapsed. John.
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Old 13th Oct 2021, 3:25 pm   #9
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Default Re: Philips 20" G8 colour receiver 1977.

What a fantastic result. Lovely picture. Amazing to think this set is now around 45 years old!
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Old 13th Oct 2021, 3:48 pm   #10
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Default Re: Philips 20" G8 colour receiver 1977.

Looks great!
I have one of these 20" sets in quite a sorry state, cabinet wise. Must get round to it. As far as I remember it was retired due to a short-circuit mains (yes, mains!) transformer. I was given another one by a kind forum member which I must fit...
It wasn't possible space-wise to fit the twin-panel IF and decoder boards to this particular version - the manual told you so.

PS. The blue-label A51-220 tube was also used in the Pye 20" 725 series. The G11 did have a 20" tube, the 20AX A51-500X with the odd side mounting EHT connector which was in just the wrong place when you closed the right-side door. B&O also used this CRT. Don't think the Rank T20 used it, though as ironically there wasn't a 20" version.
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Old 13th Oct 2021, 4:17 pm   #11
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Default Re: Philips 20" G8 colour receiver 1977.

hi john, RS do a 700VAC / 2kVDC rated metallised polypropylene capacitor, brand KEMET (aerovox) with a value of 2.7nF, I guess the G8 needs two parallel pairs ?

Back in the 70's our TV repair man appeared from behind our G8 (and a cloud of panatella smoke) and with a grunt, threw one of the big dirty green cylindrical ones into the lounge bin from some distance. I retrieved it after he'd gone, but I couldn't think of a use for it.
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Old 13th Oct 2021, 5:58 pm   #12
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Default Re: Philips 20" G8 colour receiver 1977.

Thanks for that info Kevin. It took me a while to find it in the RS lists [stock number 882-9149] but unfortunately they are in packs of 25 and I will never use the remaining 21. I will have to investigate. Thanks again, John.
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Old 13th Oct 2021, 8:09 pm   #13
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Default Re: Philips 20" G8 colour receiver 1977.

Hi.

Great set John!

I had exactly the same model back in 1983 and found it very reliable once the usual dry solder joints were dealt with. The picture quality was very good, nice sharp well defined colours and the convergence was very good too. That later convergence board was not their best effort though. The aluminium framed front mounted convergence assembly in the 520 series was more reliable.
When I first opened my set I remember being surprised in not seeing the usual magnetic shield around the tube and realised the A51 220X tube had an internal magnetic shield unlike the 22" and 26" versions.

There can't be many of these 20" G8s around now.

Re Glyn's post #10. There was a 20" version of the RRI T20. I used to look after one for a friend. It used the A51 500X 20AX tube that did indeed have a side mounted final anode cavity connector on the tube.

Regards,
Symon

Last edited by Philips210; 13th Oct 2021 at 8:36 pm. Reason: typo
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Old 13th Oct 2021, 8:18 pm   #14
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Default Re: Philips 20" G8 colour receiver 1977.

Hello Symon,
Now you mention the Bush 20" version of the T20 I do remember having one in for repair. They were very rare and were probably only a few pounds cheaper than the 22". John.
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Old 13th Oct 2021, 8:22 pm   #15
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Default Re: Philips 20" G8 colour receiver 1977.

Hi John nice set brings back memories watching great TV programs in the 70s liked the remote control version you could change channels by jingling keys or the Budgie squawking happy times kind regards Bob
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Old 14th Oct 2021, 9:01 am   #16
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Default Re: Philips 20" G8 colour receiver 1977.

Hello John , another great write up , amazed this set needed so little work.
Very hard to believe this set is now 45 years old .
All in all a fantastic result.
Had a scary thought ,I was just 17 years old when this set was made ,how time flies
Regards
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Old 14th Oct 2021, 10:12 am   #17
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Default Re: Philips 20" G8 colour receiver 1977.

Hello Alan,
Yes it is amazing how time passes. When you are 20, older guys tell you how it seemed only yesterday when certain things happened and you tended to dismiss or ignore their comments. We never thought we would get old!
Yes the G8 is 45 years old and I have attached a picture of the front of the 560 so that younger guys know what I am talking about. I was 28 years old when this G8 rolled off the production line at Philips factory, Commerce Way Croydon. John.
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Old 15th Oct 2021, 1:32 am   #18
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Default Re: Philips 20" G8 colour receiver 1977.

I don’t think I ever came across the 20” version of the G8 but can imagine that like yours they produced great pictures. I would have been 16 when this set was born.
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Old 15th Oct 2021, 2:26 am   #19
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Default Re: Philips 20" G8 colour receiver 1977.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Heatercathodeshort View Post
Yes it is Brian but on the blue label it says 'Made in Japan' I don't think it was financially viable to produce a 20" tube in the UK.
The white stamped code on the bell (or absence thereof) can give a hint as to where it was made. Philips had relations with Matsushita for valves, not sure about picture tubes.

A few years later, the UK CRT factory became an important production location for 20-21" tubes (smaller tubes being made in Taiwan, Spain and Austria, larger ones in The Netherlands, Germany, France and also the UK).
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Old 16th Oct 2021, 12:25 am   #20
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Default Re: Philips 20" G8 colour receiver 1977.

I can honestly say I never came across a 20” G8 for repair , I have seen them in homes many times ,
David ( Fernseh ) remarked about a 20” PYE 725 now this I have never seen I didn’t know they produced a 20” set, in fact I don’t ever recall a 20” pye set until the G11
Please correct me if I’m wrong , better still , has anyone got a picture of one ?
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