Ferguson 38050

[Zelandeth]

Found this little monochrome portable set unceremoniously dumped at the bottom of the stairs in our flat. It then got pushed progressively further back down the hallway until eventually ending up in the service cupboard at the back. ...a year later, it was discovered to still be in there, face down on the concrete floor, buried under a knackered mattress and half a bike among other assorted junk that had been dumped in there.

...decided that it had been there long enough, so rescued it.

Despite having been dumped there, it looked to be in okay condition, so after some deliberation, I decided to plug it in. ...and discovered that it works perfectly! In fact, gives a really decent picture.

I've attached a few pictures for you to browse through.

Anyone had one of these sets before, got any info, amusing servicing stories and such about them?

Aside from a really good clean, I don't think I need to do much with this. The lack of "fur" on the EHT components tends to lead me to believe that this set's never really seen that much use.

...other than decide what to do with it! I have no use whatsoever for another telly...and it's not really interesting enough to warrant being kept around for curiousitys sake. Ah well...is only small...will keep it somewhere safe in case I need a backup!

Imagine from the look of it that it must have been one of the last mono sets before they started to disappear out of mass production. Certainly can't have been expensive from the look of it, it does the job it was designed to though.

[Tazman1966]

If my memory serves me correctly, didn't Boots the Chemist used to sell these under the "Boots Audio" brand? Historians: please confirm!!!

[FERNSEH]

This set was introduced in 1983. Ferguson recognised that there was still a market for a low cost mono set to compete with the cheap far eastern offerings so they made this clever cost engineered receiver. It was made in 12 and 14 inch versions. 38030 and 38050.
The set featured the Mororola "Monomax" intergrated circuit. I believe Ferguson commissioned the semiconductor firm to make the chip for this receiver. A description of the set and the Monomax chip appears in Television magazine.

Boots the chemists did indeed market the set under their Boots Audio brand.

DFWB.

[Steve_P]

There were 2 versions of this if memory serves me correctly. The 12 inch and 14 inch versions. They were excellent sets and hardly anything went wrong with them. I wonder if anyone still does that chip?

The design of that one was very forward looking at the time. The only problems I had with them were if they'd been dropped or, more commonly, they were connected the wrong way round to the 12v supply. This happened every summer...

Go to a car boot sale and look round - you'll find one!

Cheers,

Steve P.

[Nickthedentist]

I was bought one of these new in 1986, to go with an Acorn Electron computer. I think it cost £50 or thereabouts.

The 12" version had a much more old-fashioned presentation, with the speaker and controls to the right of the CRT, rather than the new-fangled "monitor" look.

It worked well, apart from an irritating buzz from the mains transformer when it was "off", and no black-level clamping (I think that's the right term). However, it was a poorer performer than the older (1982) Thorn mono potable we had in use at the time.

It got put away in the garage. Sadly, I dug it out again last year, only to find... that all the bottom of the cabinet had been eaten away by rats/mice . So it got chucked.

Nick.

[Steve_P]

In the 1990's I used to help out in an old TV shop in Liverpool. Called Old Swan TV. The shop was an Aladdin's Cave...

Anyway, we had this guy who used to own and employ people to run Ice Cream Vans for him. In every one, he had one of these 12' inch sets. They used to come in for repair in all sorts of states. Usually dropped or connected the wrong way across 12 volts.

Amazingly, we always managed to fix them, and he was a good payer too. Towards the end, the cases were held together in all sorts of ways. Often involving a glue gun! Apart from the Power Supply Side and On/Off switches, they didn't give us any real trouble.

One day, he was in collecting 2 sets and moaning about one of his drivers, when the driver in question came in with a set from home. So I took the money and headed to the back shop to watch on the TV set there....

Cheers,

Steve P.

[Nickthedentist]

Wasn't this known as the 1796 chassis?

[brunel]

Originally Posted by Nickthedentist

The 12" version had a much more old-fashioned presentation, with the speaker and controls to the right of the CRT, rather than the new-fangled "monitor" look. Nick.

And here is little bro. to the 38050.

Brunel

[thermionic]

Originally Posted by Nickthedentist

Wasn't this known as the 1796 chassis?

I think - from memory 1790 series. I remember repairing these as well. Little trouble and overall good performers.
IIRC I had a small batch with dry joints in the tuner units, and I remember replacing one or two line output transistors (BU807??)

SimonT

[Welsh Anorak]

Hi
Yes - tuners used to give trouble, as did the specially made rotary tuning pot which went a bit noisy so could jump off station. As Steve says, most other 'faults' were man-made....
Glyn