Tidying up my Auroras.

[petertheorgan]

I have just obtained my third Aurora which has been brought to demonstrate a Pye D18T that lives in my treatment room and also to have a portable unit. Once this had arrived, I was determined that this was to be neatly mounted on a board to keep it safe and easy to use. I completed this project this morning and I have attached a photo of the finished result.

However, I was so impressed with the final result and inspired by another gentleman of this parish that I decided it was time to do something about the 'rats nest' that was the Auroras (if that is the correct term) that feed the museum.

Two hours later and a little simple carpentry, this is the result.

Photo below and a photo of a pair of GECs in the museum showing both channels.

Comments please.

Peter

[HamishBoxer]

Very tidy to say the least.

[Heatercathodeshort]

Hello Peter,
What at first appears to be a simple problem can be surprisingly difficult to solve. The workshop and museum are fed with an off air signal that is picked up from the Midhurst transmitter via an aerial mounted on a short pole on the end of the museum outbuilding.
A mast head amplifier provides a couple of outputs, one to the workshop and the other to the museum. I constructed this wood shelf unit to house one Aurora, a DVD player, Freeview box and a self contained modulator. An auxilary input can be switched into circuit via the three phono sockets that can be seen in the shelf picture.
This supplies analogue signals to the 625/UHF colour and monochrome receivers and 405 signals as required. The unit is switched so that any combination can be selected. Band 3 is not catered for in the museum at the moment but can be easily added.
The workshop has a similar arrangement with the addition of Band 3 provided by a Rank pattern generator and a Belling Lee diplexer similar to yours. It does work very well and has tided up the mass of leads that existed till recently. A very Old 'Rainbow' distribution amplifer provided by 'Tas' a couple of years ago provides extra 405 sockets. You can never have enough!
[It contains an EF91 and tuned circuits]
No doubt the system will evolve over the next twelve months as minor omissions are corrected. Regards, John.

[TNC]

Why doesn't my osteopath have early TV in his treatment room - I am sure it would greatly assist the healing process...perhaps we should push for a directory of practitioners (doctors, dentists etc. etc.) who provide such delights to help us "addicts" feel less isolated and part of the Big Society!

Trevor.

[Brigham]

I need to 'have a go' at something like this, to eliminate flying leads.

Can you tell me what is in the casing housing the VHF-Out aerial socket in Post 1, pic. 2? The point at which the Band I and Band III signals combine, I mean.

If both converters are being driven, does it allow you to 'turn over' on a turret-type set, in the normal way?

[petertheorgan]

Hello Brigham

In the diplexer , there is a pair of inducters and capacitors to combine band one and band three , in the good old days , this was used to combine the "new" ITA aerial with the old BBC aerial so they could share a downlead , I use it to combine the outputs of two of my aurora,s and yes you are correct , I can turn over my turret tuner and as I live in London , BBC is on "1" and ITA is on "9"

[JoshWard]

Very clever!

I recently rearranged my bedroom so of course had to move the rats nest so something like this seems like a nice solution. Of course there is still the associated rats nest of wiring for the freeview box or DVD player etc. I guess a nice large wooden box would be a good solution, perhaps the cabinet of a long dead TV or radio?

Mind you, when they pull down Tacolneston mast I might just pinch that and rig it up in the back garden, should be up to the job, and with Mendlesham for Band 3 I am sorted