ARGOSY 19" 405 table model 19K17 1961/62.

[Heatercathodeshort]

This neat Argosy 19" table model is based directly on the Regentone TEN-17 17" 110 degree chassis from Regentone's previous seasons very successful models.
It sports the new 19" CRT introduced in 1961, with semi squaring off the corners, giving the receiver a neater appearance that continued throughout the 1960's.

It is extremely well designed with Mullard valves and the incredible AW47-91 CRT, without doubt one of the finest tubes ever to leave the Mullard works

The Argosy name was used by Regentone who were based at Romford Essex, and were usually distributed through a particular style of furniture shops better known as 'complete home furnishers.'

The printed circuit construction is strange comprising a large single board with only the valves and the printed tracks, on the top. All the small components are 'under the board' with their leads passed through and soldered on the top.
This gives a very neat appearance keeping the component side clean and the component identification numbers bright and readable.

The printed board is supported in a substantial frame that supports the LOPT, frame and sound output transformers, smoothing choke, Fireball tuner and the CRT clamp band that are bolted to it.
The mains dropper has a lonely existence living on it's own attached to the right chassis member. This is a nice arrangement due to the fact that no heat is dissipated onto the main P/C board itself, or the components mounted on it.
This particular example was pulled off the rubbish tip around 1989. Due to it's clean and dry condition I guess it had been stored in a spare room by it's previous owner. Only the channel selector knob was damaged that I seem to remember was a common fault with all plastic knobs of this era.

Back in 1989 just to get it working I carried out a basic capacitor change. I then set it aside to get on with more important work such as customers repairs!

So here we are 30 years later. [I can't believe I have put up Christmas decorations 30 times since then..Might have been easier to just leave 'em up.] I decided to remove it's shrink wrap coat and see how it had enjoyed it's retirement. To be honest, pretty well!

Powering up produced good sound but only a frame collapse was displayed. Turning the frame hold control produced the familiar frame buzz from the output transformer. It could only be a disconnection from the secondary of the FOPT to the scan coils themselves and it was. One of the connecting tags had dropped off the frame coils and it was a simple matter to tighten and replace it. I now had a very good picture needing little work to bring it up to new standard.

There was only just enough brightness with the control on full. This was soon solved by replacing R52 the 180K resistor on the top end of the brightness control. It had risen to just over 400K. Another resistor replacement centered the horizontal hold control, this time it was R44 270K.

As I mentioned, most of the routine stuff had been carried out 30 years ago, all very basic stuff. Given a soldering iron and a banana I'm certain that my pet Orangutan 'Interlace' could have dealt with it without assistance..

Regentone was a very up to date company. They produced at Romford a range of excellent middle range products that included radio, television,record players,radiograms and a whole lot more.

They were not popular with the snooty dealers as were Sobell, Alba and early Ferguson. They were often shunned by these dealers and considered to be 'The New Boys on the Block' invading their cosy existence with their HMV dealerships. Surprising because a number of these excellent companies had been producing first rate products before WW2!

All of these manufacturers produced good quality products that were easy to service and very popular with customers who could spot a good thing when they saw and heard it! Regentone certainly came into this category.

Well, that's it really. Not a very challenging expedition but this reflects how good these simple well designed receivers are, even 50 years on!
The pictures show the strange construction and the results obtained. The interlace is 100% but the camera has only caught 202 lines in some shots! Regards, John.

[Peter.N.]

Lovely job and 3mhz bars too. Those rear presets look a bit KB-ish but I think they still had metal chassis then.

Peter

[Hybrid tellies]

That's an interesting set, and that tube looks spot on. Nice Job and good write up John.

[dazzlevision]

An interesting set. Many years ago, I repaired the 17" RGD and Regentone versions, but I have never seen a 19" set.

All based on a Plessey chassis (I believe), made nearby in Ilford. I think Regentone only put the chassis in their cabinets, rather than manufacturing from scratch.

The Co-op's Defiant brand also used Plessey chassis, until Plessey withdrew from set making around 1965 - thereafter, just supplying component parts (deflection coils, LOPT, etc).

In 1962, STC (KB's parent) bought the company from Lloyd’s Packing Warehouses Ltd and thereafter, all the sets were "badge engineered" KBs,

[McMurdo]

looks a neat little thing. I like obsolete brands, makes it all more interesting

[linescan87]

Lovely write up John. You where a very forward thinking man pulling such sets off the tip in the 1980's. I'm lucky enough to have a NOS AW47-91, also pulled off a tip, though that's another story..

[Hunts smoothing bomb]

Hello John,

Quite a contemporary looking set, I like that look a lot. The PCB's are laid out in a way that reminds me of the way Pam (I think) used to construct some of their sets with the valves on one side of the board and the components on the other, a model with a PCB on the left and another on the right is pictured in my mind?? Good write up and a lovely well resolved picture too.

Cheers

[FERNSEH]

Basic chassis was introduced in 1958 as the Regentone Ten-4 and later modified to accept the new 110 degree tubes. RGD versions were also made.
John's Argosy is one of those sets which manufactures in early 1961 were keen to promote the new square corners CRT and simply to have something in the shops modified a current production chassis until new designs were ready. Don't forget 1961 was that year of uncertainty when rumours were abound that the 405 line system was going to closed down and replaced by the continental 625 line system.
Also in 1961 and employing a similar chassis RGD introduced a 23" model, the 723.

DFWB.

[regentone001]

I always liked Regentone sets,though I know a lot look down their nose at them. I have both the Ten-17 and 17-18 versions of this set and also a Ten-6 FM which is waiting for me to repair it.
I also have their MULTI99/2,and Continental radiograms along with several models of radios all work extremely well

Steve

[Heatercathodeshort]

I didn't know these chassis were actually manufactured by Plessey themselves. It uses Plessey scan coils and the main smoothing block is also made by them. Interesting, I must admit, I thought they were actually built in the Regentone factory. It was quite a size. John.

[dazzlevision]

According to my researches, Plessey actually bought the Regentone factory site in 1961. That wouldn’t have been long before STC bought the Regentone, RGD and Argosy marques in 1962. In addition to the HT can and scan coils, these sets also used those Plessey made carmon composition resistors with the metal end caps and doubtless other items, such as loudspeakers and tuners (including Plessey-Brayhead types).

If you look at 1950s RGD, Regentone, Argosy and Defiant/Pageant service manuals, there is a lot of commonality (e.g. parts / drawing numbering and circuitry) between them.

Plessey made radios and TVs for the Co-op for many years, until the Co-op was forced to use A N Other (Rank Bush Murphy) after Plessey ceased the manufacture of consumer electronics chassis.

[FERNSEH]

Referring to the 1958/59 R & T servicing book in the Regentone section we find the models T177, T21 and T177FM, these are pure Plessey designed sets and are similar (except for the choice of valves) to the then current Defiant and Pageant models marketed by the Co-op.
The other models are the TR177, 58C and Ten-8, these sets are quite different from Plessey made sets.
In the RGD section there is the model T14 14" portable set which has a Plessey chassis and electrically identical to the Regentone TR177 is the well known "Deep Seventeen" model. These sets morphed into the Regentone Ten 4 which has almost same circuit but with a different method of construction.

DFWB.

[Heatercathodeshort]

You learn something everyday! Thinking about it, Plessey had their hand in almost every manufacturer at some time in their life. Many chassis had that Plessey look but I never realized it with this particular Regentone chassis.
The address of RGD in 1957 was Eastern Avenue,West Mawneys, Romford, Essex.
You could almost imagine the assembly ladies running from factory to factory when they had a big order. It was certainly a busy area for television production back in the heady days of the 50's. John.

[AJSmith625]

Hello John, How nice to see an Argosy tv of this vintage and what a splendid picture too. The first family tv set we had was the 17 inch Argosy 17K14 with the AW43-88 CRT. A very similar chassis to your set and it showed an excellent picture once we had a proper aerial installed. The Fireball tuner was the later type using a PCC89 RF amp. Were these sets one of the first to use silicon HT rectifiers? I remember it having 2 STC diodes in series. I replaced these with a couple of BY127s when they went s/c. Except for a few valve changes and a few caps in the frame timebase the set was still going strong in my bedroom well in to the 70s. The tube was as good as when new. Yes, these sets were the start of the slimline era.

Alan.

[Heatercathodeshort]

Hello Alan, Yes I believe it was the first chassis to use the silicon rectifiers, a pair of FST1/4 in series. It still has them in circuit. The odd one used to go S/C and was replaced by a single Mullard BY100. They worked just as reliably with just one FST1/4 and I often met a chassis that had one diode shorted out by a desperate repair guy.
I will post a picture of them a little later. John.

[beery]

Originally Posted by Hunts smoothing bomb

the valves on one side of the board and the components on the other

So it's an early use of SMT then... Or maybe not, reading John's first post I see the tracks are on the top. My Spencer West 957 really is SMT with hardly any holes in the PCB and the waxies hanging of the tracks.

Cheers
Andy

[Heatercathodeshort]

When I revisited the workshop late afternoon I was somewhat surprised to see that a little Gnome had cleaned a lot of the dust and sticky muck from the P/C board. I'm not sure where the cat comes in but it sure looks like it has sat on something hot.

As it looked a lot smarter I thought another picture of it would be appropriate.
Thanks for your kind remarks. The Argosy is well worth the attention. Regards, John.

[dazzlevision]

Some background information on the Argosy brand name:

Argosy Radiovision Ltd, Argosy Works, Hertford Road, Barking, Essex (in 1952 & 53). Radio, radiogram & TV manufacturer.

Was previously called British Overseas Radiovision Ltd (Enfield Works, 191 Frances Road, Leyton, London, E10 – in 1949/50) and changed its name in 1950.

Established by E St P Iddon, who was its MD until the firm went into receivership in 1956 and was acquired by the Regentone Group.

At the time, there was an associated firm, Argosy Cabinets Ltd, which made the cabinets for the sets marketed by Argosy Radiovision Ltd.

By August 1956, Argosy Radiovision was advertising a new range and located at Abbey Road, Barking, Essex - the assets/brand name had been acquired by the Regentone Group.

In 1959, Argosy Radiovision Ltd, Eastern Avenue West, Romford, Essex.

In 1962, STC acquired the brand (together with RGD & Regentone).

[beery]

Originally Posted by Heatercathodeshort

I'm not sure where the cat comes in but it sure looks like it has sat on something hot.

John, maybe the funny look is because the cat's posterior is sitting on a track at HT potential

Cheers
Andy

[FERNSEH]

The Argosy 19K17 and the Regentone TEN-17 employ 110degree CRTs which require more scanning power. The printed circuit board is almost identical to the 1958 Regentone TEN-4 model. The 90* CRT models employ the PCL82 in the frame timebase. For the 110* CRT models Mazda came to the rescue by introducing the pin for pin compatible 30PL13. No changes to the PCB artwork required.

DFWB.