1963 Alba TVs... but which chassis?

[Colourstar]

I came across this advert from a Feb 1963 edition of ERT and can't decide which chassis might lurk within these Alba sets. The top one has the look of a BRC 850, but the VHF tuner control is very much like those on Pye group sets of the time. Hmm.

The other set with it's horizontal UHF tuning scale is a complete unknown to me.

Were Alba still 'pure Alba' back then or had they been taken over? By 1966 some of their dual standard sets were made by Philips.

Over to those with long memories...

Steve J

[Heatercathodeshort]

The Alba 890 series was a true disaster model. Alba produced some very fine simple receivers up to around 1960. They pioneered the plug in printed circuit board technique with the model 655 in 1958 with separate timebase and I.F. boards that could be replaced in seconds. [Later widely used by Thorn in their colour receivers] This was ideal for small rental companies. I think they called it 'packaged service'. The boards could be returned to Alba if required for a very low service charge.
The dawn of 1960 produced the 766 series. Really up to the times in Contemporary design and VERY slim employing the Mullard AW43-89 short neck 17" tube. It still had the twin removable boards but no turret tuner using an arrangement very similar to the Bush TV24C/TV43 of 1954 vintage. These receivers were 'OK' but performance was a bit down for the technology of the time.
Now for your absolute horror the 890 series....These were fitted with a dual standard chassis of Alba manufacture that employed an electric driven [not motor] VHF tuner. It was driven with a solenoid ratchet affair that shot the incremental tuner round at 1000mph ripping it to bits after a very short period. Added to this the UHF dial cord made a torturous route along the top of the cabinet to form a long narrow scale just above the tube. It ran over pulleys and all manner of links that popped off when you lowered the chassis for service. The faults could not be solved and most of this series were scrapped within a very short time. The actual circuit was excellent giving high gain on UHF and VHF but unfortunately the tuner problem and the crazy drive cord completely ruined what was actually quite a nice looking receiver with it's blue and white front moulding.
I think Alba threw the towel in after this period and commissioned Thorn and Philips to produce their television receivers ending a long history of respected television production at Tabanacle Street in London's East End. Regards, John.

[Peter.N.]

Never met either of those John, thanks for the info. I remember the Ultra Bermuda with the 'clonk clonk' motorised tuner.

Peter

[The teleman]

WOW ! the first time iv'e seen one of these sets advertised, I have one of the 890 series sets & it looks rather nice ( i think ) but i agree the tuning system is a nightmare .

[Colourstar]

Fantastic! Thanks to John for the info. Horrible sets are far more interesting (unless you're servicing them for a living ) After that description I would have thought that there we literally no survivors.... and then one pops up! You'd better hide that or HKS will be round with a wooden stake and a silver bullet!!

I think UHF tuner arrangements with cord drives were fairly swiftly dropped by the few manufacturers that tried them. Baird had a fiendish system with impossible access on 19" sets (on a conventional looking rotary 2-speed dial) and I think even GEC dabbled with it, thermometer style, on the BT455(?)

Steve

[FERNSEH]

The Alba models T790 and T795 were made by Ekco, the pre Pye takeover company that is and are similar to the models T407 and T417 models.
Infomation for these receivers can be found in the 1963/64 Newnes R and T servicing book page 344 for the Alba and page 401 for the Ekco.
It was all too evident that by 1962 Alba had thrown in the towel when it came to making TV sets and were seeking other suppliers. First Ekco, later Philips and in the early seventies BRC/Thorn. There was even a Bush sourced 19" colour TV in 1972. It used the all transistor A823 chassis.
I've never come across the Companies' own make dual standard TVs. Nice looking sets. If one come along I'll grab it, could be fun servicing it.

DFWB.

[Focus Diode]

An Alba d/s CTV with the Philips G6 chassis was released, the TC1525 I think, similar in style to the Philips G25K500 but in a darker cabinet.

Fascinating to hear a Rank A823 set was available with the ALBA badge. Never knew that.

Cheers,
Brian

[FERNSEH]

Hi Brian,
I had just one Bush made Alba set out on rental way back in the early 1970s. It was essentially a Bush CTV182 with a few trim changes, fake wood effect on the front panel. I can't remember the model number.

DFWB.

[bobbyball]

I had an Alba branded 26" Philips G8 set, sadly got chucked in one of my parents' enforced clearouts!

Robert

[FERNSEH]

Diagram of the internals of the Alba T790 and Ekco T407.
Construction is similar to the Pye model 11 which was equipped with an Ekco SA8148 VHF tuner unit. The model 11 even used an Ekco style control knob.

DFWB.

[dazzlevision]

Originally Posted by The teleman

WOW ! the first time iv'e seen one of these sets advertised, I have one of the 890 series sets & it looks rather nice ( i think ) but i agree the tuning system is a nightmare .

Hello,

Do the internals look like these pictures?

Regards,

Dazzlevision

[Colourstar]

Originally Posted by FERNSEH

The Alba models T790 and T795 were made by Ekco

DFWB.

I thought there was something familiar about that model.

This has turned out to be a much more interesting thread than I was expecting!

Steve

[The teleman]

Originally Posted by dazzlevision

Hello,

Do the internals look like these pictures?

Regards,

Dazzlevision

Hello , Thats the animal, nice to work on with the drop down chassis similar to the PYE 11 series but not as well made .