UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Powered By Google Custom Search Vintage Radio and TV Service Data

Go Back   UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum > General Vintage Technology > General Vintage Technology Discussions

Notices

General Vintage Technology Discussions For general discussions about vintage radio and other vintage electronics etc.

Closed Thread
 
Thread Tools
Old 13th Jan 2015, 10:41 pm   #41
Neanderthal
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Suffolk, UK.
Posts: 64
Default Re: Ex TV Engineers

I remember the slot meters.
I had to deliver a TV one hot August afternoon and let myself in with the customer's key. Left the van doors open (bad mistake). The customer's tomcat took posession with his spray gun; the stench was so bad the vehicle was undrivable. Then I remembered I still had the key, so re-entered the house and raided kitchen for cleaning cloths and loads of detergent. Clean-up took nearly an hour, and to this day the customer was unaware of what her cat had done and my remedy.
Neanderthal is offline  
Old 13th Jan 2015, 11:53 pm   #42
BobGreen
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Egham, Surrey, UK.
Posts: 219
Default Re: Ex TV Engineers

I had a Saturday job in a radio & TV workshop run by a friend of the family. Enormous fun in pre H & S days when an AVO probe touching the floor of the workshop in the basement would registered 240V. The many rental sets were often there on soak test showing Robin Hood with Richard Greene. I learned so much about (monochrome) TV theory then.
BobGreen is offline  
Old 14th Jan 2015, 1:22 am   #43
Cobaltblue
Moderator
 
Cobaltblue's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Exeter, Devon and Poole, Dorset UK.
Posts: 6,823
Default Re: Ex TV Engineers

I always thought my life was in Radio and TV from my teens and after leaving school I did C&G RTV at Plymouth College of Further eduction leaving to join the job market in 1975

As it turned out I never went into the R&TV trade full time but I did go into Field Services for other products from 1978. ( I had 2 and half years R&D 75 to 78)

As I have been out and about today going to 4 customer locations covering a distance of 178 miles getting cold wet and frustrated nothing much seems to have changed in 37 years, other than in 1978 I would have gone to 6 or 7 locations over 320 miles each and every day (and I am driving a better car!)

Cheers

Mike T
__________________
Invisible airwaves crackle with life or at least they used to
Mike T BVWS member.
www.cossor.co.uk
Cobaltblue is online now  
Old 14th Jan 2015, 6:01 pm   #44
Neanderthal
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Suffolk, UK.
Posts: 64
Default Re: Ex TV Engineers

OK on the mileage Mike T. The main bonus of being retired as far as I'm concerned is the dramatic reduction of time in the saddle. I only drive locally now, my wife is younger, so the better driver these days.
My TV repair area was mostly rural, so the mileage was considerable. I was forced to cut it down when the 70's oil crisis hit. Being self employed I did aerials as well. We had a severe gale one January and I spent several days replacing and realigning damaged aerals. We were all UHF by this time and the average was a ten element on a 6ft 1" steel pole. These poles did not like England's weather and readily rusted from inside. The weather calmed down and week later one beautiful sunny day a customer called me for a collapsed aerial.
"I was just getting lunch", she said. "Heard a thump, and there it was lying on the bungalow roof."
Sure enough, the pole had rusted right through and while fitting an aluminium replacement, I wondered just how the thing had survived that gale, only to collapse on a calm day.
Another incident concerned an oak tree. My call was to a gardner's cottage in the grounds of a stately home. The TV fixed I headed for the van when the customer called me back. He wanted to know if I could order him a replacement cooker panel. My return to the van two minutes later revealed a large oak tree lying two feet from the front. The gardener had to go for a chainsaw and the TV round was delayed for over an hour. I wonder what the outcome would have been had I not been called back at the vital moment. Again the weather was calm and sunny, seemed odd the tree should keel over just then.
Mike G4BIY.
Neanderthal is offline  
Old 16th Jan 2015, 12:36 am   #45
Wendymott
Octode
 
Wendymott's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 1,782
Default Re: Ex TV Engineers

Hi may I dive into this discussion..........I was apprenticed in 1963 to a local TV workshop in Ilkley " as in "baht at".. a very interesting time......the company ran the local "relay" service, and Colour came along...after getting my "tickets" Radio and TV servicing (E48).. I left to become an electronics technician at Bradford Uni......(Physics dept). Spent a mostly happy time (7 years)...there, doing stuff you would never dream of......
By luck or "mis fortune" I joined an R& D Company that eventually became NEI ( Network Electronics)........we opened the factory in Bradford in 1980, and assembled Korean kits of Mono and Colour TV's NW1201, NW1202, mono........ NCW1401 , 1402, 1430 Colour, as well as screwdrivering Hi Fi's etc. I somehow was Technical manager/ Repair dept manager, and general dogsbody......At some stage I left to become a "field service" engineer in the Machine tool industry, until a very near miss on the M1 decided that it was time to call it a day.. Fortunately my old collegues from the NEI days offered me a job, back doing R&D and safety testing.
As with all things, due to various circumstances, eg the demise of NEI, I became service manager for Key Electronics, and then started evaluating new products.
Akura became my full time employer for the last 7 years, enabling me to work from home, .
I can honestly say that when I started in 63, I would never have believed that I would travel the world, do so many interesting things, with an E48 ticket. Now I have swallowed the anchor so to speak, and enjoy my retirement in the workshops, my latest project... the complete re design of the Eddy EC10,.
Long may it last........... my retirement that is....
__________________
Should get out more.

Regards
Wendy G8BZY
Wendymott is offline  
Old 16th Jan 2015, 1:58 am   #46
SiriusHardware
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, UK.
Posts: 11,482
Default Re: Ex TV Engineers

For the first four working years of my life I worked in the workshop of a dingy little 'television shop' on North Tyneside. Although I didn't work on TVs myself (I worked on everything else) I was often the extra pair of hands needed to extract and or return some of the enormous pieces of valve based furniture which masqueraded as televisions.

On one occasion we returned a very big, expensive TV to a rather posh looking house in Tynemouth - as we struggled and skidded through the house with the TV, the lady of the house was laying a trail of newspapers in front of us to keep us off the carpet. Not that we weren't smartly dressed, we were. We just obviously weren't in her 'league'.

Time and time again, we saw customers struggling into the shop carrying big sets with the screen facing outwards, half killing themselves in the process.

...customers trying to be helpful by suggesting what the cause of their fault might be: An elderly gent came in with a tiny transistor radio which he said was faulty, adding 'I think it might be a valve'. I can remember saying (not unkindly) that if there was a faulty valve in there we'd be sure to spot it right away...
SiriusHardware is online now  
Old 16th Jan 2015, 1:33 pm   #47
Neanderthal
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Suffolk, UK.
Posts: 64
Default Re: Ex TV Engineers

Hi Wendy. Looks as though you've led an interesting life, and well done for gaining the certificates. I only got as far as the RTEB radio cert, plus the Amateur exam, so was mostly self taught. Was a radio mechanic in the RAF (national service times) and spent some time roaming Germany fixing up old equipment. Built my first TV at 17 and prior to that was building radios. I was self employed as TV engineer until 1980 when I left the trade and worked on the markets until retirement in 2000.
You must have been in the trade when we had that spate of tube failures (AW4380). These beasties went oc heater, and we got to the stage of carrying one on the van. Another stock fault was the line output screen resistor going low, knocking the valve out. Anglia TV was coming on air at the time, and tuner coil 'buiscuits' for channel 11 were a long time coming, so I developed the knack of modding the channel 9 ones. I remember the time whenb the RS rep came in with a load of silicon rectifiers and blandly announced they were to replace the old seleniums. We didn't believe him at first and used to fit two for good measure and cringe when switching the set on. Soon found they were OK, and it was a relief to get rid of the stink of burnt selenium. Amateur licence came in 1972, and was on 2m for a long time in the days of AM. Not on HF any more due to high noise level.
Regards, Mike G4BIY.
Neanderthal is offline  
Old 16th Jan 2015, 1:39 pm   #48
Neanderthal
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Suffolk, UK.
Posts: 64
Default Re: Ex TV Engineers

Hi Siriushardware. Your mention of posh houses reminds me of a country home I visited one day. Carrying a heavy toolbox I tripped over something in the drive. The lady of the house saw me comming and said: "Young man, have you been drinking?"
"No," I replied, feeling rather foolish. The lady's reply was swift.
"Well, come in and have one!" Happy Days!
Mike G4BIY.
Neanderthal is offline  
Old 16th Jan 2015, 2:05 pm   #49
Wendymott
Octode
 
Wendymott's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 1,782
Default Re: Ex TV Engineers

Hi Mike. Cant remember the AW4380 specifically, and I got "out" first time in Jan 1972.. only to be lured back in 1979.......... so I did miss the G6, G8 period........Thank goodness... I do remember the Decca CTV25 though....... the first colour TV our company sold......Dual standard....405/625..........a nightmare. Although, today may be revered..

Hi Sirius, I could never understand why people carried sets "backwards", we saw it time and again...In Ilkley, we had more than our fair share of people that thought "trade" were dirty, untidy, etc.....my boss insisted that we NEVER take of our shoes, safety etc.....

To have packed into 50 years so much........... never an expert....flying by the seat of my pants mostly..... would do it all over again...
__________________
Should get out more.

Regards
Wendy G8BZY
Wendymott is offline  
Old 16th Jan 2015, 4:24 pm   #50
Neanderthal
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Suffolk, UK.
Posts: 64
Default Re: Ex TV Engineers

Hi Wendy.
I had a Decca CTV 25 Even got some TV DX on it, Dutch test cards could be S9 sometimes and I often used them for setting up when ours was not on. It was such a shame that the first colour sets were dual standard, those system switches were awful. When finally we went all 625 I used to solder an intermittent switch in place, at least that got rid of a few gremlins. A bit of time spent on the convergence and the colour pictures were really good. I do wonder about picture clarity these days, so many bits keep popping in and out of focus. Some programmes are so dark I don't bother with them any more.
Those tubes I mentioned were a 17" beast. Before going self employed I worked for a TV shop in Ipswich. Old tubes used to pile up in the back yard, so the method was to cart them up the fire escape for the flat above and drop them in the corner. The boss decided to play a trick on the dustmen, and filled the metal bin up with tube glass, and diguised it with a few bits of ordinary rubbish on top. Don't know what it weighed, but the men were unable to lift it, much to amusement all round. An odd tube lying in the yard blew up without warning one day, and we wondered about the butcher's son next door having some practice with an airgun, but it was never proved.

Regards,
Mike G4BIY
Neanderthal is offline  
Old 16th Jan 2015, 4:36 pm   #51
ms660
Dekatron
 
ms660's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Cornwall, UK.
Posts: 13,454
Default Re: Ex TV Engineers

Some firms used to advertise the fact that they had radio controlled engineers...Switch that R/T off.

Lawrence.
ms660 is offline  
Old 16th Jan 2015, 5:48 pm   #52
Neanderthal
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Suffolk, UK.
Posts: 64
Default Re: Ex TV Engineers

Hi Lawrence.
I had RT when self employed. Saved a great deal of time as I was a one man band. The units were Pye Cambridges running 10 watts on 86.65 MHZ. Saved loads of mileage too, as my service area was country based. My workshop fronted onto common land and with farms around it was inevitable I sold the odd radio, for the cowsheds. I was told the cows liked music. I thought it was the cowhands that were musical, not the cows. That however was to be disproved a year later when I had to test some column speakers for a factory.

A herd of dairy cows grazed the common, I never gave them a thought whilst setting up speakers outside and then music was fed in from a high power amplifier. The cows, on the far side, came running towards the sound, udders swinging, then they halted at the electric fence, stood in a long line, ears erect, and seemed to be taking in every note.
The test was halted for fear they might breach the fence, but I do regret not having a camera to hand. I'm now inclined to believe what most would say was an old wives tale.
Mike, G4BIY.
Neanderthal is offline  
Old 16th Jan 2015, 8:43 pm   #53
ionburn
Heptode
 
ionburn's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire, UK.
Posts: 583
Default Re: Ex TV Engineers

I was a TV Engineer in the late 1970s / early 80s.

These days I still work with electronic equipment but community healthcare.

Looking back I find it interesting how things have changed, especially with regard to health and safety.

I remember lugging 26" sets single handed up flights of stairs in blocks of flats.

Obviously working with the higher voltages and live mains. Where I am now I am not allowed anywhere near lol.

I still visit people at home and setup / repair equipment so many things are pretty much the same - finding the place, dogs, filthy houses etc although the introduction of sat nav has improved things quite a bit!
ionburn is offline  
Old 17th Jan 2015, 10:23 am   #54
Neanderthal
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Suffolk, UK.
Posts: 64
Default Re: Ex TV Engineers

Welcome Ionburn to the forum. I note you still have the hazards we used to encounter, although health and safety provides some kind of a barrier these days. I ran a small rental business along with the servicing and had the usual crop of bad debts. One bloke took off to London with a new rental set, and I was forced to report it to the police. The WPC who took down the details said there was insufficient information to go one, but do call back if I found out any more.
"Just ask for Jane", she said. "The one with the big hairy legs!"
At least I had a grin to go away with, despite the loss of a colour TV.
Finding places. That was always a pain before Satnav. Long roads with no numbers, only names on houses were the worst. If it was a new customer I asked they hang a towel on the gate, to prevent dawdling in heavy traffic.

Mike G4BIY.
Neanderthal is offline  
Old 17th Jan 2015, 11:44 am   #55
Wendymott
Octode
 
Wendymott's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 1,782
Default Re: Ex TV Engineers

Ahhh Mike... I too remember "lobbing" bricks, at a safe distance to old crt's at the local tip...Load the van with scrappers and head off for a bit of "fun".....The CTV25, convergence was a pain, 405 first, then 625, then back and forth......... the problem was this CTV25 was on a shelf the customer had built, about 6ft high, thus it could not be adjusted in position.
So many memories,.... The Ultra 15" with the round crt, with the 3 position tuner on the side, converted from Band 1....The Ecko sets with the acrylic loptx, which used to degrade if the ozone from eht became too much, when Ecko ran out of those Loptys we once made one out of Perspex..........The Thorn 850's The thorn 900... Bush and Murphy / Rank mono chassis........Ah well back to the real world....
__________________
Should get out more.

Regards
Wendy G8BZY
Wendymott is offline  
Old 17th Jan 2015, 12:09 pm   #56
Radio Wrangler
Moderator
 
Radio Wrangler's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 22,799
Default Re: Ex TV Engineers

I thought that WAS the real world, Wendy!

I hope I'm only dreaming...

David
__________________
Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done
Radio Wrangler is online now  
Old 17th Jan 2015, 1:06 pm   #57
Roberto41240972
Retired Dormant Member
 
Roberto41240972's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Reading, Berkshire, UK.
Posts: 59
Default Re: Ex TV Engineers

I remember the slot meters very well. When i worked for Direct Vision Rentals (part of Granada) The sets they used to rent out were old sets from the late 80's which i thought very poor value for money. the sets were old Rediffusion and Philips/pye sets. i had a few single deaf mums that had that deal they used to complain that the remote or teletext didn't behave itself. quite often i find myself opening the back of the set and re focus the picture that sometimes work. there been times when i had to visit a house that was in a poor state and smells horrible and chain smoking customers.. they complained that the picture gone "yellowy" yep tar stains so i get my foam cleaner out and scrubbed the screen it was good as new...... didnt get any thanks for it. also used to install decca.tatung sets very cheap and nasty they were monitor style sets had awful tuning.. if the set wasn't tuned in properly it would "growl" when changing over channels.. it has to be finely tuned to prevent this. very often i was sent out to sort out other engineers badly tuned in sets in properly. had to cop a lot of abuse too because i am deaf used to get comments oh god sake clean your ears out when i didn't understand the customer...... which in the end when the company closed down i only fix TVs for myself or my close friends.
Roberto41240972 is offline  
Old 17th Jan 2015, 1:14 pm   #58
Peter.N.
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Charmouth, Dorset, UK.
Posts: 3,601
Default Re: Ex TV Engineers

My area was West Dorset and East Devon. When we moved here from Kent in 1970 there was no one doing secondhand sets, I got a load from a shop I was working part time, repaired them and put an ad in the local paper 'Reconditioned TV's £25 with 12 months guarantee' these were 405 line mono sets of course, we didn't have 625 down here then, the phone went mad and I must have sold hundreds. In a few years I had so much work that I had to take on a couple of assistants, then secondhand colour sets started to appear.

At first they cost an arm and a leg so I only bought one or two at a time, I couldn't get them locally so had to travel all over the country to the various Granada outlets, they eventually got cheap enough for me to be able to rent them, we had 150 or more out at one time plus the 'holiday' rentals to cottages and caravans. I was covering about 30,000 miles a year at this time

I only collected my last TV rental about two years ago and that had a slot meter on it and I've have been retired 10 years. Incidentally I still have a few of the £1. slot meters if anyone wants them.

Well done Wendy, always nice to hear of one of the fairer sex in the trade, we have a young female friend who is a qualified electrician, mind you she only did it for a few years now she is a dental nurse - I think she gets bored easily.

I didn't have any qualifications when I started in the trade, there was such a shortage of engineers that if you could repair TVs you could get a job, I could and I did. I have since passed the RAE but that wasn't until the '80s, my wife also has an amateur radio licence.

Peter
Peter.N. is offline  
Old 17th Jan 2015, 1:33 pm   #59
Neanderthal
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Suffolk, UK.
Posts: 64
Default Re: Ex TV Engineers

You mentioning dirty sreens Roberto, puts me in mind of an American gent who rented a set which suddenly went dead. The fault was only an MD section which was soon fixed , but his screen was so filthy it was difficult to see a picture. When I suggested his screen needed cleaning he rubbed his jaws thoughtfully and said:
"Well man, do you know I figured it was getting kinda dim!"
Happy days! Mike G4BIY.
Neanderthal is offline  
Old 17th Jan 2015, 1:42 pm   #60
Neanderthal
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Suffolk, UK.
Posts: 64
Default Re: Ex TV Engineers

Yes, you're right about the engineer shortage in those times Peter. I remember calling in at a shop in Stamford while still in uniform to check on the job market for when I was demobbed. The young lady glanced quickly towards the manager's office and said quite forcibly, before scuttling off:
"Don't go away"!
Neanderthal is offline  
Closed Thread

Thread Tools



All times are GMT +1. The time now is 2:50 pm.


All information and advice on this forum is subject to the WARNING AND DISCLAIMER located at https://www.vintage-radio.net/rules.html.
Failure to heed this warning may result in death or serious injury to yourself and/or others.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright ©2002 - 2023, Paul Stenning.