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 > Specific Vintage Equipment > Vintage Television and Video

Notices

Vintage Television and Video Vintage television and video equipment, programmes, VCRs etc.

Closed Thread
 
Thread Tools
Old 13th Dec 2017, 12:09 pm   #1
PsychMan
Octode
 
PsychMan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Fleet, Hampshire, UK
Posts: 1,764
Default Ferguson Colour Set ID

Hi Folks,

I'm trying to find the model of TV I grew up with in my parents house. I believe its early 80s, could be very late 70s though. Its a colour Ferguson set with a plastic faux wood effect case, it had a chunky remote, and the closest I can find is the TX10. I've searched google images a fair bit but cant see the exact model.

It had the very same "On" button as the TX10 (seen in attached pic). But I think the channel tuners were hidden behind a panel, and also I seem to remember some red-green-blue near the logo or model name also.

Its possible I have a picture of it somewhere, but thought Id ask if any of you TV experts might know off hand. We had the set a long time and it finally left our possession in around 1995 when they bought a bigger Toshiba with state of the art "surround sound" , it still worked perfectly when they gave it away.

Cheers
Adam
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	vintage-ferguson-tx10-colour.jpg
Views:	539
Size:	20.8 KB
ID:	153933  
PsychMan is offline  
Old 13th Dec 2017, 12:33 pm   #2
dazzlevision
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Near Swindon, North Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 3,595
Default Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID

Unfortunately, Ferguson branded sets of this era could also have a TX9 chassis inside (if it was a 20" model), in addition to a TX10 (for 22" and 26" sets).

In both TX9 and TX10 sets (with the styling your photo shows), the preset tuning controls (of which there were eight) were behind a "pop-out" part of the wood effect loudspeaker grille, at the very bottom.

Any idea what screen size your set was?

Last edited by dazzlevision; 13th Dec 2017 at 12:36 pm. Reason: Added text..
dazzlevision is online now  
Old 13th Dec 2017, 12:41 pm   #3
PsychMan
Octode
 
PsychMan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Fleet, Hampshire, UK
Posts: 1,764
Default Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID

Thanks for your reply dazzlevision, Sorry no idea on size, perhaps 20'', it wasn't huge. Might have to dig out a pic.

Looking at this thread https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=114586

This TX9 is more like it, infact the red-green-blue bit may well have been on the missing panel here. The LEDs look familiar, I think one may have flashed when the remote was used. Though something still looks out of place, could be the missing panel. I'll see if I can unearth any family pics. Really had some great times with that TV and would be nice to find another some day.
PsychMan is offline  
Old 13th Dec 2017, 1:03 pm   #4
Nickthedentist
Dekatron
 
Nickthedentist's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Oxford, UK.
Posts: 17,820
Default Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID

Very reliable and sold/rented in huge quantities. Very good picture for a cheapish set too.

When I was a student in the mid-late 1990s, they were to be found everywhere - in the secondhand furniture shops, reconditioned TV shops, in the pubs, in student digs, and when they gave up the ghost, on the pavement for the bin men. I rescued several, fixed them and distributed them around friends and relatives.

Most by now will long ago have succumbed to weak tubes, or been victims of the analogue switch off, but enthusiasts like us may have one stashed away.

N.
Nickthedentist is online now  
Old 13th Dec 2017, 1:48 pm   #5
PsychMan
Octode
 
PsychMan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Fleet, Hampshire, UK
Posts: 1,764
Default Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID

Thanks for that Nick. I suppose the most reliable sets tend to have the tubes run into the ground. All the same be nice to find the model then I can keep an eye out, you never know!
PsychMan is offline  
Old 13th Dec 2017, 2:19 pm   #6
electronicskip
Nonode
 
electronicskip's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Gloucester, Glos. UK.
Posts: 2,149
Default Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID

I personally must have rented out at least a hundred or so of that model in the various sizes when I worked in Rumbelows.
Was the mainstay of our business, and nice sets.
electronicskip is online now  
Old 13th Dec 2017, 3:58 pm   #7
Andrew2
Nonode
 
Andrew2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Dukinfield, Cheshire, UK.
Posts: 2,034
Default Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID

We rented and flogged loads of these. The 20-inch TX9's were my favourites as very little went wrong with them and the pictures were very nice indeed. I bought myself one in about 1980 and it soldiered on for many years before the tube started going a bit pink.
__________________
Andy G1HBE.
Andrew2 is online now  
Old 13th Dec 2017, 4:07 pm   #8
McMurdo
Dekatron
 
McMurdo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Staffordshire Moorlands, UK.
Posts: 5,263
Default Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID

I guess it's been on here before but here's a nice little video of the ferguson TX production line

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn_HrHvPinQ
__________________
Kevin
McMurdo is offline  
Old 13th Dec 2017, 4:31 pm   #9
PsychMan
Octode
 
PsychMan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Fleet, Hampshire, UK
Posts: 1,764
Default Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID

What a great video Kevin!
PsychMan is offline  
Old 13th Dec 2017, 4:37 pm   #10
Andrew2
Nonode
 
Andrew2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Dukinfield, Cheshire, UK.
Posts: 2,034
Default Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID

Very much of its time! I think that video shows either the TX90 or TX100 chassis which, IIRC were not a patch on the 9 or 10. The TX90 was (unless my memory is playing tricks again) initially fitted in a cheap-as-chips 14" portable and was not exactly the most reliable design. The pictures always had a soft quality and the colour balance never seemed natural no matter how they were twiddled. Skin tones always reminded me of imported US video-taped shows.
__________________
Andy G1HBE.
Andrew2 is online now  
Old 13th Dec 2017, 5:58 pm   #11
John123
Heptode
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Luton, Bedfordshire, UK.
Posts: 891
Default Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID

Anyone who went to school in the eighties and nineties would've been familiar with them as the school's TV's, usually paired up to a similarly vintage Ferguson Videostar and wheeled about on a large stand. Many a happy memory riding up and down the corridors when we were supposed to be returning the set to storage!

I guess they were good workhorse TV's, and iconic in their own right..although they really lacked the flair of their European and Japanese counterparts and were quite simple in comparison.

I remember seeing Baird and Logik branded variants, and I think Vestel may have also manufactured and sold their own variants abroad.
__________________
Regards,
John
John123 is offline  
Old 13th Dec 2017, 6:15 pm   #12
dazzlevision
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Near Swindon, North Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 3,595
Default Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID

Here are two scans of remote control 22" Ferguson colour TVs (not models equipped with Teletext) from their 1981 and 1982 catalogues.
Attached Files
File Type: pdf Ferguson brochure May 1981.pdf (1.19 MB, 185 views)
File Type: pdf Ferguson brochure October 1982.pdf (1.19 MB, 126 views)
dazzlevision is online now  
Old 13th Dec 2017, 6:34 pm   #13
Lloyd 1985
Nonode
 
Lloyd 1985's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Coningsby, Lincolnshire, UK.
Posts: 2,814
Default Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID

Quote:
Originally Posted by John123 View Post
Anyone who went to school in the eighties and nineties would've been familiar with them as the school's TV's, usually paired up to a similarly vintage Ferguson Videostar and wheeled about on a large stand. Many a happy memory riding up and down the corridors when we were supposed to be returning the set to storage!
Yes! I remember them being the schools tvs in the 90's! I think one or two soldiered on into the early 2000's as well. One of the lads in class had one of those Casio Tv remote watches and managed to find the code for the Fergy's, I remember one English lesson where he kept turning the set off, the teacher didn't have a clue what was going on so went and fetched the AV tech who poked around a bit and said it was fine, of course the set went off as soon as he left the room!

I had one of the 20" non remote ones with a grey front for a while, it was a lovely set, wish I'd kept it!

The video of the production line is interesting, looks way more hi-tech than anywhere I've worked!!

Regards,
Lloyd
Lloyd 1985 is online now  
Old 13th Dec 2017, 6:54 pm   #14
FERNSEH
Dekatron
 
FERNSEH's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, UK.
Posts: 7,444
Default Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID

The TX9 and TX10 range of TV sets saved Ferguson Ltd. Both were the result of massive investment in new manufacturing facilities and in due course all that effort paid off.
The earlier 9600 series were very good sets but were expensive to make, being rather over engineered. The cheaper 9800 series was just a load of junk being nothing more than a development of the worthy 8800 series.
TX9 and TX10 series chassis was designed from the outset to incorporate remote control systems and teletext. In some respects the TX10 resembled the 2000 series in having separate a separate line output stage and EHT transformer. Best of all TX10 receivers was the 22B5, called the Professional Series. I still have the excellent loudspeakers from one of these receivers. Introduced in 1984 the 22B5 was one of the UK first made sets to have the SCART socket.
Early TX9 receivers employed a thyristor power supply. Late in 1980 the chassis was redesigned to incorporate the all new Siemens TDA4600 switch mode power supply chip. This modification vastly improved reliability and the TX9 series became as good as any TV chassis made anywhere in the World.
First deliveries of TX9 came in 1979 in the form of the Movie Star portable TV and deliveries of the Ferguson 3785 TX10 in June 1980.

DFWB.
FERNSEH is offline  
Old 13th Dec 2017, 7:09 pm   #15
dazzlevision
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Near Swindon, North Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 3,595
Default Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID

Here's the 22B5 page in a 1984 Ferguson catalogue.

The 22B5 also employed frequency synthesis tuning.
Attached Files
File Type: pdf Ferguson brochure 1984.pdf (957.1 KB, 126 views)
dazzlevision is online now  
Old 13th Dec 2017, 9:01 pm   #16
Philips210
Nonode
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Redruth, Cornwall, UK.
Posts: 2,562
Default Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID

Hi

I always liked the TX10. I personally think this was Thorn's best chassis, better than the later TX100. Main weak point on the TX10 was the thick film focus control unit, though dead easy to replace. It had a totally reliable Philips diode split chopper transformer which also provides the EHT. The actual line output transformer was quite a small non descript component, not that much larger than a line drive transformer.
I seem to recall the field output IC became obsolete and an alternative was supplied with a few modifications to the main chassis.
Most of the TX10s I came across had the excellent Mullard 5000 series remote control system. The remote control receiver/decoder, a SAA5012 IC had an output to drive a LED for 'message received' which blinked when a command from the handset was correctly received. The Mullard VM6101 teletext decoders could be driven directly from the SAA5012 and SAA5010 (used in Rediffusion Mk3) without any additional interface circuitry. The Mullard teletext decoders were robust, virtually trouble free, worked very well and highly responsive unlike today's modern digital TV systems!

I think some of the later TX9s also used the Mullard R/C system but I do remember more basic R/C sets used the Plessey system

The TX9/TX10 were well received in the TV trade. I also liked the 9000 and 9600 series apart from the short lived PIL tubes in the 9000.

Regards
Symon.
Philips210 is offline  
Old 13th Dec 2017, 9:21 pm   #17
Lloyd 1985
Nonode
 
Lloyd 1985's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Coningsby, Lincolnshire, UK.
Posts: 2,814
Default Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID

I forgot, I actually have a Ferguson Movie Star TX9 portable, in near mint condition! Lovely little set, it's obviously been well looked after, and not seen much use, it's not very often I get a TV that doesn't require a complete strip down and wash in the bath. Always produces a good picture, the tube looks nice and bright. I'll have to find some photos of the 2 I've had.

Regards
Lloyd
Lloyd 1985 is online now  
Old 13th Dec 2017, 11:26 pm   #18
KeithsTV
Nonode
 
KeithsTV's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: South Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 2,571
Default Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID

I had the 16" teletext "portable" TX9. That used the Mullard 5000 series remote. I modified it to include an AV input and a mains isolation transformer. Later I added an additional output to connect an external Nicam decoder.

Only had one major problem when the tuner failed.

Keith
KeithsTV is offline  
Old 14th Dec 2017, 12:58 am   #19
John123
Heptode
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Luton, Bedfordshire, UK.
Posts: 891
Default Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lloyd 1985 View Post
One of the lads in class had one of those Casio Tv remote watches and managed to find the code for the Fergy's,
Oh yes, the infamous Casio TV watch. Every supply teacher's worst nightmare! We did this to the Granada badged Salora J and Finlandia sets as well! Happy days!

I never actually owned any of the Ferguson sets, but I had plenty of friends who did. When we'd find the odd broken one dumped we'd cart them back home to take the parts out of them, especially the speakers as they were of very good quality.

The tubes usually got, well..y'know. We were only kids haha
__________________
Regards,
John
John123 is offline  
Old 14th Dec 2017, 1:10 am   #20
John123
Heptode
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Luton, Bedfordshire, UK.
Posts: 891
Default Re: Ferguson Colour Set ID

A Movie Star portable spotted during the recent 'Children In Need Rocks The 80s'
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	mstar.jpg
Views:	155
Size:	86.8 KB
ID:	153962  
__________________
Regards,
John
John123 is offline  
Closed Thread

Thread Tools



All times are GMT +1. The time now is 2:56 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.