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A bit of a challenge, do you try and hide a bodge box, or do you make a custom off air receiver, that looks normal on the outside, but has a digital innards, that way you could get the channel selector to actually change digital channels.

Wow, so PYE did make quality equipment, I only saw that brand (in Australia) in what must have been it's last days and saw nothing impressive.

Love the old thing! ✨

The main bit that amazes me is not all the wiring, or your attention to quality soldering, or your projected million more joints, is the fact you have all those connectors, that are not years old with tarnished tags that take three times your soldering time just to clean them enough that they'll take any solder at all.

A bit of a description about the AVR's and why they were needed would have been nice

A lot of effort, especially recreating missing bits, like the matrix switch, where did you find a suitable box? I've seen several pics from NASA during the Apollo days, there the had a similar switch box next to various monitors, I have some old B&W monitors and thought it would be nice to have a NASA style box under each.... suitable period switches like you have are a problem, I have a few, unfortunately not enough.

Hi WOFFY Thank for your words of encouragement, it really does help to keep our sprits up. Each week our small team of volunteers come and take on various aspects of the restoration, today, Paul who was labelling some of the cable runs, a small but important detail. Steve is repairing/replacing a section of the original floor lino that worn away, and I continued a metalwork task building a frame for the audio Indent unit. There is still much to do!

August 2024.. I just dropped in to remind myself of the start of your restoration, the amount of work and attention to detail is phenomenal you and your team must be pleased MCR21 is now on the road in her original livery. Well done all.

Interesting how they used the silver plated ceramic insulators for component mounting, such as what Tektronix pioneered. I wonder if they contracted to get those terminal blocks from Tektronix? If this thing was built anything like the Pye TVT UHF television transmitters, one must wonder how many people this camera killed due to shoddy safety design. Also, I hope it gave a much higher quality output than the transmitters did.

Now chaps I see your quest for BBC authenticity has extended to repeats. Can we see the full speech it was getting interesting, I blame it on the runner loosing the tape. Best

We used to get the bodies built by Papworth Industries is this one?

哇，这个太酷了！

Ahhh the sound of a Commer 4.75 Lt straight 6 bursting into life struggling to breath through a carburettor more suited to a moped then reluctantly letting out a few of the 109 horses out to do some work. I think one reason Commer inclined the engine was to give it a rest. Seriously great to see you all enjoy your endeavours it has been an interesting journey and we thank you. Best wishes to all. FTB..... Sound and Vision off.

Thank the BBC for giving American TV networks the idea of broadcasting live sports on location.

Thanks very much. A great insight into how it all works and how it has evolved. 👍

Jasmine Bligh forgot to mention and nice to see the victory parade as the frame output on our set gradually faded and picture height followed suite.. Now here we are we digital TV.

Remember her well and from 1938

Of course it was well thought out just like the Transmitters on which I had a part in. Very chuffed when channel 4 at Sandy Heath was turned off for the last time the EIC said how reliable it was. All digital now might as well of worked in a ship yard all a coal mine we are all just part of history now.

It was the new coil what done it!

A friend of mine has one of these vans, here in Ireland. It was imported here from the UK some years ago. It still bears the original green paint beneath the grey it now wears. No equipment inside, of course, but it still has the original wall sockets and other minor fittings from its days with the BBC. No plans at present to restore, but the guy knows what he's got, so, hopefully it's future is safe.

Maybe somebody can answer my slightly-related question. I was watching _A Hard Day's Night_ on Turner Classics when they showed the scene inside the TV studio control room. There were B&W TV monitors, and each picture tube corner had a "wire" pointing to the center of the tube, so four in all. A knob held each wire in place. What were those wires for? I'm old enough to remember B&W television, but this really has me perplexed.

That's brilliant. I like the way wiring harnesses were laced up. GPO modems in the late '60s were done in the same way. No stepper motors either, instead a proper servo.

Exactly the same thing happened to me one cold morning trying to start a Commer C Type Radio OB Van, happy days, thanks for the update and continued good luck with the project, cheers Mike.

Having to use a manual choke, that takes me back to my early days of driving 😊

Where is the crew of mcr21 now?

You might want to try some penetrating oil for stuck screws. We have it here in the states at any hardware store and I'm sure you have it in Great Britain as well.

Good luck with the restoration. I hope the ensemble isn't over-height and can pass under bridges. Cheers!

The zoom lens began to be used already in the mid to later 60s (1965 - 67)

The camera was brand new when I was 12 years old.......

What did the Orthicon tube cost?

Would have been very nice if we also could have seen some pictures from it!

There were also colour cameras in 1963.....

So there is no tube in that camera he is demonstrating?

Was the Orthicon also used by the german Fernseh?

1 orticon camera tube - that means b/v tv 🤔 ??

Thats a neat wiring job! Did you use old cabelling (maybe some new-old-stock) or have you bought modern material for all the audio/vision signalling? I hope to someday build a small OB van or -trailer myself, with historic but also some contemporary equipment on board. Greetings from Germany :)

I think the aspect ratio of the Digital Receiver Box is correct, this is what you get in the 90ies on 4:3 TV lwatching a 16:9 Movie on analog transmissions. Without the black bars the picture is stretched and heads look like eggs...

What a well thought out camera. Items of this era were actually monuments of achievement. I love to see older electronics that brought us to what we are today. One of my favorite music videos is Dave Edmunds Girl Talk in which they used a very old camera and related components. To keep these running smoothly once required floor personnel that was the overseer and repairman. I’ve heard stories of people coming in at the wee hours of the morning to turn the cameras on to preheat them and get it running for the morning show. The Pye is a handsome piece of workmanship.

TH-cam suggested this video to me. I watched it and enjoyed it. Well done.

Great work the van is looking very good but be aware you will probably get a visit from a jobs-worth telling you he has detected you with his van of magic boxes and you need another licences television or you will be sent to hell and damnation or they may issue a fine whichever is their pleasure.

That tube has definitely gone to meet its maker. Pye in the sky, you might say.

Aquadag, my friend, don't you peel away so easy?

Did I miss a look at its screen -- or was the CRT simply not working?

Those look quite like McMurdo connectors? I am in the USA but have had my hands in quite a few Rank Cintel telecine chains since the early 1980s.

It was indeed built like a mini tank......! but it was the best and latest available equipment in those days.....thanks for sharing....!

its easy put out the feet of this units, so you can fixjust right, no ploblem....i love the color of this broadcast external mobile unit

after this work the picture tube is dead

Looks like Thorn simply used the receiver strip from a domestic model, probably the 850 series!, they really weren't thinking of the service technician at all, PYE on the other hand were old hands at professional equipment and knew what was required.

Thank you. Good work keeping MCR21 going.

This MK6 more compact than the RCA TK 60 in my point of view