your right , its incredible to think how we use to be leaders in this sort of technology and now we dont make any TV s at all now in this county , and everything is just disposable and imported .
I've been reading comments on the internet regarding the Bradford chassis was actually Baird. Tosh! I started in the telly business as a young 18 year old at the old Baird factory which morphed into Thorn Consumer Electronics in Lidget Green Bradford, this developed into the largest TV plant in Europe, a small factory down the road in Shipley made the wiring harnesses ( not complete TVs as people report ) I was at Thorn a few years in the 3000/3500, 8500/8000 era , the swan song before closing the factory was the early 9000 derivative. I left to pursue a career in field/ workshop service eventually ending my career ( now retired) as senior debug technician at Pace ( satellite) Saltaire, Pace production was entirely shipped to China after we developed the first Sky digital box ( it only had a 40G harddrive!) I digress. The Bradford chassis was developed in an old repurposed chapel in Clayton Bradford ( hence the name) the set was built by Decca in Telford. As some development engineers to and frowed between Thorn ( previously Baird) and Decca as both buildings were only a couple of miles apart I think this is where the confusion arises, Thorn and Decca ( as you know) are two completely different companies ( and designs) the link been the close proximity of the R&D department's and possibly sharing local talent. ( Love the channel Michael - lots of memories)
I never serviced these as I left the trade for several years but I remember a Decca Tatung 14 inch portable that was sold through Boots branches in the very late 1980s and it was the most reliable portable set that Boots sold . In fact I can't remember any fault problems on those at all.
great to see you on YT after reading your articles in Television for so many years, the heyday of that magazine with great contributors like Eugene Trundle, Les Lawry Johns, NIck Beer etc
Yes definitely a trip down memory lane. Done a load of them sets in my time. It’s pleasure to see these old sets. I’ve just finished working on a Pye Black Box audio, then onto a 70’’ sharp Aquos. I know what I prefer. Life was much simpler then. Great video 👍
These Decca sets were interesting. I never saw any like this before, and if I had, I daresay only the lack of 12V power capability would have been an issue when we were choosing our second set. A small colour set would have been wonderful to have, but we had a usage case for a 12V powered set in mind as well. One varitune and three presets was not a bad combination back then. There's one larger Decca set I'd be interested in finding out about - one we had at school, with 7 soft touch buttons with a red light by the one selected. The colour was very weak on this set when I saw it in use in the late 1980s to early 1990s, especially by comparison with the Salora set normally used at the same time on the other side of the hall, as well as it having a tube I estimate to have been 20" knowing the Salora to be a 26", but I am sure the AVA team did their best to keep it working. Unfortunately I have no idea what the chassis was on that set.
problem is keeping things in order doesn't make money !! and I have passed the point now where its possible to keep any sort of order , I should be tidying up and putting things in order during the lockdown but I'm having more fun making videos and re living my youth .
There was 15 engineers in the workshop and 5 of us apprentices. Keeping the manuals in order was better than sweeping the floor it was my first job in the mornings
I'm enjoying making them and re living my past , flat screen TV s are no fun to repair anymore , I did use to like repairing LCD s when they first came out and manufactures supplied spare parts and a service manual but that's all gone now .
@@michaeldranfield7140 My dad used to repair some TVs when I was a young child but I only remember him working on Rank Bush Murphy chassis. I wanted to go into it myself but by the time I came of age I was advised not to by my school guidance counsellor and was pushed more towards IT instead. Although I now feel the same about IT as you do about TVs, I'm much more interested in the older stuff than what's out now.
I recall the old Finlandia hybrid chassis (c22 h to kz3 Granada's model number.) Dry joints around the line output transformer was solder directly to the maim cct board , the oscillations of the transformer caused metal fatigue in the soldered joints . I did also work on the old Decca's but I've learnt something new as I didn't know they went to Tatung.
Excellent video as always! When our Decca 70 was retired from the kitchen (many years ago now) it was used as a monitor for my Commodore 64 computer (tuned in via computers built-in RF modulator as the TV has no direct video input). Sometimes especially when the room was cold I could hear a high pitched hissing sound and a strange ozone scent coming from the set but did not affect the performance of the set whatsoever. I wonder if this was the plug & socket starting to burn up as you mentioned in the video? My dad took the back off but did not attempt to hinge the main PCB all the way as we were too scared! The TV still worked though and the issue eventually went away by itself. I must admit though when you shown the component side of the PCB in your video I was stunned at how neat the layout was and it's adjustable pivoting PCB mount with various service positions. Decca certainly knew how to produce a good quality product with the serviceman in mind not like a lot of the stuff you get now. Very interesting indeed - keep them videos coming!
The ozone smell you refer to was caused by EHT leakage, usually around the anode cavity of the CRT and caused by dampness in the air, a good clean around the crt cavity button and a smear of silicone grease would usually cure this , the dry joint usually ended up with a big burn up and loads of smoke from the back of the set giving the impression to a customer a major fault had occurred when in fact it was a simple fix , all the Decca sets of this era were extremely simple to repair and were a big favourite of mine due to the well laid out easy to read circuit diagrams especially when you compared them to jap sets such as Sharp and Sony where the diagrams looked like a rats nest and you could spend more time trying to understand the diagram than actually repairing the set .
Probably moisture and dust around the CRT anode cap. Sometimes the cap deforms slightly and curls up around the edges, causing slight corona discharge.
@@michaeldranfield7140 That makes a lot of sense because the TV & computer were kept in a single brick wall extension on the side of the house where dampness was an issue. We eventually moved them to the spare bedroom and all was OK. Plenty of volume the set had also which was to no surprise as the loudspeaker looked quite large for a 14” TV. I don’t suppose you have the “Text” monitor variant do you? I recall the cabinet looking identical but of course with no tuning controls as it is a monitor. There was just a blanking panel with a red neon indicator at the front and I think the brightness, contrast etc were at the rear. We had one at school used with a BBC micro. Would be very interested to see inside one of them too.
@@pi6706 Sorry I dont have a monitor version of this set and I also have a feeling that was my last Decca set but I'm going to have a look in the loft in a few days time as someone else asked if I have any other Decca sets to show .
Amazing to think that Decca TV could be 42 years old , I remember them coming out and the Tatung 120 chassis . We used some of those as bench monitors for vcr repairs in our TV workshop, the varitune was very handy . Good video again Michael
yes, the varitune was a lot more convenient than fiddling around with a tuning tool or screwdriver when constantly retuning for video repairs as you say .
@@michaeldranfield7140 oldest portable colour set i have in working order is a sony kv1420, early 80s i think, earliest colour of any type 1972ish ferguson 3712 8000chassis, earliest 'usable' black n white, 1964/65 KB KV003 dual standard portable, earliest not really usable 1957 EKCO TMB272 'portable' (heavy!)
I can remember repairing loads of these around 1982 to 1986 when I worked at Television Parlour's, Fareham Service Centre... Strangely, I cannot recall any common faults on them. Maybe they did and I've just forgotten though Ha ha :-)
@@michaeldranfield7140 I expect most of those kind of faults were repaired in the field by their service engineers on road. I was always workshop based --- However, I've just had another flashback to those days and also recall the owner of the company I worked for acquired and sold hundreds if not thousands of Decca 80 and 100 chassis that were badged Telefunken. I'm not entirely sure what the story was behind those, but they all had UHF / VHF Tuners fitted....
@@marksntl7632 right next to my computer I looking at a Decca 100 psu and a IF panel for the Decca 100 , sadly I dont have any Decca 100s at the moment but I have been recently buying some sets of a friend of mine so who knows what will come up . I use to prefer been workshop based , and I am now , but years ago I did in home service as once you knew what set a customer had it was just a matter of packing a tool box with all the components to do the common faults , so much simpler than today .
@@michaeldranfield7140 Indeed! Who knows, you could end up acquiring a Decca 100 😀After many years between leaving that Job I mentioned (in 1986) and the early 1990's, I did repair one more Decca 100 when I was Self Employed. It was a 26 inch screen in Huge Highly Polished wooden cabinet with doors on. It was a special edition version and seem to recall it has brass plaque on one the doors. I could be wrong after all these years, but I have a feeling it was a Silver Jubilee Special Edition purchased from Harrods all the like. Anyway, a dry joint on the LOPTx (Flyback Tx) burnt a huge hole in the board. By luck and chance , I acquired a brand new old stock PCB from a company that purchased loads of spare from Decca (I seem to recall they were called Wizard). Anyway, the customer was over the moon that I got it going for him again. So long story shory short, it was most rewarding in every way 😀
@@marksntl7632 You have set me off now on a trip down memory lane , Wizzard distributors, empress street Manchester, these were one of my first trade accounts when I opened my shop, the rep that use to come round was called Dave Moor and drove a Japanese car, he was a member of the magic circle and use to visit with a black suitcase full of idlers, pinch rollers, TV components and always had a new magic trick to show me , I remember sometime between 1997-1999 as I was moving shop going down to Wizzard distributors , it was in an old mill up some stone stairs and on the counter they had some brand new Decca 160 chassis for sale at £10 each , in fact one of these very chassis featured in my youtube video on the Decca 160, I cant remember for certain but they could have well been closing down and maybe let all the reps go and this is possibly why I made a personal visit , so you are quite possibly right when you say your decca pcb came from wizzard. . I think I still have a catalogue of there's .
Yes I remember , this was also a common problem on some other sets using the same CRT and scan coils and I always use to check this if the line transistor was faulty ..
@@michaeldranfield7140 i think it was official modification issued to service agents to remove the wire from the plug and solder direct to the pcb, most of the cvc30s i've had were done like this, (think i had a cvc40?45? that was similar, that set had other issues , mainly drifting grey scale with brightness, could never get it right, and eventually scrapped, though , the others got sold off cheap, except the 26 inch one we used for a few years in the front room, minus the back cover as i never had it, was missing when i was given it!) there was also a more important mod to wire the mains switch to the pcb and not rely on the through hole connections as they developed cracked joints and cause severe arcing and fire in some cases , this affected all models using same switch and mounting method,
Its quite fascinating actually seeing this The progression of UK manufacturing and design going east from the mid 70s onwards. Thankyou.
your right , its incredible to think how we use to be leaders in this sort of technology and now we dont make any TV s at all now in this county , and everything is just disposable and imported .
I've been reading comments on the internet regarding the Bradford chassis was actually Baird. Tosh! I started in the telly business as a young 18 year old at the old Baird factory which morphed into Thorn Consumer Electronics in Lidget Green Bradford, this developed into the largest TV plant in Europe, a small factory down the road in Shipley made the wiring harnesses ( not complete TVs as people report ) I was at Thorn a few years in the 3000/3500, 8500/8000 era , the swan song before closing the factory was the early 9000 derivative. I left to pursue a career in field/ workshop service eventually ending my career ( now retired) as senior debug technician at Pace ( satellite) Saltaire, Pace production was entirely shipped to China after we developed the first Sky digital box ( it only had a 40G harddrive!) I digress. The Bradford chassis was developed in an old repurposed chapel in Clayton Bradford ( hence the name) the set was built by Decca in Telford. As some development engineers to and frowed between Thorn ( previously Baird) and Decca as both buildings were only a couple of miles apart I think this is where the confusion arises, Thorn and Decca ( as you know) are two completely different companies ( and designs) the link been the close proximity of the R&D department's and possibly sharing local talent. ( Love the channel Michael - lots of memories)
I never serviced these as I left the trade for several years but I remember a Decca Tatung 14 inch portable that was sold through Boots branches in the very late 1980s and it was the most reliable portable set that Boots sold . In fact I can't remember any fault problems on those at all.
I think you are referring to the Decca 160, I have a video of one of those,
great to see you on YT after reading your articles in Television for so many years, the heyday of that magazine with great contributors like Eugene Trundle, Les Lawry Johns, NIck Beer etc
Yep, still doing the same job after 40 odd years.
Yes definitely a trip down memory lane. Done a load of them sets in my time. It’s pleasure to see these old sets. I’ve just finished working on a Pye Black Box audio, then onto a 70’’ sharp Aquos. I know what I prefer. Life was much simpler then. Great video 👍
too right it was and you could get spare parts.
love this chanel a real trip down memory lane.
as much for me as you, I was only in my early 20 s when I was repairing these sets for a living .
Fantastic look forward to some more Decca videos.
Not sure if I have any more Decca sets now , I will have to have another look in the loft , might have to be a video of a different kind next time .
These Decca sets were interesting. I never saw any like this before, and if I had, I daresay only the lack of 12V power capability would have been an issue when we were choosing our second set. A small colour set would have been wonderful to have, but we had a usage case for a 12V powered set in mind as well. One varitune and three presets was not a bad combination back then. There's one larger Decca set I'd be interested in finding out about - one we had at school, with 7 soft touch buttons with a red light by the one selected. The colour was very weak on this set when I saw it in use in the late 1980s to early 1990s, especially by comparison with the Salora set normally used at the same time on the other side of the hall, as well as it having a tube I estimate to have been 20" knowing the Salora to be a 26", but I am sure the AVA team did their best to keep it working. Unfortunately I have no idea what the chassis was on that set.
pity you don't have a little bit more information on the set as I should have all the Decca service manuals ,somewhere !
Goodness me Decca 70 series I remember these, I also remember been responsible for keeping service manuals in order, those were the days.
problem is keeping things in order doesn't make money !! and I have passed the point now where its possible to keep any sort of order , I should be tidying up and putting things in order during the lockdown but I'm having more fun making videos and re living my youth .
There was 15 engineers in the workshop and 5 of us apprentices. Keeping the manuals in order was better than sweeping the floor it was my first job in the mornings
nice set !
Many thanks for that.
I'm really enjoying these videos, thanks for uploading!
I'm enjoying making them and re living my past , flat screen TV s are no fun to repair anymore , I did use to like repairing LCD s when they first came out and manufactures supplied spare parts and a service manual but that's all gone now .
@@michaeldranfield7140 My dad used to repair some TVs when I was a young child but I only remember him working on Rank Bush Murphy chassis. I wanted to go into it myself but by the time I came of age I was advised not to by my school guidance counsellor and was pushed more towards IT instead. Although I now feel the same about IT as you do about TVs, I'm much more interested in the older stuff than what's out now.
great stuff i always look forward to your content even tho it bores the hell out of my misses lol
My wife is totally oblivious to what I'm doing here on the computer , she has no interest in electronics either !
I recall the old Finlandia hybrid chassis (c22 h to kz3 Granada's model number.) Dry joints around the line output transformer was solder directly to the maim cct board , the oscillations of the transformer caused metal fatigue in the soldered joints . I did also work on the old Decca's but I've learnt something new as I didn't know they went to Tatung.
Excellent video as always! When our Decca 70 was retired from the kitchen (many years ago now) it was used as a monitor for my Commodore 64 computer (tuned in via computers built-in RF modulator as the TV has no direct video input). Sometimes especially when the room was cold I could hear a high pitched hissing sound and a strange ozone scent coming from the set but did not affect the performance of the set whatsoever. I wonder if this was the plug & socket starting to burn up as you mentioned in the video? My dad took the back off but did not attempt to hinge the main PCB all the way as we were too scared! The TV still worked though and the issue eventually went away by itself. I must admit though when you shown the component side of the PCB in your video I was stunned at how neat the layout was and it's adjustable pivoting PCB mount with various service positions. Decca certainly knew how to produce a good quality product with the serviceman in mind not like a lot of the stuff you get now. Very interesting indeed - keep them videos coming!
The ozone smell you refer to was caused by EHT leakage, usually around the anode cavity of the CRT and caused by dampness in the air, a good clean around the crt cavity button and a smear of silicone grease would usually cure this , the dry joint usually ended up with a big burn up and loads of smoke from the back of the set giving the impression to a customer a major fault had occurred when in fact it was a simple fix , all the Decca sets of this era were extremely simple to repair and were a big favourite of mine due to the well laid out easy to read circuit diagrams especially when you compared them to jap sets such as Sharp and Sony where the diagrams looked like a rats nest and you could spend more time trying to understand the diagram than actually repairing the set .
Probably moisture and dust around the CRT anode cap. Sometimes the cap deforms slightly and curls up around the edges, causing slight corona discharge.
@@michaeldranfield7140 That makes a lot of sense because the TV & computer were kept in a single brick wall extension on the side of the house where dampness was an issue. We eventually moved them to the spare bedroom and all was OK.
Plenty of volume the set had also which was to no surprise as the loudspeaker looked quite large for a 14” TV. I don’t suppose you have the “Text” monitor variant do you? I recall the cabinet looking identical but of course with no tuning controls as it is a monitor. There was just a blanking panel with a red neon indicator at the front and I think the brightness, contrast etc were at the rear. We had one at school used with a BBC micro. Would be very interested to see inside one of them too.
@@Oldgamingfart Thanks. yes I bet that’s what it was.
@@pi6706 Sorry I dont have a monitor version of this set and I also have a feeling that was my last Decca set but I'm going to have a look in the loft in a few days time as someone else asked if I have any other Decca sets to show .
Amazing to think that Decca TV could be 42 years old , I remember them coming out and the Tatung 120 chassis . We used some of those as bench monitors for vcr repairs in our TV workshop, the varitune was very handy .
Good video again Michael
yes, the varitune was a lot more convenient than fiddling around with a tuning tool or screwdriver when constantly retuning for video repairs as you say .
@@michaeldranfield7140 oldest portable colour set i have in working order is a sony kv1420, early 80s i think, earliest colour of any type 1972ish ferguson 3712 8000chassis, earliest 'usable' black n white, 1964/65 KB KV003 dual standard portable, earliest not really usable 1957 EKCO TMB272 'portable' (heavy!)
dry joints were forever an issue, especially philips and some itt models 😉
I can remember repairing loads of these around 1982 to 1986 when I worked at Television Parlour's, Fareham Service Centre... Strangely, I cannot recall any common faults on them. Maybe they did and I've just forgotten though Ha ha :-)
Dry joint on the line scan coil socket and tripler failure were the most common faults.
@@michaeldranfield7140 I expect most of those kind of faults were repaired in the field by their service engineers on road. I was always workshop based --- However, I've just had another flashback to those days and also recall the owner of the company I worked for acquired and sold hundreds if not thousands of Decca 80 and 100 chassis that were badged Telefunken. I'm not entirely sure what the story was behind those, but they all had UHF / VHF Tuners fitted....
@@marksntl7632 right next to my computer I looking at a Decca 100 psu and a IF panel for the Decca 100 , sadly I dont have any Decca 100s at the moment but I have been recently buying some sets of a friend of mine so who knows what will come up .
I use to prefer been workshop based , and I am now , but years ago I did in home service as once you knew what set a customer had it was just a matter of packing a tool box with all the components to do the common faults , so much simpler than today .
@@michaeldranfield7140 Indeed! Who knows, you could end up acquiring a Decca 100 😀After many years between leaving that Job I mentioned (in 1986) and the early 1990's, I did repair one more Decca 100 when I was Self Employed. It was a 26 inch screen in Huge Highly Polished wooden cabinet with doors on. It was a special edition version and seem to recall it has brass plaque on one the doors.
I could be wrong after all these years, but I have a feeling it was a Silver Jubilee Special Edition purchased from Harrods all the like. Anyway, a dry joint on the LOPTx (Flyback Tx) burnt a huge hole in the board. By luck and chance , I acquired a brand new old stock PCB from a company that purchased loads of spare from Decca (I seem to recall they were called Wizard). Anyway, the customer was over the moon that I got it going for him again. So long story shory short, it was most rewarding in every way 😀
@@marksntl7632 You have set me off now on a trip down memory lane , Wizzard distributors, empress street Manchester, these were one of my first trade accounts when I opened my shop, the rep that use to come round was called Dave Moor and drove a Japanese car, he was a member of the magic circle and use to visit with a black suitcase full of idlers, pinch rollers, TV components and always had a new magic trick to show me , I remember sometime between 1997-1999 as I was moving shop going down to Wizzard distributors , it was in an old mill up some stone stairs and on the counter they had some brand new Decca 160 chassis for sale at £10 each , in fact one of these very chassis featured in my youtube video on the Decca 160, I cant remember for certain but they could have well been closing down and maybe let all the reps go and this is possibly why I made a personal visit , so you are quite possibly right when you say your decca pcb came from wizzard. .
I think I still have a catalogue of there's .
itt cvc30s had burnup issues on the connector to the panel above the scan coils,
Yes I remember , this was also a common problem on some other sets using the same CRT and scan coils and I always use to check this if the line transistor was faulty ..
@@michaeldranfield7140 i think it was official modification issued to service agents to remove the wire from the plug and solder direct to the pcb, most of the cvc30s i've had were done like this, (think i had a cvc40?45? that was similar, that set had other issues , mainly drifting grey scale with brightness, could never get it right, and eventually scrapped, though , the others got sold off cheap, except the 26 inch one we used for a few years in the front room, minus the back cover as i never had it, was missing when i was given it!) there was also a more important mod to wire the mains switch to the pcb and not rely on the through hole connections as they developed cracked joints and cause severe arcing and fire in some cases , this affected all models using same switch and mounting method,
i forgot that tatung took over decca? similar to magnavox and philips
Correct and they were renamed Decca Tatung for a while, then later just Tatung.
@0.55 Decca 80? Is that showing you how to wallpaper?
The pull out sections could be used as wallpaper, it would be more interesting to look at than flowers .
Life on mars lol
Hi Michael are you on Facebook or Instagram
No , dont do any of that .
@@michaeldranfield7140 ok thanks i was looking information on a Ferguson 3500.
Hello Michael, Do you still have, or did you ever carry any new video heads for Beta vcr's......Thank you , Aaron