February 2005 Vol

4- 411-4Pe- ' 14 ;ii> * 11> •

Digi Rep airs UK & Ir e l a n d e TRADE REPAIR e SERVICE FOR THE 71 l L141 UK & EIRE Are you looking for a reliable company to repair your sky digiboxes? We offer FREE SAMEDAY Collection when you send more than one box for repair! • FIXED PRICES Pace, Grundig, Amstrad Fixed price £38 + VAT includes return delivery Panasonic, Sony Sky + (Standard repair) Fixed price £45 + VAT includes return delivery (Hard Drive replacement) Fixed price £75 + VAT includes return delivery • Prices include all faults Micro processor, Modem, Software corruption and BGA replacement. Send more than one box at a time we collect for FREE. • Specialists in the repair of Amstrad & Sony digiboxes. • Refurbished digiboxes for sale (subject to availability). • Fast Turnaround Time. • All repairs fully guaranteed (6 months). • Collection arranged from anywhere in the United Kingdom and Eire. • Authorised Sky Digital Repair Centre. Receive our latest Satellite and technical newsletter FREE through email. Just send us an email with Newsletter in the Subject title to: [email protected]

Contact: DIGI REPAIRS (UK ik Ireland) UNIT 25, ENNIS KILLEN BUSINESS CENTRE TE MP O ROAD, ENNIS KILLEN BT74 4RL TEL: 02866327293 (NATION AL RATE) 0845 6441628 (LOC AL RATE) E mail: info edigirepairs.co.uk CONTENTS February 2005 Vol. 55 No. 4

Editor 195 Comment 219 Bench notes John A. Reddihough Broadcasters in turmoil. Adrian Gardiner describes some particularly obscure faults he has encountered recently with [email protected] 196 News Hitachi and Beko TV sets. Hollywood line-up for new DVDs. Sony opts for Deputy Editor LCD. Dual-layer DVD/HD DVD disc. Joint LCD 220 Laptop caption generator Tessa Winford venture. HDD development. HD-ready TVs. Bill Wright describes the problems he experienced when he wanted to use a laptop as a caption genera- 198 Repairing liquid-crystal tor to provide information on a channel change for Production Editor displays the users of a large TV signal distribution system. Jane Massey Increasing numbers of monitors and, now, TV sets 224 Service Casebook have an LCD screen. Much \\ ork on I CDs can be Production Executive Michael Maurice comments on some TV faults encountered. Dean Turner 01322 611206 226 Letters M T reception. Effect of weather. Thanks. An early set. Group Advertisement Sales Executive 228 DX and Satellite Reception Mike Traylen Terrestrial DX and satellite TV reception reports. Broadcast, satellite TV and transmitter news. DAB 01322 611 289 DX. Receiver notes. Meteor shower dates for 2005. Fax 01322 616 376 Roger Bunney reports. done only under Class 100 clean-room conditions. Editorial Assistant Peter Doxat of Teleplan Warranty Services 231 Help wanted describes the various fault conditions that arise and Ann Price the repair possibilities. 232 Audio faults 01322 611 365

202 DRX400 PSU problems 234 VCR clinic The power supply in this Amstrad digibox has sev- Managing Editor eral common faults, some of which call for multi- 236 TV fault finding Bill Evett ple component replacement. Michael Dranfield describes fault diagnosis and the action required. 239 DVD and home cinema fault Publishing Director 204 The cult of the AVO 8 reports Tony Greyille The AVO 8 is possibly the most famous multimeter of all time: you can now buy the Mk. 7 version. 240 Books to buy Note that we are unable to answer Why would you want to in this digital age? Well, Details of titles you can order from Television. there are many applications where an analogue technical queries over the telephone and meter has decided advantages, and you can't do 242 Extended fault reports cannot provide information on spares better than an AVO 8. Eugene Trundle takes a close A few longer reports on complex or tricky TV other than that given in our Spares Guide look at the current model. faults. Disclaimer We work hard to ensure that the 206 Portrait of the CAI 244 What a Life! The CAI was set up in 1978 as a trade body to information presented in Television There's one constant in this trade: odd customers! is accurate. However, Television's represent the aerial and signal distribution industry. Donald Bullock's servicing commentary. publisher - Highbury Business - Graeme M. Young describes its present status. will not take responsibility for any 246 Satellite notebook in¡ury or loss of earnings that may 208 Vintage repair: the Kiferting result from applying information HDTV tests. Digital channel update (28.2°E). presented in the magazine. It is MT157/158 tape recorder Atlantic Bird 1 TV activity. Digibox faults. your responsibility to familiarise Michael Maurice has had one in the family since yourself with the laws relating to the early Sixties. He describes its construction and 249 Web service dealing with your customers and suppliers, and with safety practices operation, and a restoration project. Useful websites for TV professionals, technicians relating to working with and enthusiasts. electrical/electronic circuitry - 212 Test Case 506 particularly as regards electric 250 Monitor faults shock, fire hazards and explosions. 216 HDTV: the vision for Europe Next issue, dated A recent broadcasting event in London reviewed 251 Next month in Television the development of HDTV. George Cole reports. March, on sale February 16

TELEVISION February 2005 193 e-mail: sales© wiltsgrove.co.uk WILTSGROVE LTD http://w w w.wiltsgrove.co.uk 35/38 River Street, Digbeth. Birmingham B5 5SB Opening Times: 9:00am - 6:00pm (Monday - Saturday) TEL C121 772 2733 - FAX 0121 766 6100 OFFER VALID UNTIL THE END OF OCTOBER 2004

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COPYRIGHT (ID Highbury Business, 2005. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be Broadcasters in turmoil reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written A ren't they always, you might of its own success. At the time of BBC should be the sole provider permission of the publishers. M ask? Being communicators, its inception (as the British of public-service broadcasting: in All reasonable precautions are taken by those involved in broadcasting are Television to ensure that the advice and data Broadcasting Company) in 1922 practice the ITV companies and, published are rel .able. We cannot however not reticent about making us it had a staff of four and provided in particular, Channel 4 have tra- guarantee it and we cannot accept legal aware of their views. They are a primitive radio service for the ditionally had this as part of their responsibility for it. also, naturally enough, concerned London region. By the time of the remit. But the provision of public- CORRESPONDENCE about their interests and future. first Charter in 1927 the staff had service broadcasting — news at All correspondence regarding advertise- The present is, in particular, a increased to 989. Its staff has peak times, minority program- ments should be addressed to the time of uncertainty, with all sorts since grown to many thousands — ming, educational and cultural Advertisement Manager, Television, of prospects and possibilities the number has waxed and waned programming etc. — does not Highbury Business, Media House, Azalea opening up as broadcasting at various times. Starting at such always fit easily with the priorities Drive, Swanley, Kent, BR8 8HU. Editorial correspondence should be addressed to becomes increasingly digital. an early date, it had to broadcast of a commercial broadcaster aim- Television, Editorial Department, Highbury Then there is the business, yet in the fullest sense — providing ing for maximum audiences. It Business, Media House, Azalea Drive, again, of the BBC's Charter and indeed developing the means seems that ITV is to be relieved Swanley, Kent, BFi8 8HU. review — a Green Paper on this is of transmission as well as the from its obligations in this INDEXES AND BINDERS expected from the DCMS soon. services themselves. During the respect. To maintain such services Indexes for Vols. 38 to 53 are available at £.50 The BBC's situation is particu- course of its evolution and expan- in addition to those provided by each from SoftCopy Ltd., who can also supply larly significant. It need hardly be sion other activities were added, the BBC, Ofcom has suggested an fifteen-year consolidated index on comput- said that the BBC is a unique in particular a successful publish- the creation of a Public Services er disc. For further details see page 187. institution of incalculable cultural ing side. Its engineering division Publisher. It's not clear how — or Binders that hold twelve issues of Television are available for £5.50 each from Modern and public worth. But as a pub- was particularly important, in whether — this would work. Bookbinders, Pringle Street, Blackburn, BB1 1SA. licly-funded corporation it is making it possible for broadcast- What excites and alarms broad- Telephone: 01254 59 371 accountable to the public, which ing services to develop. The engi- casters is the development of digi- Make cheques payable to "Television Binders". means that roughly every ten neering side has been responsible tal multi-channel services. It's Newstrade Enquires years those who are, for whatever for many significant advances, exciting because of the endless pos- Distributed by COMAG reason, opposed to the idea of including sound-in-sync, Ceefax sibilities that are opened up, and Telephone: C.1895 444055 non-commercial broadcasting, or and Nicam for example. Could alarming because it could mean ISSN 0032-647X have a particular grievance the equipment required have been inadequate funding and a burgeon- Newstrade Hotline against the BBC, get the opportu- obtained from external sources, ing mass of worthless output. If you are experiencing problems getting nity to make their feelings known. maybe more cheaply? Probably Could this overwhelm traditional copies through your newsagent, please call Rather more importantly it means not in 1922, nor in 1927, and the broadcasting in an untrammelled Debbie Jenner on 01322 611210 that what exactly the BBC is and BBC worked with EMI, the digital future? It's possible, though SUBSCRIPTIONS what it does, or should be doing, Marconi Company and the Baird unlikely: someone will probably Highbury Fulfilment Services, Link House, can be considered. Company on early TV develop- remain as a mass broadcaster. 8 Bartholomew's Walk, Ely. The first Royal Charter, which ment. It's arguable whether engi- Broadband transmission adds Cambridge CB7 4ZD. laid down the powers of the neering is best provided in-house to the confusion. It's interesting Telephone 01353 654 431 Governors, organisational and or by external companies. that British Telecom has set up Fax 01353 654 400 constitutional matters, was award- Likewise, should publications be BT Entertainment, with a remit to Email [email protected] ed to the BBC in 1927. The posi- outsourced to others? And, when develop video-via-broadband Please notify change of address. tion of the Governors is vital in it comes to actual programme pro- services — similar to what the Subscription rates: maintaining the independence, duction, should the BBC do this cable companies can provide. UK 1 year £33.80 from the government and other in-house or commission inde- Further broadcasting possibilities 2 years £54.00 authorities, of the BBC. The other pendent companies to provide were discussed at a recent confer- 3 years £71.00 vital factor is the availability of them? There are those who would ence, Digital TV: The Next Steps. Republic of Ireland 1 year £38.95 adequate independent funding, like to see the BBC reduced to a The mobile phone operators are 2 years £62.00 which means the licence fee. This very minimal organisation, with waiting to get in on the act — a 3 years £81.85 was originally paid by listeners virtually all activities provided by transmission standard, DVB-H (H Mainland Europe 1 year £49.00 for the right to operate broadcast outside sources. The danger in for handheld), has been devel- 2 years £78.40 reception equipment, akin to the paring back its capabilities too far oped, and a UK trial is to be car- 3 years £102.90 radio amateurs' licence. There are is a reduction in its independence: ried out in Oxford this spring (see Rest of World 1 year £63.50 those who, if they never make use it needs activities other than News, page 4, November 2004). 2 years £101.00 of BBC services, resent the scheduling and commissioning to According to Terry Howard, head 3 years £133.00 licence fee. This is understand- remain an effective broadcaster. If of business development at NTL able, but they should appreciate it is to continue to fulfil the role Broadcast, researchers around Cheques should be made payable to Europe have established that there Television. that what they are paying for is a that we, and others, expect of it a 'public good', akin to say national very careful balance has to be is a demand for mobile TV and a BACK NUMBERS defence (an analogy suggested by sought in such matters. willingness to pay for it. If available issues are £4.00 each Gavyn Davies): something we Information from an untainted The prospects for broadcasting need to have whether or not source is vital. In particular there have never been wider nor the •be there's an immediate personal has to be, today, a non-spin future more difficult to prophesy. et requirement. provider. It's no wonder that the broadcast- HIG HBURY In a sense the BBC is a victim This doesn't imply that the ers are agitated. BUSINESS —

TELEVISION February 2005 195 NEWS

Hollywood line-up for new DVDs The battle over which next-gen- apparently failed. in the fourth quarter of 2005. multimedia interface) output eration, blue-laser DVD format Meanwhile Toshiba has The company also plans to socket. Model BD-HD100 can will prevail, Sony's Blu-ray or announced that its HD DVD release a notebook PC with a record and play back high-defi- Toshiba's HD DVD, seems to format has gained the support of built-in HD DVD drive at the nition video to/from its built-in be concentrated on gaining the Paramount Pictures, Universal end of the year. Thomson has hard drive and Blu-ray discs. support of the Hollywood stu- Studios, Warner Bros and New announced that it will start sell- The 160GB hard drive can store dios. The Disney Corporation Line Cinema. In the first half of ing HD DVD players, under the about nineteen hours of HDTV has announced its support for 2004 these four studios account- RCA and Thomson brands, video, while a 25GB Blu-ray the Blu-ray disc and has become ed for about 45 per cent of US before the end of the year. disc will store approximately a board member of the Blu-ray DVD sales. Universal has Thomson says it will continue three hours of HDTV program- Disc Association, whose other announced that will release titles to support Blu-ray development ming. The BD-HD100 has a members include Sony, Philips, in the HD DVD format this however — a subsidiary will be twin Blu-ray disc/DVD tray that Mitsubishi and Hitachi. Sony's year, while Paramount plans to pressing Blu-ray discs, but it has allows digital dubbing in six film studios, including Sony follow in 2006. no plans to market a player. ways, to and from the hard Pictures and MGM, also support HD DVD players are expect- Sharp has launched a Blu-ray drive, Blu-ray discs and DVD, Blu-ray. Disney says however ed to become available late this disc recorder with an integrated including the ability to dub five that it will keep open its options year, and widely available in hard-disk drive and DVD player DVDs (4.76GB each) on to a to use the HD DVD format. 2006. Toshiba plans to launch in Japan. It's also the first Blu- single Blu-ray disc. No price Attempts by Sony to persuade its first HD DVD products, a ray disc recorder to be equipped details or information on a UK Toshiba to support Blu-ray have consumer player and recorder, with an HDMI (high definition releise have been announced. HD-ready TV ranges Sony opts Toshiba has announced a range of high-definition ready for LCD widescreen LCD and DLP (digital light processor) TV models Sony has announced that it is that meet the HDTV Forum's to concentrate on LCD rather specifications for HD-compati- than PDP (plasma) TV sets. bility. There are three LCD But the company, which is a models and two DLP models, as major supplier of PDP sets, follows. will not withdraw from this Model 32WL48 has a 32in. market altogether. It is also to LCD screen and an HDMI continue production of rear- (high-definition multimedia projection sets that use LCD interface) socket. It incorporates modulation — these generally Toshiba's new Active Vision have screen larger than 50in. LCD picture-processing technol- and are popular in the US. ogy. This is claimed to improve There has been speculation detail by increasing the screen's that Sony's announcement pixel count to three times that of highlights the financial bur- a conventional LCD panel. One of NEC's new plasma TV models with high-definition capability. den of continued R&D and Improved colour reproduction is production of all types of sets achieved by using a pixel illumi- range of plasma TV models with al extra. The sets all have seven in a fiercely competitive mar- nation sequence that provides high-definition capability, also video, DVD, RF and PC inputs ket. 1,024 tones in comparison with two slim-line widescreen DLP and include CCF colour-correc- In contrast Matsushita the standard 256. (digital light processor) projection technology. They are com- (Panasonic) has announced Models 3OWL46 (30in.) and tors for home-cinema use. The patible with HDCP, HDMI and that it is to double its PDP 27WLA6 (27in.) have LCD plasma sets are Model 42XR3 HDTV signals. The 50 and 61in. TV manufacturing capacity screens, a DVI (digital video (42in. screen), 50XR3 (50in. models incorporate an advanced to 2m sets a year by March interface) socket) and twin ana- screen), 61XR3 (61in.) and picture-in-picture feature. The 2006. The company expects logue tuners. 42VR5 (42in. VGA screen). The projectors, Models HT410 and the worldwide plasma TV Models 46WM48 (46in.) and displays are guaranteed to last HT510, are said to be very quiet market to exceed 5m sets 52WM48 (52in.) use DLP and for twenty years assuming an in operation (only 26dB in the next year and 10m in 2008, are fitted with an HDMI socket. average seven hours' use a day. eco mode) and are progressive- taking market share from NEC has announced a new An integrated tuner is an option- scan and HDTV compatible. rear-projection sets.

196 February 2005 TELEVISION NEWS

Hard-disk drive development

Toshiba has announced the drives is to start in April. bit quality — the limit on storage world's first hard-disk drives that Conventional longitudinal capacity is fast being use perpendicular recording, magnetic-disc recording stores approached. By standing the which increases the capacity of a the data on a disc as microscopic magnetic bits on end instead, single 1.8in. hard-disk platter to magnets that are aligned horizon- perpendicular recording rein- 40GB. The company is using the tally. Although advances in mag- forces the magnetic coupling technology in two high-capacity netic coatings continue to between neighbouring bits, drives, Model MK4007GAL that improve HDD recording density, achieving stable, higher record- can store up to 40GB of data on the magnetic bits repulse each ing density and thus improved a drive just 5rrun thick and other because of the in-plane storage capacity. The capacity of Model MK8007GAH that pro- alignment According to Toshiba, the MK4007GAL platter is 33 vides 80GB capacity in a 1.8in. squeezing more of these bits on per cent greater than that of form. Mass production of the to a disc will eventually degrade Toshiba's conventional HDD.

Samsung has announced the world's first megapixel Dual-layer DVD/HD DVD disc camera-phone that Memory-Tech and Toshiba have the DVD content. ing the movie sound track. A incorporates a hard-disk drive. announced the development of a The new disc has obvious dual red and blue laser optical Model SPH-V5400 has a 1.5GB dual-layer optical disc that can appeal to the Hollywood studios head has been developed for use hard drive that can store some store content in both the HD in that content can be played with the discs. 3.5 hours of video footage, 300 DVD and the DVD formats. back by a standard DVD player The new discs can be pro- MP files or 1,000 photographic The newly-developed ROM and, in HD form, by the next duced by Memory-Tech's exist- images. It has a 2.2in. LCD disc has a single-sided, dual- generation of HD DVD players. ing manufacturing facilities, screen. The unit is available in layer structure with the upper The new structure also increases which can make both HD DVD Korea at the equivalent of layer, closest to the optical the options for content and DVD discs. The manufac- about £375. head, storing data in the DVD providers: the same content can turing cost of the new discs is format while the lower layer be provided in two formats or expected to be comparable to stores HD DVD data. The stor- the HD DVD layer can be used that of single-sided, dual-layer Joint LCD age capacities are 4.7GB DVD for a feature film with the DVD DVD-ROM or HD DVD-ROM and 15GB HD DVD. Currently layer used to store promotional discs, as they have the sanie available players can play back videos or audio content, includ- physical structure. venture

Model LB26T, with 26in. Harrods has been selling Hitachi, Toshiba and screen, is already on sale at one of the most expensive TV Matsushita (Panasonic) have Video about £1,200. It has Freeview sets on the market, at £15,000 formed a joint venture to pro- and Top-Up TV capability, one — optional surround-sound duce and sell LCD panels for news analogue plus two digital speakers are an extra £7,999. TV sets. The new company is tuners that provide picture-in- The Vivadi Saturn features a known as IPS Alpha Panasonic has launched its first picture capability, a Dolby 46in. plasma screen, a Technology, and is 50 per cent Fre-eview-enabled PVR. Model Digital output, an eight-day DVD+RW recorder, a 200GB owned by Hitachi with TU-CTH100. It incorporates EPG and a comprehensive hard-disk drive PVR, a Toshiba and Matsushita hav- two tuners and an integrated range of input/output sockets. Windows Media Center operating 21 and 25 per cent stakes 80GB hard-disk drive that can To come are 26 and 32in. ing system, Dolby Digital and respectively. Hitachi's store up to 45 hours of video, Models LB26TP and LB32PT DTS sound systems, internet advanced in-plane switching with timer recording of up to which will incorporate a 40GB and email facilities, and DVI, (IPS) technology is being 24 programmes. A navigation PVR. VGA and USB outputs. used, with screen sizes 23in. facility lists the HDD content and above. IPS is a form of and makes it possible to TFT LCD that provides a archive footage to an external wide (170° horizontal and ver- device such as a DVD or VHS tical) viewing angle, with min- recorder. The picture-in-picture imal grey-scale inversion and facility enables users to view viewing-angle dependency. two programmes simultaneous- The plant, at Mobara in Japan, ly. Price is about £280. The Panasonic TU-CTH100 Freeview-enabled PVR incorporates is expected to have a produc- Humax has announced a two tuners and an 80GB hard-disk drive that can store up to 45 tion capacity of 2.5m 32in. range of LCD IDTV sets. hours of video. panels by the end of 2008.

TELEVISION February 2005 197 Repairing liquid-crystal displays

Increasing numbers of monitors and, now, TV sets have an LCD screen. This means a completely different approach to repair. Much work on LCDs can be done only under Class 100 clean-room conditions. Peter Doxat of Teleplan Warranty Services describes the various fault conditions that arise and the repair possibilities

problem that can arise with er, used by many different monitor er damage; and tab failure. flat-screen LCD monitors and TV manufacturers. The sheer After diagnosis, all subsequent Aand TV sets is failure of the range of different panels, sizes and operations are carried out in a Class screen itself. For many technicians, technologies in use means that 100 clean-room. failure of this assembly is often powering a panel can be quite a enough to make the whole unit problem. Cables and interface cards The backlight "beyond economic repair". This need to be made up for each type The backlight assembly is about the article will look at the main of panel, in accordance with the only part of an LCD panel that mechanical problems that can arise: original manufacturers' data. Photo could be tackled in a normal TV we may be able to cover the elec- 1 shows an LCD test jig at workshop. Most technicians can tronic aspects at a later date. Teleplan. work out how to remove the back- Diagnosis can begin once a light assembly from the surround- Testing panel is connected to a test jig. The ing bezel. But the technician should To establish what's wrong with a technician involved will step be aware of contamination issues, panel, it must be powered. The through various test patterns and and ensure that everything is kept Photo 1: One of the Teleplan LCD repair centre will note what's wrong. Faults tend to clean, vacuumed and is swabbed LCD test jigs at accept 'glass', i.e. the display fall into one of three main cate- with an IPA/water mix. Failure to Teleplan. panel, generally without the invert- gories: backlight problems: polaris- do this can mean that particulate falls from the reflector assembly into the backlight diffuser, causing an effect that's similar to missing pixels. Backlights range from relatively simple units with one small CCFL (cold-cathode fluorescent lamp) at the top and bottom to arrangements with several tubes and complex reflector/diffuser assemblies. Some "41W' 111111111111111 111111111111111 111/1111111/111 1111111111111 1111111111111 tubes are not straight, following twisted or zigzag patterns instead, and are consequently easy to break! Common backlight fault symptoms include no display; a dim display; uneven brightness (the top of the screen brighter than the bottom, or vice versa); 'curtaining' effects, where tarnishing of the reflector results in undulating brightness across the screen; and low corner brightness because of blackening at the ends of the CCF tubes. These faults are straightforward to diagnose. The main problems are removal of the CCFL tube assem-

February 2005 TELEVISION blies, which can become well and hard and has to be removed with a polariser can result in inverted truly welded to their end connec- specialist delaminating tool. The colours, a poor viewing angle and Photo 2 - left: tors, and subsequent reassembly, as glass is heated on a hotplate to soft- other unusual effects that can be A corner of the old small amounts of particulate can en the adhesive, and is then trans- confused with video faults. polariser film is loosen and fall off. ferred to the delaminator. The top To replace the polariser the attached to the hot- Some panels have reflectors that corner of the polariser is raised, backing film is removed from the bar assembly of the are prone to tarnishing. It's almost using a scalpel, and is threaded into new polariser material which is delaminator. impossible to obtain the reflectors. the 'hot-bar' roller assembly of the rolled on to the exposed glass sur- Rather than write off such a unit, delamination tool. The roller face, using a laminator tool. See Photo 3 - right: it's possible to repaint the reflector assembly will then peel back the Photo 5. To do this accurately is a Half way through with high-temperature silver or old polariser, at a constant angle skilled operation. If insufficient delamination. Note white paint. The brightness will and speed. See Photos 2 and 3. care is taken, minute bubbles or the 45 angle of never reach the original level — It is important to note that contamination effects will be seen removal. maybe 80 per cent will be 'mura' defects (slightly dark under microscopic examination. achieved. But, if the customer is in smudges, caused by displacement agreement to trying this, the life of of the liquid crystal) are usually Tab replacement the unit can be usefully extended. caused by pressure on and flexing Replacement of tab chips is the of the screen. It is therefore most challenging aspect of LCD The polariser extremely important, when laminat- panel repair. The tab chips general- The polariser is easily scratched or ing or delaminating, to ensure that ly run down one side and along the damaged, but can be replaced. In a constant pressure and speed are top edge of the glass. A faulty or Photo 4 - left: most cases this involves removal of applied. poorly bonded tab will normally After delamination the backlight and the surrounding After delamination, the exposed show as a single — or multiple-line a technician cleans metal bezel, leaving the glass surface must be absolutely clean. error. the exposed surface assembly with its small PCBs at the Specialised cleaning fluids are used The fault is often intermittent carefully. edges. Although not recommended, for this purpose. See Photo 4. and can be instigated by flexing the the polariser on a new panel can A huge variety of polarising film panel assembly before the unit is Photo 5 - right: sometimes be removed by lifting is available. You can buy it precut stripped down. This type of fault is The new polariser one corner of the polarising film or by the roll, in many different caused by poor bonding of the tab, material is rolled on then gently pulling by hand at 45° angles and several different hues. or corrosion of the ITO (indium tin to the cleaned glass, across the surface. With a panel It's essential to adhere to the manu- oxide) tracks that lead to it. If ITO with the technician that's more than a few months old facturer's specification when carry- corrosion is evident, the panel is pulling away its the polariser adhesive will have set ing out replacement. The wrong not repairable. protective film.

TELEVISION February 2005 I 99 1,11111111111111

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Photo 6 - left: The first job is to establish balls that are held in an adhesive Viability of repair Cleaning the which tab is faulty. Most problems resin. A small length is cut off and Many LCD screen problem,, apart bond site. occur at the edges of a tab. As a sandwiched between the ITO tracks from smashed glass, are repairable result, a line fault caused by the and the tab itself. — if you have the right equipment. Photo 7 - right: final pin of one tab could be con- The temperature and amount of The Teleplan facility is primarily The cleaned fused with its being caused by the pressure applied via the tab-bond- geared up to provide high-volume bond site. first pin of the neighbouring tab, a ing machine depend on the size of 'equal-to-new' repairs, but there is after removal costly mistake! Specialist testers the tab and the type of panel. Lists increased demand from customers of a faulty tab. and software that can give an accu- of temperature and pressure 'pro- who request one-offs or small- rate readout of the exact position of files' are held in the tab bonder's batch repairs. the missing (or bright) line are memory: the correct one for the Provided a panel is repairable, available. According to the model, panel being repaired has to be the average cost of completely you can refer to a table to identify selected by the technician. The cor- refurbishing a 17in. flat panel is in the faulty tab. rect combination of time, tempera- the region of £80, including parts. Having done so, you remove the ture and pressure crushes the gold For further information contact the tab using a combination of heat and balls in the resinous material and Teleplan UK Sales Manager chemicals. The key to successful tab spreads them throughout the join, Ron Harckham on 02392 444 241 bonding is that the bond site is per- giving excellent conductivity or email fectly clean when examined under between the tab and the ITO tracks. [email protected] Photo 8 - left: high magnification. Cleaning cannot Before the tab bonder is activat- Teleplan is a warranty repair One of several tab be rushed: the operation normally ed, the alignment is checked by company with some 6,000 bonders: there are takes a skilled technician twenty to microscope and also via two cam- employees worldwide, working different types thirty minutes. See Photos 6 and 7. eras at each end of the tab. Once mainly for the IT industry. Large depending on the The new tab can now be bond- the position is correct, the automat- facilities in the UK, Holland and technology used by ed. Photo 8 shows one of several ed bonding sequence can begin. Poland currently repair several the display panel. tab bonders, and Photo 9 the head The bonding itself should take a thousand CRT and flat-panel dis- of the tab bonder ready to bond few seconds. After the bond, the play units a month. Photo 9 - right: when the new tab is placed in posi- panel is checked on the test jig. Mobile phones, printers, laptops The head of the tab tion. The tabs are not soldered, The panel can then be reassem- and anything associated with IT bonder, ready to partly because of the microscopic bled and put into burn-in. The are repaired at other sites. There bond when the new tracks: they are attached using ACF burn-in test stresses the panel by are plants in most European coun- tab is placed in tape. This is extremely expensive cycling the display and temperature tries, also the Far East, Australasia position. and consists of microscopic gold for several hours. and America.

TELEVISION February 2005 ' AA 930 P R O M A X GV 198 AUDIO ANALYSER

_AM EM EM E M MILL_

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The AA-930 has been designed to facilitate the repair, tuning and analysis of audio frequency equipment in general. Hence, why the six indispensible measurement instruments from an TELEVISION TEST audio service workshop have been combined into this one piece of test PATTERN GENERATOR equipment. The AA-930 is equiped with RCA 600 ti and DIN 47 1(12 connectors for the inputs and outputs. In addition. two FEATURES INCLUDE: BNC connectors on the front panel and two RCA connectors on the rear panel • Suitable for Televisions, projectors and flat screens allow th user to view all of the signals • Covers 4:3 and 16:9 formats measured by the instruments. • Tunable RF modulator between 37MHz and 865MHz • Tunable by channel (CCIR. OIRT or FCC) or frequency • Low Fregency Generator • PAL / SECAM / NTSC Colour Systems • Wow and Flutter Measurement • B/G/D/K/L/I/ M/N Standards • Distortion Meter • Composite Video and Sync outputs • Stereo Watt Meter • High Quality Construction • Millivolt Meter • 10 Front panel memories • Azimut • EUROCONNECTOR interface • Electronic Attenuator • Compact and Strong • User friendly • Attractive Price FLAT • Clear LCD Display • Available from Stock PROJECTORS SCREENS • Full After Sales Service

P R DEVIA)<

FOR ELECTRONIC TEST EQUIPMENT, THERE IS NO WIDER CHOICE THAN WITH PROMAX - G V 241 COMPUTER MONITOR Alban PATTERN GENERATOR TA 90313 In the world of computer monitors, unlike those for televisions, there is a CRT REJUVENATOR multiplicity of different systems involved. ALBAN ELECTRONICS LIMITED The TA-903B has been designed to To satisfy this incredible demand, PROMAX analyse and rejuvenate the cathode THE PROMAX SERVICE CENTRE has designed the GV-241, a universal ray tubes (CRT) of colour and black generator for the testing of computer 6 Caxton Centre, Porters Wood, and white televisions and monitors. The monitors, which greatly facilitates their St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL3 6XT. user can detect and depending upon adjustment, control and repair. circumstances repair the leakage or short TEL: 01 727 832266 • Test Patterns : Colour Bars; Red; Green; cicuits. simultaneously measure the FAX: 01727 810546 Blue; Scale of Greys; Cross hatch; Multiburst current of the RGB cathodes in the cut WEB:www.albanelectronica.co.uk and White off point, trace the voltage / current EMAIL: [email protected] • Outputs : R; B; G; CVS; HS; VS; CS, Cl, C2, characteristics and rejuvenate each of the and C3 three cathodes independently. SALES + SERVICE + C ALIB RATIO N The power supply in this digibox has several common faults, some of which call for multiple component replacement. Michael Dranfield describes fault diagnosis and the action required DRX400 PSU problems

The heading he Amstrad DRX400 digibox Fault diagnosis value of either of these two capac- photo shows the is becoming a regular visitor After removing the lid, which is itors can fall dramatically. As they Amstrad DRX400's Tto the workshop now that it's very difficult, a visual inspection are the reservoir capacitors for the power supply. out of warranty. Apart from failure of the power supply will usually 5V and 3-3V supplies respective- of the Connexant CX24108-20ES reveal the cause of the problem. ly, U2 and IS01 think that one of front-end ZIF tuner chip, which If the power supply is dead these supplies has fallen and causes signal problems, most faults with the mains input fuse F 1 attempt to increase it, with the occur in the power supply. As with (lAT) intact, the cause is usually result that all the supply voltages earlier Grundig digiboxes, most failure of one or both of the 1MQ on the secondary side rise. In this failures here are caused by the use start-up resistors R3 and R13. event, because of internal heating of poor-quality electrolytic capaci- They should both be replaced, nearly all the capacitors on the tors. using the 0-75W, 350V metal-film secondary side of the circuit will type. have fallen in value. For any Power supply circuit If the mains input fuse is chance of long-term reliability, Fig. I shows the circuit diagram of blackened and the top has blown the whole lot must be replaced. the power supply which, in com- off the chopper chip Ul, the cause Despite this rise of voltages on parison with earlier models, is is the mains bridge rectifier's the secondary side of the circuit, I remarkably simple. It's easy to reservoir capacitor C5 (33pF, have yet to find any damage on work on, and fault-diagnosis is 400V). You will find that it's the main board. simple. There are only a handful of open-circuit. In addition, the After carrying out a repair I components on the primary side of 1N4007 mains bridge rectifier always give the PCB a good clean the power supply, the main one diodes D2, D3, D6 and D7, IS01 with Electrolube FLU Fluxclene, being the TOP243P chopper/con- and the 1N4148 rectifier diode which is available from SEME, trol chip Ul. Regulation feedback DI 1 will all have been damaged and dry it with a hairdryer to give is applied to pin 4 of this IC from and will have to be replaced, even a perfect finish. the PC123 optocoupler IS01, which if a cold check suggests that they is driven by the TL431ACZ are OK — they can fail at switch Repair kits adjustable shunt regulator chip U2. on. As a result of the experiences The latter monitors the 5V and Finally there's the most serious described above, SatCure has pro- 3-3V supplies at its reference pin, fault. This is given away by the duced two reliability kits, one to via 1% resistors. presence of a loose object inside upgrade the primary side of the The only slightly unusual the box. You will find that capaci- power supply and the other for the arrangement on the secondary side tor C6 (330pF, 25V), the reservoir secondary side. The part numbers is the way in which the 30V supply capacitor for the 20V supply, has are RELKIT42 and SATKIT42. is obtained, by a voltage-doubler exploded. The basic cause of this To order, or for further details, go circuit (D1, D4, C2, C3) that 'sits' is failure of C13 (2,200pF, 6-3V) to the website at on the unsmoothed 20V supply. or C15 (3,3000F, 6-3V). The www.satcure.co.uk

202 February 2005 TELEVISION SOOZ Aieruciaj NOISIA3131 inputMains 6.8 R6 7 33r=I C5 400V mol C 10 Control R3> > R13 >I M > 1M 8 MOSFET 0 r 2 P6KE17005 D9 1 N4937 TOP243P U1 T5O I C11 I V 1N4148 011 16 • 1 6 14) 2 (1) (2) 4 (5) 1 3 6

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3k3 R4 8 7 The cult of the AVO 8

The AVO 8 is possibly the most famous The meter is as robust as anything with a sensitive moving-coil multimeter of all time, putting in its first assembly can be, but it cannot shrug off the effect, for example, appearance way back in 1923. You can now of a one-metre drop on to a con- buy the Mk 7 version. Why would you want to crete floor. Electrically the meter is very rugged, easily surviving in this digital age? Well, there are many the sort of electrical and pulse applications where an analogue meter has overloads that would wreck the delicate semiconductor devices in decided advantages, and you can't do better a DMM. If you want to try an experiment, ground the negative than an AVO 8. Eugene Trundle takes a close probe then touch the positive look at the current model, its features and uses probe, with each type of meter set to a low DC range, to the A 1 or focus pin of a TV CRT. You will probably blow up the DMM while the AVO survives intact. In terms of circuit loading an he AVO 8 may analogue meter comes a poor sec- Tseem to be an ond to a digital type. This is not incongruous sight on very often significant in general a 21st-century repair servicing but, when it is, a DMM bench. Its dial and must be used. The latter also pro- pointer provide a vides greater accuracy of course. strange contrast with On the other hand DMMs can pro- the digital readouts duce a confusing 'fruit-machine' and PC-based instru- effect when the quantity being mentation of today. measured varies rapidly, and some But the AVO 8 has of them are vulnerable to strong many virtues that are ambient electrical fields and pulse not present with its radiation. See if yours is affected modern counterparts, when, for example, it's placed very as we shall see... close to a working line output transformer. Features The smoothing effect of a mov- The AvoMeter, now ing-coil/pointer arrangement gives in Model 8 Mk. 7 you a better idea of what's going form, first appeared on with a fluctuating input and, in in 1923. It has been addition, a 'ballistic' test with reac- much refined since then. tive components. The value and The meter is a very analogue condition of a capacitor can be device indeed, with a volume AVO 8 is its legendary safety cut- roughly gauged by the size of the greater than two house bricks, two out. This is a mechanical device needle's kick when, using an selector knobs and a curved dial that's triggered by the moving-coil appropriate Ohms range, the capac- and escutcheon. If you turn it so assembly at either end of its travel itor is connected — ensure that it's that the dial is towards you, and and very rapidly isolates the whole discharged! The presence of a large half-shut your eyes, it presents a instrument from its positive input inductor such as a 50Hz mains monkey-like grinning effect. The terminal. It is virtually foolproof. transformer is indicated, using the AVO 8, based on a very good mov- I've never seen this mechanism fail Q x 1 range, by the slow rise of the ing-coil assembly, has AC/DC volt- in the thirty-odd years I've been meter's pointer to its resting posi- age ranges from 3V to 3kV full acquainted with the AVO 8. The tion — surprisingly slow in terms of scale, current ranges from 50pA to REV MC feature is something else the DC resistance of the primary 10A DC and 10mA to 10A AC, and that's handy: it reverses the meter's winding. a resistance reading capability of direction of movement without 1Q-20MQ. Sensitivity is 20kQ N having to disturb the connections to Driving current on the DC ranges, 2kQ N on the the circuit being checked. And the The Q x 1 range of the AVO 8 has AC ones, with accuracies of 1 per recessed glass of the dial forms a other uses. With this range the test cent and 2 per cent of FSD (full- useful tray for screws, nuts and current is about 50mA, which can scale deflection) respectively. sundry little bits from the equip- produce a dim glow in low-energy, One of the best features of the ment under test! low-voltage filament bulbs. This

2 04 February 2005 TELEVISION sort of current is also better than be typically between 15Q and 30Q, then switch down progressively as the smaller test current used by less for say a Schottky diode, more the charge is dissipated. It's much other meters at showing contact for the double junctions in a better than splashing a screwdriver resistance, for example in switches, Darlington device. A reading of blade across the terminals and, plug-socket connections and motor about 1-21S2 is typical with a con- because the switches and prods are brushes. ducting junction on the Q x 10 always available, often more con- Mention of motors brings us to range. venient than using a hand-held the subject of testing small DC LEDs, which have forward volt- resistor for the purpose. types such as those used in tape age ratings from about 2V upwards. and disc decks, camcorders etc. cannot be illuminated — or properly Disadvantages The 50mA-odd test current from turned on — by the AVO's 1.5V cell. There are applications where an the AVO's Q x 1 range will turn They can be checked using the Q x analogue meter will not do, for any of these when there is no 100 range however. When the example when setting the HT volt- mechanical load, and any problems meter is switched to this highest age in a TV set and, particularly, within such a motor are immediate- resistance range it draws on its 15V when checking the 3.3V and 5V ly obvious because of low or fluc- battery. This provides a test for supplies used by digital chips. As tuating resistance readings. If you some zener diodes, in that reverse an aside, I find that these are best grip the shaft between a finger and 'resistance' is indicated as infinite checked with a digital voltmeter thumb you can feel any torque flut- with the low-ohms ranges but rela- and an oscilloscope, set to high ter caused by a bad commutator or tively low with the Q x 100 setting. gain and with AC coupling, in par- rotor coil — a DC-coupled oscillo- allel to show any hash and ripple. scope connected across a good Pulling current So the AVO sits alongside a motor will show a regular wave- The wide span of the current DMM on my bench, the latter form. To check for irregular torque, ranges is a boon, especially when being used surprisingly little from grip the shaft until it only just your activities involve more than day to day. turns. Also confirm that the motor 'brown' electronic goods. The 10A always starts from any position. A DC range is very good for testing Pedigree typical reading with a running batteries of the AA and AAA type The AVO 8 is an amazingly useful motor is a steady 50Q, which drops used in remote-control zappers — and versatile piece of equipment, much lower when the motor is an off-load voltage check gives no with a pedigree second to none. For loaded then stalled, now indicating idea really of a battery's condition. a period in my youth I abandoned about 10Q. Switch the meter to 10A DC and it, tempted away by a superficially The same test can be carried out connect the battery to it momentar- similar Taylor multimeter because with the motor coupled to its ily, for the split second it takes for of this instrument's 1001(52/V DC mechanical load, so long as this is a the needle to come to rest. This sensitivity. But I soon returned to light one — for example a camera real test checks the battery's the AVO 8. lens or a laser-drive sled. With charge, internal resistance and The 8 used to have a little, but these, the resistance indicated by potential life. A good new battery perfectly respectable, brother called the meter corresponds to the will read 3-4A for an alkaline type, the MultiMinor. According to mechanical load inversely, thus 2-3A for a zinc-carbon type. advertisements in this magazine indicating 'tight spots' etc. A motor A battery that cannot muster many years ago, possession of the that drives a heavier load, such as a more than half an amp should be Minor could make the difference disc tray or tape-deck loading thrown away, even though it may between success and failure in your mechanism, will not operate with work the zapper or whatever. Other chosen career! It was, perhaps, a the energy supplied by the AVO types of battery, from button cells recognition of the fact that the but, if the pulley is turned by hand, upwards, can be tested in this way, Model 8 was beyond the pocket of the meter will check out the motor. the current reading being propor- junior technicians. It's often possible to slip off a belt tional to their internal resistance or disengage a worm to carry out and energy rating. Availability the off-load tests described above. The current version of the AVO 8, Bear in mind that on the Ohms Resistance substitution the Mk. 7, costs a cool £585 plus ranges the voltage available from Because the AVO 8 has a fixed VAT. So I would not suggest that the AVO is reversed, in that the measuring current, each voltage you rush out and buy one this day. minus terminal is positive and vice range provides a known and very They can however sometimes be versa. This is important when test- accurate resistance. This is useful obtained second-hand, maybe from ing electrolytic capacitors, motors where the voltage to be applied to a retiring engineer or from a servic- and semiconductor devices. It does- the meter does not greatly exceed ing company which is, sadly, being n't change when the REV MC key the range to which it is switched. wound up in these days of £t10 is used... Thus the 10V DC setting provides video players and cheap TVs and 200kQ between the prods, the set-top boxes. Semiconductor checks 100V DC setting 2MQ and so on. When using the AVO's resistance The AC voltage ranges provide Lesser instruments ranges to test transistors and diodes much lower resistances — 3000 Other analogue meters, many of the readings obtained are not really with the 3V range, 10kQ with the which can now be bought very resistance — they are related to the 10V range, 200kQ with the 100V cheaply, share some of the charac- forward voltage drop across the range and so on. This is useful teristics of the AVO 8, and can play junction being checked. With a sin- when, for example, discharging some of the tricks described above. gle junction the indication obtained reservoir capacitors: start with a I do not know of any however that on the Q x 1 range, powered by the high AC voltage range (even approach the real McCoy in terms meter's internal 1.5V battery, will though the applied voltage is DC), of build quality and integrity. •

TELEVISION February 2005 205 rtifr Portrait of Regulation by Qualification the CA

The aerial and signal distribution industry needs a trade body. The CAI was set up in 1978 for this purpose and has expanded to provide a number of services. describes its present status and activities

he Confederation of Aerial training it offers. The CAI aims to ates, honorary fellows, transmis- Industries is a trade body that raise the standards of the industry, sion platform operators, manufac- Trepresents the aerial and signal through training, and to encourage tures and distributors. distribution industry. It was formed dialogue with national and local The majority of applicants are in 1978 and today over 85 per cent government authorities and nation- contractors, installers, manufactur- of its membership is concerned alised bodies. ers, retailers or wholesalers with installation services that con- To join the CAI is not easy. An involved with aerials and satellite form to its mandatory Codes of applicant has to prove to the CAI's antennas and/or distribution sys- Practice. It has grown steadily board of directors that the compa- tems, entry control, warden contact since its inception and is now ny is a reputable and stable busi- or other systems of a similar recognised throughout the UK as a ness. There are several member- nature. Conditions of membership regulator of the aerial and distribu- ship categories, including installa- include the employment of trained tion systems trade and for the tion members, consultants, affili- and competent staff; conforming

A busy stand at a recent CAI Trade Fair.

20b February 2005 TELEVISION with the CAI Codes of Practice and any relevant British, European or International Standards; and the provision of guarantees for twelve months on equipment and installation work and on manufactured items. Activities

The CAI's board of directors consists of twelve industry figures, each with a long record of service to the Confederation. There are six full-time staff at the Confederation's headquarters at Wembley Park. The expanding range of signal delivery methods over the last twenty years means that the CAI has had a busy time — in establishing new Codes of Practice, keeping abreast of new regulations, and providing essential training to ensure that its members are able to provide the best possible service for customers. The advent of digital transmissions has Discussion at the Ofcom stand at a Trade Fair. called for higher engineering standards. manufacturers, regulatory bodies encountered. Testing and approval of various and commercial organisations. Members must agree to investi- types of coaxial cable has been gation, at a moment's notice, of undertaken and the results con- Training their installation work or the mer- veyed to members, so that only Knowledge is a major concern of chandise they manufacture or sup- cable of appropriate quality is the CAI, which provides it through ply. This is to ensure that the repu- used. There has also been exten- training courses and publications. tation of the CAI and its members sive testing of aerials for perform- These cover a wide range of sub- is upheld. Members must also pro- ance and construction quality. CAI jects, from basic analogue and dig- vide a minimum twelve-months members have been encouraged to ital technology to aerial installation guarantee on equipment and instal- use only those products that satisfy and alignment, also motorised lations, and bear the costs of any the criteria laid down by the satellite dishes. Instruction is also remedial measures required by the Confederation. available on signal distribution sys- Confederation. For a number of years the CAI tems. All the training courses are 'Road Shows' have been a major well attended. Sum mary feature of the Confederation's Health and safety is emphasised The responsible approach to the events calendar and the annual — through adherence to regulations provision and installation of aerials Trade Fair, now held at the and the application of common and distribution equipment demon- National Agricultural Centre, sense. strated by the CAI, along with its Stoneleigh Park near Coventry, The CAI distance learning concern for the health and safety of attracts a sizeable number of course is intended for members members and its comprehensive exhibitors and members. The Road who are beyond a reasonable trav- training programmes, has led to it Shows have had a theme each year, elling distance from a regular train- being represented on significant recent tours being concerned with ing centre or those unable to attend government committees. Its pres- the changeover to digital transmis- in person for various reasons. ence in the legislature ensures that sion. Every Road Show includes a Whatever course is chosen, a common-sense approach is taken small exhibition and provides a tuition is thorough and is constant- to regulatory matters. This benefits number of free technical and com- ly updated. all those in the aerial and distribu- mercial seminars. They give mem- tion industry. bers away from London and Insurance and obligations What of the future? More of the Birmingham an opportunity to see The industry is heavily dependent same would be entirely adequate. the latest equipment and services on the human effort required to But, with the forthcoming digital on offer and catch up on technical carry out installations. This can switchover, the ever-increasing and commercial issues. involve personnel venturing into convergence of TV and PC tech- The annual Trade Fair is a dangerous places or altering the nology, the introduction of home major event that lasts for three fabric of a building. So insurance networks, and the inevitable inte- days, normally during the early matters have a high priority. The gration of all things electronic, summer. A large exhibition is CAI has appointed insurance bro- including security systems, the staged, with numerous seminars kers that specialise in providing challenges that face CAI members given by senior representatives of correct cover for the types of risks will steadily increase.

TELEVISION February 2005 207 Vi n g e wee pa i r : the Witting MT157/158 tape recorder

he late 1950s and early 1960s saw the arrival and then a Tboom in home tape recording, initiated by the advent of the portable (if, at about 201b, you could call it that) reel-to-reel tape recorder. The compact cassette hadn't been invented: it didn't take off until the mid 1960s. These earlier reel-to-reel machines were basically smaller versions of stu- dio ones. The main players in this field were Grundig and Philips, but lots of other manufacturers entered the market.

History Back in 1963 my father bought us a Wining MT157 tape recorder — Photo 1 shows a top view. It could accommodate up to 7in. spools, Photo 1 Top view of the Kórting MT157/MT158 audio tape recorder. and operated at speeds of 3.75 and 7.5in./sec. Unusually for its time, Remember the era of reel-to-reel audio tape it was a stereo machine. Our recorder received a lot of use and, recorders? Michael Maurice has had one in unfortunately, some abuse — we the family since the early Sixties. He describes were a young family. It went wrong in the late 1960s and was its construction and operation, and a sent away for repair. Apparently restoration project smoke came out of it, for which I got the blame. It wasn't until much later that I discovered what had 1962 stamped on the motor. to the house they really wanted possibly gone wrong! My earliest recollection of the because it was £100 too expensive! In the early 1970s I bought an recorder was at Christmas 1963. Imagine my delight when, not Akai 4000DS, but I was still try- Apart from recording some of my too long since, I found an almost ing, with some success, to coax mother's 78 RPM records, I dis- identical machine, Model the Kerning back to life. The main tinctly remember dad recording MT158S, on eBay. There were problem was that spares were Alan Freeman's Pick of the Pops. only two problems: (1) the unit unobtainable, and several parts This included The Beatles, who was in Canada, and (2) it was the needed replacement. The casing were at the top of the charts with 110V, 60Hz version. The first was and the top cover were also in She Loves You and I Want to Hold easily dealt with (shipping from poor condition. Your Hand, Big D. Irvine's Canada cost US$70), but the sec- It's difficult for me to date the Swinging on a Star and items by ond was not so easy. I subsequent- MT157/158 series machines. The Gene Pitney and Dusty ly acquired three more Kiirtings, associated literature and my Springfield. That tape was unfortu- an MT158 from the US and two enquiries suggest that our recorder nately lost years ago. MT118s from Germany. They was of 1961 vintage. Two MT118s My father once told me that the were in various states and in need I subsequently obtained (see tape recorder had cost about £90. of repair. The MT158S from below) had the original literature, That was a fortune in the early Canada was the best one, though it in German, and the original bill Sixties. To put it in perspective, the was built for 117V, 60Hz opera- dated 11 July 1961. An MT158S I average wage was £5-£7 and my tion. I decided to try to modify obtained has the date 5 January parents-in-law were unable to move this machine, using the mains

2 08 February 2005 TELEVISION transformer and motor from an Photo 2: The MT157/158 with MT118. the top cover removed. Operation First an explanation of how the recorder operates, how it was built and the circuitry it employs. The basic specification is as follows: 1/4in. tape; stereo or mono; three heads, for erase, record and playback; separate record/playback amplifiers for the left and right channels; frequency response 40Hz-15kHz at 3.75in.sec, 30Hz- 201cHz at 7.5in.sec. The MT157 is a stereo model that can record and play back two- track stereo or four-track mono audio. The left- and right-channel controls are coloured red and green respectively. There are a number of input and output sockets, all DIN. The red and green Photo 3: Underside push-button switches at the left view of the tape select record on the appropriate recorder after track. Pressing the red and green removal from the buttons simultaneously gives cabinet. stereo recording on both tracks. The white buttons next to the red »rr. - 4----=-• ',..,-,..*), y • „.- ,--.. re ,,••••:„""'rp« ,,,, e and green record ones select -. . t. 4 , —„, microphone or radio input. After ? :,i`..1, 9à, ) • e* . '' ,- r ,, «% - .r.I , •.,..,r, ...., r et , pressing either of the record but- ), .... ,,, ,.) I pir «4,0,-4 t‘, tons, you press the start button to -, ,. , 0 '•••-) • • .2 e- n • t, /".....‘.. initiate tape movement. Recording '7 '4•' r-'4, .• . -s • à '1 - , /orb., --, • - .-, is ended by pressing the stop but- ,4 e en '11.1 " l'3, e t44 6...... , ton. A single magic-eye indicator • '-'1 ' shows the record level. It shows . . • lle-... e ' 1, ", g , '7'7 ,' either channel or, in stereo, the g.., ..,.., ' ., e p•, - --,.. -011, , peak of both channels. Record e - '1 - , .„, ,, ..-, - - level is controlled by the green — -- •--- . ---, " , • and red volume controls, depending on which track(s) you want to record on. To play back, you use the monitoring bank of switches to select the appropriate track — left, right or stereo. When stereo is selected, the internal loudspeaker plays back the right (red) track. A simple tone control and filter, and Photo 4: Close-up a mixer control, are provided on view of the head the top panel near the head block. block. The mixer There are two plug blocks control (centre) under the head block. In normal was broken - it use the arrows point in the up was later replaced. direction. Several trick features are initiated by changing the position of the switches. You can record in mono only, and monitor both the input and off-tape by switching from left to right monitoring. Or you can play back one track and use the mixer control to mix it into the other track. You can even get an echo effect. It was quite a versatile machine for its day, high-tech in the use of transistors and PCBs (remember, this was 1961). It also had an impressive specification.

TELEVISION February 2005 Photo 5: Underside Mechanical arrangements view of the In those days tape recorders were recorder with the built by arranging the mechanics electronics cage opened for on a large steel chassis, the elec- servicing. tronics being mounted around it. The mechanics are delightfully simple, see Photos 2-5. A single synchronous motor drives the clutch and the capstan flywheel via two belts. In the play/record modes a large lever engages the pinch roller and brings the pressure pads up to the record and playback heads, the brakes being released to enable the take-up spool to rotate via the clutch felt. In the fast-forward mode an idler connects the flywheel and the take-up spool, while when rewind is selected the rewind idler moves to engage with the supply spool. In the pause mode the pinch-roller lever is moved slightly away while another lever slightly raises the take-up spool to disengage the Photo 6: Close-up clutch. Speed selection is achieved of the electronics. by changing the number of poles The erase/bias on the motor from six to twelve. oscillator is in the There is a mechanical cable link- centre. age between the speed-change switch and the equalisation switch.

The electronics The electronics include six valves, two transistors and a selenium bridge rectifier. There are three PCBs, one for each channel and a third for the erase/bias oscillator circuitry. All three boards are mounted in a cage that opens for servicing, see Photos 3 and 5. A number of mechanical and electrical cables connect these boards to the various switchbanks and the volume controls. The first amplifying device in each channel is an 0C44 germani- um pnp transistor. This is followed by an ECC85 double-triode valve, Photo 7: The with an EL91 output valve. A sys- original brakes tem switch, similar to that were in very poor condition. employed in 405/625-line TV sets, is used for record/playback switching. The switch is connected to the appropriate record button by a mechanical cable. Various screened cables are taken to the relevant switches and controls for tone, volume, equalisation and channel switching. A mechanical cable links the speed-equalisation switch to the main motor-speed change switch. The erase and bias oscillator circuitry is based on an EL91 valve. It's switched on by supply- ing HT when either or both record buttons are selected. An EAM86 magic-eye valve is

2 I (1 February 2005 TELEVISION used as the record-level indicator. Photo 8: Sequence It's switched on in the record for repairing the mode by applying HT when either brakes. Left the brake arm stripped or both record buttons are pressed. of its rubber. Left The PCB was a revolutionary centre the sleeve way of constructing electronic cir- brim à removed. Right cuits in those days, and most serv- centre rubber ice engineers were wary of having grom mets. Right to replace components on a PCB. the restored brake The service manual provides some arm. advice: "Do not attempt to unsol- der from the printed board. Instead, cut the old component tee 14IL away and solder the new component on its legs". I must remember that when replacing a 200-pin LSI postage-stamp sized chip!

Repair history waned, and it was consigned to the 60Hz type is the rewind pulley 1 have to rely on memory to recall loft for about twenty years. By that connects the two belts. After the work I carried out when I took then the speed-change selector I'd swapped the pulley the the machine apart and 'repaired' it switch had broken, the end-of-tape machine ran at the correct speed. more than thirty years ago! Prior stop switch had broken, both drive The brakes, see Photo 7, were to that the machine had gone belts had failed, the rewind idler in a terrible condition. The rubber wrong on a couple of occasions was very worn and virtually unser- parts had hardened and disinte- and had been sent to Kiirting's viceable, the on/off/volume switch grated, while the metal sleeves agents at Stoke-on-Trent. That had broken, as had both volume had seized on their shafts. The would have been in about 1968/9. knobs, the mixer control was bro- belts were stretched though intact, When we got it back we continued ken, there were no pressure pads and were in need of replacement — to use it occasionally. Then, in left and the cabinet was very much well they would be after forty 1970, I discovered pop music and the worse for wear. Could the years! it got a lot more use, as I played machine be restored to its former The brakes were repaired by back the top 20 as loudly as possi- glory? Well, not for the time stripping them out of the mecha- ble (but not that loud — the being, but there came a time. nism, removing the old rubber, MT157 has only a 4W amplifier!). removing the sleeve from its shaft Then, one day, I came to use it Modification and (this required some persuasion) and it didn't go. The main drive restoration then fitting new rubber. See Photo belt had broken. It lay unused and There are no spare parts for these 8. The rubber came by inspiration. forlorn for about a year, after machines, though valves and other I had some sleeved grommets which I first tried repair. I electronic components can be from years ago, removed the obtained a set of belts but, never obtained — or substitutes used. grommet and forced one sleeve having taken the machine to Mechanical parts, including inside the other. Then I pushed the pieces before and not knowing switches and controls, have not new rubber on to the sleeve with exactly where the drive belt been available for some years. the help of some EvoStick. After should go, I removed the head As I said before, the MT158S letting this dry I trimmed the rub- plate and broke the end of the machine I obtained was made for ber and refitted the brakes to the tape-stop switch. That wasn't too the American market, operating at chassis. much of a problem. I got the 117V, 60Hz. Modifications were I was fortunate to come across machine to work, but the belt required to use it in Europe. I a website for a US firm that sells broke two weeks later. used one of the MT118 machines large rubber drive belts, up to It was a few more years before to obtain parts. 3.5mm in cross-section and, I I started to tinker with the machine Notes were made of the wiring believe, up to 17in. in diameter. again. By now I had the Akai and plans between the motor and the These belts are available in vari- had discovered stereo. I obtained transformer. I then swapped the ous different sizes. I put in an some belts down the Edgware motors, together with the speed- order and, two weeks later, they Road, the Mecca of electronics change switch as there are slight were delivered. For those interest- enthusiasts, and got the machine wiring differences. There are also ed, the firm is called Consolidated going again. They weren't the six instead of four wires between Electronics, phone no. 001 937 right size, but the recorder worked. the motor and the power supply. 252 5332. The website is at Belt replacement was frequently The motor in the US model was www.ceitron.com and you can required however. I had also man- an 'outer-rotor' type, the one in email to [email protected] aged to obtain a service manual the European machine being a I cleaned up the spool tables, and carried out some electrical standard type. I changed the motor the pinch roller, the FF idler and adjustments, such as bias level, because I thought that the motor the rewind pulley — the latter was which made the recordings some- pulley, which is an interference-fit taken from an MT118. I cleaned what better. I had also discovered type, was of different size depend- the switches with silicone switch the trick functions, such as off- ing on whether it was for 60Hz or cleaner. The electronics were left tape monitoring, mixing and echo. 50Hz operation. I was wrong. The alone. I was going to replace some My interest in the machine then difference between the 50 and of the electrolytic capacitors but

TELEVISION February 2005 211 they all seemed to be in good this been the cause of the earlier MT157. I certainly now have suf- condition. There were certainly smoking? We'll never know. ficient spares, from the other no pops and bangs when I tested machines, I know that the elec- the machine. In conclusion tronics work and that the mechan- As the original seals were still Having done all this I played my ics can be made to work with not intact I decided not to try to old tapes. The sound and per- too much difficulty. Just give me a realign the heads. Likewise I felt formance were good, considering few months — and watch this that adjustments to the bias cir- that the machine dates from 1962. space! cuits would be unnecessary and I mentioned the two MT118 It's been a good old trip down probably cause damage. recorders I obtained from memory lane. I wonder if these The mixer control in the Germany. One was used for machines will still work in anoth- MT158 was damaged. spares but the other one worked. er 42 years' time? By then I'll be Fortunately removal and replace- So I gave it a service — brakes, close on 90! Will we look at the ment is fairly simple. The belts, clean heads and pinch junk that's produced today with replacement came from an roller, etc. Although it worked it such nostalgia? I doubt it. We MT118. was very noisy electrically. I throw things away far too readily As previously mentioned our found that someone had replaced nowadays, and certainly don't MT157 was sent off for repair in the 0C44 transistors with value them any more. the late Sixties — my dad said AF124s. Fitting the correct type You would be surprised at how that smoke was coming out of it. got rid of most of the noise. The many of these old recorders are I don't know exactly what caused cause of the rest was eventually still around, working or not. Not this but, while playing with the traced to a leaky 68nF, 250V just Karting but Grundig, Philips, machine a few years later, it sud- capacitor. I decided to replace all Revox, Ferrograph and some less denly started to smoke. The cause the capacitors in both channels as well-known makes. If you want to was C801 (C802 in the right- they had seen better days. So this see some examples, go to hand channel) which was short- machine, very similar to the www.ebay.co.uk and put tape circuit. It decouples the supply to MT158, is now working well. recorder in the search bar. You'll the output pentode. Could have I may still revive dad's Karting be amazed at what is around. • Test Case 506 1111111111•1111111 T here are now several product he was shortly off on an unexpect- an older machine, are not guaran- I categories that cannot be han- ed visit to relatives in Australia. It teed to play back on another deck — dled by the general-practitioner was vital to have a camcorder for the mechanical tolerances are very repair technician, primarily because that, so he had to get this one tight. They found that playback of of lack of service data and spares mended pronto or buy a new one. the tape on the new machine was from the manufacturers concerned. Had he known about the impending even worse. Sound was absent In addition repair would be imprac- journey earlier, he would have more often than it was present and, tical for most workshops and tech- brought the camcorder in for repair in addition, the picture became a bit nicians because of the complex, sooner. ragged from time to time, with miniature PCBs and assemblies The problem was confined to the frozen pixels present intermittently, involved and the need for special sound, the symptom being intermit- especially at the points where the training, tools, jigs and test equip- tent dropout. It had been getting sound reproduction was particularly ment. These factors make it neces- gradually worse with time. bad. So much for the symptoms. sary for diagnosis and repair to be Depending on odd factors such as A head-cleaning tape was tried, carried out in centralised, specialist the make of tape, how far into the with no beneficial result. No sur- workshops, where advantage can be tape the recording had got, and prise about that really. The machine taken of economies of scale, i.e. a even maybe temperature, playback was then carefully dismantled and large throughput. Even so it's of the camcorder's footage was the tiny deck was examined. All amazing what a clever and deter- marred by crackles and dropout of present were impressed by the mined technician can achieve. An the sound track. These symptoms miniaturisation of the mini-DV for- example is the digibox faults and appeared at the same points on the mat, having last dealt with 8mm other problems regularly described tape with each playback, suggesting and Hi-8 decks. A quick bone-up in our Satellite Notebook pages: that it was a record-mode problem. on the theory of this format how do these fellows suss out the The picture remained unaffected revealed that the same head-pair is faults, with so many handicaps in throughout, with no signs of any used for both sound and vision, the way? break-up or pixellation, even when which are recorded on the tape Camcorder service work pres- the audio problem was at its worst. sequentially. It would have been ents similar problems, though in The first thing that the lads tried interesting, and instructive, to have this case there are more independ- was playback of one of the little examined the off-tape signal, and ent specialist repairers. Such work cassettes brought along with the indeed that might have provided an is still denied to the likes of the camcorder in another mini-DV unit, instant clue to the cause of the Test-Case gang — or is it? A good which had been borrowed from the symptom. But no obvious test-point and regular customer brought us his shop for the purpose. An SP record- presented itself, and the problem mini-DV recorder, which was now ing was tried, because LP record- was quickly solved anyway. How? a few years old, and explained that ings in this format, especially from See page 251 for the explanation. •

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Unit 15 . affi tddlirenalr elLi (OlâCffln 9 1111111 .1111 91L k t e e 9 v .1M9 Uqâ d '8,900 2329 M CO)J i • u k Television V I1 £ 11.00 JVC KIT1 0 9 PU ON WAKIT ON WAKITPSU PSU 20291 2019R MODKIT35 FRAME MODKIT36 FRAME CF29C42F MODKIT35 FRAME CF28C28F CF28C22F TVC563 OKT7 £ 6.50 £ 5.00 £ 9.50 £ 10.00 £ 6.00 MODKIT37 £ 15.00 £ ODKIT36 3.00M ODKIT35 M ODKIT30 M MITSKIT3 MITSKIT2 £ 10.50 MITSKIT1 £ £ 11.00 10.50 £ 10.50 GRUNDI KIT3 G GRUNDI GKIT2 NDIGRU KIT1 G GOODKIT1 GOODKIT1 PSU F18 ON WAKITF16 PSU F16 F16 MODKIT47PSU COMPACT 2029TA 11 , MODKIT36 FRAME MODKIT35 FRAME CF28A5OF MODKIT36 FRAME CF25C22C CF25A5OF F ON WAKITONWAKIT ON PSU WAKIT PSU CT2863UNT PSU C72162UNT CT2159UONWAKIT C71417 ON WAKIT PSU ON WAKIT PSU ON WAKIT PSU ONCTV485 WAKIT PSU CTV841 PSU ON WAKITCTV840 ON WAKIT PSU CTV701 PSU CTV501 2099TX21527 20521 C 3COD P20 P tÉ 2C)0 &3 DQ O C ON WAKITONWAKIT PSU PSU ON WAKIT ON WAKIT PSU ONWAKIT ONWAKIT PSU 1455TS PSU ONWAKIT PSU 14501 PSU 1430RW 143ORS 1430RA 1491 147TT ON WAKITON WAKIT PSU BTV17 PSU 2009B 2002 4 9 S ONWAKIT ON WAKIT PSU PSU 1499Y 14591 1458T 111010111 @Ceg Zef YrIPŒ 7 9 ONWAKIT 1799Y 14SLTX PSU 14567 a 1 4 55 T PSU ONWAKIT ONWAKIT PSU PSU ONWAKIT ONWAKIT PSU PSU 1455T 1402 14277 14521 SERIES »GIGUE. LINE CHASSIS FRAME CHASSIS igt Q Nl e ,Q1 0 7 t g Di Please call us on 020 8900 2329 for all your Re mote Control @ DM:INCe@DD (002. Gef,C30 STANDBY STANDBYSTANDBY STANDBYSTANDBYSTANDBY DeTtl VIDEO P S U M O D KP I T S 3 U 0 PSU AB All Konig Re mote Controls £ 7.00 + vat each . . . .MODK IT37 ...... MODK . .MODK IT37 IT37 . .MODK . IT .MODK . 3 7 IT .MODK 3 7 IT 3 7 We stock the full range of HQ and Konig require ments as we are constantly adding i2 GOODKIT1GOODKIT1 GOODKIT1 ON WAKIT All HQ Re mote £ 5.50 + vat each T 8 X B S MITSKIT3 MITSKIT3 PSU PSU CT28AX1BD CT28AV1B o I5 10.00 £ 18.00 £ 13.00 £ 8.00 £ 15.50 KIT51 moO £ MODKIT50 7.00MODKIT49 MODKIT48 MODKIT47 ODKIT44 M MITSKIT3 MITSKIT3 PSU PSU CT25AV1BDS MITSKIT3 MITSKIT3 PSU CT25AV1BD PSU CT25AV1BS CT25AV1B CT T D A 2C 5T A 8 MITSKIT3 T 6 D A S 2M T 1 5 X C 7 AT 8 8 I 7 4 D S S T A 2MPSU S T 1 K X CT25A2STX 5 7TDA A 8 8 I 3 S I T S T SM T 1 KCT21AV18S X 7 MITSKIT3 1 8178S 8 I S I MITSKIT3 T T MITSKIT PSU S KC 1T T D I A 2 T MITSKIT3 PSU CT21AX1EI 1A 1 8 MITSKIT3 3 PSU S M T 1 7 X C PSUT 8 1 I 7 S D T A 2 S KCT25M5BT 1A 8 2 I S T M T 1 7 X C721M5BT 1 8 I 6 T S KCT1M5B I TAV1 1 STANDBY MODKIT39TVR185T TVR180R/208 STANDBY MODKIT37 AV29TSIE1 FIELDFA V I 2 E 9AV29SX1EN1JVCKIT1 L S D XJ 0/P 1P 0 V CAV29SX1EN F K / FIELD P FIELD I TAV29SX1EK 1 FIELD JVCKIT1 JVCKIT1 0/P 0/P JVCKIT1 0/P U 0 0 PU MODKIT48 PSU MODKIT48 PSU MODKIT48 CUC PSU MODKIT48 2080 CUC PSU 2059 CUC 2058 CUC 2051 OKT3 £ 7.00 £ 6.00 £ 6.00 £ 8.50 MODKIT43 MODKIT41 MODKIT40 MODKIT39 2DD Q. ONWAKIT PSU ONWAKIT 21V1T(MJF PSU 21V1N2098 (BUZ90)2096R/T 180042096R/T 2086 ) (BUZ90) MODKIT44 PSU (H3N90) MODKIT43 PSU ONWAKIT ONWAKIT PSU ONWAKIT ONWAKITPSU CS21M3EK PSU PSU C21ET1EK C1411C14E1EK EK ON WAKITPSU HIT14RC PSU GRUNDIGKIT1 GRUNDIGKIT2(MJF18004) PSU GRUNDIGKIT3CUC 7301/3(BUZ90) CUC 7301/3CUC 7350 O I4 £ £ 12.00 4.00 KIT46 MOD MODKIT45 e= f cuc ffl e = Me 1 4 98 PSU ONWAKIT PSU ONWAKIT PSU 1498 1496R/T1496R/T1455 (BUZ90) MODKIT44 PSU (H3N90) MODKIT43 PSU i ee" . .kgâ , S R E SERIES 0 0 PU MODKIT48 PSU 2050 ne w re motes to our stock . 1- I de re0D i ge l i g 2 e OC C 2 e V U a Re mote Controls gHg VCCJ , 2911 DOCC S MITSKIT3PSU PSU PSU I Vg e G RUNDG IGK RUND IT IGK 3 IT 2 g 5)en tà CÈPDCAY .

distributor of electronic TV X ER 2 T 5 XD O 6 U T 0 P U T . . . . P A N K I T 2 H LI7 £ 7.60 £ 5.50 £ 5.75 PHILKIT7 PHILKIT6 PHILKIT5 PSU SAMSUNGKIT PSU SAMSUNGKITPSU SAMSUNGKIT V1375 PSU SAMSUNGKITVIK350 VIK320 VIK310 CI6844 CI5944 PHILKIT4 SOPS JSM VIDEO 1 . 2 5 PHILKIT9 PHILKIT4 PHILKIT5 PHILKIT6 PHILKIT10 PHILKIT2310.32254310.32253 PHILKIT3310.32252 310.31994 310.20496 310.20491 310.10708 28P W6006/05 28P W5407/05 28PT4457/05 TV X ER T -WT 2V O 60 X ER U 2 3 TPU T 9XDTV T O X 7 ER U 2 0 TPU T . 8XDTV T O . C 7 ER UT 2 0 . . T 8 PU XD T . .P O 6 UT A 0 . . NK PU .P T . I A T . . NK 2 .P . I NIKKAIKIT1 A T . NK NIKKAIKIT1 2 .P PSU I PSU A T NK 2C28F41FXN I T 2C289FTXN CE25 T D A 8M 1 7C 8 I S T 7 S 2 K 9 B I 3 T 2 H LI4 £ 4.25 £ 4.00 £ £ 9.00 £ 10.00 £ 15.00 PHILKIT4 £ 12.00 PHILKIT3 PHILKIT2 £ 15.00PHILKIT1 £ 12.00 PAN KIT2 PAN KIT1 WAKIT ON NI KAI K KIT1MODKIT52 C PHILKIT7 Lo1 SOPS PHILKIT9 LSM .1E SOPS PHILKIT5KSM VIDEO VIDEO CHASSIS SOPS HSM VIDEO G R 2P G . H R 2 2 C IP GS PHILKIT1 L . H P K A H O 1 S 1 P H S S I C I 1 PHILKIT8 TG90BS 0 L I H I KPHILKIT2 AS L S 1 O S C K P O S S I P H A PHILKIT7 TG90A S I S I T CHASSIS S S 1 SOPS PHILKIT10 3 IC S SOPS CHASSIS PHILKIT10 P 1P ANUBIS SOPS 1 0 H C I H310.62264S L A K O S P S S I A 310.32262 T I S 8 310.32255 C 6 TDAPANKIT1 8175 IC561 T D AT 8M5 D AM 1 7C 8 8 I S T T SM 1 3 K 7 3TC 8 B I I S D 3 T T A T S 2 K 2T 9 8 B D I 6 A TM 1 A 2 7 M 8C 8 I 8178S S T T M S 1 2 K 7 MITSKIT2 9 C 8 B I S I T T 2 T S 2 K 2 9CT29A4 A I TDA 6 T 2 MITSKIT3CT29AS1 8178S PSU C728AV1BDS MITSKIT2 MOD,Graf CET DP H - 1 I 6S L K O C P H S I A T S S 6 I S a - ) D2COD .)2D 2 DQ O C g d ge171,..or e ag edg T 2g0 masse SERIES OOM. O BO CHASSIS pnateoase ORIOM enwevace ggadlliA FRAME FRAME l e elGef PSU PSU PSU N P I K KA S U IK I T 1 PSU PSU : e .P2g eQ MODKIT50 MODKIT50MODKIT50MODKIT50 MITSKIT3 SAMKIT2SAMKIT2 @OC a 2.50 HOMKT £ 4.00 £ 9.00 £ £ 12.00 7.00 KIT4 M TH O KIT3 M TH O KIT2 M TH O KIT1 M TH O TX92F CHASSIS ..EAST/WEST THOMKIT4 6 S 8 PSU SHARPKIT2 PSUSHARPKIT2 66E PSU + W53H EW66CSD8H PSU SHARPKIT2 ....MODKIT52 66CSO5H 66CSO3H PSU ..SAMSJNGKITWINNERVI395 HRKT £ 9.00 £ 11.00 £ 11.00 £ 16.00SHARPKIT3 SHARPKIT2 SHARPKIT1 KIT MSUNG SA R4000 R3000 S LV 7 77UB VCR SLV777UB - VCR SLV715HB - DA PSU76FW53H + EW ....MODKIT52 PSU76FW53H & EW PSU ....MODKIT49 66FW63H + PSU EW66FW54H PSU & ....MODKIT52 EW66FW54H & PSU ....MODKIT49 DOLBY66FW53HPSU & EW66FW53H MODKIT45 PSU & ....MODKIT49 DOLBY66FW53H + EW MODKIT45 ....MODKIT52 PSU PSU 56FW53H + + EW28HW53H PSU EW SHARPKIT3 PSUPSU SHARPKIT2 ....MODKIT52 ....MODKIT52 59FW53H & EW59DSO3H PSU SHARPKIT2 ....MODKIT49 59CSD8H PSU SHARPKIT2 59CSO5HSHARPKIT1 59CSO3H PSU PSU 56FW53H PSU & SHARPKIT1 DOLBY 51CSO5H 51CSO3H MODKIT45 AMKT £ 8.00 £ £ 8.50 7.50 £ 4.25 KIT2 SA M PHILKIT10 PHILKIT9 PHILKIT8 D.raDg12 ISS20ICC17 (TV-DVD) CHASSIS I THOMKIT2 THORNKIT1 CCICC8 8 CF HA RAME SS . CHASSIS IS ...... TDA . THOMK35065920 I T35029400 3 8178FS THOMKIT 1 7 6 FG64H PSU +76FG64H EW ....MODKIT52 PSU76FW54H &PSU EW76F & ....MODKIT49 W54H DOLBYPSU 76F MODKIT45 & W53H DOLBY MODKIT45 â 11AK31 CHASSIS ICC9 CHASSISI ....EAST/WEST C CICC7 7 CTF HFV70 HOM A R AM S K S E CHASSIS I I T S 3 ....TDA ..THOMKIT4 8178FS ..THOMKIT1 -100 CHASSIS MOOLEC46 , Œ edi ettOCOld e O eŒg B M _ECT9ON C NI O TF9 C E L_ E 1 PS U . . S A M S U 1 N G K I T 70@g2eCeg DC)@ Q

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We are stockist of both Konig and HR Diemen LOPT's This is just a selection of the LOPT's that we stock. Hit - Please call on 020 8900 2329 EL_E CI 190 NIC AYUDA Al for a copy of our latest LOPT catalogue SERVICIO 'Me AIM 12(e.Afil Lela eeiry tf_Lf. DJ Pl 1:6 Scale 4 Scale Full range of sound Engine starting, engine, One of the biggest Remote control cars available acceleration, reversing beebs, braking Inflated Tyres Working headlights , taillights& interior lights Front and Rear Suspension Working Horn noise Dual Speed Comes complete with Rechargeable Batteries Comes complete with Rechargeable and Batteries for the Remote Control Batteries and Batteries for the Available in Black only Remote Control Dimensions : 92cm x 38cm x 37.5cm Available in Red or Blue or Black or White Dimensions : 120cm x 52cm x 31cm Order Code: RCCAR4 Price • £ 50.00 + vat Postage charged at £ 6.00 + vat j Order Code : RCCAR5 Price : £ 85.00 + vat Postage charged at £ 6.00 + vat Thank }ou for your support in 200-1. A Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year to all our Customers and readers of Television Magazine Best Wishes from all at Grandota Christmas Christmas ©On e «1 our Onnen evivlugu9

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X.P. House um lArOfi eia ffl yjakiske .11rAç) Englar d M O) em tmâ loâc)) aeâ ebt, notAl .1[1(0)âcetalàclen.d O.0 k A recent broadcasting event in London reviewed the development of HDTV, the current situation and the prospects.

reports on the presentations

HDTV: the vision for Europe

n December Sony hosted a major with progressive scanning or 1,080 HD format. Sony has already high-definition TV (HDTV) event lines with interlacing, though some launched the HDR-FX1E cam- Iin London to review the progress broadcasters, including the BBC, corder, which records in the of HDTV around the world and the recognise only the latter as being 1,080i format. latest developments here in Europe. true HDTV (see below). The aspect David Mercer, a principal ana- The main message from the event ratio for HDTV is 16:9, while lyst at the research company was that HDTV is progressing audio is 5.1-channel surround- Strategy Analytics, had much of faster than many people think. sound. HDTV pictures contain five interest to say about the state of HDTV-compatible equipment is times more information than stan- HDTV today. His company had already present in the living rooms dard-definition pictures. As a result, forecast that there would be some of many households. images have stunning clarity. 11-9 million homes with HDTV in Flaherty's verdict on the future of the US and Japan by the end of Systems standard-definition TV was blunt: 2004. With Korea and China set to Joe Flaherty, senior vice-president of "Standard-definition TV is doomed introduce HDTV services during technology at CBS Broadcasting and worldwide" he declared, "there's the next couple of years, the num- a TV pioneer — he joined CBS in no future development in SDTV — ber of HDTV households world- 1957 and helped bring HDTV to the SD is rushing to oblivion." wide is forecast to reach 90 million US — was one of the keynote speak- by then. Mercer suggested why the ers. He made the point that high def- HDTV today US and Japan have taken the lead inition is in fact a moving target. The Chris Deering, president of Sony with HDTV. In the US there was an 343-line system developed in the US Europe, drew attention to the initial government mandate that in the early Thirties was described as results of a survey carried out by forced more and more broadcasters "high definition", as were the UK the US Consumer Electronics to carry HDTV signals. This, 405-line format of 1936, the 441-line Association (CEA). This estab- together with the adoption of DVD format of 1939, the 1953 NTSC for- lished that the top three types of and home-theatre systems, has mat and the 1967 PAL format. In the programmes liked by viewers were helped grow the HDTV market. Eighties the Muse 1,125-line ana- movies, sport and educational, such Joe Flaherty said that 88 per logue system (marketed as High as documentaries. These are ideal cent of the US's 106 million TV Vision) was developed in Japan, for HDTV. The new home video households have access to digital while Europe considered adoption of formats like Blu-ray will offer TV and/or HDTV programming. the 1,250-line HD-MAC format, high-definition playback and Some 70 million homes are passed Our heading picture which was abandoned for a digital recording from the start, and Sony by cable services that include shows a JVC high- system in 1993. Picture Entertainment plans to con- HDTV programming. CBS current- definition TV Today, HDTV means 720 lines vert its library of 6,000 films to the ly provides sixteen hours of HDTV

216 February 2005 TELEVISION programming a week, while cable HD capacity to broadcasters and operators offer more than 100 many consumers are buying hours and satellite broadcasters HDTV-compatible equipment with- more than twenty hours a week. out realising it — about half the flat- Prices of HDTV sets have also panel displays sold in Europe last fallen sharply in recent years. The year (500,000 out of 0.9 million) average price of the first HDTV were HDTV-compatible. As Mercer sets on the market, back in 1999, puts it, HDTV is entering the was typically about the US equiva- European market via the back door. lent of £2,000. This has fallen to He adds that there are some issues less than £600. Flaherty pointed out to be resolved, including the avail- that it took seven years before more ability of content and digital rights than a million US households had management. converted from black-and-white to But there is already a European colour TV: it took HDTV two years HDTV service in operation, albeit to reach the same milestone. The one that's aimed at a limited audi- CEA forecasts that 44 million, or ence: Euro 1080 is designed to pro- one third, of US households will mote HDTV to broadcasters and have adopted HDTV by 2006. consumers (see below). There has been strong collabora- Commercial services are due to be tion between the government, launched in France (TPS) in 2005, broadcasters and manufacturers in in Germany (Premiere with three Japan to promote HDTV. Already channels) in November 2005 and in 90 per cent of the programmes the UK (BSkyB) in 2006. Strategy transmitted by the national broad- Analytics forecasts that one in eight caster NHK in the three major met- European homes will have HDTV ropolitan areas, Tokyo, Osaka and in 2008. same time. It's expected to sell for Alfacom is Nagoya, are in HDTV form. In about £70. transmitting the addition 50 per cent of the content Euro 1080 In June 2004 SES Astra, Euro 1080 service via transponder produced by commercial broadcast- Euro 1080, an HDTV service pro- European broadcasters and hard- 88 (12.168MHz ers in the Tokyo area is in the vided by the Belgian TV produc- ware manufacturers agreed on a set V) of Astra 1 HDTV format. This means that 40 tion and services company of HDTV technical specifications (19.7E). per cent of Japanese TV households Alfacom, was launched in January and a standard HDTV label for use have access to HDTV services: the 2004. It has become Europe's first with display devices in an effort to figure is expected to reach 50 per HDTV service, with a promotional drive the HDTV market forwards cent later this year. remit. It's transmitted via transpon- in Europe. The specifications There are now three million der 88 (12.168MHz V) from the include standard interfaces for HDTV households in Japan, six per Astra 1H satellite at 19.2°E. To peripheral equipment. In September cent of the total. The HDTV market receive Euro 1080, a viewer SES Astra launched an HDTV has also been driven by the falling requires a suitable satellite receiver channel for retailers to use as part price of HDTV-compatible TV sets, or a PC with a PCI tuner card, an of point-of-sale demonstrations. with CRT versions selling for less HD display, and a conditional- than the Japanese equivalent of access card — the transmissions are HDTV in the UK £400 and LCD versions costing encrypted. Andrew Stirling, manager of strate- less than £1,500. HDTV is avail- The Euro 1080 service is prima- gy development at the media and able via terrestrial transmission, rily aimed at businesses, such as communications regulator Ofcom, satellite transmission and cable dis- cinemas and electrical retailers, but said that his organisation's main tribution. Analogue terrestrial TV consumers can sign up and new, concern is the digital switchover. services are due to be switched off low-cost set-top boxes are due to While it isn't Ofcom's role to drive in 2011. come on the market in mid 2005. the HDTV market, the regulator HDTV services are being rolled The service has two basic chan- wants viewers to get the best from out in other countries. In Australia nels, the main one HD1 and the any increased spectrum allocated to for example twenty hours of HDTV events one HDe. HD1 provides a digital TV. He added that HDTV are now being broadcast each range of programmes that include could be one of the significant week, though there are only rock music, sport, lifestyle, con- technologies that might use the 400,000 DIT households. There is certs and opera; HDe conveys extra capacity. currently fourteen hours of HDTV major events, such as Euro 2004 Andy Quested of the BBC's HD broadcasting a week in Korea, football, to cinemas in fourteen Support Group gave a very interest- though the roll-out has been ham- European countries. At its launch ing presentation. He began by say- pered by a standards dispute. Euro 1080 provided 180 hours of ing that HDTV is an issue for all Canada has HDTV via all three HDTV content: an additional 500 broadcasters, public and commer- transmission/distribution systems, hours were added in September cial, and drew attention to a small and China is expected to launch 2004. The programme material is paragraph in the BBC's digital HDTV by about 2007. broadcast as a loop. strategy document Building public The picture is not so clear in Euro 1080's chief executive offi- value: renewing the BBC for the Europe says Mercer, partly because cer Gabriel Fehevari revealed that digital world. This states that by broadcasters got their fingers burnt the company is to launch a new 2010 the Corporation plans to pro- by the HD-MAC debacle. However pay-TV channel in June. A new duce all its TV output to meet the the two major satellite operators, MPEG-4 set-top box, MPEG-2 HDTV standard. When the BBC SES Astra and Eutelsat, are selling compatible, will be launched at the starts HDTV transmissions, it

TELEVISION February 2005 217 wants to offer a full service — most Quested mentioned that the broadcasters stockpiling HDTV broadcasters in other countries pro- BBC is moving away from tape as programmes and consumers buying vide HDTV programming mainly a storage medium, adopting hard- large, flat-screen displays that are at peak times. disk based systems instead. He HDTV-compatible. There is also He added that the BBC has no showed a major forthcoming TV the falling cost of HDTV produc- short-term plans to launch HDTV series, Planet Earth, which is being tion. The success of DVD shows via DTI'. It might start by provid- shot in HD form. It's a co-produc- that, contrary to what was believed ing HDTV services via satellite or tion with NHK and Discovery. The in some quarters, consumers do cable before MT Examples of images looked great. appreciate good picture quality. programming could include major In the history of broadcasting Will they want to make the leap sports events such as the FA cup there are many examples of broad- from standard- to high-definition? final or the Olympics. Part of the casters and viewers being out of Formats such as PAL-Plus, Laser reason for a switch to HDTV sync in terms of hardware and pro- Disc and Super VHS provided would be pressure from overseas gramme availability. When TV improved picture quality but failed broadcasters — it's easier for broad- services were first launched there to sell in quantity. The success of casters to have one standard. In the were very few receivers in homes. the audio CD led some to think that last financial year the BBC bought Early colour TV sets were so there was a market for 'super-CD' £74m of TV programmes, primarily expensive that few people could formats like SACD and DVD- from the US: the vast majority of watch the first colour TV pro- Audio, but it has so far failed to this material was in HDTV format, grammes in the UK in 1967. The materialise. HDTV has a much at no additional cost. situation was reversed with Nicam stronger chance of success however. In the same period the BBC stereo: many viewers owned Nicam One thing is certain. Today's made £110m from sales and co- TV sets and VCRs long before reg- HDTV will eventually become productions. There's great pressure ular transmissions began. It looks tomorrow's SDTV. Andy Quested to make programmes in HDTV for- as if many UK homes will have ended his presentation with a joke mat — for example NHK will no HDTV-compatible displays well about a new system called longer buy classical-music pro- before the first public-service 'Ultra HDTV', offering grammes unless they are in this HDTV transmissions begin. 32-megapixel images and 22.2- form. Incidentally the BBC does channel surround sound. It was not regard 720-lines with progress- Prospects said in jest, but who knows what ing scanning as an HDTV format. But the prospects look good, with the future of TV will bring?

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2 1 8 February 2005 TELEVISION Adrian Gardiner describes some particularly obscure faults he has encountered recently with Hitachi and Beko TV sets

ome right awkward faults have come my A Beko NR284239NC In the fault condition this latter transistor Sway this month, caused by obscure fault The second strange fault I've had recently was starved of supply voltage at its collec- conditions. I'll start with a widescreen involved a Beko set fitted with the 14.2 tor. Decoupling capacitors C162 and C161 Hitachi set, Model C28W440, which is fit- chassis. I have to confess that I like this were the obvious initial suspects: they could ted with the Vestel 11AK45 chassis. chassis: it's very reliable in general, is easy have been leaky and, indeed, replacing them to work on and provides good results. appeared to cure the fault. But the problem Hitachi C28 W440 This particular set would sometimes pro- returned during a soak test. The complaint was simple enough — stuck in duce a 'negative' picture however. It seemed I eventually found that the 47Q supply standby. As with many Vestel chassis, the to happen only at switch on, and lasted for feed resistor R162 would go high in value power supply operates in a burst mode just a couple of minutes. After that the set intermittently — to over lkQ. Replacing this when in standby. This reduces the HT volt- would run fault-free. When the fault was surface-mounted resistor finally cured the age (13+ rail) to 12V. Checks showed that present, the symptom gave the impression fault. the set didn't even attempt to come out of that the CRT was starved of first-anode volt- standby. My first thought was that there age. But voltage checks showed that this You never learnt might be a fault in the line output stage, but was not the case. In addition the cathode Regular readers may well remember the I couldn't find anything wrong here. So drive voltages were fairly normal, also the epic battle I had recently with a Sony hi-fi attention was turned to the secondary side heater supply. So the fault had to do with system (see the October issue, page 738). of the power supply. The rectifier diodes the actual video information. The moral of that story was 'never quote were all tested, then resistance checks to A combined microcontroller and video high just to get rid of a job'. Unfortunately I chassis were carried out so see if any of the jungle chip, type TDA9563, is used in this never seem to learn! outputs were being loaded. Once again chassis. Fig. 1 shows the peripheral video A customer phoned me the other day to there was nothing amiss, so it was time to processing circuitry. The demodulated video ask about having an old Amstrad TV/VCR investigate the primary side of the supply. IF output appears at pin 38, returning to pin combi unit, Model TVR2, repaired. I didn't This is based on the popular MC44608 40 after passing through the filtering circuit- like this unit even when it first came out. 8-pin chopper control chip, and is therefore ry required. Basically this consists of the So, after listening to the complaint, I gave straightforward. Some quick checks showed emitter-follower transistor 1104, ceramic fil- an estimate of about £100 over the phone. that the snubber network was OK. As ter F104 and then another buffering transis- After all, you can get a modern replacement everything else seemed to be in order, I tor, T105. When the fault was present there for less! came to the conclusion that the set was suf- was a strong signal at pin 38 but a severely But, you've guessed it, the estimate was fering from an EEPROM crash and crushed one at pin 40. Checks along this accepted! My report on the repair will fol- removed the chip for reprogramming. After signal path narrowed the fault area to T105. low next month. resetting the EEPROM with default AK45 8V software I refitted it then powered up. There was no change, with the set still life- less. Having had this sort of trouble before 4 8V with sets that use an MC44608 chip, I 47 decided to fit a replacement. Again no Audio 1 30 11—mA-1-111-1-11 change. circuitry 783v At this point I reached for the service 1100 manual, then carried out checks in the ; 16V standby switching circuit and around the 00 1106 Video optocoupler feedback system. But still no 1104 BC848 out Scant 1 cause of the fault was apparent. Tracing BC848 150 back farther, I discovered that the micro- F104 controller IC didn't produce a power-up 180 signal. Could the chip be the cause of the trouble? Further checks revealed that the R182 microcontroller wasn't receiving informa- V V V 47 tion from either the front control buttons or the IR receiver. These items are mounted on I16111 C162 710n 7 10 a separate PCB at the front of the set, with T105 I 83V connection to the main board via connector Fig. 1: Video filtering circuitry BC848 used in the Beko 14.2 chassis. PL502. Pin 5 of this socket, the earth pin, 180 had a cracked joint. The values of the components 47n in the filter networks depend on A good clean up here and remaking the the TV standard. 220 connections cured the problem. A rather roundabout way of getting to the bottom of things, but it happens to all of us! CVF,

TELEVISION February 2005 21 9 A hilltop caption generator

Improvements to the TV distribution system from Si. contractors follows shale A recent article highlighted difficulties in this area. As a follow-up, Bill Wright describes the problems he experienced when he wanted to provide information on a channel change for the users of a large TV signal distribution system

was prompted to write the fol- was that reception from Emley computer-graphics technology of lowing account of a recent lap- Moor on channel 37 is very poor the Seventies, it was the most Itop video output problem by Ray here: channel 56 from Belmont is clunky, annoying, primitive bit of Porter's description of his trials much better. kit I've seen for a long time and tribulations in the August (excluding my dad's lawnmower). 2004 issue. As regular readers will Initial ideas It would have seemed quite know, I install and service commu- I already had some kit that con- sophisticated in the Seventies, as nal TV distribution systems. There sists of a colour-bar and tone gen- did flares and kipper ties. Yes, it is often a need to get information erator, a frequency-agile modula- did have a qwerty keyboard. But to those connected to such a sys- tor, a chunky UHF amplifier and text could be typed in only very, tem. It might be to warn them some tuneable bandpass and notch very slowly, with a pause after about an interruption to the serv- filters. This enables me to replace each letter. There were none of the ice, or to explain to them the need any channel in a system with bars modern text features that we take to retune their TV sets and VCRs. and a tone, and has proved to be for granted, such as justification, The time-honoured way of invaluable when tracing a system kerning and so on. And there was doing this is to push leaflets layout. Replace ITV with colour no return key. To move about the through letterboxes, but sometimes bars at one of the head-end outputs screen, you had to use the arrow this isn't a good solution. Twelve and go door knocking. Residents keys. There were only eight fonts, letterboxes aren't a problem, but a will soon tell you if their ITV has and they were all very dated, espe- hundred take some legwork. 'broken down'! All I needed was cially the 'ultra modern' one. Another problem is that some peo- something to generate captions Remember that strange typeface ple seem to have an aversion to and provide them as a baseband with very thick and very thin the printed word, especially when TV picture. I would then leave the strokes? It was supposed to look it flutters through the front door kit running continuously at the 'electronic'. looking like something boring head-end for a week or so. Text had to be fitted on to a from the council. I have found that My first idea was to use a very fixed grid that allowed a fixed the message, when provided in old computer, the sort that used a number of lines, each with a fixed this way, simply doesn't get across TV set as a monitor. I gave this up number of characters. After each to some of the residents. Ask one before I even started. The idea of line you had to wait eight seconds of them if they have the leaflet and messing about with antique com- for the CPU to digest such a mas- you may get a blank look along puter equipment gives me the sive amount of data. If you with "what leaflet?" This has shivers. Modern ones are bad increased the font size the letters caused a lot of unnecessary visits enough! Unfortunately my next on the right-hand side of the and general time wasting. idea had me struggling with badly screen disappeared, never to be Faced with an upcoming job outdated gear even though I retrieved. that would involve moving Five bought the equipment brand new. I persevered, and spent four from channel 37 to channel 56, I I bought a graphics generator solid hours learning how to drive started to think seriously about for £170. It was supposed to be the thing. I made up, laboriously, a some sort of gadget that would the bee's knees — the perfect way sequence of primitive pages, letter display a message on residents' of adding captions to your home by agonising letter. At the end my TV screens when they attempted video recordings. Since I bought it triumph was short-lived. When I to watch Five on channel 37. A in 2004, I rather expected that it attempted to play the sequence hundred and fifty houses and flats would use 21st century technolo- back the display stopped, started, were involved. Incidentally the gy. In this I was sorely disappoint- stuttered, lost colour, regained it reason why I had to move Five ed. Strongly reminiscent of the and finally froze, showing the top

220 February 2005 TELEVISION and and - libasiHeisb- and TV d stribution system TV distribution system TV distribution system

This is UHF channel 37. Until now you 1-ave Connect your aerial the socket on the wall) You v4,1 Dny .eed to charge the RF sitput

received Ct annel 5 on this channel. To to the Freeview bc x_ then connect tie 'RF channel if yrc, dc not use a SCeRT aad to

improve reception we hada moved Channel out' socket on the box to dour VCR or TV connect you - Sk,. box, etc, te ycur lset. If Five to UHF channel 56. so you will now Fit a 'scan' lead normally supplied with the you don t f,a a SCART 'nod. rise/ eight need to re-Une Channel Five on your TV set box) setween the ri" scoot on the box ard be tie tine ts ge one (some de-y o I TV and video racorder. If necessary consul the 'Ml' scart ontl-e TV. For top quality sets clor't t rue a SCANT socket thc ugh). your handbDoks for re.turing information. recordings fit a second scarf from the SCART messier is always bettor tit in Freeview box lotte VCR reception terougn the set al leal. Page 1 Pagc 7 Page 13

te.e and -40 and and TV d stribution system TV distribution system TV d strbution system

A lot of use ut information follows short y. If The digital TV sigt ids occupy UHF A SCAR — lead is 'airly thick with e lase you record Channel Five on your videc channels 30. 48. 9. 60, 63. and 68. If you. plug at eacn end It makes a cirect 81k you will. in -act, be recording this sequence vides recorder or satellite receiver sends between thISky sox, etc. and the T. set. of pages p ess 5 and 'recDrd' Da your its p Cures to yoor TV on any of these Dort bu d ekDenaive SC UT leads. 'bey are video now Is record these pages for tod ire channels (rather tun threugh a SCART a waste of re:eel> Ask for a lulli reference leadt your satellite lecepton or video corme:ted' scan lead and eeect to say no playsack will be a fected. mole Wan 810.

Page 2 five is now on :hannel Si Pago 9 Paga 14 Sant • 5,3

am* *bob and «abase and and TV d stribution system TV distribution systen TV distriaution system

The televisiln distribution system has been In particular mans. Sky boxes have the Once your 3 2.ARIT lead is titled dou - TV set upgraded fer digital reception. If you have output channel incorrect'. set to channel should .wick attomatically to 3ky cc a set top b ca or digital TV set you will n 68. OVO. e.ca even you turn the Sky boo (or be able to rnceive all the Freev ew TV and If your Sky recent on or Vr.R playback is OVO et . ow. In addition 9e TV' ans Sky' radio channels. now 'snowy' you will reed to alter the bubons an ,rsur Sky remote control tperate TopUp TV ir also available but :his is a output channel of you- satellite receiver or the chargeoia.r nanually. subscription based servie. vides recorder.

Pago- 9 Page 3 Page to

and and and 4e. TV d stribution system TV distribution system TV d striDution system

So you now have the option of 'going To change the ouisuf channel of a Sky box: UIF 7saneel usage (if to 441 digital*. using either a se:-top box or an Services, 4, 01 Seect. 4, 54, then gD down ca=smalE2 =1111111 Integrated Digital TV set. Iii111111 to 'Save new settings' and press Select. Press Sky' to reto rn The example will move your Sky bcx output to chanrel 54. E M EM MI 11:31; r3 Other possible clear char nefs are 34. 36. El OK loe..uocs 1:3 =3 38, 39. 40, 42, 43,46, 50, 32, 53, and 52.

Page 4 Page ICI he le new on channel 58 Page IC five is now c r c -I 56

and and and TV d stribution system TV distribution system TV d stripution systern

Freeview in nudes the bas c fiva channels To ciange the out:nit channel of a VCR or UF Jlanrel usage (45 to 68' plus 11V-2, IBC-3, BBC-4. Sky News. BIC OVO recorder consult the instruction book. =I = MU M News 24, Sty Travel. UK -istory, OVC. TV Change the output to a claar channel such a:1E3=2M M Travel Shoe. The Hits, UK Bright Ideas, as 34. 36. 38. 39. .41, 42, 43. 46, 50. 52. 53. ▪ MET2M31111111M111011110E01= = FTN, TMF. C BM, bid-up TV CF313C. or 62 Note that sr roe VCRs and DVDs do 111=2312MIMIME01103920M Cbeebies, 17V News Channel. and Sky not have an RF output ant work through a IE331 111 =23M Sport News SCANT lead only so this does not apply. IM ! O 1-1-.r._..1 = Min 103 =22M

Page 5 Page II Pagel ,

and Wen, eig4di• and TV d stribution system TV distributioi system

The easies, way to 'go digital' s to buy a When you have changed the RF output Freeview set-top box. These ale available charnel of your Sty box, atc, you will need at prices from £50 to £126. Look in to re-tune your TV sat to tie new channel. If supermarkets or shops I Currys, Miler necessary consult tie TV set's Instruction Brothers, and Comet. If you want to book. Usually the menu' Sutton leads to five s now on channe 56 subscribe ta TopUp TV pi wit need ore of the tuning ad)ustnierts. I you select 'auto - five s now on channe 56 their special set top boxes. tune' make sure tt at your Sky box. etc, is five s now on channei 56 switched on first. five s now on channei 56

Page 6 .5 ,s nods on channel Pago 12 ualmem ix

TELE VISI O N February 2005 22 1 half of one page and the Reference to an internet bottom half of another one auction site revealed a What a useless device! It brand new battery for £50. went back, and I got a It didn't say Compaq on it, refund. but I was quite happy as it would last for about six The laptop approach hours. Having tried a relatively A week later I set up the cheap solution, I decided to laptop at the system head- bite the bullet and use a end and turned it on. Great laptop to generate my cap- expectation turned to great tion sequence. In the past annoyance when the laptop I've installed a few sys- came on then immediately tems that carry an in-house died. The new battery had bulletin board as a TV failed. Later, in the work- channel, the picture being shop, I found that it was provided by a PC's video completely dead and could- output. A modulator con- n't be revived. I was less verts the video signal to than happy when I checked RF. This works really well. on the net and found that I've used Microsoft the seller seemed to have PowerPoint to assemble and disappeared from cyber- play the sequence. But for space without trace. When I the present project I decided entered the battery type that a cheap slideshow pro- number into Google I found gram would suffice. that several other people Now everything I know had bought these batteries, about computers could be only to find that both the written in large type on the The laptop in situ at the TV system head-end. The battery and the seller had back of a postage stamp. So UPS is on the left. very limited durability. I was aware that I was Back at the site I was entering a minefield. Nevertheless I a TV set, but I couldn't get this to now in a fix. I had removed Five looked around, and found a second- work. At least this is better than from channel 37 and put it on hand Compaq Armada E500 for the software I used for an in-house channel 56. It wouldn't be easy to sale. It had a lot of blemishes on channel some years ago. It allowed restore it to channel 37, because the screen, and looked and felt as if TV out to function only when the the large, high-gain Emley Moor it had been owned by a messy computer screen resolution and aerial had been taken down. No eater. But these drawbacks didn't refresh rate were at absurdly low explanatory leaflets had been pre- bother me. I made sure that the settings that made by eyes water. pared and, in any case, I had fool- video output worked, then bought The next snag came when I ishly gone on about the splendid the machine — aware that the bat- tried to buy a new battery. The new computer graphics idea to tery was faulty and that there was cost was £138 or more from any several important people and did- no power supply. of the usual sources, far too much n't want to look like a charlie. The machine came to me for this project. Since the machine Time was of the essence. I didn't loaded with an ATI program that would always be powered from want to pay £138 + VAT for a gen- enables you to adjust and control the mains, I considered running it uine Compaq battery and, in any both the laptop screen and the TV from an external power supply case, it would take a week to get out displays. At first sight this with some sort of minimal battery one. seemed to be very good. You can back-up. As a temporary measure I At this point an imaginary light adjust the contrast, colour, gamma, used a bench power supply, but it bulb just above my hard hat lit up screen position and goodness was a bad idea to run the machine and a voice in my head said "get knows what else. All this fine-tun- without a battery because the an uninterruptible power supply, ing results in a very good TV dis- mouse cord caught the power cord, you dummy!" It was the answer, play. with the result that the power plug of course. The whole point of a disconnected momentarily. The UPS is to protect IT equipment in Snags machine crashed of course, and the event of a mains failure, The main snag is that the software wouldn't power up thereafter. momentary or otherwise, and high- attempts to detect the presence or voltage spikes. A UPS is basically otherwise of a TV set connected to Solutions a large lead-acid battery with a the output. I've no idea how it The man at the shop was very charger and an inverter. You plug does this, but I do know that it kind: he got the machine to work it into the mains supply and the doesn't do it very accurately. again for nothing. But when I computer into the UPS. Simple! If Connection to some TV sets isn't brought it back the ATI software the mains supply fails, the UPS recognised at all. Connection to a had disappeared, which seemed to maintains the supply for as long as Vision V40-104 modulator, my be bad news. The video out func- the battery lasts. As I was only goal, was hit and miss. If no TV tion now worked perfectly and concerned about short power cuts set or other load is detected, reliably however, as long as a TV and the laptop uses very little there's no video output. In theory set or a modulator was connected power, battery life wasn't an issue. it's possible to force recognition of before the laptop was switched on. And a UPS is a jolly good thing to

222 February 2005 TELEVISION have at your disposal. It would, for "Hello Bill, sorry I was out. I've daughter Katie sitting in the mid- example, power head-ends at new got a Trust UPS 1000 Energy dle of a test card. The laptop, sites where there was no mains Protector here for you. Would £70 aided by the UPS, ran unattended supply. There's a really good com- be all right?" for six weeks with never a hitch. puter shop near us, so I rang them. Since the laptop came without a "Can you sell me a UPS?" I asked. manual, I had to do a bit of random Conclusion Instead of Sid's familiar tones a key pressing. As a result I discov- This had been an experiment, and young voice answered. His words ered that the machine produces a I had not been all that confident were discouraging — "what's a video output with its own screen about the outcome. Would all the UPS?" I took a deep breath and turned off, and continues to run effort result in happy residents, or asked if Sid was available. He was even with the lid closed. I bypassed would it add to the unrest? out of course, "on an emergency". the dodgy DC connector on the lap- Information overload seemed to be So I asked if Sid could give me a top so that there was no chance of a a real possibility. In fact the idea call when he got back and mean- supply interruption as long as the turned out to be a real winner. while rang another firm some ten UPS was on. Everything now We had very few retuning prob- miles away. They were slick and seemed to be perfect. lems, only two or three in fact efficient. Yes, they had a UPS in I installed the laptop and the when a job of this size could be stock, several in fact. UPS at the head-end. An eighteen expected to give rise to dozens. I set off through the rush-hour page sequence of slides — see Seeing the message repeated end- traffic. Why is it that the more accompanying photographs — had lessly on their TV screens seemed impatient you are feeling the more been made up and went out on to convince the tenants that they the idiot brigade gets in your way? channel 37 for the duration of the would jolly well have to bite the After what seemed like three hours job. It covers everything the resi- bullet and get that TV instruction I arrived at the impressive show- dents needed to know, including book out. rooms of Whizzbang Information the channel Five move, the avail- I've now got the laptop, UPS Technology Ltd. I bought a Trust ability of Freeview, the need to and modulator set up and will be UPS 1000 Energy Protector for retune the outputs of VCRs and able to use them on future jobs £90. My pleasure diminished when satellite receivers, and more. Just with very little trouble. Perhaps I'll Sid rang, just as I pulled into the to show off, I've included a pic- add an audio message, to give the rush-hour traffic for a second time. ture of my lovely little grand- presentation a bit more impact. PIErr Horizon Digital Satellite Meter MiniSAT

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• Signal Strength and BER displayed together • Displays Signal Strength (Ft F level) and Pre and Post BER • 32 Transponder, or 16 satellites. horizontal & vertical together • Audible tune-in, with back light • Fast and accurate Pre BER in real time for easy pointing of aen • Cost effective • DVB, C&Ku band, Mpeg, V Sat compatible al via built in COFDM PASS and FAIL indication in real time • Small and Compact • Input dynamic range -65dam--25dBm • 32 pre programmed transmitters (via webs tel or all channel • Self powered vu rechargeable NIMH batteries step through • Input connector F-female Input imp 75 ohms • Measure two rats at same time • Audible tune-in, with back light • Symbol Frequency rate from 1 Msps-45Msps • Powered via built in batteries, charger or receiver • 7 or 8 MHz channels • Large graphic LCD display for all information • Universal charger 100 V - 240 V Ac/ 12 W Intelligent • 2K and B K mode Charger lCE approved) with cleta V delta T detection Fast • Quick access keys for most functions charge, then Trickle • Automatic constellation • Digital accurate and sensitive • VHF (band3) and UHF bands • Run time with full charge :single LNEff Minimum 3 hours • Built in backlight • RF input range 167-862 MHz Irons 2 4Ah NIFAH battery • Built in sounder • Input dynamic range -72dBm-.20dBm • Figure of 8 mains input ccenector 2 1 mm Female PSU plug • Measure voltage current and RF signal level, 22 K for external charge via supplied car charger • Input connector BNC Input imp 75 ohms, loop through tone and DiSEqC • LNB short circuit protection 500 mA automate limiter • Built in universal charger 100-240 V Ac / 12 W Intelligent • Can generate 22 K tone and DiSEqC and high or charger (CE approved) with delta V delta T detection. Fast low voltage for LNB • RF input range 950- 2153 MHz charge, then Trickle • Supplied with NiMH batteries, mains charger, car • Computer interface. Serial Port iCOM 1,2,3 or 4) for • Run time with full charge Minimum 5 hours from 2 4 Ah charger, 2 x F to F leads and leather carrying case • Upgradeable software on satellite settings NIMH battery • Option in setup for various defaults induding • RF level can be displayed in d8uV (accurate to 4-1dB) or • Figure of B mains input connector 2 1 mm Female PSU plug different languages linear scale (256 steps). Feature available in set up mode for external charge via supplied car charger • C/N (carner noise) is displayed in dB • Computer interface. Serial port (Com 1-4) -or upgradeable soft Specification ware on transmitters • Quality (Pre B E R or bit error raw) locks on faster making it • Input frequency 2X, 950 to 2150 MHz • Supplied with leather case, mains lead, programming lead, car easier to lock on to the sa:ellite initially typical lock in less • Input level 40 to 100 dBuy lead, IBC to BNC adapter and 2 off 10db affenuators than 100 mS • Voltmeter up to 30 V

• Instead of -found" to indicate lock of correct satellites actual • Current up to 1000mA B.E.R can be displayed Feature available in set up mode We are moving to • 22 KHz detection and generation • The qualhy (Pre B.E.R) bar graph can be logarithmic rather No 8 Kinetic Crescent • DISEqC 1.0 and 1.1 detection and generation than liner. Making it easier to peak the dish and helps with The London and Office Science Park Enfield EN3 7XH • Run time up to 2 hours weak satellites Feature available in set-up mode • Dimensions 140 x 70 x 40mm • Diseqc switch commands available in submenu • Weight 0.6 Kgs For a reliable solution!

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TELEVISION February 2005 Philips 32PW9536 (MG7.1 ing the LOPT with an original Thomson chassis) one. This cleared the fault, the set running This set was dead apart from flashes from normally without any shut downs. the standby light: the cause was that the main power supply had blown up. These Philips 29PT5463 sets are very complex, and access to the There was no sound with this set. Checks various PCBs is not easy. Unfortunately a showed that the supply was present and power supply repair kit was not available correct, but the output ICs were being from the main suppliers, so I had to obtain muted — because the TDA2616Q audio all the parts required individually. Once output IC on the surround-sound module these had been fitted the power supply ran had failed. Replacing this and the safety and the set started. But every so often it resistor restored the sound. hiccuped: the picture would go off abruptly then fade back on, with an accompanying Grundig Super Colour 2222 thud from the speakers. This really is an old-timer! Who remem- By luck I had a complete chassis taken bers thyristors in the line output stage, from a set with a duff CRT. Board substi- modular field output stages and dozens of tution proved that the fault was on the sig- modules for just about everything else? It nals PCB. Not wanting to give the cus- was one of the first to use an in-line gun tomer a second-hand board, I reflowed all CRT, so we are going back to the mid/late the joints around the main ICs and any oth- Seventies! Service ers that looked suspicious. After that the The fault was field collapse, because of a set worked perfectly. supply line failure. Fuse Si627 was open- circuit while diode Di627 was short-circuit. Mitsubishi CT37C2STX It's fortunate that I had kept my old televi- Casebook« When I take on one of these sets it's on the sion servicing books, because the parts are clear understanding that it must be repaired in the power-supply circuit and are hidden on the premises. It takes at least four peo- behind the LOP'!'. The picture was surpris- Michael Maurice ple to lift this monster. That said, the ingly good for a set that's nearly thirty power supply is in many ways similar to years old. the one in the Euro 14 chassis. I usually dismantle the set and remove, as best I can, Fidelity CTV3228 the power/deflection PCB, bearing in mind The customer said there had been loss of that the EHT cap is cemented to the tube! sound then the set had gone dead. This Then I replace all the electrolytic capaci- description should have given me a big tors in the power supply, on both the pri- clue as to what had happened. The power mary and the secondary sides. This clears supply had failed, and went bang again most faults, as it did in this case. after a rebuild. Then it dawned on me. The TDA2616 audio output IC had failed, and Proline NV3200 the audio supply rectifier diode had gone I was a bit sceptical about taking this one short-circuit. Failure of the audio output on, then thought why not? The reported chip had in turn been caused by a number fault was that the picture went green and of dry-joints in this area. I attended to yellow then the set went off. Sure enough these, replaced the IC and rebuilt the after a few hours it did just that. In fact it power supply. The set was then OK. was loosing sync. The chassis was sensitive around the field and line processing B8t0 8800 ICs. I couldn't actually see any dry-joints, The standby LED lit up but apart from that but resoldering a number of joints at and the set was dead. As there was 330V at the around these ICs cured the fault. collector of the chopper transistor, there seemed to be a control fault. Power sup- Ferguson M8421U (ICC17 ply/El-IT control comes from panel 7. chassis) When it switches to on, 7TR1 supplies The problem with this set was simple 12V to the control chip and other parts. enough: the line output transformer was The control signal appeared, but the power arcing over. So I ordered and fitted an HR supply did nothing. To cut a long story replacement. The set then worked, but after short, I found that all the transistors on this a few minutes it went to standby with the board had failed, together with 7IC1 LED flashing. If the set was left for a few (TDA2581). minutes it would start and run, but for only The set came on once these items had a few minutes. Disabling the protection cir- been replaced, but there was no sound. The cuit didn't help either. TDA2020 chip 9IC I had also failed. As Thomson technical couldn't shed any Replacement of this IC restored normal light on the matter, I decided to try replac- operation.

224 February 2005 TELEVISION C.R.H Electronics Design Specialists in Video test-equipment Kits

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TELEVISION February 2005 Send letters to "Television", Highbury Business, Media House, Azalea Drive, Swanley, Kent, BR8 8HU or e-mail [email protected] using subject heading 'Television Letters'.

Please send plain text messages. Do NOT send attachments. Be sure to type your full name, address, postcode, telephone and e-mail address (if any). Your address and telephone number will not be published but your e-mail address will unless you state otherwise.

We simply don't experience the picture 'occasional freezing' ! freezing, lack of lip sync and 'drifting A system fault will often leave DTT artefacts' that plague Les. more or less unscathed but degrade ana- My experience as an installer and logue-signal reception severely. I came repairer of TV distribution systems con- across an example of this recently, where firms my experience as a viewer. Believe an amplifier at the head-end of a large me, on my patch I have grannies who signal-distribution system decided to reach for the phone whenever their view- oscillate at 650MHz. The resultant high- ing pleasure is interrupted for even a mil- amplitude noise spikes gave the repeater lisecond — people with time on their amplifiers severe indigestion. The com- DTT reception hands are of course the most critical con- plaints were "poor analogue, DIT OK". In last month's issue Dr Les May sumers. For various reasons DTI' is very The DIT multiplexes were affected of described DTT shortcomings, based on popular with the residents of the types of course, with a poor bit error ratio, but as his experience as a viewer. His experi- housing served by distribution systems, far as I know all the receivers handled ence is almost totally at odds with my and in some cases sixty per cent of the degraded signal very well, with very own, both as a viewer and as an installer. households use DIT. People surely com- little visible effect as far as viewers were I can only wonder if he has a faulty plain when there's a system fault that concerned. But analogue-signal viewers receiver, outdated software, or an aerial causes picture freezing, even when it is of saw strong patterning on all channels. that's deficient in some way or screened much less severity than that about which I remember being totally unimpressed by trees. Or could he be tuned to the Les complains. So I know that in general when DIT started. The receivers were channel 40 and 43 transmissions from reception must be pretty reliable. very clunky, taking ages to change chan- Winter Hill which, theoretically, are radi- I agree with Les that DIT faults such nel. Switching transients on the mains ated only to the west? as picture freezes are more annoying sub- supply or a passing Honda 50 would My own experience as a DTT viewer jectively than analogue-picture snow. Yes freeze the picture or even result in the has been almost completely satisfactory. indeed, people will tolerate snowy ana- box crashing. Sensitivity was poor, and My receivers are far from new but they logue pictures but won't tolerate stop- many transmitter powers were lower than all seem to work well enough. The box in start DTT. This only goes to prove my they are now. I recall standing in the the office is an elderly Grundig — the ugly point. My phone would melt if the faults Miller Bros showroom looking at DTT square thing that represented their first Les describes occurred with any regulari- for the first time. I thought it would attempt. The only problems with it are ty at any of the thousands of outlets on never catch on! that there's a slight delay when changing my systems! On this basis, I feel that Les How different things are today. channel and that it lacks the software is far too pessimistic in his assessment of Current receivers, apart from the very required for teletext. The box in the DTT's reliability and robustness. cheap ones, are much better, and a suc- kitchen is a Thomson DTI1000, which Les suggests that instead of counting cession of software downloads has works perfectly. The Thomson box in the the number of boxes to assess DTI' pene- improved some of the old ones. In many workshop falters only when I use an elec- tration we should count the number of cases the broadcasters have increased tric drill within three feet of it: the drill people who use DIT in preference to transmitter powers, and many of the wipes out analogue reception as well — analogue for the five main channels. I channel allocation 'anomalies' (mis- unsurprisingly, as sparks fly off the can tell him that these two figures are takes?) have been sorted out. Use of the brushes. almost identical. Granny will explain that more robust 16QAM instead of 64QAM I'm a very critical viewer and much she uses the old remote to turn the telly for multiplexes 1, B, C and D has pro- prefer DIT, in the ROB mode, to ana- on "then I puts it down and only uses the duced a great improvement. logue. I don't regard DTT as perfect, but new one". This is what pretty well every- I'm not claiming that DTI' is perfect to me analogue looks very crude in com- one with DTT does. The effects of compression are some- parison, mostly because of the PAL arte- A lot of things can go wrong with times annoying (grass can look very odd facts. Our analogue reception here is as DTT in a signal distribution system, but when the camera is moving), and I think good as it gets, but it still annoys me I've been surprised at how robust the sig- everyone will agree that teletext is hope- more than Dr!' does. And I'm sure that if nal can be. A rather ridiculous example less. A big fault with some current we had significant analogue-signal ghost- occurred only this week, when a young receivers is the tendency to search for ing I would find it absolutely intolerable lady complained about occasional picture new channels automatically. As a result a after seeing MT. To me the lovely clean freezing. Her RF daisy chain started with receiver can tune in signals from a trans- dark backgrounds with DTI' are a major a VCR then went to the DIT box. The mitter that's not the correct one and pro- plus point after a lifetime of irritation VCR wasn't connected to the mains sup- duce badly pixellated pictures. This caused by analogue-signal smearing and ply, so the signal that reached the DTT option is enabled by default. Turning it echoes. The faults that annoy Les so box was at about 15dB below the theo- off will not always solve the problem, much are virtually unknown in this house. retical minimum level. This caused because the default is sometimes restored

226 February 2005 TELEVISION after a mains interruption. multiplex to be used by every transmitter. 'digital cliff' and gets nothing, or the sig- These drawbacks are as nothing how- The receiver would accept only the nals flutter rapidly with an effect like ever compared with the terrible problems strongest incoming signal and reject any motor-boating. I would like to think that reported by Les May. Sound and vision weaker ones. Indeed this system is the this problem will lessen when the UK's out of sync? Freezing every twenty sec- only one that makes sense if the object is analogue TV transmissions are switched onds? Half a dozen breaks in a thirty- to sell off as many frequencies as possible off, leaving only the remaining continen- minute radio programme? I've had DIT following the closure of analogue TV But tal analogue transmitters to give problems Radio 3 on all the time I've been writing it would require most DIT transmitter occasionally. The best solution available this, and it hasn't faltered once. My expe- frequencies to be changed. It may have to me personally was to use the digital rience of DTI' has been radically different made more sense to put urr on six transmissions from Astra 2 — these have from Les May's. Could other readers national frequencies in the first place, been as solid as a rock since they started comment? even though this would have meant mov- over four years ago. Bill Wright, ing some analogue transmission frequen- J. LeJeune, tvrightsaerialseaoLcom cies around. Nottingham. Until decent reception can be guaran- Analogue vs. digital teed, many people will not be interested Thanks As a former service engineer who has in buying a Dr!' receiver — unless it's I am writing to express my sincere thanks been involved with the repair of domes- incorporated in every TV receiver and to the three readers who contacted me tic, defence and, more recently, broadcast recorder on the market, giving no choice following a couple of requests in the Help and professional equipment, I have fol- in the matter. It may be pointed out that Wanted section of the magazine recently. lowed with interest the analogue vs. digi- there's the satellite alternative. The prob- The mysteries of the VW car stereo's tal debate in your pages. I have no doubt lem with this is that because of encryp- cunning CAN bus connection have been that the quality of Dl"!' pictures and tion one is currently tied to the Sky explained to me, and my parents' ancient sound is very good — provided you can monopoly. If you want to be able to Tatung TV set now has a scart connection receive a strong, stable signal. This is record one channel while watching anoth- and proper remote-control operation. I where the problem lies. er one, which we have all become used to would especially like to thank the mys- My house is less than thirteen miles doing, you have to subscribe to Sky+ and tery benefactor who sent me a package from the Emley Moor transmitter and less buy the box. The equipment becomes that contained the parts required for the than six miles from the Sheffield relay useless if you stop subscribing. Until all TV set completely free of charge. Their transmitter. The aerial, when I moved in free-to-view channels become free-to-air efforts are greatly appreciated, and I hope two years ago, was an 18-element group channels, allowing a choice of receiver I am able to return the favour one day. A type with a masthead amplifier, aligned and two different receivers to be used, Nick Arnold, for reception from the Belmont transmit- one for viewing and one to record, I don't Oxford. ter. It provided weak analogue reception think that satellite provides a reasonable with much impulsive interference and no option. An early set channel Five. I have since fitted a wall- Mick Spooner, Some fifty years ago I was asked if I mounted, wideband Televes DAT75 with Chapeltown, Sheffield. could repair a TV set that other engineers MRD option and a distribution amplifier. wouldn't look at. I was suspicious but This provides improved gain. There are Effect of weather nevertheless called at the address, where I reasonable analogue pictures from Emley Reception of Freeview digital TV is nor- was shown an object that resembled a Moor, with some ghosting on all five mally 98 per cent satisfactory at my home wardrobe, about 6ft high. Three men channels. All digital channels can be in the East Midlands. So imagine my sur- managed to move it for inspection. Its received, with signal levels in the green prise when, during a spell of very still and two enormous full-length doors concealed with my Sony ONdigital box and my foggy weather in late December, with the a radio/TV receiver with, rather oddly, a more recently acquired Panasonic IDTV atmospheric pressure static at 30.4in., I 9in. CRT. set. Unfortunately there is signal breakup found that Freeview was unusable. I doubted that it was "a few years even when the signal strength remains in Analogue services produced poor but old", as alleged. The instruction manual the green. At other times the signal level viewable pictures from Waltham-on-the- that was still with it suggested contacting will drop or it will completely vanish. Wolds and very badly patterned pictures the factory for service or assistance! I I've tried reception from the Sheffield from our alternative source, Belmont. The then found, in the back corner, a date: relay, but the best I can achieve is good Freeview signals from Belmont were also December 1936! It was obviously well analogue with the four main channels, unusable. Analogue Anglia TV signals out of guarantee! I did deign to remove Five being too weak and the digital sig- from Tacolneston romped in at the side of the back however. What a shock. I found nals not receivable. the aerial to provide a perfectly viewable a massive transformer, several chassis So it seems that for many people the picture for over an hour, until about 20.00. connected by large screened cables, and only hope for decent DTT reception is an On the following morning the fog had the 9in. electrostatic CRT. increase in transmitter ERPs. In fact it cleared — a slight breeze had seen to that — I declined to take the set away for free seems that the whole business of adding and the pressure had begun to fall. All the but did remove the tube, which I subse- channel Five analogue and then digital analogue and digital services normally quently sold for about £5 as a replace- has been badly organised. When I attend- receivable here had returned to normal. ment for a black/green 6in. ex-radar ed training courses about digital transmis- I had often wondered how DTI' recep- VCR97. I never knew whether it actually sion and reception I was given to under- tion would be affected by strong co-chan- worked! stand that the DTT transmission system nel and also foreign interference. The Philip Bearman, enabled the same carrier frequency for a simple answer is that one either hits the New Barnet, Herts.

TELEVISION February 2005 227 c•re now well into the winter doldrums, with little or any DXTV reception. Strong solar storms during W November 8-9 produced auroral activity in the north but no noticeable AR reception here in the sunny south — though a close check on all Band I TV channels was main- tained with a scanner. In fact all I heard on the 9th were sharp buzzing noises every 37kHz right across Band I. They had disappeared two nights later. Most odd! There was a little Sporadic E activity however, as follows:

10/11/04 RAI (Italy) ch. IA; Tele-A (Italy) ch. E2—; also unidentified ch. E2, 3 and 4 signals. 11/11/04 RAI IA, B; Tele-A E2—; unidentified ch. E3 signal. 20/11/04 Signals in chs. E2 and 3 at 1730 hours, possibly TVE (Spain) as vertically polarised.

Peter Schubert (Rainham) summed up the period with a post-card message "DX conditions at home this month very bad". The anticipated mid-month Leonids meteor shower failed to produce any excitement in Band I during the periods when I was monitoring conditions and, the weather being cold and damp during much of November, there was minimal tropospheric activity. There is good news from the US on the terrestrial digital DX-TV front however, with reports of successful SpE and tropospheric DTV reception at the dxfm.com website (http://www.dxfm.cotn/fmdx_main.htm). It's interesting that the solar storm around November 7-8 was classified here as auroral EX, mid latitude, "a severe geomagnetic storm in progress with auroral hash very evident with antennas pointed north". This site is highly recommended.

Skywaves The Skywaves bulletin, published by the British FM and TV Circle, ceased to appear in printed form with the 93rd issue (November 2004). It had been published for nearly ten years but, for a number of reasons, had been increasingly difficult to produce. The British FM and TV Circle remains active with the Skywaves Yahoo! Group and on-line for news, views and reception activities via the website at http://www.skywaves.info

Satellite sightings Reaction to the declared results of the presidential election in the Ukraine was first seen via Eutelsat W 1 (10°E) on November 20-21, at 10-972GHz V, with footage of the protests. As I write this on the 27th intermittent live pictures are being uplinked from satellite truck NTVRUS-5 0070 via Eutelsat W2 (16°E) at 12.554GHz H (SR 5,632, FEC 3/4). The truck is reporting from a snowy street in Kiev, where Reception' large crowds have marched to the centre and surrounded the presidential HQ. The army and security forces were called but told not to open fire. The Russian TV reporters updated their viewers as the unrest grew then, at 2000, the pictures from Terrestrial DX and satellite TV recep- NTVRUS-5 started to be encrypted. Despite the importance of tion reports. Broadcast, satellite TV the election and the subsequent public unrest, none of the Russian TV channels via the Express AM-22 satellite provided and transmitter news. DAB DX. extensive coverage. The weekend of 20-22nd also featured reports from Chile, Receiver notes. Meteor shower dates where President Bush was paying a visit to his counterpart in for 2005. Roger Bunney reports Santiago. The visit was not without a few political gaffs, which were well reported in the press. The Path 1 and Path 2 feeds for European distribution were uplinked via WI. Chile seems to provide the same ceremonial pomp as Spain. Outside broadcast coverage was provided by Channel 13 Santiago. Perhaps the most spectacular sighting of the month was of the X43A test flight, which was carried live by NASA-TV on the 16th via WI. This was a major test of the new 'Scram-jet' motor, a non-turbine device for rocket 'aircraft'. The X43A

February 2005 TELEVISION was dropped from a NASA B-52 aircraft high above the Pacific. It accelerated rapidly through several Mach numbers and in turn shed the rocket which, within about 70 seconds, reached Mach 10 (ten times the speed of sound) and eventually slowed to splash down in the Pacific. High-quality pictures from B-52 mounted cameras and a 'follow' aircraft covered the whole drop and launch, finishing with beautiful shots of the B-52 as it returned successfully to the Edwards AF base, California, where the Dryden Research Centre is located. The rocket craft is said to have reached hypersonic speed. The Scram-jet draws in air, compresses it with hydrogen, ignites the mixture and expels it from the rear outlet. The number of TV channels carried by the Russian Express AM-22 satellite (53°E) has increased several-fold over the last couple of months. Most of the programming seems to come from the Caspian Sea region and the eastern Ukraine. At 11•046GHz V (SR 29,812, FEC 3/4) there are TV channels 1- MUZ, NEO-TV, CTC-2, CTC-0, MuzTV-LOVRV and MNS, plus Love Radio, with distribution by the GPKS Network. There's a single channel, TV PROG, at 11•083GHz V (3,750, Al Jazeera is now available via Sky as an FTA service, EPG no. 819. 3/4). At 11•099GHz V (10,942, 3/4) there are TV channels UTR, HTH and KTM, with the distribution identification UKRKOSMOS. Finally there are two educational TV channels, car or lorry windscreen's tinted sunshield strip, and is thus pro- SGU TV1 and SGU TV2, at 11•186GHz V (8,882, 3/4) with tected against the weather. It's also cheap to include during distribution by SGU NET. MNS appears to be on test, as it fea- vehicle manufacture and is virtually invisible. The aerial, devel- tures a repeating video of mountain streams and pretty views. oped by Sirius Satellite Radio in conjunction with RecepTec, KTM carried a chat shown on the 18th with no less than was launched at the end of October. President Putin as a guest — there was no mention of the The CSA-230M tracking Ku-band satellite aerial is another Ukraine election. one intended for vehicle use. It consists of a small spherical dish As a final note Nick Harrold (Essex) reports on the channels and universal LNB that sit in a dome which can be mounted on currently carried by Telstar 12 (15°W). At 12•524GHz H the roof or other part of a vehicle. The manufacturer is IMC (19,125, 3/4) there's DAD-5 with NBC news content, now often GmbH of Trittau, Germany. Once the vehicle is in motion the encrypted. DAD-2 at 11•518GHz H (3,744, 3/4) carries similar aerial will track a selected DTH-strength satellite through a full Iraq footage. There is also CNN New York at 12•524GHz H 360°. The aerial is powered from the vehicle's electrical system (19,125. 3/4). At 12•608GHz H (19,820, 3/4) there's VOA. at between 10-30V. The tracking electronics and receiver are mounted inside the vehicle. A marine version able to withstand Broadcast news salt water is to be launched shortly. For more details email DAB: Following successful DAB tests in Germany with an [email protected]. It's expensive. accompanying EPG (electronic programme guide) to provide GlobeCast Australia has signed a downlinking agreement additional information, an international DAB-EPG standard is to with Horizon World Plus TV to distribute four Russian TV be published shortly. This should encourage DAB broadcasters channels across Australasia. As a result viewers can watch RTR to include an EPG. The first regular DAB-EPG transmissions Planeta, RTVi, Teleklub/Detski Mir and Nashe Kino. Uplinking are due to start this year, with the EPG providing details of cur- is via PAS-8 (166°E), using Ku-band telecom capacity. rent and future programmes. If anyone is considering the pur- Good news for Czech exiles elsewhere in Europe: the Czech chase of a DAB receiver, it might be worth a slight wait until Parliamentary Channel 24.cz is now available ETA from Astra EPG-enabled models appear in the shops. (19•2°E) at 10•832GHz H (22,000, 5/6), bringing political news and information. Far East: The Japanese company NEC is to supply digital transmitters for the Oriental Pearl commercial TV channel, Shanghai. Viewers in the Beijing area will be able to receive ETA digital terrestrial TV transmissions next year, funded by local government: the first transmitter will cover the Chaoyang district.

France: DTT is due to start on March I but an appeal court has cancelled the six licences awarded to the Canal Plus/Lagardere group following a complaint from rival TF1 about Canal Plus's DTT licences exceeding, through subsidiaries, the five-channel limit. The French broadcasting CSA (Conseil Superieur de l'Audiovisuel) has expressed hope that the dispute will be settled in time for the official start.

South Africa: The SABC is to open two ethnic TV channels in 2005, SABC-4 and SABC-5, with Sesotho- and Nguni-language programming respectively. The two regional services will provide both public-service and commercial programmes.

Satellite news Shot from the NASA-TV X43A test flight program me, received via Sigma (Sirius Interior Glass Mounted Antenna) is a new non- Eutelsat W1 (10°E) This is the Scram-jet rocket. steerable mobile satellite aerial for use in vehicles. It fits in a

TELEVISION February 2005 ing severe damage. A criminal investigation is under way. Temporary lower-powered transmitters from nearby locations were brought into operation during the following two days, restoring most services. The mast was erected in the Fifties by BICC, using rolled- steel angle sections similar to those used at Londonderry and Rosemarkie. The structure had several access platforms that provided easy dish mounting. The square design for medium-height masts was discontinued in the mid/late Fifties, when a slimmer design with a three-sided lattice and solid round corner legs came into use. This had less wind resistance and used less steel. Taller masts, such as the 750ft Sutton Coldfield one erected in 1949, used the triangular structure from the start. According to the BICC catalogue this mast weighs 140 tons, though the "total downward thrust exerted by the stays amounts to 336 tons". At the bottom the lattice tapers to a small section that sits on a pedestal embedded in a concrete base in the ground. To prevent horizontal movement across the pedestal and lattice taper, there's a single 2in. steel ball between the mast and the base. The problems at Solent TV continue, with the ch. 54 transmissions from the Rowridge mast still off air. An electric storm at 0320 on October 14 produced a knockout lightning zap that hit the aerial high on the mast at 90m above ground level. This took out the aerial and the 2kW transmitter was a write-off. It's

Final tracks of the ¡SS Soyuz-8 flight, October 23. hoped that the replacement transmitter ordered will be in operation in time for Christmas. This is a blow for a successful RSL- TV station that has a loyal viewer base. It provides local news The 24-hour Alhuurra satellite channel via ArabSat (26°E) and programming, with outside broadcasts from important local and NileSat (7°W) has attracted high viewer figures, providing events, and has high technical standards. For the latest updated news, documentaries, entertainment, sports and fashion. The information refer to the website at www.solent.tv, where channel was launched in February 2004. Two RTM (Morocco) streamed programming is also available. TV channels are now available via ArabSat (26°E), at 11-938GHz V (27,500, 3/4). DAB DX 8TV is now providing satellite TV programming in eastern John Broome (King's Lynn) reports success with his DAB DX Malaysia via Astro All Asia Networks capacity. installation during the lift in early October. Using a home-made, The Kurdistan Democratic party has launched Zagros TV, three-element Band HI aerial and Pure Evoke 1 receiver, he with studios in the three main cities in the area (northern Iraq). received BBC Scotland Aberdeen ch. 11C, Peterborough ch. It joins the other Kurdish channels Kurd-Sat and Kurdistan TV. 12D (just in time, see above!), Yorkshire ch. 12A and Sheffield ch. 11C. The aerial is similar to the design shown in these pages Transmitter news in December 2003, but consists of a 'loop dipole' with a reflec- A fire led to the collapse of the Crown Castle transmitting mast tor and director. near Peterborough on October 30, removing all BBC FM/DAB Many more DAB stations that are receivable during enhanced national and regional radio programmes plus Classic FM and tropospheric conditions are coming into operation across the UK mobile-phone services. The elderly four-sided lattice structure, and the nearer parts of continental Europe. Gosta van der reaching almost 600ft, fell across the transmitter building, caus- Linden reports that the first Danish DAB network is now in operation. He suggests checking channel 12C (227.360MHz V) where 17 programmes are transmitted. Further expansion this year will bring on air Western Denmark ch. 13B and Eastern Denmark ch. 11C. APTN Direct RTBF (Belgium) is in operation on ch. 12B V aiming, with its music channels, for quality equal to or better than analogue FM, using a bit rate of 192kbits/sec and 48kHz sampled stereo. There are La Premiere, Musiq 3 and Pure FM and, at a lower bit rate (64kbits/sec, 24kHz), BRF. At present only three RTBF Subscribers only DAB transmitters are in operation, at Leglise, Profondeville and Wavre. Another fourteen are due to start in the coming months. As yet French DAB transmissions are in Band L only, with none in the Band III DAB spectrum. Please check websde for detaiis More information on DAB can be obtained from the excel- of our next transmission lent Skywaves site at www.skywaves.info/dab.html An updated list of BBC transmitters is available at www.bbc.co.uk/reception/radio_transmitter/digital_radio.shmtl Those interested in general information on FM, AM, DRM - MT and DAB can refer to ncYrm, www.rwonline.com/reference-room/special-report/03_rw_dmi_5.shmtl 1 loOr Receiver notes The APTN European distribution feed via Eutelsat W1 Readers of this column over the years will be aware of my interest in bandwidth reduction to receive low-level or marginal sig-

;11 February 2005 TELEVISION Meteor shower dates 2005

Shower Overall period Peaking

Quadrantids January 1-6 January 3 at 1000 hours GMT Lyrids April 19-25 April 22 at 0800 hours GMT ETA Aquarids April 23 to May 20 May 4-5 Cetids May 7 to June 9 May 14-25 Delta Aquarids July 15 to August 20 July 29 to August 6 Perseids July 23 to August 20 August 12 at 1200 hours GMT Orionids October 16-27 October 20-22 Tau rids October 20 to November 30 November 3 Leonids November 15-20 November 17 at 1600 hours GMT Geminids December 7-16 December 12-14 (best at 2200 hours on the 13th) Ursids December 17-25 December 22

Information courtesy Neil Bone, Director, BAA Meteor Section. nais. The Sony SA3ES FM tuner is highly respected for DXing, www.dxfm.com/IF%/20Filters.htm so much so that an internet site provides great detail on switched offers filters at $1.50 each plus $2 post within the US. bandwidth reduction for low-level signals, particularly where the Finally, in my review of the Roberts Gemini RD-6 DAB/FM frequency is adjacent to a very strong local transmission. radio (September 2004) I mentioned low-level hum and buzz. Modification details can be found at There was no response from Roberts Radio. Twelve weeks later www.dxradio.co.uk.sony the receiver, after nominal use, suddenly gave up, with no FM It's possible, with the Sony switched wide/narrow bandwidth and only a very local DAB multiplex audible: the front-end gain tuner, to replace existing ceramic filters with ones of different had gone very low. Supplier QED-UK reacted quickly, recalling bandwidth. The internet provides information on Murata filters the unit and offering a replacement. But five weeks later Roberts (same pin spacing) and where specialised filters (small order) has apparently been unable to supply QED with a replacement can be purchased. A US site from stock. Not a good introduction to DAB!

The help wanted column is primarily intended to assist readers who require a part, circuit etc. that's difficult to obtain. Requests are published at the discre- tion of the editor. Send them to the editorial department — do not write to or HELP phone the advertisement department. If you have access to email they can be WI&I TED sent to [email protected]

Wanted: A VDP3112B chip (IC801) for including camera spares, also Hitachi and white cabinet (rare), instruction book and the Sharp Model 66ESD7H and a other remote-control units, and camera remote control, and one G26C672 in large VDP3108-25 chip for the Panasonic batteries. Whole lot for £300. Some test cabinet with sliding door and ultrasonic Model TX25MDIL. Also a WPO equipment to go as well. Ex Service remote control. Phone Mike Leach on Communications Omega communication Place, closing down. Phone Malik on 020 01733 577 552 (Peterborough) after 8 receiver or the IF unit. John Twamley, 8574 5827 after 6 p.m. Monday-Friday or p.m. most evenings. Fingal TV, 68 Main Street, Sword, Co. any time Saturday/Sunday. Wanted: Quad 33, 34 or 44 preamplifiers, Dublin, Ireland. Phone 353 1 840 2206. Wanted: 550765C IC for a computer 405 power amplifiers and FM3 tuners, for Wanted: LOPT type FCC 2215BE for monitor identified as Hansol El5BL. It's spares. Also boards and modules for these. the 22in. Murphy Model M22501 a five-pin device that controls the power Contact Mike on 01758 613 790. (Fidelity 4200 chassis). Phone Cedric on supply. Keith Patton, 1 Glenvale, Wanted: Remote-control handset for the 01275 879 620. Glarryford, Ballymena, Co. Antrim, Goodmans System 1350 mini-stack unit. Wanted: Bush Model TV53 or TV63. BT44 9QB. Phone 028 2568 5531 or Also a circuit diagram or any other infor- These are wooden-cased sets, not the email mation for the Sony Video 8 recorder popular Bakelite-cased one. Please phone [email protected] Model GV-8E.PAL. Phone or fax Jack David R. Dunmall on 01242 524 234 or Wanted: Old half-inch diameter ferrite Richman on 020 8590 4947 or email email rods. Must be six inches or more long. [email protected] [email protected] Will pay very good money for them. For sale: Various VCRs, all must go as For disposal: Brand new HR7195 LOFT Peter Tankard, 16A Birkendale Road, soon as possible and must be collected. and remote-control unit (Rwidor1R9891) Sheffield, S6 3NL. Phone 0114 231 The following Betamax models at £25 for the NEI CE25 chassis. Free except 6321. each: twelve Sony C6s Mk 1/2; nine C7s; for postage. Nicholas Arnold, 30 Mere Wanted/for disposal: Dual-standard three C5s; three C20s; and an NEC Road, Oxford, OX2 8AN. Phone 01865 monochrome TV sets, e.g. GEC, Bush, PVC744E. VHS models, £25 each: six 556 991 or 07960 646 061 or email Murphy, Pye etc., and early colour sets. Ferguson/Baird piano-key models and an [email protected] Are there any BRC 2000 chassis sets left Akai VS5EK with remote control. Also Wanted: Replacement video head for the out there for sale/disposal? Also require many other VHS VCRs and CIV sets, Philips N1502 VCR. Phone David on an A63-120X 25 in. colour CRT. Have for Hitachi, Sony etc. Phil Gay, 28 Ilminster, 01473 214 865 (Ipswich). disposal two colour sets fitted with the Dunster Crescent, Old Mixon, Weston- For disposal: Lots of Hitachi spare parts, Philips G11 chassis, one G22C703 with Super-Mare, North Somerset, BS24 9EB.

TELEVISION February 2005 231 Sony HCD-RG333 display would flash on/off. The cure was to This unit's CD tray wouldn't eject and, replace the 30V zener diode D6201. O.H. after a few minutes, it would revert to standby. Investigation inside revealed that Aiwa MX-Z9500 there was a fourth disc in the three-disc If there is no display with the amplifier carousel. It must have come off the shal- section of this hi-fi system, or the display low three-disc tray and, unknowingly, been is dim, replace the following component , replaced with another disc, leaving one C113, C114, Q111, Q112 and R104.0.11. disc to jam the tray shut. All that was needed to restore normal operation was to Eltax AVR250 remove and reset the CD tray mechanism. The complaint with this AV amplifier was C.B. the front panel controls not working. As I have commented before with items that Sony HCD-H881 have a similar problem, the first move There was no sound from this unit's speak- should always be to check that the mechan- ers. Meter checks showed that the power ical operation of all the buttons is sound. amplifier chip IC1201 was the cause. A With this unit the buttons produced a small replacement, part no. 8-749-920-10, movement and a reassuring click until I restored normal sound output. C.B. came to the ones marked `DTS' and 'Bypass'. There was absolutely no move- Sony HCD-HP7 ment with either of these. This unit wouldn't play CDs. Meter checks On closer examination I was not greatly AUDIO proved that the cause was the optical pick- impressed with the build quality. The cause up. Unfortunately with this model it's sup- of the problem appeared to be insufficient plied only as a base assembly (607), part clearance between the switch tops and the no. A-4735-357-A. One was ordered and button pins. Rather than reducing the FAULTS fitted, restoring normal CD play. C.B. length of the pins, I increased the clearance by adding thin fibre washers between the Reports from Sony ICF-CD2000S PCB and a couple of its mounting pillars, There was sound from the headphones but in the area of the offending buttons. This Chris Bowers not from the speakers. Multimeter checks provided a complete cure. G.D. Geoff Darby on the main board revealed the cause of the fault, which was the two flexible PCB con- Sony HCD-RXD5 O waid Hussain nector wires 65 (part no. 1-791-188-11) When this unit was powered it produced and 72 (part no. 1-791-189-11) that con- the error message 'protect. push power' in Eugene Trundle nect it to the display board. Over time, as a the display. This happens when the hybrid result of opening and closing the unit, they output chip, type STK407-090E, is defec- Steve Roberts had developed an open-circuit fault across tive. A-replacement restored full normal Freddy Ghys the wires. Replacement of these connectors operation. Nothing unexpected or notewor- restored sound from the speakers. C.B. thy here then. But what was interesting and was that the unit had been in exactly a year Panasonic SA-DT310 before, to the day, with exactly the same Mike Ainscoe This is the tuner/amplifier section of a two- problem. piece hi-fi/DVD system. If, shortly after As it was a trade job, I was unable check switch on, you get the error message F61 with the customer about my suspicions. in the display, take a look at the fan. If it But I guess that birthdays, parties and loud hasn't started to operate about two seconds music came into the equation somewhere. after the system has been taken out of G.D. We welcome fault reports from readers standby, the chances are that this is the - payment for each fault is made after cause of your problem. Panasonic SA-AK28 publication. A replacement is easy to fit. Simply The reported problem with this trade job remove the unit's top and side covers and was "not working - no switch-on from Reports can be sent by post to: one screw to enable the bracket that holds standby". When I plugged the unit in and the fan to be removed. The fan plugs in, so applied power there was no display at all, Television Magazine Fault Reports, you don't even have to warm up your sol- just a red AC-in light below the standby Highbury Business, dering iron! G.D. pushbutton. The main power relay operated when this button was pushed, as did the Media House, Technics SU-CH900 output protect relay, but shortly afterwards Azalea Drive, Swanley, This hi-fi unit went to standby at high vol- both dropped out again, one after the other. Kent BR8 8HU ume levels. The cure was to replace the fan When I started to dismantle the unit it motor. O.H. was clear that someone had been there before me. A pair of missing screws that or e-mailed to: Philips CDR675 should have secured the CD changer to the [email protected] When this CD recorder had warmed up the rear panel were immediately apparent. The

February 2005 TELEVISION particular dealer is pretty good at not what exactly they had done to cause such so I use a transformer listed in the CPC' touching equipment prior to sending it on a trail of damage. G.D. catalogue, order number TF00647. It to me, so this sort of thing is always a does the job with ease, and is inexpensive worrying sign that the owner, or his help- Pioneer VSA-E06 (about £21). I would hate to think what ful neighbour who used to mend motor- This monster AV amplifier and I got off the manufacturer would charge for a bikes and radar during the war, has had a to a bad start. I had it standing upright, 'genuine' spare! go. on end, at floor level awaiting attention I had a lot of trouble with one amplifier I decided to start by looking for the when I moved towards it at high speed however. It kept coming back with the reason why the unit wouldn't stay on. A heading for an insistently ringing phone. complaint that it had failed, though no meter connected between chassis and I collided with the sharp corner of the obvious fault could be found. On one each of the output channels in turn front panel, which caused some pain and occasion the 500mA time-lag mains fuse showed that a momentary hefty negative injury, before I gritted my teeth and told had blown. To cut a long story short, the voltage appeared at the left channel out- the nice salesman that I didn't need a cause of the trouble turned out to be the put during the brief relay-on time. This new kitchen. Euro mains input socket. It's of very led me to suspect the hybrid output IC, The reported fault was no sound. poor construction, and incorporates a type RSN309W44A. Someone had pencilled "display faulty, fuse that was making intermittent con- The easiest way to get at the output needs replacement" on the job ticket. I tact. I replaced it with a decent Bulgin- board is to remove the CD changer and thought that this was highly unlikely and type socket and fitted a separate fuse- the back panel. When I did this I noticed was probably a major clue as to the cause holder, which I loaded with a IA time- that four of the five 'flying-saucer' disc of the missing sound problem. When the lag fuse. spacers were missing from the stacker unit was put on the bench and powered, So be careful if you are asked to repair mechanism at the rear of the changer — the standby relay operated but not the one of these amplifiers. You could waste another bad sign. And one of the screws output-protect relays. There was no VFD a lot of time and find it expensive. S.R. was missing when I came to remove the operation. power amplifier. At this point I decided A look at the circuit diagram revealed Kenwood RXD-M35 that if a new output hybrid didn't produce that D157 and D158, along with a couple This unit was dead except for illumination at least a basic cure I wouldn't waste any of resistors and capacitors, produce the from the standby light, and the latter went more time on the job. —29V supply (—VF) for the display. The out when the power button was pressed. There was actually one of these rather diodes are fed straight from an auxiliary Some quick checks revealed that the pri- expensive ICs in stock. so I went ahead winding on the mains transformer, via the mary winding of the power transformer and fitted it. The unit then powered up 4.7Q fusible resistors R101 and RI02. A was open-circuit. As there are no fuses normally. When the CD changer was quick meter check revealed that they connected to the secondary windings, a refitted it shuffled encouragingly, and were both open-circuit. check was carried out to see if any high opened tray 1 on request. A disc inserted As I couldn't find any reason for their loads could have been the cause. This at this point played all right, with audio failure, I went ahead and fitted replace- revealed a short-circuit capacitor, C633 from both channels. So I went ahead and ments. This restored full operation. A (10nF), which is directly behind one of culled four disc spacers from a scrap long soak test proved hat there were no the secondary windings. Normal operation deck and popped them into place. This is other problems. G.D. was restored once this capacitor, an iden- easily accomplished by removing the tical one (C632) that's connected to crossmember (two screws) that holds the Aiwa NSX-F9 another secondary winding, and a new boss on to which the spacers then This was the model number shown on the power transformer had been fitted. F.G. clicked. A full exercise of the deck front: on the back it was given as CX- proved that it was now working. This left NF9K. There were three faults: failure to Quad 405-1 the remaining problem of no display. read a CD's TOC; the tape decks not No output from the right-hand channel A quick DC check at the heater pins of working but clicking; and erratic operation was the complaint with this power ampli- the VFD panel produced a reading of of the front-panel volume control. The fier. Checks showed that one of the cur- several volts positive instead of the usual cures, respectively, were to clean the CD rent-dumping transistors, TRIO, had gone 30V odd negative that's used to float the lens; to replace all four drive belts in the short-circuit and blown one of the 4A heater supply to the same DC level as the cassette mechanism; and to clean the vol- fuses, F2. As the transistors used were display electrodes. It's a convenient place ume control, which in fact is a rotary the early BDY77 type, I decided to to check for the VFD supply with any pulse-generator switch. The latter had to replace them with the 2SD424 type fitted make or model, as this heater-biasing be removed from its PCB to gain access to in later models and replace F2. scheme is used universally. A look at the a small aperture for the aerosol switch I switched on confidently, but there power circuit diagram drew my attention cleaner used. E.T. was still no output from the right-hand to R529 (4.7Q safety), which is in series channel! Further investigation brought with the —VP supply regulator transistor Hughes and Kettner Warp 7 me to the op-amp chip ICI. R8 (3.31d2) Q501. Replacement of this resistor guitar amplifier in its negative supply was open-circuit. restored the display, and a full-function I've repaired several of these 100W Once this had been replaced the amplifier test proved that the system was now fully amplifiers recently, the fault in each case worked correctly. working. being that the primary winding of the TR9 and TRIO can also be replaced With three distinct and different faults, mains transformer had gone open-circuit. with type 2N3773 transistors or the you can't help but wonder what the origi- Spares for these German-made amplifiers Motorola type MJ15003, as fitted in the nal problem was, who had been at it, and seem to be almost impossible to obtain, later Quad 405-2 amplifier. M.A.

TELEVISION February 2005 Sharp VtM32 1 HM etc machines, intermittent line twitch is often This VCR wouldn't record etc a new sound caused by a faulty impedance roller (part track. I found that the bias oscillator wasn't no. VXP1402). running, and spotted a 4.7Q safety resistor, Loss of line lock in the cue and review R658, that had burnt up. It's a common modes can usually be cured by relubricating problem, and Sharp has issued a technical the upper capstan motor bearing. More bulletin. The following components should rarely the cause is a badly worn lower be replaced: R658 (part no. VRD- drum, but in this case the symptom is usual- RA2EE4R7J), C655 (47pF, 16V, part no. ly more noticeable in the review mode. J.C. VCEA9M1C W476M), Q652 (part no. VSDTC323TS/-1) and inductor L651 (part Sharp VCMH75H M no. VP-DF221K0000). Also bend transistor This is a new VCR I'd not come across Q651 away from oscillator coil T651. before. Playback of its own recordings and The inductor looked OK, but when it prerecorded tapes lasted for only a second, was tested with a digital inductance meter it after which there was just a blue screen. In was found to have shorted turns. addition the counter stopped running. This This advice also applies to Models suggested that the control pulses were being VCM301HM, VCM302HM, VCM311HM, lost during playback. They were being VCM312HM, VCM331HM, VCM522HM, recorded all right, as playback via another VCMH711HM, VCMH721HM, machine proved. VCMH73HM and VCMH731HM. M.D. The cable connector to the audio/control head is of the flat-film type, and close VCR CLINIC Panasonic Z mechanism examination revealed that the soldering of Reports from This machine would stop after three sec- one of the connections was shorting to an onds in either play or record. The cause was adjacent one. B.F. Michael Dranfield found to be a bent supply brake arm (part Peter F. Exeter no. VXL2733). At the end of this arm Panasonic NVHD700B (K deck) there's a spigot that connects with the main The two tape arms would stop about an John Coombes lever (VML3166). It was this part that was inch short of the tape-loaded position, lea‘- bent. As a result the supply brake didn't ing the loading motor struggling before it Bob Flynn operate when the tape was unloading. gave up and the tape was ejected. Much and Because of this there was a certain amount time was wasted replacing the main lever of slack in the tape and, when play was unit and both tape arms, which I've known Brian Battams selected, the supply reel didn't turn for to cause this problem. I then noticed that about five seconds. The microcontroller the pinch-roller arm was seizing up on the chip detected this failure of the supply reel shaft on which it runs up and down. The to move and switched the machine to the cure was to clean and slightly grease the stop mode. P.F.E. shaft and arm. This is very similar to Mitsubishi F deck Matsui VP9401 problems. B.F. The cause of tape damage after fast-forward operation is usually the brake pad having JVC HRS9500EK (1998 deck) parted company with the brake lever. You This top-of-the range machine would might find it anywhere in the deck assem- remain on for two seconds then revert to bly. standby, but it allowed a tape to be loaded The cause of no RF picture, EE or play- to the play position before again reverting back, or sound only with scart use, is the to standby. The VCR has a dynamic drum 2SA1037K buffer transistor Q4015. It goes system and, if you look at the right-hand open-circuit base-to-emitter. J.C. side of the lower drum, you will see two We welcome fault reports from readers gears. These should spin for a few seconds - payment for each fault is made after Panasonic NVHD630 at switch on. If this doesn't happen, the publication. l'here was no EE or playback sound, machine goes to standby. though sound was recorded. This can be a These gears were jammed. Unfortunately it seems that only a complete drum replace- Reports can be sent by post to: difficult fault to trace. We found that the culprit was the BH7803K chip IC4501. ment will provide a reliable repair. B.F. 1 1 Check it by replacement. J.C. Television Magazine Fault Reports, t Dae woo DVK985P Highbury Business, Goodmans VCR2000 The fault symptom with this machine was Media House, If tuning drift continues to be a problem intermittent failure to play with no drum Azalea Drive, Swanley, Kent BR8 8HUII . after replacing the tuner and associated rotation. The cure was to remove and clean components, check for glue around capaci- the mode switch. In addition I found that • tor C135. It's necessary to remove all glue the cassette door didn't always open on or e-mailed to: from the cpacitor and the PCB. J.C. eject, thus jamming the cassette. This sec- [email protected] ond problem was cured by placing a sleeve Panasonic NVSD40 over the eject lever, at the door end. It Because of the age of some of these enabled the door to lift a little higher. B.B.

234 February 2005 TELEVISION NEWS AND TECHNOLOGY • INSTALLATION -SERVICING • DEVELOPMENTS TELE11 S AND CONSU MER ELECTRONICS

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Satellite, Audio, Monitor, TV, VCR and DVD faults Satellite, Audio, Monitor, TV, VCR and DVD faults FAULT FINDING FOR TV AUDIO SATELLITE VIDEO IT

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TELEVISION February 2005 235 mum. When I removed the back I found that the set had received previous attention. Most of the components on the CRT base panel had been replaced, and a nice new line output transformer had been fitted - presumably because someone thought that the Al control was the cause of the fault. With so many components having been replaced there was only suspect left, the surface-mounted BC858B transistor CT181 on the main board. It sets the DC operating conditions for the RUB output transistors. When I checked it I found that it was leaky. A replacement cured the fault. M.D.

Sharp DV3760H (4BSA chassis) Stuck in standby is quite a common fault with these sets. The usual cause is one or both of two components, C604 (1,000µF, I6V) and R601 (0.68Q, safety). The latter rises in value. Always replace both components. M.D.

Grundig CUC6330 chassis The usual cause of a tripping power sup- TV FAULT FINDING ply is a leaky diode in the EW modulator circuit. Check D569 (BY228) and also the 4.7Q safety resistor R569 which some- Reports from Belc° NR28422NDS times bums up, causing EW distortion. This set produced a bright white raster Another common fault is field collapse, Michael Dranfield with flyback lines. The 200V RGB output caused by a dry-joint at the field-scan stage supply was OK however. Reducing socket. Philip Salkeld the first anode voltage cured the problem, When working on this chassis take and the picture was fine, but the Al volt- extra care not to break the long-shafted DecIan Maguire age was now too low. The cause of the on/off switch button - it can very easily be fault was found on the tube base panel, damaged when propping up the chassis Arthur Jackson where R709 (220Q) was open-circuit. It and, as far as I am aware, this part is no appeared to be connected to the CRT's longer available. M.D. Mike Leach grids and I suspect that a flashover had been responsible for its demise. M.D. Samsung CZ21A083N (KS1A Glyn Dickinson chassis) Sharp DV5105 (DECO 4 This set was dead with no tripping noises and chassis) or anything. I went straight to the collector A nice easy one. This set wouldn't come of the line output transistor to check Charles Ritchie on, though the green LED at the front lit whether the 135V HT supply was present. up. The 0•33Q safety resistor R751 had It was, and I then found that there was no risen in value to 1Q. It's in the feed to the activity in the line driver stage. This main 5V regulator. M.D. brought me to the main microcontroller/ We welcome fault reports from readers jungle chip IC201, type TDA9351PS/ - payment for each fault is made after Hitachi C2565TN N2/31. When I obtained and fitted a publication. This set was dead though the chopper trans- replacement the set sprang to life. The part former was making a noise and there was no. is AA09-004 1 8A. P.S. 10V at the HT output from the power sup- Reports can be sent by post to: ply. The cause of the problem was traced to Hitachi C28 W430N-311 the 821(Q, 0-5W safety resistor R901, which (A7 chassis) Television Magazine Fault Reports, was open-circuit. It provides a start-up/bias This set came in because of the common Highbury Business, feed for the chopper transistor. switching-off symptom which, as usual, Media House, In this model it's always worth resol- was caused by dry-joints at the regulators Azalea Drive, Swanley, dering the field output IC, as it runs very on the large heatsink in the middle of the Kent BR8 8HU hot. M.D. PCB. When these had been attended to I switched the set on and found that there Grundig CUC7301 chassis was what appeared to be poor luminance. One of these sets had an over-bright pic- After spending some time on checking or e-mailed to: ture even with the brightness set to mini- possible causes I decided to phone Hitachi twinfordghighburybiz.com

February 2005 TELEVISION technical to see what they could suggest. was the 51V zener diode ZF1 Aquadag coating, as a plastic securing lug This proved to be a good idea. I was (BZTO3C51). All was well when an had snapped. advised to solder the link between C528 equivalent had been fitted. P.S. We've seen this before in other Philips and C529. This action restored a normal models. The extent of the resultant dam- picture. P.S. Hitachi C28 WF540N age varies depending on where the spring Line twitching and incorrect colour phas- ends up. In this case the chopper control Beko 14272R ing were the symptoms with this set, chip IC7520 (part no. 4822 209 90025) This in-guarantee set was dead. It was fit- which is fitted with a Vestel chassis. and D6524 were the only damaged items. ted with the usual sand-filled internal Hitachi technical was aware of the fault. This diode is connected to the gate of the mains fuse that's generally open-circuit The cause is C611 (5.6nF, 2kV), which chopper FET. A.J. with this fault symptom. Not this time changes value. It's part of the reference however. Before diving into the power pulse feedback network between the line Ferguson 29DH73JD (ICC9 supply I checked to see whether the 112V output stage and the jungle chip. All was chassis) HT supply was present at the collector of well once a replacement had been fitted. Excessive width with bad EW bowing is the line output transistor. It was, so the The part no. is VS30000165. P.S. quite common with this model and other next step was to check the rectifier diodes large-screen sets that use this chassis. I on the secondary side of the power sup- Panasonic TX25MK1L (EURO-4 find that the cause, every time, is CL42 ply. I found that D609 was short-circuit chassis) (4.714F. 160V) in the EW amplifier stage. and that R615 (IQ, 0•5W) was open-cir- If one of these sets is stuck in standby It falls to a very low value. A.J. cuit. and replacing the usual culprit C454 The diode fitted in this position had a (22nF) doesn't provide a cure, check Toshiba 36ZP18P (COOS strange number, so I decided to fit my Q857 (2SA1018QTA) in the excess HT chassis) 'universal' BYV95C that always gets me current protection circuit. On this occa- The fault symptoms with this set were out of trouble. It didn't let me down. P.S. sion it was leaky. A BF423 seems to be a switching to standby from cold and an suitable replacement. D.M. intermittently blank screen. As they were JVC AV28GT1SJF (11AK45 so intermittent I checked with Toshiba to chassis) Philips 29PT632A (GR2.4 find out whether it was a known problem. The fault symptom with this set was no chassis) The recommendation was to remove the reception — there was just a blue screen. It Lack of height was the complaint with small text sub-PCB close to the tuner to didn't take long to find that the tuning this 29in., 4:3 aspect ratio set. The linear- see if the fault cleared. If so, the cause voltage at pin 9 of the tuner (TU200) was ity was perfect, and the condition didn't was likely to be dry-joints at a surface- missing. The 33V supply is derived from vary with temperature. The cause turned mounted IC (QT09) on this module. This D610, which is fed from pin 11 of the out to be a very leaky surface-mounted advice turned out to be spot on. Removal line output transformer, and is stabilised transistor, Tr7546 (BC848B), which is of the PCB cleared the fault, and resol- by zener diode D601. The voltage at this effectively in parallel with lower end of dering QT09 then refitting the sub-PCB point was low at about 12V. Checks on the height control potential-divider net- provided a complete cure. A.J. the diodes were a waste of time, so I work. It's switched on for aspect-ratio removed the tuner. This restored the 33V changes as, in this model, the viewer can Thomson 10MG70B (TX91 supply. A replacement tuner, part no. VE- select screen size options via the menu. chassis) 30009637, restored reception. P.S. A.J. This compact 10in. mains/battery portable appeared to remain in standby Hitachi C28 W440N (11AK33J4 Ferguson B14C (later TX90 when start-up was attempted. Checks chassis) chassis) showed that there was HT at the line This set was tripping slightly with the red This 14in. portable wouldn't tune in any driver and output stages but no line-drive LED blinking. The best approach seemed channels. I quickly found that the 33V signal. This comes from pin 36 of the to be to carry out some cold resistance supply at pin 4 of the tuner was missing. STV2118B video/chroma/timebase gener- checks in the power supply. I found that In this chassis the tuning supply is ator chip IVO 1. It was also missing here, D119 (UF5402), which produces the derived from the line output stage. The and further checks revealed that there was —14V audio supply, was short-circuit. A 180V supply produced here for the RGB no 13V supply at pin 22. This supply replacement from a scrap chassis brought output stages is dropped via two series- comes from the chopper circuit via RVO2 this just out of guarantee set back to life. connected resistors, RHO4 and RH06, and (56Q), the relevant rectifier diode being P.S. stabilised by DH04. RHO4 (271(Q, DP90. There was only 4V at the cathode 0.43W) was open-circuit. This component of DP90, because the associated reservoir Grundig 28EKBT70-1020A is tucked in between the line drive and capacitor CP90 (2,200/4F, 16V) was I didn't recognise this as a Cirundig chas- output transformers and seems to lead a open-circuit. A.J. sis — the set had been supplied by a cata- hard life. A.J. logue company. The fault was a strange Nokia 3724UKFX (Mono Plus one: the picture frame was erratic for Philips 25PT4101/07 (AA5 AB chassis) about two minutes, then corrected itself. chassis) Set dead was the complaint with this one. Application of freezer around the field Our rental records show that these sets When I tested it I heard the power supply output stage brought the fault back, but have been very reliable. One that was and EHT briefly at switch on, then all fitting a new TDA8358J IC made no dif- dead came in recently however, with the signs of life disappeared. Checks showed ference. In desperation. I decided to 3-15A mains fuse blown. In addition a that the HT supply rose to about 80V freeze a cotton bud and dab around dif- large spring was lying amongst the com- then quickly fell back to zero. No obvious ferent components in order to instigate ponents on the primary side of the power shorts were found and, when the feed to the fault. This revealed the cause, which supply. It had come from the tube's the line output stage was disconnected,

TELEVISION February 2005 237 the power supply happily produced 112V at switch on, but there appeared to be no was a slight smell of burning. Repeated with a bulb as a dummy load. Checks in line drive. Scope checks around the line switching on and off revealed the culprit the line output stage revealed a low resis- driver and output transistors confirmed — smoke came from the scan coils. tance (approximately 100Q) across the that the problem was drive related. Fortunately I found some in a scrap set. line output transformer derived 200V Initially the waveform at the collector I've since had this fault again, on a sec- supply for the RGB output stages. The of the line driver transistor was low with ond set — luckily not a green one! G.D. cause of the problem was that the lots of 'mush' on it. After several minutes TEA5101N/B RGB output chip NHO1 of this the waveform improved and the JVC AV25SX2EK was short-circuit. A.J. set sprang to life. I tried again after the The complaint with this set was intermit- set had cooled down, concentrating this tent results. I checked for dry-joints then, Grundig ST55-725FT/GB time on the power supply. Voltage checks when I tried again, the set came out of (CUC7350 chassis) at switch on revealed that the 15V supply standby but with no EHT, and shut down The complaint with this set was no sound was low at 7.4V. This voltage comes after five seconds. That was long enough after an hour. Actually it took the best from D613, with C620 (1,000/4F, 25V) as to check for waveforms however. There part of a morning for the fault to show the reservoir capacitor. C620 was leaky. was line oscillation but no input at the up, but eventually the sound did go off. Why can't all faults be as straightfor- line driver transistor, which was faulty. Spraying freezer all over the audio output ward! M.L. Unusually, it's an FET. G.D. stage made no difference, but we could hasten the fault from cold by using a Sharp C1431H (8P-SR chassis) Grundig ST63-775DPL hairdryer. Once the right circuit diagram Sometimes we make a loss on a set to (CUC2040 chassis) had been found it soon became obvious prove that we can still repair sets rather The complaint with this set was that it that the output stage was being muted. than declare them uneconomic! This set reverted to standby intermittently. There are two surface-mounted npn tran- would work for a few seconds then die. Looking over the chassis I noticed a dry- sistors in the muting circuit, CT40025 Removal of Q603 restored normal opera- joint at C53009 in the line output stage. and CT40030. When we replaced them tion, which proved that the fault was in Another dry-joint was revealed when I the sound remained on during a long soak the trip circuit. It was cured by replacing unclipped the small PCB on the scan test. M.L. R343 (1001Q). To be on the safe side I coils. Over in the power supply C60009 replaced the other high-value resistors in in the snubber circuit was dry-jointed. Sanyo CE28F WN4-B (EB7-A28 the trip circuit. G.D. The set worked correctly once these con- chassis) nections had been remade. C.R. There had been a severe power supply Sony KVA2542 (AE2 chassis) failure in this 28in. widescreen set. The picture and sound were intermittent, Toshiba 28NO4N Several components had deteriorated with the LEDs sometimes flashing. I This set was dead with the 2•5AT mains physically and had blown apart. A major resoldered the field output IC and the reg- fuse blown. I found that the IRFBC40 rebuild was carried out, but after that the ulators and pronounced the set fixed. chopper transistor T60005 was short-cir- set refused to work, with no sign of any When it was tested from cold however it cuit and that R60001 (270kQ) was open- outputs from the power supply. After seemed to power up normally but there circuit. I replaced these components and, some while attention was turned to the was no picture or sound for a minute or as a precaution, the TDA4605-3 chopper various surface-mounted components so, and it would sometimes trip. More by control chip IC60010. After that the set beneath the chassis. Checks here showed luck than judgement, I discovered that the worked normally. that R623 had risen in value from 1.5k52 Al /G2 preset RV701 had been fully I've not come across this chassis to 200kQ, while R617 which should have advanced because R701 (680kQ) was before and suspect that it may be a read 1.2k0 was open-circuit. Neither of high in value. A replacement resistor and Grundig in disguise. C.R. these resistors showed any signs of physi- resetting cured the fault. With this chassis cal deterioration but, nonetheless, had both the sound and the picture are muted Black Dia mond BDS3251 WS suffered. Replacements brought the set until the auto grey-scaling is successful. (11AK19PRO chassis) back to life. M.L. G.D. This set was stuck in standby. When it was switched on the front LED glowed green. Hitachi C32 W511TN (A7 Samsung WI28 W5VN Normally when these sets are switched on chassis) The owner of this set complained about the LED glows red then, when a channel After completing all the usual resoldering an intermittently dull picture. I also button is pressed, the set comes out of that's required with this chassis, the set noticed that the grey-scale varied. The standby and the LED goes green. still reverted to standby intermittently. tube was a Thomson one but, when I I initially thought that the supply to the Much time was spent, to no avail, investi- came to check it, the base socket fell off! microcontroller chip IC501 was low. But gating various possibilities. We eventual- It had not been inserted properly during in this version of the chassis the micro- ly found that one end of R975 (18Q, 2W) manufacture, but had worked faultlessly controller has a 3.3V supply. I then dis- was shorting against IC952's heatsink, for about four years. G.D. covered that there was no activity on the and thus to chassis. M.L. SDA and SCL lines, and no reset activity Bush BTV170T (Orion at pin 33 of IC501 at switch on. The reset Bush WS66805IL (Beko 14.2 televideo) circuit contains a surface-mounted, 2.4V chassis) This set, an alarming emerald green, zener diode, D505, which produced a This set was slow to power up or, rather, tripped back to standby when switched high reading when an in-circuit diode test it took a long time for the picture to on. Usually the cause of this is the EEP- was carried out. A replacement restored appear. The HT was present and correct ROM, but I wasn't sure this time as there normal operation. C.R.

238 February 2005 TELEVISION noticed two capacitors that looked dis- tressed, with their tops bulging, in the power supply. They were C934 (1,000pF. 10V) and C935 (470pF, 10V). Once they had been replaced the unit sprang to life. But when it was connected to a TV set there was no line sync. Fortunately it was just that the rear YC/comp switch was in the YC position! I fitted replacement capacitors of higher temperature and voltage ratings than the originals. They were quite cool after a two-hour test run. C.P.

Pacific DVD1002 This was one of those 'must do' jobs, for two reasons. First, the owner is the service centre manager of a company for which I do some commercial board repairs - a lot of them, actually. And sec- ondly because he's my daughter's boyfriend's boss! Anyway, the problem had been described as "seems to do random things - pauses, stops, goes into x2 Sony DVP-CX860 or x4 search, that sort of thing!" My heart Sometimes this unit wouldn't power on. sank when I saw it. This was a budget Multimeter checks in the power block model if ever there was one! inside showed that C301 (680pF) was I set it to run and the first thing I faulty. When consulted, Sony technical noticed was that none of the front-panel DVD said that it should be upgraded to controls worked, irrespective of whether Fault reports from 1,500pF, part no. 1-137-921-11. The or not the remote `keylock' function was replacement restored normal power-on engaged, as indicated on the screen, when Chris Bowers operation. C.B. this remote-control unit button was pressed. Everything worked normally Chris Plaice Sony HCD-SC5 when the remote-control unit was used Geoff Darby This unit wouldn't switch off: it would however. constantly switch itself out of standby and The problems started when the and start playing. The cause of the trouble was machine had been playing for about a the play button (S803) on the control quarter of an hour. They were exactly as John Coombes PCB. A replacement press button restored described, and got worse and worse until normal standby operation. C.B. the unit went to pause and couldn't be persuaded to move to any other function. Sony HCD-5550 At this point I applied finger pressure to This unit wouldn't play discs: it showed the system-control micro chip on the front 'reading' in the display with no playing. PCB. This restored functions again, until The cause of the problem was lack of pressure was released. rotation, or very poor rotation, of the spin- Suspecting a bad joint at one of the dle motor. This item is not available sepa- IC's pins, I removed the front panel to get rately, only with a complete optical pick- a better look. Close examination then up block assembly, reference number 703, revealed the cause of the trouble. Just We welcome fault reports from part number A4713410A. Normal DVD above the chip there's a bank of four pull- readers - payment for each fault is playing was restored once a replacement down resistors that are connected directly made after publication. block had been obtained and fitted. C.B. to four of the IC's pins. One of them had no solder at all at one end. Adding some Reports can be sent by post to: Sony HCD-CP11 provided a complete cure, with the front- This unit was stuck in standby. The only panel controls working as well. Genius response was a buzzing sound from the status restored then, and brownie points Television Magazine Fault Reports, left-hand speaker. Checks inside with a all round! G.D. Highbury Business, multimeter revealed that ICI 01 and IC201 Media House, (part no. 875958438) were both short-cir- Panasonic DVDL50 Azalea Drive, Swanley, cuit. As a result the fusible link resistor in Some DVD players incorporate a jitter Kent BR8 8HU the mains transformer (T901, part no. test, which gives an indication of whether 143538611) was open-circuit. the operation of the pickup assembly is Replacement of these three items restored within specification. To initiate the test or e-mailed to: normal operation. C.B. with this model, press playback and pause [email protected] for five seconds, either at the unit or via JVC XVS302SL remote control. A figure of 095 means the The complaint with this unit was stuck in jitter figure is 9.5 per cent. The figure standby. When I removed the cover I should not be higher than this. J.C.

February 2005 I LLEVISION CLOSED CIRCUIT DICTIONARY OF TELEVISION BOOKS TELEVISION: CCTV VIDEO AND AND HOME ELECTRONICS REPAIR INSTALLATION, TELEVISION MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY The Television Book Service offers access to our team of AND OPERATION Jack Tsatsoulin specialist publishing experts. We can order any book or Joe Cieszynski This work provides comprehensive and contemporary information on the essential CCTV surveillance is one of the fastest growing concepts and terms in video and television, CD-ROM currently in print from War And Peace to the areas in the security industry, and this is a including coverage of test and measurement thorough guide to the technical side of — up/ procedures. The al accompanying the text Newnes Guide to Television and Video Technology. All including installation, maintenance, video includes on electronic version of the book. books are delivered free of charge within the UK unless recording, cameras and monitors. The second edition is fully dual-standard for PAL end otherwise stated. Contact us at the numbers below: NTSC systems.

Telephone: 01737 812727 or 01737 812676 Sept 2002 A 365 pages 8. (D-Rom 2nd edition • Sept 2003 • 256 pages Fax: 01737 813526 Glossary A Index • PB • Published in UK Published in UK £24.99 £29.99 Email: [email protected]

DVD PLAYERS ELECTRONIC INTRODUCTION NEWNES AND DRIVES CLASSICS: TO DIGITAL DICTIONARY OF K F Ibrahim 4DV D COLLECTING, SYSTEMS ELECTRONICS Plagelise^d (College of North 7es John Crisp S W Amos; R S Amos West London) 6 C RESTORATION This self study text introduces Aimed at engineers, This text is based on hands- AND REPAIR digital electronics from first technicians and students Andrew Emmerson on experience and acts as a principles, before going on to cover all the main working in the field of guide to DOD technology This text encompasses all aspects of buying, areas of knowledge and expertise. It covers electronics, this dictionary provides clear and and its application, with a special focus on design collecting, restoring, repairing, sourcing parts, the practicalities of designing and building concise definitions, including TV, rodio and issues. The principles of the subject are professional services, clubs and societies. The first circuits, including fault-finding and the use of computing terms, with illustrations and introduced from the basics, and DOD applications I port covers technical aspects of restoration and test equipment. circuit diagrams. are illustrated by genuine technical information. details where components can be found; the second presents useful information for collectors.

Aug 1998 A 256 pages A Index Aug 2003 • 256 pages • Glossary • Index 10 halftones A 50 line illustrations A PB Feb 2000 • 302 pages A Glossary A Index 4th edition • Mar 2002 A 394 pages PB A Published in UK Published in UK PB A Published in UK 100 illustrations A PB A Published in UK

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NEWNES NEWNES PRACTICAL PRACTICAL Fad, Fialowed GUIDE TO GUIDE TO ELECTRONIC FAULT 1 nutintto inryt ELECTRONICS Practical TELEVISION DIGITAL TV FINDING AND HANDBOOK Electronic , & VIDEO Richard Brke TROUBLESHOOTING Ian Sinclair Handbook TECHNOLOGY Television Covering all aspects of digital Robin Pain (Design A collection of all the key a Video television, this text Engineer, Cotag International Ltd) data, facts, practical guidance Eugene Trundle Technology encompasses the electronics A net using simple circuit examples to illustrate and circuit design basics needed by a spectrum of students, electronics An exploration of television of the equipment, dato principles and concepts fundamental to the and video technology. It compression, television production, servicing and the process of analog and digital fault finding. It aims enthusiasts, technicians and circuit designers. It provides explanations and practical guidance, covers the fundamentals of digital television different transition methods terrestrial, satellite and to help the reader tackle any job, from fixing a (satellite, cable and terrestrial) and digital cable. The text has been updated with developments TV to improving the sound of a hi-fi. A digital and includes new sections on SHE techniques and video, as well os providing a grounding in since the 2000 edition. multimeter and oscilloscope are needed for intruder alarms. analogue systems. these ¡obs.

2nd edition A Oct 2002 • 304 pages A Index 3rd edition • Feb 2001 • 432 pages A Index 45 illustrations A 15 photographs • FIB Apr 1996 • 284 pages • Index 5th edition A Feb 2000 • 571 pages P8 A Published in UK Published in UK 50 line illustrations • PB A Published in UK Illustrations A PB A Published in UK

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RSGB RADIO & REFERENCE DATA SERVICE SERVICING ELECTRONICS FOR ENGINEERS: ENGINEER'S TV, SATELLITE 111116611.6.6

snow 6. ELECTRO .:16 COOKBOOK C O O K B O O K RADIO, POCKET BOOK & VIDEO Radio Society of ELECTRONICS, Lewis 8 Sinclair EQUIPMENT Great Britain COMPUTERS AND This title aims to provide the Eugene Trundle Only a basic knowledge of service engineer with all the COMMUNICATIONS A practical hands-on electronics is assumed for this necessary information to carry guide for service collection of electronics projects, and it is ideal for Mac E Van Valkenburg; Edited by out work on domestic electronics Wendy Middleton engineers, installation technicians and servicing all electronics and DIY enthusiasts and equipment. The coverage ranges from satellite students, this text emphasises the practical experimenters. Designed by the RSGB, the UK Written by professionals for professionals, this is reception to NICAM. Bath analogue and digital business of fault diagnosis and repair of TV, radio amateurs federation, the projects are o complete reference for engineers. As well as equipment are covered, and there are chapters satellite and video equipment. clearly explained step by step. addressing radio technology data, it covers digital on common problems. electronics, computers and communications.

9th edition • Aug 2001 Nov 2000 A 336 pages A PB A Illustrations 1568 pages 8. (D-Rom • 1385 line illustrations Published in UK H8 A Published in UK Jan 1998 • 238 pages A 1-111 £17.99 Code 0i7 £90.00 £14.99 TELEVISION TELEVISION IC TV FAULT- VALVE MICROPROCESSOR DATA FILES FINDING AMPLIFIERS Valve IC DATA FILES J Edwards Teletto IC GUIDE Morgan Jones Amplifiers Edwards A compendium of data an Data Fies Edited by The author s Microprocessor ICs are the most complizated port all the most common Peter Marlow straightforward approach, of PI equipment and present special problems to integrated circuits used in A distillation of the most- using as little maths as the engineer. Ills text covers the most popular televisions. Each device is used fault reports from 11 possible, should be of use microprocessor ICs. Each device i; presented illustrated with o pin-out years of Television to those with only a limited graphically with the relevant data information diagram and all the measurements andsignal magazine. Arranged by knowledge of the field as given against each pin. data in the book were token under actuc I make and model, it features over 200 reports on well as being the standard reference for experts working conditions. This second edition contains aver 300 models of television, including diagnosis in valve audio. Design principles and construction over 70 new ICs. and repair advice. techniques are also provided.

Mar 1997 • 240 pages • 200 line crawings 2nd edition A Jan 2000 • 245 pages Mar 2000 • 387 pages • Illustrations 3rd edition • Aug 2003 • 624 pages A Index PB A Published in UK PEI A Published in UK PB • Published in UK PB A Published in UK £19.99 £18.99 £20.99 £29.99 L

VCR FAULT- VCR IC VIDEO AND VIDEO FINDING M Mirrreia DATA FILES CAMCORDER DEMYSTIFIED GUIDE 1 Edwards SERVICING Keith Jack Edited by This text aims to provide the AND This edition has been Peter Marlow V CR workshop technician and TECHNOLOGY updated to include A distillation of he most- the field engineer with a information on digital used fault reports from 11 convenient method of fault- Steve Beeching television, datarosting, years of Television 4 finding without the need to A comprehensive guide to domestic VCR interactive video, digital magazine. Arranged by consult workshop manuals. The most pcoular 1Cs technology and repair techniques. This edition camcorders and VCRs, and video interfacing. make and model, it features over 20K reports used in video recorders are covered, far r device brings the information fully-up-to-date. with Coverage is international, including European, on over 200 models of VCR, including diagnosis is presented graphically with dato given Dgainst expanded coverage of camcorders, sections on Asian and North/South American video and repair advice. each pin. DOD equipment and the latest VCR technology. standards, methods and techniques.

3rd edition • Jul 2001 • 784 pages 8, CD-Rom Mar 2000 A 447 pages • Illustrations • PB lull 998 • 448 pages • 200 line illustrations 5th edition • Apr 2001 • 323 pages References • Glossary • Index A PB Published in UK PB A Published in UK Illustrations • PB A Published in UK Published in UK (ode 0-7506-4634-9 £20.99 Cade 0-7506 3993 8 f 20.99 £20.99 £50.00

THE DIGITAL Be equal wane NEWNES GUIDE TO - TELEVISION ORDER FORM SATELLITE TV it hallow+ RADIO AND Please order or search the following: HANDBOOK COMMUNICATIONS Mark E Long TECHNOLOGY Code Description Qty Price A handbook and (D- Ian Poole RUM pack on digital satellite television. It This is a guide to the technology and applications provides an overview of all the digital TV of modern radio and communications epipment. platforms in use world-wide. It includes satellite The author's approach provides a useful coverage mops ond transmission parameters shot foundation for college students and technicians readers will need to receive digital TV services seeking an update on the latest technology. from any location in the world.

Jul 2003 • 352 pages A lndexAPB POSTAGE & PACKING FREE IN THE Ur TOTAL Sept 1999 A 207 pages & CD-Rom à PB Published in UK (ode BUT 0-75(6-71/1-8 £41.99 Code 01506-5612-3 f 16.99 Name Daytime Tel Address VALVE RADIO NEWNES TV Postcode & AUDIO & VIDEO REPAIR ENGINEER'S I enclose a cheque/postal order value C payable to 'Boffin Books Ltd' HANDBOOK POCKET BOOK Please debit my Access/Visa/Switch/Delta card Issue number (Switch only) Charles Miller Eugene Trundle A practical manual for This updated text provides a Card Number Expiry Date collectors, dealers and pocket tool for service engineers. It •presents a service engineers of valve audio cnd radio ronge of essential information in a comport form, Signed equipment. This edition includes r ew rroterial on covering television reception, satellite ord cable • Postage charges outside the UK available upon request or email: salesteameboffinbooks.demon.co.uk restoration and salve amplifiers. television, video recorders, colour camera technology teletext and faultfinding. • Boffin Books Ltd, 24 Walton Street, Walton-on-the-Hill, Tadworth, Surrey KT20 7RT, UK

If you ore ordering by credit cord, need further information or would like to use our search facilities call 2nd edition • Apr 2000 A 280 pages 01737 812727 Fax 01737 813526 • 10 halftone. A 50 line illustration; • PB The order /helpline is open from tarn to Spm nr lenco your order on our out of hours answerline OF email us at Published in UK 3rd edition A Oct 1999 512 pages A H8 salesteomgboffinbooks demon co uk £20.99 Code BUT 0 7506 4194 0 f 17.99 When placing orders please quote • Name • Address (home 8. delivery) • Daytime telephone number • Debo/Eredit cord number • Expiry date • Details of order Please note that prices may change, but are correct at time of going to press. The idea seems to be to switch the 200V supply, control coming from the standby circuit. Perhaps it carries out some sort of spot suppression at switch off. The 25 and 28M. versions of the set have a standard arrangement without the transistor. M.R.

Philips 32PW6006 (LOUIE chassis) This set was supposed to be dead, but in fact the power supply was continuously tripping. A short-circuit line output transistor, Tr7460, was found to be the cause. After a thorough check for dry-joints and anything else that might have led to its failure a replacement got the set working. But the width would come in intermittently, along with line foldover and a squeal- ing noise. There are three transistors in the line- drive circuit, Tr7461, Tr7462 and Tr7463. Extended Fault I decided to replace them and also the small line-drive transformer T5461 — Thomson 14CD25FT which incidentally has had a part number The customer said that this combi unit change. After that the set worked happily Reports worked correctly with a mains supply but for the rest of the day. not with a battery. While putting it on the Next morning however when the set Reports on cc.)rnplex or tricky TV bench I heard a rattle from within. When was switched on from cold it was back to the back had been removed I saw that the its old tricks. When I studied the circuit fault conditions are sometimes too mains bridge rectifier's reservoir capacitor diagram more closely I noticed a small long for inclusion in our basic fault- had dropped from the AC power supply electrolytic capacitor, C2455 (47pF, 25V), finding section. We've put a few and was now resting in the VCR section. in the coupling to the driver transformer. of them together in this extended So I was quite surprised that the customer My trusty ESR meter proved that it was had claimed that mains operation was OK. faulty. The ESR had gone up and the fault report feature In theory it shouldn't have been. It worked capacitance had gone down. Replacement once the reservoir capacitor had been fit- and a long soak test proved that it had Reports from ted back in place. been the cause of the trouble. Moving over to the DC inverter stage I We've had the problem many times Charles Ritchie found that part of the DC input print had since, and nowadays always replace this burnt out, though the fuse was OK and no capacitor when the line output transistor Malcolm Russell shorts were found. Bridging the burnt-out has failed. It looks like stock fault. M.R. print with a stout wire link restored DC M.J. Abbott operation. C.R. Goodmans 2018R (Daewoo CP330 chassis) Gordon Haig and Sanyo 21DN9 (EB8-A chassis) The 2SD5072 line output transistor This relatively new set, which was still (Q402) in this set had failed. When a Philip Blundell under warranty, produced a bright white replacement was fitted and the set was screen with flyback lines. I immediately switched on again the line output trans- suspected loss of the 200V supply at the former flashed over after a minute or two, CRT base panel, and a quick check around killing the new transistor. The underlying the TDA6107AF RGB output chip IC701 cause of the trouble was in the power sup- We welcome fault reports from readers and associated feeds proved that this sus- ply however. There was poor HT regula- — payment for each fault is made after picion was correct. The cause was likely tion because C811 (100F, 16V), the publication. to be a faulty diode or resistor in the chopper transistor's base drive coupling LOPT-derived 200V supply. capacitor, had fallen in value to 13pF — in Reports can be sent by post to: In these sets the relevant components addition an ESR check produced a reading are R480 and D481 on the main PCB. of 6.90. Because of its small size the line Television Magazine Fault Reports, Checks showed that they were both OK output transformer is vulnerable to an Highbury Business, however, and that 195V was present at over-voltage condition, particularly at this point. So, cracks in the print, or a bro- switch on in a cold room. Media House, ken wire or plug and socket? It was not Further checks were carried out in the Azalea Drive, Swanley, that simple. The correct circuit diagram power supply before fitting a replacement Kent BR8 8HU was required to see that Sanyo has insert- line output transformer. C816 (100pF, ed a small transistor, Q401 (2SA1371), in 16V) also had a high ESR and needed series with this feed. It's on the main replacement. C814 (lpF, 50V) and C817 or e-mailed to: panel, and was open-circuit. A replace- (330pF, 25V) were also replaced. An [email protected] ment cured the fault. HR7916 line output transformer was I've not seen this arrangement before. obtained from Wiltsgrove and fitted. A

February 2005 TELEVISION 25D1555 will do as a substitute for the other Sharp handsets won't do. With the C607 (330j4F, 10V) is a known cause line output transistor. correct handset you may notice that some of failure of Q601. I removed it for test The set worked once these replace- programme positions are in red and some and found that it measured only a few ments had been fitted. To provide protec- in green. It depends on whether a position microfarads. When you replace this tion against excessive HT I decided to fit has been tuned to a station and stored — capacitor, note that the polarity shown on an avalanche diode across the HT reser- storing changes the colour of the number. the board is correct. The circuit that voir capacitor C822 but couldn't find one If a position hasn't been tuned in and appeared in the October 2003 issue, on with a suitable value. Instead I fitted a stored, it won't be available via the TV page 729, shows it the wrong way round. 75V zener diode (BZTO3C) and a 47V programme buttons. Simple when you When I checked the voltage across C607 zener diode (1N5368B) in series, giving a know! The owner had supplied a Sharp with a DMM I found that it was —3-2V total rating of 122V with failure at about TV/VCR remote-control unit that could- with respect to chassis. 140V. M.J.A. n't be used for sweep tuning. G.H. An 52000AF line output transistor will do for testing in the workshop, but make Sharp 51DT25H Philips 25PT410A/05 sure that you fit a BUH515 transistor There was a strange field-scan fault with (GR2.2AA chassis) before you return the set to the customer. this set — see Photo I. The top three inch- This set had failed with the BU508AF The teletext page display is novel. You es of the picture were blanked off. Below line output transistor short-circuit. Back can display and work teletext at the right- this there was a section of distorted field at the bench I fitted a replacement but hand side of the screen and, at the same scanning that extended down towards the didn't like the noises I heard when I pow- time, watch a picture at the left-hand side centre of the picture. A bright line was ered the set. So I switched off quickly. I of the screen. This could avoid some fam- present across the centre of the screen, decided to order and fit a new line output ily rows: widescreen TV does have some and the bottom half of the picture was transformer, type HR7279. Things were advantages after all! perfect. The field scan circuitry is discrete better when this had been installed, but This chassis was covered in detail in — the output transistors manage without there were problems with picture geome- the September 2003 to February 2004 heatsinks, presumably because of class D try — expansion and contraction. This led issues of Television. G.H. operation. to the discovery that the HT, which Checks with my in-situ transistor should be 148V, was too high. It was Grundig TVR3710 tester and ESR meter failed to reveal any- 158V even with the set-HT control at This TV/VCR combi unit wouldn't come thing amiss. I found the culprit using my minimum. I then tried with a 60W bulb as out of standby, though it would accept cheap Netto supermarket DMM in the a dummy load instead of the line output and eject a cassette. I had a service manu- diode-test mode. So long as there is no stage. In this condition the HT was cor- al for a similar model, the TVR3700, so I stored charge about you can test diodes rect with the control at mid-range. But it started to check the power supply's out- in-situ, noting their forward-voltage drop was high again when the feed to the line put voltages. But it soon became clear in millivolts. With the red lead connected output stage was reconnected. that this set was not the same as the one to the anode of a silicon diode you should I eventually found D6560 (L4148) and covered by my manual. It had been made get a reading of say 5xx up to even 9xx D6591 (1N4148) in the over-voltage pro- by Philips, who had thoughtfully put the (figures in millivolts). With the leads tection circuit were faulty. Replacements type numbers on white labels that were reversed the reading should be I. When I cured the fault. Don't forget to resolder affixed to all the PCBs. The power supply checked D501 in this set the reading was the socket pins on the scan-coil assembly board was marked PLSP14. A search 1630, which was clearly wrong. A new when one of these sets comes in for through my Philips manuals revealed that 1N4004 diode cleared the fault. repair — they are often badly soldered. the same board is used in the Beta range A problem with these sets, but not a I'm sure that it was the above trouble Model 14PV163/05. fault, is as follows. With the set I had the that had put the customer's scart-connect- The 33V supply, which is dropped front programme up/down buttons would ed Pace Sky digibox into permanent across resistors R3391 and R3393, was allow only position 1 or VCR to be standby. I have now been told that the set missing. The resistors were blameless selected. You need to have the exact is changing channels of its own accord, however. Cold tests showed that the remote-control unit from the owner — which suggests that the TL431CLP adjustable shunt regulator microcontroller/memory section has been IC7331 was leaky. spiked. The customer says he's thinking Once a replacement had been fitted the of buying a new set. Oh well, you can't 33V supply was back again and, when the win them all! G.H. set was called out of standby, the field timebase could be heard to start up. But Sharp 56FW-53H (DA100 there was still no EHT, and the set revert- chassis) ed to standby again. I found that the This widescreen set came in with the PROT (protection) line was permanently BUH515 line output transistor Q601 low because Tr7550 (BC548B) was short-circuit. As there were no obvious leaky. dry-joints, I wondered whether the HT The set worked when a replacement was too high. To check it, lift R792 in transistor had been fitted. As I was testing the power supply and, to isolate the line the video section however an arcing output stage, R623. Unless R792 is dis- sound came from the area of the line out- connected, the power supply won't run. put transformer and the set went to stand- Connect a meter between the cathode of by — and wouldn't come out. Yup, the D720 and chassis — a bulb dummy-load line output transformer had a crack in the is not required. When I did this I found base. that the HT supply was near the mark at So to restore normal operation I had Photo 1: Strange field-scan fault symptom 145V (150V is the voltage given in the had to replace the LOFT, IC7331 and encountered with a Sharp Model 51DT25H. manual). Tr7550. P.B.

TELEVISION February 2005 243 W HAT a LIFO

There's one constant in this trade: odd customers! Also various interesting faults of course, and you can get the occasional visitor from the past. Donald Bullock's servicing commentary

he products we sell have cer- the pavement side, when he off' he adds. tainly changed over the years, reached the house. He greeted I spoke to Stephen about it, but Tbut the antics of our customers Porky, thanked him for turning up he needs to know how many times are much the same. a bit earlier than he thought he the LED flickers from cold. I've In the Fifties Grundig brought would, and got Porky to place the emailed Grantley to find out. Until out a super-duper stereo audio recorder just inside the open drive I know, I can't apply that expertise. recorder, Model TK830/3D. The while he finished the hedge. How I like that word! multiple branch where I worked at "I know how to set it up" he the time was allowed to stock just explained, "as I already have a The card man one of them. It recorded one track cheaper model. I don't see much Then there's Amos Puke, who car- on a 7in. tape then, in less than a doubt that we'll be having it. I'll ries a deck of cards and constantly second, the tape direction reversed phone you in the morning to con- pesters people into selecting one. and it recorded a second track. The firm." He notes what it is then puts it technical achievement for the time Porky sang all the way home. back into the pack so that he can was quite something, and playback Next morning wore on, but no do his act and find it again. Only matched perfectly between tracks. telephone call came. By mid after- he almost never gets this right. His It sold for over a hundred pounds, noon Porky decided to call at the fidgeting dance and floundering at a time when my wage was about house. The crochety old girl who excuses are nevertheless great fun. £8 a week. I'd have given anything answered the door grew increas- Once he did get my card right but, to get one, and there was at least ingly outraged as Porky explained to keep him going, I pretended that one other chap in the city who his call, and finally exploded in his it had been a different one. obviously felt the same way. He face. The other day he came into the devised a very cheap way of get- "Get off my drive, you insolent shop with his cards and a 21in. ting it. man, or I'll call the police to you" Matsui TV set, Model 2107R, that she shouted. "I don't know what was suffering from field collapse. A con Gruntapes are but, in any case, if I In spite of the continuous badger- It was mid-summer, and sales were needed anything I wouldn't deal ing to "take a card", it didn't take slow. Our branch managers (they with a cheap credit shop like Stephen long to find that R408 came and went) were paid peanuts yours!" (4-7Q, 1W) in the supply to the plus commission (also peanuts), Porky had been had. The 'cus- field output stage had never been and were keen to sell in order to tomer' had borrowed the bit of soldered from new. It had been keep their jobs a while longer. Our pavement and the tall hedge of the making partial contact with the manager at the time, the sixth in as respectable house to con him into print until it had sparked its way many months, was a prickly, fat parting with the machine, and he free. fellow who was known as the had obliged. Porcupine — Porky for short. It wasn't long before manager Another Sony One day his sales telephone number seven came along. Albic Squirt is a thick countryman, rang and the enquiry excited him quite an embarrassment in fact. so much that he started to gibber. Help wonted Every time he finishes a sentence The gentleman on the other end of I like Grantley Best, though I've he looks you in the eye and winks the line offered to have the no idea where he comes from. He slowly. This bothers some people, Grundig at home on demonstration has sent me an email telling me and one fellow nearly clouted him, for an evening. It was a commonly that he reads this column with but Albie doesn't seem to notice employed sales ploy at the time, delight, marvelling at my expert- this. Anyway, he'd brought in a known as 'getting the product into ise. Since I know the true story, I 28in. widescreen Sony set, Model the house'. The house concerned need all the people like Grantley I KV28WS2U (BE3D chassis). was very grand and in a good area. can get. So, naturally, I want to "Haw daw" he said to Paul, As he spoke Porky checked the help him with his problem. "him comes on tuh start with like, name against the address in the It concerns a Sony Model then him goes off and the little Kelly's street directory, then KVX2962U (AE2 chassis) that light flashes like the devil!" This agreed to deliver the machine him- produces no sound or raster, was followed by the slow wink. self that evening on his way home. though he hears the EHT rustle up The light was actually flashing The customer was apparently then, after five seconds, a click. error code 19, which drew our trimming his tall front hedge, on "The standby LED flickers on and attention to the 9V supply. Circuit

244 February 2005 TELEVISION fuse PS602 was open-circuit, (Euro 4 chassis). fishing in his car. The lake was because the LM2940CT regulator "Can you take a look at this for along a track across a bumpy field. IC606 was short-circuit. The job me please?" he asked. I fancied I Drove like mad he did, frightening was done in a few minutes, then knew the voice too, but I couldn't me to death. And he never noticed Paul told him the news. First the place him. "Name's Gough" he the four-foot thick stone wall com- good, then the bad. said. "The set works all right for ing up until we were upon it. As Albie faced up to the bad five minutes or so, then goes to Braked and spun the car like a top, news and paid his bill, Paul gave standby." he did, and we ended up half an him a slow, deliberate wink. Albie I looked at him, then it all fell inch from the wall." froze, frowned and eyed Paul care- into place. Meanwhile Greeneyes "A late riser and a bad driver, fully. Then he departed uneasily, brought in some mugs of tea. eh, Fugg?" Greeneyes commented with a puzzled look on his face. "Fugg!" I exclaimed, "thought I as she gave me a sweetly poison- knew you. Haven't seen you since ous smile. A class act we were lads at school! Mr Grossman is a portly business- "Are you old Don?" he asked, One more Euro 4 man of about sixty. We've dealt "heavens, what time does! It's often been mentioned how sets with him before, and it's always Remember our early-morning tend to come in groups. So it pos- much the same. He draws up in the pike-fishing days with old Fred, sibly wasn't surprising when our latest Jag, with a much younger and how you couldn't get up in the next caller, a bundle of rags called woman in the passenger seat. Then morning?" Minnie Thomas, turned up with they come in. Fugg looked at Greeneyes, who another 28in. Panasonic set in the "There's a television set in the had settled on a stool, then at me. back of her car. This time it was a boot" he announced, "and I'd like "Your daughter?" he asked Model TX28LD4DP, but it was it repaired quickly please. I'll pay "My wife" I replied, "but never once more a Euro 4. just as quickly. Can't say fairer mind the funnies, Fugg. Nor the bit "E don't give us nuthin" she than that! Oh, and it's a new car. about getting up." grated. She was right. Apart from a Don't scratch the paint!" "Pleased to meet you Mr, er, rustle of EHT at switch on the set The set turned out to be a Sharp Fugg" said Greeneyes, "so Don was dead. There was no on-screen portable, Model C 1430H. It came used to have trouble getting up, display, no vision, no text and no on when we powered it, then the eh? Do tell me about it." audio. field collapsed. Examination of the "He just couldn't get up. We'd "I wants 'm beller 'n that" field output chip IC501 revealed be at his place at six on a January Minnie said. I had to agree. dry-joints at all the pins. Some morning, eager to go piking, but Steven took the back off and, resoldering put that right, and the we couldn't get him out of bed! It after a few checks, decided that the set then worked. As it was being was always his father who got up. microcontoller chip IC1101 was boxed up, Mr Grossman turned to And did he let us have it! Mind the cause of the problem. the girl. you it was six o'clock on a Sunday Fortunately we had the correct one "There you are, like I prom- morning." in stock. Once it had been fitted ised" he said. Then he studied the "Perhaps tell it some other time, the set worked normally. He was bill. "Fifteen pounds seventy five, Fugg?" I intervened. right again. eh? Look, I'll pay you a round fif- Paul had been checking the set There are some points to note teen pounds here and now. All and had discovered that the HT about this however. Replacements right? Then he swept out, smirking supply was low at 130V. The should be obtained directly from happily, as we put the set back for 220pF, 160V reservoir capacitor Panasonic, and it's important to him. C851 was bulging and leaking, and quote not only the chip type but had fallen in value to 100pF. Once the full model number of the set. A visitor from the past a replacement had been fitted the Steven and Paul had to finish a HT was back to 150V and the set Emails nearby aerial job next morning, worked a treat. We felt it best to run That story about Grantley Best and our younger son John had the set for a while to make sure. reminds me to mention again that agreed to open the shop. He was Fugg decided to kill the time emails are always welcome. Send about ten minutes late when I saw with a few more reminiscences. "I them to his car coming along the road like remember the time he took me donalde wheatleypress.com • a bullet. He braked so hard that people spun round to look. "I, er, overslept a bit" he said. Corrections "but got here in four minutes!" "Overslept!" I exclaimed. You We apologise for the error that occurred at There was an important electrolytic shouldn't, nor drive like a lunatic. the end of the Vestel 11AK37 power sup- capacitor polarity error in the Sharp That's two things I never did." ply article in last month's issue — the last DA100 chassis line output stage circuit Greeneyes gave me a funny look. three lines on page 139 were omitted as a shown on page 729 of our October 2003 Steven and Paul turned up result of a production error. The missing issue. C607 should have been shown with shortly after, then a chap who words, after R830, are "increasing in its positive plate connected to chassis and seemed to be vaguely familiar value, C837 going low in value or Q803 its negative plate connected to the emitter came in with a huge 28in. developing leakage". of Q602. Panasonic set, Model TX28PK2

TELEVISION February 2005 24 3 IJEI 49 8 BB C W

Photo 2: A BBC feed via Atlantic Bird 1.

BBC: PLYMOUTH1 1

Photo 3: A BBC feed via Atlantic Bird 1

SATELLITE NOTEBOOK

Reports from SAT 1 service transmitted a film in high- Christopher Holland definition form. Photo 1 shows an off- screen shot. The transmission was via the and Astre 19-2°E slot, at 11-671GHz H (symbol rate 22,000, FEC 5/6), and was in par- BBC NOTTINGHAM Michael Dranfield allel with the Pro 7 625-line service at 12•480GHz V (SR 27,500, FEC 3/4). The HD uplink ceased soon after the film was transmitted but, some days HDTV tests before, the normal SAT 1 transmissions Following the German Pro 7 channel's were present within a 1,080-line high-defi- Photo 4: A BBC feed via Atlantic Bird 1. high-definition transmission last October, nition raster, appearing as an inlaid 625- see pages 118 and 120 in the December line image surrounded by a black rectan- issue, at the end of November the rival gle. C.H

BBC SOUTHAMPTON S.N

Photo 1: A SAT 1 HDTV test transmission. Photo 5: A BBC feed via Atlantic Bird 1

2-1r, February 2005 TELEVISION Table 1: Unscrambled channels always available via Atlantic Bird 1 (12.5°W)

Frequency/pol SR FEC Service

11.126GHz/H 3,666 3/4 Russkij Mir 11.132GHz/H 3,255 3/4 BHT (Russia) 11.137GHz/H 2,894 3/4 Sailing channel 12•510GHzN 9,765 1/2 Tiziana TV (Italy) Photo 6: A BBC feed via Atlantic Bird 1. 12.515GHz/H 17,455 3/4 La7, MTV Italy, Music Box Italy, Canale D 12.541GHzN 2,170 3/4 Canale D 12-545GHz/H 21,200 3/4 Duplication of 12.515GHz/H 12.581GHz/H 1,160 3/4 Videobank (Italy). Caption only + FM radio station

Digital channel update The SR is 4,224 and the FEC 7/8, but with Only one channel addition to report this the horizontally-polarised channels they month at 28.2°E. Challenge + 1 hour, EN) can be 5,632 and 3/4. The frequencies are no. 122, is at 11.3076Hz H (Eurobird approximate. Transmissions may be in transponder C3). MPEG 4:2:2 form, which requires the use 169 FHA ITV News, EN) no. 525, has moved of a suitable (expensive!) satellite receiver STEREO from Astra 2A transponder 22 to Astra 2D or a PC-based receiver, though some still C d.ru WY et transponder 49 (10.8316Hz H) - symbol use MPEG 4:2:0. Activity is heaviest at 11. Prod. ..4 Graph, Den. rate 22,000, FEC 5/6. around 6.30 PM, with reports for the local The Bonanza Channel (EN) no. 238) BBC-1 service (see photos 2-6), regional has been renamed Majestic TV. news programmes appearing and disap- Some of the shopping channels have pearing rapidly. The higher (horizontally- Photo 7: An S4C Rugby feed vAa Atlantic been renumbered in the EN). C.H. polarised) channels seem to appear when Bird 1. the lower (vertically-polarised) ones are Atlantic Bird 1 (12.5°W) congested, typically at the same time. .1 his month well take a look at Atlantic I've seen a couple of Rugby feeds for Bird 1, which is used mainly for news- S4C, produced by BBC Wales, at 10.967 16.9F . STE4E0 feeds but is also home to some permanent and 10-9766Hz, using an SR of 6,138 and channels. The satellite has European and 7/8 FEC, see Photos 7 and 8. This was American footprints but, because of its during the late Saturday afternoon period location, the latter would be limited to the when newsfeed activity is quite light. On extreme eastern part of North America. the following Saturday the frequencies PYRAMID U AL. During November the BBC moved all ›. M G R . W . I W O/. .10•11,1 used were 10.959 and 10.9676Hz, with •4411.410 SWI M 4. M O r. t mk •eraniar » oh its satellite newsgathering activities from the same SR and FEC. There have also the heavily-inclined orbit Eutelsat 2F3 been tests at 11.014 and 11-0236Hz. Photo 8: An S4C Rugby feed va Atlantic (21-5°E), which we looked at a year or so GlobeCast feeds from the US can be Bird 1. ago, to Atlantic Bird I. Sky and ITN found at 11.0136Hz H (20,150 and 3/4). remained with 2F3 until the end of the This is possibly the easiest way to find the month, when they transferred to Eutelsat satellite, being always present just a little W3 which has been moved to 21-5°E. This to the west of the strong French analogue satellite has a very wide footprint, from signals in the 12.5-12.756Hz range from the western part of Europe across to India! Atlantic Bird 2 and 3 (formerly Telecom). Presumably 2F3's increasingly inclined Table 1 lists unscrambled channels orbit had become too much for practical always available - some other channels are day-to-day use by the broadcasters. scrambled and needn't concern us here. BBC feeds use the following frequen- Table 2 lists some other feeds. The 00 80 cies/polarisations: Moroccan TV feed (Photo 10) shows part Kum Plat of their uplink equipment. The MPEG Normal 10.9566Hz V 11-0076Hz V encoder is just visible at the bottom of the picture, with the front panel display show- 10.9626Hz V I 1.012GHz V ing the symbol rate used (2,666). Their 10.9686Hz V 11.0186Hz V uplink is fairly busy with feeds, mainly for the Moroccan second channel 2M 10.9746Hz V I 1.024GHz V Television. The Swedish feeds are some- Photo 9: Turkish horseracing via Atlantic 10.9806Hz V I 1.1626Hz H times in the clear but often scrambled. Bird 1. I've also seen very occasional feeds for 10.9866Hz V 11.1716Hz H various TV networks at around 12.63- 10.9966Hz V 11.1806Hz H 12.756Hz H, with various symbol rates 11.0016Hz V 11.1896Hz H and FEC values. C.H.

TELEVISION February 2005 247 Table 2: Other feeds available via Atlantic Bird 1 (12.5°W)

Frequency/po! SR FEC Service

11.147 and 11.152GHz/H 2,170 3/4 Russian TV 11.371GHz/H 6,111 3/4 Turkish horseracing. See Photo 9 12.583GHz/H 2,666 3/4 Moroccan TV. See Photo 10 12.608 and 12.617GHz/H 5,404 5/6 Swedish TV

Photo 10: Moroccan TV via Atlantic Bird 1.

signal reference to help find 802, which ing been at normal operating temperature was originally at another orbital position for a considerable time. This can produce where the later Intelsat 9 and now 10 problems when equipment is switched on series are located. The new position for again. 802 makes it free for leasing primarily by When I checked the receiver I was sur- African countries. prised to find, even before taking the lid At the moment the only TV signal via off, that there was no DC supply to the Intelsat 802 is from Burkina Faso, to the LNB from the F socket. This was obvi- north of Ghana and the south of Mali. The ously at the root of the problem! Once 1 frequency is 3,898GHz (SR 6,000, FEC had removed the top the cause was fairly 1/2) with right-hand circular polarisation. obvious. The connector that links the The left-hand channel of the dual-channel power supply PCB to the main board was audio signal is used for TV sound in pushed in firmly at only one end. The Photo 11: Burkina Faso TV logo via French, while the right-hand channel is other end wasn't at all flush with the Intelsat 802. used to transmit state owned Radio board socket. Once the connector had Nationale Burkina Faso. TV transmis- been pushed in properly normal signals sions start at 0800 GMT and finish at were present — and I couldn't pull it out about midnight. The radio station contin- easily. It had possibly been in this state ues through the night but TV just goes to since it left the factory! C.H. sleep, transmitting black level with no sound. No exotic test cards are to be Grundig GDS3000 found here unfortunately! Photos II, 12 A word of warning: the power supply in and 13 show the station's logo, newsread- this model is not interchangeable with er and a warm weather forecast! those in earlier models even though it has Signal reception should be possible the same plug and wire colours. With the with a dish as small as 1-5m, which is GDS3000 power supply one of the black Godefroy BAZIE quite small in C band terms, helped by the wires is the 22V LNB supply whereas low forward error correction value of 1/2. with earlier models it's an earth line. If a If a higher value was used a larger dish GDS3000 power supply is fitted in say a Photo 12: Burkina Faso TV newsreader would be needed. C.H. GDS300, the 22V supply will be earthed. via Intelsat 802. Although no damage will be done, the An Amstrad DRX100 power supply will be tripping. Mr Jones had decided to have his living With the GDS3000 most power sup- room redecorated. While the work was in ply/tripping faults can be cured by replac- progress he moved his TV cabinet, coming the 1M0365R chopper control chip plete with its old Amstrad digibox, VCR IC101. M.D. and TV set, to another room. When he wheeled the cabinet back into the newly Sony VTXS760 spruced-up living room and reconnected This digibox's red standby LED wasn't the digibox to the dish feed it stubbornly alight though the power supply was run- displayed the no signal being received ning. Its outputs were slightly high except message'. He then phoned us, in some for the 3-3V supply, which was low at panic: he was afraid that Mrs Jones was 1-7V with a large ripple present across the going to miss her favourite satellite chan- reservoir capacitor C819 (2,2001e, 16V). nel, which was due shortly. C819 had dried up, a replacement curing Photo 13: A Burkina Faso weather fore- Mr Jones told us that he had double- the fault. M.D. cast via Intelsat 802 checked the state of the F plug that connects the signal from the dish to the digi- Panasonic TUDSB30 More C band signals box. But it seemed to me that there was There was a nasty intermittent fault with It's been a while since we've mentioned either a problem here or that the tuner had this digibox: the TV scart's output kept C band (4GHz) reception. Intelsat 802 has failed, which is fairly common with this switching on/off, and the sound would recently been stationed at about 33°E, just model, especially as it had been discon- mute itself. The picture via the RF output beyond the two Arabsat craft at 26 and nected from the mains supply for a while. remained OK however. After a lot of mess- 30°E. The latter have a lot of C band Everything inside would have had time to ing about the cause of the problem was activity and are best to use as a strong cool down to room temperature after hay- traced to IC602 (type 74LCX16245). M.D.

248 February 2005 TELEVISION To reserve your web site space telephone Tel: 01322 611291 Fax: 01322 616339 SERVICE E-MAILS [email protected]

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TELEVISION February 2005 249 Daewoo 710BN (chassis type shapen pinkish display with severe frame 710B) foldover appeared. It was unsynchronised, There was no operation: the front LED with bits of 'picture' drifting through. The was not alight and the power supply was monitor tripped when the V-output sub- obviously under strain, though no tripping panel was touched. After a lot of resolder- could be heard. A strong smell of burning ing in this area of the main PCB the trip- Bakelite came from inside. I found that the ping ceased — the subpanel was OK. 2SK2799 B+ regulator transistor Q577, a But there was still foldover, and the dis- plastic TO220 device located at the centre play was no better in any other respect. of the chassis behind the line output trans- Then I recalled that some of these moni- former, became red hot when the monitor tors, which are fitted with a Mitsubishi had been on for only twenty seconds or so. chassis, use a non-standard VGA cable. To get at any of the PCB's soldered con- Sure enough, when I examined the 15-pin nections it has to be removed from the sub-D connector at the rear of the main metal mounting. Beware of the charge on panel I found that one row of pins (11-15) the mains bridge rectifier's reservoir was not connected. With the capacitor — there's no discharge path. Dell/Mitsubishi cable pins 8 and 9 are The cause of the trouble was that the used for V sync H sync respectively (pins 2SC5386 line output transistor Q574 was 14 and 13 are used for these purposes with short-circuit all round. In addition Q577 a standard SVGA cable). The RGB and and the 101S2 surface-mounted resistor earthing pins also differ. I.F. R537 had to be replaced. The resistor had fallen in value — it's marked 103. A.R-W. IBM 6322-002 Excessive width was the complaint with CTX E700F this monitor. The cause was C418 (22g, When this monitor was powered without 63V), which had a bulged top. Checks on being connected to a PC it displayed 'no the EW modulator transistor and its drive MONITORS signal present' perfectly. But when an input circuitry didn't reveal any faults, so I came was present the line oscillator chip failed, to the conclusion that C418 had failed as a Fault reports from i.e. there was no line drive. The monitor result of internal heating because of the worked correctly once the sync processor power wasted by its ESR. It appeared to be Alun Rawson-Williams (IC501) and line oscillator (IC401) chips standing in a 'pool' of hot-melt glue, but had been replaced. Both chips are mounted the smell produced when it was unsoldered and at the front of the PCB. The line oscillator suggested that this could have been con- Ian Field chip is a Weltread WT9055. These two ICs gealed electrolyte. Whatever the substance are rather expensive and are available only was, it was evident that the capacitor had from the USA via the interne. In this case I been running too hot. So the replacement was able to retrieve replacements from a was upgraded to a 200V type and an scrap chassis. A.R-W. 0-22pF Mylar capacitor was added in parallel to reduce ESR heating. I.F. Microvitec 7CK1464AN This monitor is not of Microvitec manu- UC3842 protection facture: it was bought in by the company The UC3842 IC is widely used in monitor to fulfil an urgent order. The problem was chopper power supplies as the control no green in the display. Checks on the two device, producing an output at pin 6 to transistors in the green output circuit, drive a chopper MOSFET, e.g. type Q502 (2SC3788) and Q502 (2SC1906), MTP3N60. Sensing for excess current is showed that they were OK. So scope carried out by monitoring the voltage checks were carried out at the MM1203N across the MOSFET's source resistor. This control chip U501. There was a green sig- voltage is fed back to pin 3 of the 3842 via We welcome fault repors from readers nal at the input but nothing at the output. an RC filter. One problem is that when the — payment for each fault is made after When a replacement chip was eventual- MOSFET dies violently its source resistor publication. ly found and fitted the monitor produced a normally goes open-circuit, with the result full-colour display. The MM1203N chip is that the HT is applied via the series resis- Reports can be sent by post to: a Mitsumi device that is extremely hard to tor to the IC — I've seen the IC split in find. I eventually obtained one from a two! One way of providing protection, Television Magazine Fault Reports, scrap chassis. Don't assume that because used by some monitor manufacturers, is to connect three diodes, e.g. of the 1N400X Highbury Business, of the similar number it's another LM1203N: the MM1203N has completely type, in series between pin 3 of the IC and Media House, different pin connections. A.R-W. chassis, with the anodes at the IC side and Azalea Drive, Swanley, the cathodes at the chassis side. It's worth Kent BR8 8HU Dell Ultrascan 17ES (P1728E) adding these diodes if you come across a The complaint with this monitor was no monitor that blows its MOSFET chopper picture. At switch on an EHT rustle-up transistor from time to time and doesn't or e-mailed to: could be heard and, shortly after that, include this protection — which, incidental- [email protected] operation of the degaussing relay was ly, is not shown in the device manufactur- heard. When the setting of the Al control er's data sheet. These diodes will reduce on the LOP'!' was advanced a small, mis- repair bills considerably. I.F.

' )0 February 2005 TELEVISION Answer to Test Case 506 TELEVISION INDEX & DIRECTORY 2005 - see page 212 — Plus hard-copy index and reprints service The same two recording/playback heads are used for both the sound and the video data with the DV tape for- Here's the essential repair information you need! The mat. The sound and video data is not interleaved or Television Index & Directory 2005, in CD-ROM form, con- combined in any way however, because of the need to tains the text of over 16,000 high quality fault reports on be able to edit it. As each head scans the tape it first TVs, VCRs, Camcorders, DVD players, Monitors, Satellite writes or reads an ITI segment, which is concerned with TV units, Audio equipment and CD players, searchable bv 'housekeeping', then an audio segment, followed by a make and model, plus the text of 200 Test Cases and over longer video segment, and finally more housekeeping 300 major servicing articles, from seventeen years of data. It then runs off the top edge of the tape, at the exit Television magazine. It also contains a full seventeen-year point of the head wrap. The separate audio segment can index of Television, a Spares Guide, a directory of Trade be edited by fast-synchronised switching of the heads. and Professional Organisations, an International TV With the mini-DV track width of 10 microns in the Standards guide, a satellite TV Chainel Finder, a TV trans- SP mode and 6.7 microns in the LP mode, mechanical mitter list and a compendium of internet resources for alignment and tape-path precision are obviously crucial service engineers. The software is quick and easy to use, — much more so than with the VHS format, where the and runs on any PC with Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, XP or SP track width is five times greater. So it seemed likely 2000. that the tape path alignment was slightly out at the entry side, where the audio data is recorded. Without an align- Television Index & Directory 2005 CD-RO M, £199 ment tape and guidance on capturing and displaying a head-output envelope signal, our worthies should have Television Index & Directory 2005 CD-ROM upgrade, £47 given up! (to qualify for this upgrade you need to have purchased a In the event however a thorough clean of the tape previous version of the Television Index on floppy disk or guide, its slide and stop surfaces, and the lower drum on CD-ROM) and groove did the trick. It may have been that there was a `bottleneck' in the off-tape data, corresponding to A six-month update of the index and fault reports will be the audio signal, with the other data segments virtually available in May 2005. If you wish to take advantage of intact. this, £10 should be added to your order.

Television Index only, 1988-2004, £36

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The Philips MD2.12E/MD2.25E TV chassis Hard-copy indexes of Television magazine are available John Coombes provides a detailed fault-finding guide for for Volumes 38 (1988) to 54 (2004) at £3.50 per volume. the Philips MD series chassis. Reprints of articles from Television back to 1988 are Cable tester project also available, at the flat rate of £4.00 per article — you Intermittent faults with audio and RF cables, meter test can order through our web site, or write to the address leads and other bits of wire can cause a lot of trouble and below. often don't show up with a straightforward continuity test. Robert Kerr describes a simple cable tester that The above prices include UK postage and VAT where overcomes the problem. applicable. Add an extra £1 postage for non-UK EC orders, or £5 for non-EC overseas orders, although Channel Island Blu-ray develop ments residents do not need to add any extra postage. Cheques Although the Blu-ray optical disc system has yet to be should be made payable to SoftCopy Ltd. All major credit launched in the US and Europe, its developers are already and debit cards are accepted. Please use our new secure planning to improve the format considerably. website for your orders, details below. Allow up to 28 days Enhancements include the use of a new scratch- for delivery (UK). resistant protective coating, multiple-layer discs with greatly increase data storage capacity, and new copy- SoftCopy Limited, 1 Vineries Close, Cheltenham, protection technologies. George Cole describes the GL53 ONU, UK latest developments. Telephone 01242 241 455 Fax 01242 241 468 Vintage repair: the Bush DAC10 radio e-mail: [email protected] 1-111 is one of the classic valve radios from the early I•ilties. MacoIm Burrell describes a recent renovation. web site: http://w w w.televisionmag.co.uk

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Published on the third Wednesday of each month by Highbury Business, Media House, Azalea Drive, Swanley, Kent, BR8 8HU. Highbury Business is a division of Highbury House Conununications PLC. Filmsetting by Impress, Unit 2, Parkway, Southgate Way, Orton Southgate, Peterborough PE2 6YN. Printed in England by William Gibbons Ltd, 26 Planetary Road, Willenhall, West Midlands, WV I 3 3XT Distributed by Seymour Distribution Ltd. 86 Newman St, London, WIT 3EX. Sole Agents for Australia and New Zealand, Gordon and Gotch (Asia) Ltd.; South Africa, Central News Agency Ltd. Television is sold subject to the following conditions, namely that it shall not without the written consent of the Publishers first having been given, be lent, resold. hired out or otherwise disposed by way of Trade at more than the recommended selling price shown on the cover, excluding Eire where the selling price is subject to currency exchange fluctuations and VAT, and that it shall not be lent, resold, hired or otherwise disposed of in a mutilated condition or in any unauthorised cover by way of Trade or affixed to or as part of any publication or advertising, literary or pictorial matter whatsoever.

TELEVISION February 2005 251 làbibicfR(.).mics ïe.z)Leti) Electronics %Merles reno wned news section starts on page 4 Otschownics World's reno wned news section snsrh on page 4 John Linsley Hensel — M ENIORIAL Issus ELECTRONICS ELECTRONICS ELECTRONICS W,pRLD WORLD WORLD MAY 2004 M U «I 2004 0.3 21 Cellphone access methods In memoriam -John Linsley Hood MIEE • Pseudo-sine FPGAs ; wave demystified inverter A new monitoring tool for 5.1 audio USG analogue i/o Precision rectifier circuits The discovery of electron 3 GSM congress report Colossus: diffraction deyee,or oee, là4 ti " Me FPGAs - Part 11 :}71 •.; Circuit Ideas: JLH Class A sss Circuit Ideas: • ••••,•••••••,. • Wake" stannt • law honey won, sts.,.• Getting rid of • Digit/aides • Mown /we *Wee. SPAM mail • AraI•gu• phase shifter

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February 2005 TELEVISION ALDER OMPONENTS

(HECK MOND WIKE) LTD 127A W ESTGATE. HECKMONDWIKE. W EST YORKSHIRE, WF 16 OEW Back Issues TEL: (01924) 411089 FAX: (01924) 411104 Back issues of Television are available Calder Components stock an extensive range of spares and co mponents for the TV, aerial, satellite ana video repair trade. W e offer a friendly service and priced £4 including p+p in the UK or w elco me encuiries on our co mprehensive range of stock. Postage is normally ree £4 plus p+p elsewhere. on orders over £20.00 - we post nation wide. Overseas custo mers also welco me. A su m mary of our sparesholding is available upon request. All issues (except August) are available for 2003 REMOTE CONTROLS Please send correct payment with cheques payable W e hold a vast range of high quality replace ment remote controls at co mpetitive to Television to: Television, Highbury Business, prices. Original remotes can also be sourced if required. Genuine latest revision Sky and Sky+ remotes are always available with attractive prices for large Media House, Azalea Drive, Swanley, Kent BR8 8HU quantities. To check availability contact Caroline Fisher at PACE DIGIBOX SPARES TVeditorehighburybiz.com, phone 01322 611274 O ne of our specialist areas - we can supply a range of parts including ZIF and

m etal tuners. IC's, PS U kits, card readers, panels and covers. Parts list available upon request - try us first for PACE spares! LOPTX malLear m am * .• pea,. ma ge..1.eneVeIrauca, I. dec .. ge.{»oe Wide range of stock incluèing Eldor/Classic/H R Die men line output transfor mers. TELEVISION TELEVISION VIDEO/CD/DVD SPARES AND HO ME ELECTR O NICS REPAIR A ND HO ME ELECTR O NICS REPAIR Pt.v .• 700• [1.20 Video heads, belts, clutches, idlers, loading arms. etc in stock. Lasers always ot. 04 . 04 CI .7, available and co mpetitively pr ced. Workshop eguipri ,.qit guide SPECIAL OFFERS 1 :11m ila PACE DIGIBOXES - D S430 N the latest co mpact versionof the 2600 Sky Digibox only £125.00 + VAT + Shipping BABY 10 SP A R E S - Regulators (AL2710 K). capacitors (10.000 M 35V). Antenna rods. L O P TX all in stock at reasonable prices

1N5 2K V DIS C C A P S - 1500pf 2K V Bro wn and 152 K 2K V Blue Test erPoRT Pack of 10 @ £2.50 or Pack of 50 # £10.00 (+ VAT) The D-GEN Servicing the PHILIPS UNI REMOTES - 2 & 3 Way. £3.95 + VAT pattern generator 3hilips 101 chassis aneinsaase,

Sky digibox RP2 checker Simple volume All orders or enquiries are w elco me by either telephone or fax on the above compressor circuit CCTV recording syste m nu mbers or via E mail at: [email protected]

You are welco me to call at our trade counter which is open fro m 9.00 to 17.00 M onday to Friday.

PLEASE ENS URE YOU TELEPHONE TO CHECK AVAILABILITY OF EQ IPMENT BEFORE ORDERING OR CALLING ISCELLANEOUS CLEARANCE STOCK

OSCILLOSCOPES Dune?, 606 Line Distribution Analyser £35 HP 37204 HP1B Extender CIO Meggar 10000 02 Wind Up .£10 Tektronix 465B Dual Trace 100MHZ Delay fined into 19' rack Wayne Kerr E1601 Radio Frequency Bodge £25 Hatfield 2115 Atlenuator 7505m 10008 CIO Edgcumbe 30A Clamp Meter Analogue frame .025 Feedback TFA607 Transfer Function Analyser £25 Hatfield 211519 Anenuator 1905m 100dB £10 Linstead G1000 Generator IOMHZ Sine/Sg/CMOS/TTL £20 HP 1740A Dual Trace 100MHZ delay no lock) Wavetek 52 Data Mulfirneter £60 Hatfield 21180 Attenuator 750ohm 1008 CIO Cucuilmate FG2 Function Generator 1HZ.2MHZ . £30 HP 1700A Dual Trace IOOMHZ Delay Gould 00200 RF Signal Generator £20 Hatfield 2135 Attenuator 60005m 100r1B £20 Klippon (112 Comb, Check £10 HP 1741 Dual Trace 100MHZ Analogue Storage .£60 Charm°, Force Meter £15 Tee m. 1103 Tekprobe Power Seery £10 AVO 12001 Clamp meter 0-600V 012000 Analogue £10 HP 17444 Dual Trace I 00MHZ Analogue Storage £60 Allred E105 Variable Attenuator4-8Ghz £20 Systron Donner 6203A Frequency Counter 20HZ-1250MHZ £35 AVO 1'T169 Insitu Transistor Tester £10 Pharos PM3264 4 Ch 100MHZ £125 Cammetne 6 Decade Resistance Box £15 Level TG301 Function Generator 1MHZ Sine/567o £30 Morey Thandar TG102 Furo Generator 2MHZ £25 Gould 003000A Dual Trace 40 MHZ £40 Sullivan C8710 Piccolo, 5 Decade Capacitor Box £20 Solartron 7045 Diva! Munimeter £30 Farrel/ PA122 Programmable AtIenuator 500MHZ £15 Inc CS1040 Dual Trace 40MHZ £50 Marconi 60331 Wavegulde £20 HP 84040 Levelling Amplifier £15 Parnell ESG1 Oscillator 1MHZ £15 Goldstar OS9020P Dual Trace 20MHZ £50 Marcon, 2169 Pulse Modulator £20 HP 3455A Digital Voltmeter £50 Teleou pment C171 Curve Tracer (Broken Knob) £20 lwatsu SS5702 Dual Pace 20MHZ £40 Marconi 24304 Frequency Meter 80Mhz £30 Feedback FM610 Digital Frequency Meter £25 HP 5004A Signature Analyser £20 Ktkusui COS5020 Dual Trace 20MHZ £40 Marconi 6950 RF Power Meter • No head £35 Fund TM8 True RMS IF Millivolfineter £40 POWER SUPPLIES Marconi 6960 RF Power Meter • No head - Digital £50 Thurlby 1503 Diode Muldmeter £15 Farnell 13081 0-30V 0-1A Tvoce £40 HP 03824 Variable Anenuator Wavegulde £20 Sullivan 6666 Milhohmmeter £15 Farnell L3OAT 0-50V 0.500MA Twice £30 HP 53166 Counter £50 K&L Tunable Bank Reect Finer £15 Oscilloscopes Farnell 1130-1 0-30V 0.1/1 TwIce Scruffy £40 HP 87504 Storage Normalize, £60 Barr & Stroud EF4-01 Bank Pass Filter 1 HZ• lOOKHZ £15 LECROY 9403A Dual Trace 175MHZ 5G7S £500 Farnell L30-2 0-30V 0-2A Scruffy £30 HP 907A Co-aul Sliding Load LECROY 9400 Dual Trace 12561HZ 0400 £20 Barr 6 Stroud EF4-02 L17,11P Filter 1HZ•100KHZ ..£15 Farnell 130-1 0.300 0-1A Scruffy . .020 Programme TM? Turner £20 Fluke 90104 Digital Multimeter £30 TEKTRCNIX 468 Owl Trace 100MHZ Dena] Storage £300 Farnell L30B 0-300 0-'A £25 TEKTRONIX 475 Dual 20014E2 Sweep £250 Racal 9039 Modulation Meter £40 Fluke 85024 Dedal Multimeter Trace Delay Farrell L3OAT 0•500 0.500MA £20 TEKTRONIX 46543 Dual Trace 100MHZ Delay Sweep £250 Racal 90094 Modulation Meter £50 Electronic Visual £04040 TV Waveform Monitor Farnell C 1 0-500 0-1A • 2 Meters £30 TEKTRONIX 465 Trace 10014112 Delay Sweep £175 Texcan 54,50 10208 in 106 steps £15 Tracer Nonhern TN1750 £30 Due Farnell TOPS1 5V lA.r. 15V 200MA £35 PHILLIPS P143217 Dual Trace 50MHZ Delay Sweep £150 Bird Atlenualor etc in box 30dB £15 RS 555-279 UV Exposure Und £10 Coulant 16500 2 0.300 0.54 - 2 Meters £45 THURLEY PL3200140 0-30V 0-24 Twice Donal PSU £160 Bird 8341-200 Coaxial Attenuator 20r1t3 40W 50omn £25 Microdyne Corp Receiver £60 Coolant LA200 2 0-30 0-24 • 2 Meters £35 Bord HP 663124 0.20V 0-24 Communcations PSU £200 61 Varian V21-6941F1 Travelling Wave Tube Amplifier Coolant LOT200 (1-15V 0.24 Tyr. £30 H P. 6623A 3 Outputs PSU 0-7V 0-5A or 0-200 0-24 £425 Wattmeter 60 30W 50ohm 30-50Mhz £40 Moore Read SFC500/1 AUXR Static Frequency Convenor 120 Coulant LOTIO0 0-30V 0-1A Twice £40 Telonic TTF95-5-5EE Tunabte Band Pass Filter 0-20V 0.2A or 0.50V 0-06A £20 Volts 400 HZ £50 Coulant LC/T50/50 0-50V 0-500MA £30 0-71/ 0.10A or 0-20V 0-44 Teel. 190-3EE Tunable Bank Reed Finer 125.250 £15 Draper 21/31 Mont Gas Detector £10 HP 66264 Precsen Mph Resolution PSU 4 Outputs £51:0 Weir 761 0-30V 24 or 0.150 dA £30 Telonic 95•35E Tunable Band Relent Filter 60-126 £15 Philips PM82378 Multipoint Data Recorder £20 Weir 762 0-30V 24 or 0150 dA Helper Inst CML1 Smadder 11-7Vo-Is e or 0-50V 0-0 5A Twice £30 Endeuco 4417 Signal Conditioner X 2 £10 Weir 4310 0-30V IA • 5V 44 0-161/ 0-0 20 or 0-50V 0-2A Twice Helper lost S103 Sinelder 3 £30 Pillsetek 132 DC Current Caltrator £30 Weir 400 0-00 0 3A - 100 1A £20 SXP100 Parallel to Serial Convertor CIRRUS CRL254 Sound lever Meter with Calibrator 80-120db LED £95 £10 Display wIth 1038-N10 Network Analyser No Wer 460 0400 020 - 20V IA £20 thcromaster LV WAYNE KERR 0424 Component Bridge £50 £40 Headsad £50 HP 62668 0-400 0-54 2 Meters £60 Dataman S3 Programmer £50 RACAL MOO True RIAS Voltmeter 5112-20MHZ usable to 60MHZ 10V• Unger MJ4MK2 Wind UP 1000V MOhm £30 HP 62568 0-10V 0•20A 2 Meters £95 RS 424-103 LOQIC Pulser 316V. £50 £5 Metrohm 250V Pat Tester £15 HP 6111A 0-2000-1A £30 Global SO1 Shortsqueek RACAL 93008 True RMS Voltmeter 5HZ-20MHZ usable to 60MHZ £20 Sullivan AC1012 4 Decade Resistance Box 0 M.., 010 HP 62350 .6V IA .1. 'St/ 200MA £25 RS 180-7127 Conductnaty Meter £35 10v-316V £75 Brandenburgh 020 Stec Greg Conveyor 110240V input Kingslull 3602C 0-36C 0-2A £30 Eagle DC30 Probe 30Ku DC AVO 00116 Denal Avometer win Batten,' and Leads £20 £5 50/60HZ Output 115V 400HZ 20VA £40 Marconi TF2158 0-30V 0-2A Twice £30 AVO 100AMP Shunt for 'WO 8 FARRELL LFM4 Sme/Su Oscillator 10HZ-1MHZ low distortion TTL Banda 730 Attenuator £10 Lambda 422FM 0-40V 0-1A Twice 4 Meters £50 Southern Cancun. BTXRM-S-10 2000.01/HZ £50 Output Amplitude Meter £75 Analogue Associates 0800 Audio Amplifier 800watt 1400. Per Lambda LK345A FM 0-60V 0.10A 2 Meters. £75 Motorola R20010 Communocation System Analyser £250 FARRELL 138 SineSq Oscillator 10HZ.Ices(uz Low Chstonen £60 Channel no DC Protection) £60 Systron Donner SHR40-24-40V 0-2A • 2 Meters £25 Weston 1149 Standard Cell 1 01859 ABS Volts at 200 £10 HEME 1900 LCD Clamp Meter 0.1000A in Carrying Case £35 WAG PCG2 PCM Channel Generator £30 Sorenson SRL60-4 0-60V 0-4A £60 Mrurhead A-6-B Resostance Box . £10 FLUKE 77 Muldmeter 3 1/2 [toga handheld wrth Bane 0 Leads £45 Sivers Lab 12400 • 18000 MHZ £10 Grenson BPU4 050 2 5A 150 0 5A ... £25 Racal 99170 UHF Frequency Meter 10HZ-560MHZ £45 KENWOOD tat 762 Channel Mullryortmeter £50 Divers Lab 5212 2500 - 4000MHZ.C264 £10 RS B13-991 2 x 5v 2 56 or 2 x 120 1 SA or 2159 IA... £40 Raul 9917 UHF Frequency Meter 10HZ-560MHZ £40 KENWOOD FL 111) WOW 8 Flutter Meter £50 Cropico VS10 DC Standard 10V £30 RS 208-197 Line Voltage Conditioner - Outp.rt 2400 0 65A . £40 Racal 9915M UHF Frequency Meter 10K2-520MHZ £30 KENWOOD F1180A WOW A Flutter Meter £75 Dawe 14050 Sound Level Meter £15 Power Conversen PLC1000 Line Condition.' 100006 ....£50 Racal 9901 Universal Counter Timer DC-50MHZ £15 KENWOOD F1180A WOW 0 Flutter Meter Unused £125 Cambridge 44228 Potentiometer in Wooden Case £30 Harlyn Arnomaten IPPS5200 System Power Supply Raul 9900 Universal Counter Timer 30MHZ DC-30MHZ £15 MARCONI 69606 Power Meter with 6920 Head 10MHZ • 20GHZ £450 Wmrchtle Model 6 Bulk Eraser 010 PowerlIne LA81307 0•300V AC 0754 £40 Wavetek 136 VCGNCA Generator £20 SOLARTRON 7150 0MAI 6 172 ded True OMS IEEE £75 Casella T8620 Heat Stress Mondor £20 Power Supply Model 12030 0.20V 0.30Amps - On Wheels.. £95 HP 435A Power Meter • No lead no head £15 SOLARTRON 7150 Plus As 7150 Temperature Measurement £100 Casella Drum Recorder £20 Harmer SImmons 50/25/110 Input 2401/ 10A Output 50V 254 HP 8015A Pulse Generator £30 IEEE Cables £5 Regreni 0-55C Drum Recorder £20 £100 HP 4038 AC Voltmeter £15 HP 03120 Function Gen 0 1HZ-13MHZ AM/FM Seeeert/TrilBurst etc Regret 125 Series Drum Recorder £20 £200 Centro. MIDO Reqavoll Input 2400 250 VA Oufi. , 1", -Log PR415 Phase Rotation Indicator £10 Salo Keiryok, 90307 Hydrothermograph Dual Channel -15c to HP 03124 Function Gen 0 005HZ-5MZ Sine/Swirl/Ramp/Pulse £80 1000VA ..t.firwood D2000 Digital Indicator £10 401 £30 RACAL 9008 Automate Modulation Meter 1 5MHZ.2GHZ £60 OK Industries CECC00-015 Sera, Orson , .,,I, Res•srance lo ISOLATING Translorrner Input 250V Output 5C(109 Unused £30 STEWART OF READING Ground Meter • No Prof , £10 RACAL 1792 Reciever £525 17A KING STREET, MORTIMER. NR. READING RG7 3RS VISA Telephone: 0118 9331111 Fax: 0118 9332375 USE D EQUIP MENT - GUARANTEED. Manuals supplied. www.stewart-of-reading.co.uk This is a VERY SMALL SAMPLE OF STOCK. SAE or telephone for lists Please check availability before Open 9am-5pm Monday to Friday (other times by arrangement) ordering CARRIAGE all units £16 VAT to be added to total of goods and carriage.

TELEVISION February 2005 253 P.J.HILL WATCH SLIDES ON TV MAKE VIDEOS OF TV. VCR. SPARES YOUR SLIDES FLYBACK TRANSFORMERS BY DIGITISE YOUR SLIDES ELDOR, OREGA, TERMAL, CLASSIC (using a video capture card)

ALSO BUDGET RANGE. 'Liesgang diatv automatic slide viewer with built in high quality colour TV camera. ft has Enquire by No's off old transformer & model No. For a composite video output to a phono plug (SCART & BNC adaptors are available). They are in very good condition with few signs of use. For further details see www.diatv.co.uk Akai, Akora, Alba, Aiwa, Bush, Beko, Daewoo, £91.91+ vat = £108.00 Board cameras all with 512x582 pixels 8.5mm 1/3 inch sensor and composite video out. Ferguson, Formentii, Goodmans, Grundig, Hinari, All need to be housed in your own enclosure and have fragile exposed surface mount ITT, JVC, Matsui, Net. Orion, Panasonic, Philips, parts. They all require a power supply of between 10 and 12v DC 150mA. 47MIR size 60x36x27mm with 6 infra red LEDs (gives the saine illumination as a small Samsung, Sanyo, SEG, Sharp, Sony, Thomson, torch but is not visible to the human eye) £37.00 + vat = £43.48 Tatung, Toshiba, etc 30MP size 32x32x14mm spy camera with a fixed locus pin hole lens for hiding behind a very small hole £35.00 + vat = £41.13 40MC size 39x38x27mm camera for 'C' mount lens these give a much sharper image RE M OTE CO NTROL BY CLASSIC than with the smaller lenses £32.00 + vat = £37.60 Economy C mount lenses all fixed focus & fixed iris Video heads & spares, CD Lasers, belts, mains VSL1220F 12mm F1.6 12x15 degrees viewing angle £15.97 + vat = £18.76 switches. semi conductors, valves, switch mode VSL4022F 4mm F1.22 63x47 degrees viewing angle £17.65 + vat = £20.74 VSL6022F 6mm F1.22 42x32 degrees viewing angle £19.05 + vat = £22.38 transformers (including Matsui 2196N) service kits, VSL8020F 8mm F1.22 32x24 degrees viewing angle £19.90 + vat = £23.38 T/V, VCR & satellite resistors, capacitors, valves, Better quality C Mount lenses VSL1614F 16mm F1.6 30x24 degrees viewing angle £26.43 + vat = £31.06 tuners, triplers etc. VWL813M 8mm F1.3 with iris 56x42 degrees viewing angle £77.45 + vat = £91.00 ASK ABOUT OUR SERVICE MANUAL LIBRARY 1206 surface mount resistors E12 values 10 ohm to 1M ohm 100 of 1 value £1.00 + vat 1000 of 1 value £5.00 + vat

FOR TN VIDEO & MICRO WAVE & AUDIO. 866 battery pack originally intended to be used with an orbitel mobile telephone it contains 10 1.6Ah sub C batteries MOST CREDIT & DEBIT CARDS (42x22dia the size usually used in cordless screwdrivers etc.) the pack is new and unused and can be broken open quite E7 NORTHWAY TRADING EST, easily £7.46+vat = £8.77 P.J.HILL NORTHWAY LANE, TEWKESBURY, Please add 1.66 + vat = £1.95 postage & packing per order GLos, GL20 8JH, JPG ELECTRONICS r a % Si C Shaws Row, Old Road, Chesterfield, S40 2RB TEL: 01684 296902 Tel 01246 211202 Fax 01246 550959 MastercardNisa/Switch DISTRIBUTOR FAX: 01684 294317 Callers welcome 9:30 a.m .to 5:30 p.m. Monday to Saturday

This Magazine reaches lib er Are Colour Picture Tubes causing you problems?

We can help!

1 Dlec supply tubes from Philips, Thomson, Panasonic etc, all are new, from stock and with a one year Guarantee. 2 AR tubes are delivered on our own transport eliminating transit damage. 3 D'Lec are able to collect the old glass and dispose of it in line with current regulations.

WEB SITE VVWW.JOHNSRADIO-UK.COM WW1AIJOHNRADIO.COM 4 If you are an OEM service centre we can JOHNSRADIO ELECTRONICS TEST AND COMMUNICATION EQPT despatch your tubes for you, using your own LARGE QUANTITY SALE EX M.O.D. paperwork. !MARCONI TF2019A Synthesized Signal Generators - 80Khz to 1040Mc/s AM - FM - High Class with many functions - 1285 each. Full storage and logistic service available for fragile TEKTRONIX 2445 A OSCILLOSCOPE 150Mds Four Channel £300. HP COMMUNICATION TEST SET 8922M - 10 - 1000Mc/s + GMS 83220E items (Plasma. LCD etc) Converter 1710 - 1900Mc/s - DCS - PCS - MS f500 Export no problem! HP COMMUNICATION TEST SET 8922M OPT 010(Dual) etc £750. ALL UNITS AND PRICED EX WORKS WITH INSTRUCTIONS - TESTED BASIC WORKING. CARR + PACKING IF REQUIRED EXTRA. Phone for appointment or to request item lists, photos, site map. GIVE US A CALL! All welcome, Private or Trade, sales, workshop repairs or calibration D Lec Components. Limited. 3 Manor Court. Sole Street. Cobham. Kent. DA13 9BU PLEASE CONTACT PATRICIA AT WHITEHALL WORKS, 84 WHITEHALL ROAD EAST, BIRKENSHAW, BRADFORD, WEST YORKSHIRE, BD11 2ER. Tel 01474 361276/327677 Fax 335228 1 Tel: 01274 684007 Fax: 01274 651160 Email [email protected] Dilec WEB SITE VVVVW.JOHNSRADIO-UK.COM VVVVVV.JOHNRADIO.COM Visit www.dlec.co.uk Components Ltd

2 34 February 2005 TELEVISION FRUSTRATED! TUBES Looking for ICs TRANSISTORS? A phone call to us could get a result. We offer an extensive range and with a World-wide SPECIAL OFFER database at our fingertips, we are able to source even more. We specialise in devices with the following prefix WIDESCREEN 28" (to name but a few). 2N 2SA 2SB 2SC 2SD 2P 2SJ 2SK 3N 3SK 4N 6N 17 40 AD ADC AN AM AY BA BC B10 BDT BDV BDW BDX BF BFR BFS BFT BFW BFX BFY BLY BLX BS BR BRX BRY BS CRT'S — Philips BSS BSV BSW BSX BT BTA BTB BRW BU BUK BUT BUV BUW BUX BUY BUZ CA CD DX CXA DAC DG DM DS DTA DTC GL GM HA HCF HD HEF ICL ICM IRF J KA KIA L LA LB LC LD LP LM M M5M MA MAB MAX MB MC MDA J MJE MJF MM MN MPS MPSA MPSH MPSU Thomson, Panasonic MRF NJM NE OM OP PA PAL PIC PN RC S SAA SAB SAD SAJ SAS SDA SG SI SL SN SO STA STK STR STRD STRM STRS SV1 T TA TAA TAG TBA TC TCA TDA TDB and LG TEA TIC TIP TIPL TEA TL TLC TMP TMS TPU U UA UAA UC UDN ULN UM UPA UPC UPD VN X XR Z ZN ZTX + many others £99 plus carriage Please visit our website at plus VAT www.cricklewoodelectronics.com 17 thousand components in stock Ring Irene or Harry Mail, phone, Fax, Credit Card orders & callers welcome. IEll VISA ¡ Cricklewood Electronics Ltd EXPRESS TV SUPPLIES LTD 40-42 Cricklewood Broadway, London NW2 3ET The Mill, Mill Lane. Rugeley, Staffs WS15 2JW Tel: 020 8452 0161 Fax: 020 8208 1441 Tel: 01889 577600 Fax: 01889 575600 Visit our new www.cricklewoodelelectronics.com Email: sales(a cricklewoodelectronics.com

conomic evinces SERVICE DATA SERVICE DATA PO Be. 73 Oakenqates TF2 8WR Tel • 44 (0)1952 273130 Fax 44 (0)1952 405478 TV/VCR CIRCUITS SERVICE OPEN (WE DO NOT STOCK 6 DAYS AUDIO OR MONITOR MANUALS INFORMATION) and Service Sheets for TV - VIDEO - AUDIO g3tb es tije®17 ig30 0 0 Efillteciesma noceaele TEL A.T.V. on S E NIII C OIME» C T OIR S Prices start at 0114 285 4254 CTV s/sheet 5.00 VCR s/sheet 7.00 ow.... 3 411. ir 0 0 0. yip*. of CTV Circuits from £5.00 CTV s/man 10.00 transistors IC's diodes «Se. or ailvolisnes stisekeill VCR Circuits from £7.00 CTV Manuals from £10.50 VCR s/man 13.00 1/11.,e Sena suPPliele 'Neel helP.We V V 14% e your IC bble work really hard to find those difficult VCR Manuals from £14.50 No p/p or VAT parts - Just ask and let our 'no holds barred enquiry hound work for youill User instructions also available - Other items PUA - (P/P add £2.50 to each order) ...... ci rid locik cit th c (4014•Feleeiodielee AMTEL 419 LANGSEll" ROAD Huna, SHEFFIELD S6 2LL Caithness KWI .411, nu n lA (4) each Fully wired scart leadirrlike (POST 1995) www.amtel.co.uk CI Sli g h t i 31 C 11 i 111 C

- - y o u 111111.0 ..1 1111(11.1 0 811S:- . B U208 A X 5 75p ea T_P—_AZ0_18 A X 5 99p ea BLI508 A X 5 79p ea u c3a42 X 5 59p ea \\ANTED B U508 AF X 5 85p ea C N X62 A X 5 29p ea B U508 D X 5 89r, ea S 2000 AF X 5 84p ea B U T11 A X 5 29p ea T D A3853 B X 5 55p ea B U T11 AF X 6 47p ea T D A3654 X 5 82p ea WANTED Surplus or Obsolete Electronic Components Philips type 1.2 volt Back up battery X 5 59p ea Philips type 2.4 volt Back up battery X 5 120p ea Turn your excess stock into instant cash! Scart - Scart lead 1.5 m Fully wired X 2 89p ea Positor PT37,TH98009 (VVh e) X 5 59i, ea SEND OR FAX YOUR LIST IN STRICTEST CONFIDENCE Tho m TX100 Chassis 110 DG R LOPTX each £11.24 Will collect anywhere in the UK Philips CP90 Chassis LOPTX each £11.63 1 11 ei %A / •••,..1c cals.c.a.1 e> •ff cm 1 rt.. - ss•oes.-y /moll 9 Re me mber £1.50 post& handling eug fi All major credit cards accepted ele Mushroom œle MENTS

The vet pace ^e, • tr., ne: xxx F.., ,,Cfrpd, oversees enquiries pontieulerly welcome 28 College Street, Kempston, Bedfordshire, MK42 8LU catalogue out NOW Tel: 01234 363611 Fax: 01234 326611 cameras, monitors, switches E-mail: [email protected] l e e 4 C e quads, multiplexers, the lot. Internet: www.mushroom.co.uk

TELEVISION February 2005 255 CLASSIFIED TEL: 01322 611254 Tatung Philips £299 LCD 15" Philips£299 LCD 17" TELEPHONE 171 HAREHILLS LANE, Telephone 0114 273 9622 w ww . In v inE lec t ron ic s .co .uk Over 30 years experience andNEED vast HELPNOW? Pi no. 10608670P1Ferguson W70231' etc. R NDIGGRU EHT TRAY ICC17 LOPTX Kit BG 1899022644 £18.95 Thom son 2-111 W231: etc SERVICE DATA CALL FOR FULL PRICE LIST * E L ECTRON T E CHN ICAL Tel: 0113 240 1114 These permanent positions are based from our service centre in romford that covers London Genuine help available to all 0906470 1706 T.V. - V.C.R - SAT - AUDIO LEEDS LS8 3QE Workshop and Field Service Engineers — Brown Goods Other models available FOR SALE ELECTRTCS LIMITED in Calls cost 60p per minute L CD 1 5 " £239 LCD 15" HELPLINE * Then ring the Relevant qualifications and a proven record in(Inc service Valves) industry essential along with repairers of data base n- In £24.95 Servic Link

Very competitive salary and benefits for the correct applicant. o r ema i l g a r ry .ha l l@v isua l fx - l im i ted .co .uk Field and workshop TVNCR/DVD and Audio engineers. Please contact Garry on 01708 383111 Experience to repair at component level is essential. clear.exchangePRIVATE Tel: RETAILER colour 01494 televisions 814317. and videos to 32 and 28 Widescreens Ex Rental TVs p ro jec t spa r e s@b t in te r ne t .com P RO JEC T S P AR E S 01322 611254 FAX 01322 616376 Sony, Philips, 07836 789528 Spare parts and service Visual Portables, Combis For stock and price video projectors fro m VIDIKRON PROJECTOR Barry McDonald Fax: 01444 831580 FOR SALE Tel: 01444 831769 LINEAGE infor mation for s e l f -mo t iva t ion a nd a p os i t ive a t t i tude . Hitachi SPARES Telephone E- mail: and the Home Counties. has excellent part FX R ECR U ITMENT Service Centre Require SERVICE DATA Manual? Have you ever brought THE ANUALS M LIBRARY HARVEY ELECTRONICS e -ma i l : c o l inef ryem s .f sbu s ine s s .co .uk Payment by credit card. PO or cheque I n fo rma t ion a Service Manual and never For details and membership Prices are from £5.50 + £2.75 P&P Have you ever turned away Tel/Fax No: 01291 623086 work for want of a Service CAMCORDERS, AUDIO & Sers Visa: tv/video Chepstow, Mons, NP16 7HE TV's, VCR's, SATELLITE note: some items priced individually used it more than once? MANUALS 43 Loop Road, Beachley, application form write, add a further £5.50 per item SERVICE ice we now supply universal Then why not join ... Tel:Fax 01206 211570

Mastercard accepted in the same order phone or fax: remotes at competitive Fryerns Marks Tey. Colchester HI-F1's FES prices Easthorpe Green 2 The Lodge CO6 Il -IA Diagrams Circuit

Yorkshire DN5 8JA Tel:01302 780270 Now available on C on ta ins S chema t ics , A d jus tmen ts , SERVICE DATA Television Servicing 9 Contact us for full model listings. Circuit Descriptions, Parts Lists, 73 St.Martins Avenue Doncaster Tel: 01403 784961 FOR VALVES KT88, Ema i l : s a les@be l - tubes .co .uk 'Price applies to purchasers of TV7 or TV8 CD, otherwise £59. supermarket brands included. PRICES PAID Special Price Leading manufacturers and Over 300 models covered. BEST CASH U-VIE W PX4 AND MOST Visitors by appointmentA UD IO /OTHER (Please add £2.50 p&p) Billington Export Ltd F au l t - f ind ing G u ides . WANTED U-View Publishing Sussex RH14 9EZ Fax 01403 783519 (Mail Order Only) TYPES.

CD-Rom £49* only

Peak Electronic Design Ltd Atlas House, Kiln Lane Harpur Industrial Estate electronic design ltd Buxton, SK17 9JL, UK Tel. 01298 70012

the atlas SCR • Automatically analyse Thyristors and Triacs. • Automatically identify all three leads. • Automatic test currents from 100pA to 100mA!

SCR10

LCR40 atlas SCR £69.00 model SCR1 00

Passive components, semiconductors, power devices, network cabling Choose your perfect analyser

"Star Pack" New Low Prices! LCR and DCA limite J time only in carry case the atlas LCR £118.00 • Automatically identify Inductors, Capacitors and Resistors. • Inductors from 1 pH to 10H. • Capacitors from 1pF to SMD Tweezer 1 0,000pF. P s for LCR 9.00. • Resistors from Mto2M1). • 1% Basic accuracy. • Automatic frequency selection.

eom Semiconductcr Analysis 7 ESR Measurement £4 1 Cat5 Cable Testino 7 8„ carry cas es model \es ESR60 £7

available December 2004 I

pes ke acocauk Don't just test it... .1.1-1.;PI ! all prices include UK Dalivery and VAT TELEVISION TEST PATTERN GENERATORS /‘ P R O M A X The new GV 998 iS a digital SELECTED ITEMS FROM THE PROMAX pattern generator offering more advanced features RANGE OF TEST EQUIPMENT at again a realistic price. Those features include :

• MPEG-2 format Transport Stream generation • Video and audio o. included in the IS • Video and audio inputs MS 250 • Generation of a variable frequency sound carrier for decoding verification Analogue and Digital Satellite Detector. • Multistandard and multisystem analogue TV signal generation • Possibility to edit different fields of the TS database to present the name of the service provider • Remote control via a personal computer P R OI M A X • Moving video patterns to check MPEG-2 decoders

PRODIG 1+ Satellite Dish Installer's Meter Does more than just BSkyB Chan 40 74.8 dBuV Chan 40 67 6 dBuV

IDEAL FOR IDEAL FOR PLASMA WIDE SCREEN DISPLAYS

nr: PRODIG 2 PROMAX GV SERIES Analogue & Digital Aerial Meter • Choice of 12 instruments Measures digital channel power and C/N • NICAM and Teletext • 4:3 and 16:9 Formats • Full field and VITS • Computer Controlled • Front panel memories • Own Company Logo • Computer Monitor testers • Hand Held Models • Multi Standard. PAL. NTSC, SECAM • High Quality Construction MC 577 • Attractive Price Levels Analogue & Digital, Satellite & Terrestrial • Full After Sales Service Measures channel power and C/N • Available from Stock .949,4tfitle

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• jèfriet,

FOR TELEVISION PATTERN GENERATORS, PROLINK 3 + 4 PREMIUM Satellite & Terrestrial, Analogue & Digital, THERE'S NO WIDER CHOICE THAN WITH PROMAX Spectrum Analyser with BER (optional on P3) PROMAX [Alban] AA 930 AUDIO ANALYSER ALBAN ELECTRONICS LIMITED THE PROMAX SERVICE CENTRE 17:•••ZI- ii11111 6 Caxton Centre, Porters Wood, St. Albans, Hertfordshire, AL3 6XT. TA 903B II II UP . TEL: 01727 832266 FAX: 01727 810546 CRT r W EB : www.albanelectronics.co.uk REJUVENATOR 0 0 • Ore • EMAIL: infoealbanelectronics.co.uk a t SALES + SERVICE + CALIBR ATION