Tips, guides and reports for people repairing televisions and electronicequipment TELEVISION AND HOME ELECTRONICS REPAIR Berlin Radio Showreport Motor home installation work Simple NiCad pulse -charger Satellite PC Monitor TV VCR andDVD faults/ Altham 01282 683000 4* Anthony Tully n.7:17(717 -73T Components CPC plc Preston '..\\1* Calder Components Ballyhaise \ Heckmondwike 00353 494338100 08701 202530 A. ...,x.,,-,-- ---Wizard 01924 411089 Airifr7r Distributors 7.r ./..! t Manchester ' Irwin Electronics 0161 8725 438 ,. Sheffield '., ...:,,.,* -.,.. 0114 2739622 -4,`.,:t'"Yt,iVision Aids Ltd . 1:firAlg. Telford Seme Ltd V, 4 01952 273130 Wiltsgrove Ltd Melton Mowbray 01664 484000 5M9-75:.#r°9" .-.; i. Birmingham 0121 772 2733 Vas Electronics , .0. WillowVIr7C7.7ri7 Leicester Electronics yl 0116 266 4850 Birmingham 0870 600 0271 JJ Components London 020 8205 9055 Tidman Mail Order' Richmond 020 8948 3702 network, ou covered... ,One call to any of our UK distributors gives you access to the entire Classic -1-angeof components, from Remote controls and Mains switches to Transformers and Video parts. With superb technical and product knowledge they'll help you to quickly find the component you're after. For more information on the Classic range, contact your nearest distributor, call 01635 278678, visit us on the web at; www.classic-electronics.co.uk or email us at [email protected] [classic, Technical helpline 01635 278678 November 2001 Vol. 52, No. 1 3 Comment BBC in the digital age. 4 Teletopics ITV prepares for satellite transmission. Sony's new camcorder format. LG.Philips Displays introduces Cybertube CRTs. DVD recorders launched in the UK. 10 What a life Some TV and VCR faults, a moan about the state of TV programs and presentation, and a spoilt radio- cassette recorder design. Donald Bullock's servicing commentary. 12 Where's mobile TV going? Douglas Clarkson outlines progress on the emerging European standard for mobile television. Picture courtesy 30 Work on motor homes Ford Motor Company 16 The Internationale Motor homes offer many opportunities for installation work. Tom Baker describes step replacement with a Funkausstellung 2001 motorised version. Editor The IFA. held biennially in Berlin, is the world's largest consumer electronics exhibition, where many Martin Eccles 32 Letters Advantages of terrestrial digital TV. Vintage radio Consultant Editor repairs. Replacement audio transistors. Mechanical John A. Reddihough scanning. Group 34 DX and satellite reception Advertisement Terrestrial DX and satellite TV reception reports. Sales Executive Broadcasting and satellite band news. A new prospect Pat Bunce for DX reception: satellite VHF transmissions. Roger Burney reports. 0208 722 6028 Fax 0208 /70 201 6 38 TV fault finding Editorial Office 01782 870684 42 Monitors Fax 01782 878233 Guidance on repairing computer and other monitors. new developments are given their first public showing. This year's big themes included the Multimedia Home Note that we are unable to Platform, plasma displays. DVD recorders and hard- 44 VCR Clinic answer technical queries over disk video systems. George Colc reports. the telephone and cannot 46 Jack's workshop provide information on 21 Servicing the NEI CE25/CE28 A satellite installation problem - no Astra 2D signals. spares other than that given Digibox bugs. A hard -disk drive repair. series chassis in our Spares Guide. Alan Dent continues his fault-finding series on these chassis, this time dealing with the tuner, the signal 47 Test case 467 processing sections and the audio circuitry. 48 Satellite notebook 23 Help wanted Some digibox repairs. Digital TV channel update. 24 Simple Ni-Cad pulse charger Obtaining Euronews in different languages. Ian Field presents a simple Ni-Cad battery pulse- charger circuit based on the use of a conventional iron- 50 Web service cored mains transformer. A commercial unit could Useful web sites for TV professionals, technicians and easily be modified for pulse -charging by adding this enthusiasts. circuit. 53 Audio faults 26 DVD player servicing Hints and tips on repairing professional and consumer Next issue, dated In this third part of his current series K.F. Ibrahim equipment. describes the system control, AN decoder, audio December, on sale processing and user interface sections of a DVD player. 54 Next month in Television November 14th. 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Gmaieiters: Analogue 8 Digital compatible enabling quick and easy set up. lertestrial IV Comecters: Analogue 8 Digital competibCa These channel processors come Pi Modulators: Analogue 8 Digital together in an 'all -in -one' base unit Inliryklually programmable modules which contains all necessary High output laccil. cccessories for ease of ordering - Wall mounting at 19" tack rrount with lockable cabinet door. no additional items required. May we send you full details? ELC EAST LONDON COMPONENTS U.K. STOCKIST A Breakthrough 63 PLASHET GROVE, LONDON E6 lAD. J.W. Hardy in Headend Design ommunications TWO MINUTES WALK FROM UPTON PARK TUBE STATION JR HARDY COMMUNICATIONS, 231 Station Road, Birmingham 833 BBB Telephone: 0121 784 8478 Fox: 0121 789 7931 TEL: 020 8472 4871 FAX: 020 8503 5926 E-mail: [email protected] 2 TELEVISION November 2001 BBC in the digitalage rom its start the BBC has been a broadcaster in the fullest sense of became difficult, they couldn't pay the rent. Companies have also Fthe term: it devised transmission and reception equipment, built up been urged to outsource all sorts of other activities, with varying one of the first transmitting networks in the world, and provided consequences. Such ideas tend to go in cycles. No doubt the latest programming to feed the transmitters and make it worthwhile to generation of business consultants are urging their clients to take on construct (in the very early days) or buy reception equipment. the ownership of premises and so on. In the broadcasting field the Throughout its long and illustrious history, starting as the British ITC followed the trend by divesting itself of its engineering and Broadcasting Company in 1922 (with a staff of four!), becoming a transmission side to NTL. Now that NTL is in difficulties, the aerials public corporation in 1927, and up to the present time it has been at and transmission business has been put up for sale. The US the forefront of broadcasting technology. When the idea of digitising investment bank Goldman Sachs has been appointed to seek a trade signals first came to be considered, the BBC was at work investigatingbuyer. No one knows who will end up owning the ITV transmitters. the possibilities. There were two achievements in particular prior to This couldn't, surely, be the outcome that was envisaged? the age of digital signal transmission. The BBC at any rate remains a largely integrated organisation, By 1969 the BBC had devised and brought into operation for though management fads have created more than enough problems networking throughout the UK a sound -in -sync system (compress the for the Corporation in recent years. It is at present developing digital sound, digitise it and insert the result in the line sync pulse period). services and, some time back, presented proposals for new channels This reduced the number of transmission lines required (many rented to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. For four digital TV from the GPO, as it then was) and, at the same time, improved the and five digital radio channels to be precise. The government has sound quality (the bandwidth was increased from 10kHz to 14kHz). It now responded. Three of the TV channels (two children's channels involved practical implementation of the processes of signal sampling, and one, BBC4,-devoted mainly to the arts, science and current digitalisation and pulse code modulation - with the added advantage affairs, a replacement for BBC Knowledge) have been given the OK, of noise reduction. Not long after that BBC engineers went on to as have the five digital radio channels. But the proposed BBC3, an develop Ceefax. ITA engineers were working along the same lines entertainment channel aimed at those aged 16-34, as a replacement and came up with a similar idea, Oracle. Two such technologies for BBC Choice, has not been approved. The BBC was told that it would obviously make life unnecessarily difficult for the setmakers has not made a good enough case.