Loan of a ~1953 Pye Television in working order requested for Coronation ...

[KesterLester]

Originally Posted by rambo1152

If your set was actually manufactured in 1953, and not earlier, it was probably the classic Pye V4 "Washboard".

Thank you. The nickname 'washboard' seems very appropriate!

[murphyv310]

Hi.
I've not read this thread in depth TBH.
My suggestion is to engage a competent restorer or TV engineer that has a Pye V4 or slightly older model, he should bring it and set it up and be on hand if there is any problem. You need a good knowledge of vintage TV and valves etc rather than trying to sort out an issue on your own.
Signals can be terrestrial free view or via a dish and freesat with the receiver that has composite video and audio output . You then need an Aurora or Hedghog 625 to 405 line standard converter.

There is another way that will work but very few here have tried this method, live streaming via the Internet is possible with a PC fitted with an ATI Radeon 2400 XT graphics card when programmed with the 405 line Modelines gives a 405 signal via a little patch circuit to a modulator to give the set the proper RF to the aerial socket of the TV.

One thing to bear in mind is collector's don't like loaning sets out, this has been done in the past to the Broadcasters and they often are returned faulty or damaged. The set will run for hours, a set of its age, 70 at the time most likely, won't be wonderfully happy to run for 4 or more hours.
I personally would only do it if I could oversee the whole thing.
Best of luck with this.

[KesterLester]

Originally Posted by murphyv310

My suggestion is to engage a competent restorer or TV engineer that has a Pye V4 or slightly older model, he should bring it and set it up and be on hand if there is any problem.

[snip]

One thing to bear in mind is collector's don't like loaning sets out, ... [snip] ... I personally would only do it if I could oversee the whole thing.

I entirely agree. My use of the word "loan" in my original post title may have been a poor choice of words as it might imply that I was looking only for the loan of a machine, whereas I entirely agree that the expertise (and presence) of the owner would be at least as important for all the reasons you suggest. I don't have a Pye TV to loan out, but if I was asked to loan out my harpsichord I would feel just the same way.

[petertheorgan]

Hi Kester,
all of the comments that have been made above are helpful , I am one of the television curators at the vintage wireless and television museum at Dulwich and would be prepared to help ,
I have sent you a private message
regards
Peter

[Brigham]

I doubt that the Fellows would be satisfied with pretending to watch the Coronation on a 1953 set.

Surely there must be a Cambridge man in the 'hobby' who will take his gear over, just for the day?

[broadgage]

Whatever arrangement is finally selected, I would suggest that a modern TV set should be available, connected, and ready for instant use as a standby in case of any fault or failure.

I would go so far as to select a 12 volt DC modern set, a well charged battery, and with a suitable aerial, so as to protect against almost any failure.

The internet or data signal might fail, use the modern portable with direct off air reception.
The equipment used to translate the modern digital signal into a suitable form for the vintage set might fail.
The vintage TV might go wrong.
The mains electricity supply might fail, hence a battery set.

The Coronation will be of great importance, and it would be a great pity to miss it for want of a modern set as a spare.

[KesterLester]

Update:

1. Via persons on this thread I have had very kind and helpful public and private offers for assistance and equipment. Those offers will almost certainly solve the coronation "plan" outlined in the start of this post. I extend my thanks to people who have made those offers, and I look forward to continuing with all those plans.
2. After starting this thread, I thought I should try to accumulate some materials that could be useful "just in case they would come in handy". That process of acquisition has progressed much faster than I expected. As a result, a high-risk-high-return possibility has opened up which had not crossed my mind when I started this thread: namely that I might be able to attempt to 'independently' enact a smaller version of the whole "coronation plan" but just myself and for this Monday in time for the funeral instead of the coronation.
3. The main thing standing between me an success for this unexpected Monday objective is (perhaps not unsurprisingly) the lack of a standards converter. As already mentioned, I have generous offers for loans of converters and experience that will work for the "Coronation plan", all of which I am very much looking froward to progressing. But on the riskier, newer, and unexpected "Monday/Funeral" plan, I am still short of a converter.

This leads me to ask whether there are people within 1 hour's drive of Cambridge who might consider loaning a converter to me if I were to drive and pick it up on Sunday. Please PM me if you would consider this. [ I am aware of likely sources of loanable converters that are further away than 1 hour's drive, but I don't think it's sensible of me to set out on national jaunt for what is really just a fun idea that's getting slightly out of hand. I ought to impose some limits on myself or this will get out of hand! And this is why I am not re-asking people who have already kindly offered items. ]. Having said this, I am driving to Norwich today to pick up the most important piece of Pye kit -- so I could potentially detour a little bit on the way back, so places close to Attleborough/Thetford are easier today than would otherwise be the case on Sunday.

To be clear: in correspondence with Crowthorne I am aware that I can procure a converter in a more conventional manner by Wednesday and the Royal Mail. That seems like a sensible longer term plan I should now follow -- (unless I were to go down the HackRF/HackTV route, which seems less popular and less well supported, but which has a number of features that I like and which I am therefore still investigating). But my post today is just attempting to find out if there is a friendly converter-owner who happens to be very close to Cambridge .(or between Cambridge and Norwich)... and who might not mind a visit this weekend -- so that I can attempt to succeed in an admittedly frivolous game I seem to have unexpectedly created for myself.

Since today's post is in danger of getting very close to an "equipment wanted" one, I was in two minds about whether I should post in a different thread in the wanted forum. I hope my decision to repost to the end of this thread is acceptable. I don't want to abuse the forum's format or purposes. The fact that there is a "game" (of sorts) here, related to a national event, gives me perhaps some leeway, even if the game is one of my own creation!

Best wishes.

Christopher

[KesterLester]

Am pleased to have got something working (see picture) so I can put this thread (and myself) to bed now. Thank you to all those who've helped me make progress here. Much more progress than I expected in so short a time. I look forward to seeing some of you again in events planned for the future.

[paulsherwin]

Excellent result.

Your picture does show a 16:9 image letterboxed onto a 4:3 screen. This may be acceptable, but it may look better if you can zoom the image to fill the screen. This obviously involves discarding the left and right portions of the 16:9 image. Your ability to even do this will depend on your video source.

[Nickthedentist]

Like the clock too.