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Old 27th Apr 2020, 6:10 pm   #41
FERNSEH
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Default Re: The Ever-Ready experimental transistor TV set.

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Originally Posted by Welsh Anorak View Post
All this begs the obvious question - why were the first mainstream portable TVs (say the Thorn 1591 series) so power hungry?
In fact the Pye TT1 designed in 1960 consumes about the same power as the 1972 BRC 1590. The TT1 has a big 14" CRT which has the standard 6.3V 0.3amp heater and 38mm neck. The Cathodean C14-13A was said to be a special tube but I reckon it is electrically similar to the AW36-20.

That clever power supplier in the Ever-Ready set does require expensive high value smoothing capacitors. 5000microfarad capacitors were considered a big deal in 1963, too expensive for mass market products. Raising the frequency of the power oscillator would help matters.

DFWB.
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Old 27th Apr 2020, 10:58 pm   #42
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Default Re: The Ever-Ready experimental transistor TV set.

Hi David,
What a great little set! It seems strange to see such a square cornered tube!
Some really clever design work must have gone into that to get the best out of those early devices and with such a tiny power consumption!

Where on earth did you manage to find it?

I've enjoyed following your journey with the restoration and circuit description.

Many thanks for sharing it!

All the best
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Old 27th Apr 2020, 11:14 pm   #43
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Default Re: The Ever-Ready experimental transistor TV set.

What a great achievement to the designers of this set and to David, and a great piece of history saved and back in action for us to see again and enjoy.

Personally, the key for true portability is low power consumption and that sub 4w consumption is astonishing. Perhaps submit this restoration story to the BVWS bulletin.
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Old 30th Apr 2020, 1:08 pm   #44
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Default Re: The Ever-Ready experimental transistor TV set.

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What a great achievement to the designers of this set and to David, and a great piece of history saved and back in action for us to see again and enjoy.

Personally, the key for true portability is low power consumption and that sub 4w consumption is astonishing. Perhaps submit this restoration story to the BVWS bulletin.
Hi Dom,
certainly something to consider for the future but in the meantime the erratic vision AGC circuit must be sorted out. The AGC controlled first IF stage AF114 transistor will be replaced first.
As the board has to come out it might be good policy to replace all the AF114s in the five stage IF amplifier?

DFWB.
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Old 30th Apr 2020, 3:51 pm   #45
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Default Re: The Ever-Ready experimental transistor TV set.

Replaced the first IF amplifier transistor with a TFK AF134. A real improvement to AGC action. This is confirmed by adjusting the RF gain control, the contrast is maintained over a wide range of signal strength levels. However, that sync crushing problem still persists at lower contrast control settings.

https://www.radiomuseum.org/tubes/tube_af134.html

DFWB.
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Old 31st May 2020, 11:09 pm   #46
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Default Re: The Ever-Ready experimental transistor TV set.

How about this? The set is operating from eight AA dry cells.

DFWB.
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Old 1st Jun 2020, 9:27 am   #47
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Default Re: The Ever-Ready experimental transistor TV set.

...and just cheapo ones at that! I'm sure that set would have sold well, though perhaps would have been too expensive.
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Old 2nd Jun 2020, 1:04 pm   #48
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Default Re: The Ever-Ready experimental transistor TV set.

Well, that's brilliant!

ER had some capable designers in their development lab (look at the Sky Monarch), and now this.

Full marks to David, for saving it and making it work!
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Old 2nd Jun 2020, 3:02 pm   #49
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Default Re: The Ever-Ready experimental transistor TV set.

They can't defy the laws of physics though, so others should really have been able to match it. Probably with much greater resources too.
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Old 3rd Jun 2020, 1:09 am   #50
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Default Re: The Ever-Ready experimental transistor TV set.

What a brilliant little set, be interesting to see how long the AA's last.
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Old 3rd Jun 2020, 9:14 am   #51
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Default Re: The Ever-Ready experimental transistor TV set.

This has been a truly interesting restoration project - well done! Also congratulations to the design team - a wonderful piece of design work.

What puzzles me is what must have gone on behind the scenes at Ever Ready management level? The need for less power-hungry wider deflection angles had been one of drivers for new TV product development for years, with one of the few exceptions being high-end applications where function was (at that time) more important than form (eg., broadcast TV monitors). The marketing folk at Ever Ready - if there were any on this project - must have looked aghast at the set's depth. However, for a portable, does it matter so long as it's light weight?

I suspect that this was an engineer led project (nothing wrong with that), and that the marketing boys and arty 'designers' weren't involved until later (if at all). Could it have been a commercial success? I believe that with the right marketing it could have been because the running hours would have been unbeatable - at least for a while. Perhaps Ever Ready just saw this as a seed to inspire other manufacturers to develop their own versions using - of course - the Ever Ready battery!

This is a rare hardware insight into the development cycle of a TV product and it's much more than a 'might have been' - a little gem for historians to savour. I wonder if any records survive in the Ever Ready archives? A curious company, founded as the American Electrical Novelty & Manufacturing Company This looks like one of the novelties! Something of its story (noting the British off shoot) is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eveready_Battery_Company
The British off shoot here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britis...trical_Company

Many thanks for saving that set - it's such an interesting model and must have an interesting back-story.

Best regards,

Paul M
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Old 4th Jun 2020, 5:50 am   #52
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Default Re: The Ever-Ready experimental transistor TV set.

Maybe this is my age but I'm surprised that ever ready had the capability to make a tv, nevermind a state of the art one like this. The most advanced ever ready product I ever came across was those rubbish battery powered bike lights that snap off accidentally.

What did ever ready do, outside of torches, lamps and batteries?
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Old 4th Jun 2020, 7:34 am   #53
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Default Re: The Ever-Ready experimental transistor TV set.

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What did ever ready do, outside of torches, lamps and batteries?
Lots of radios. Search for Ever Ready on Radio Museum.
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Old 4th Jun 2020, 9:13 am   #54
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Default Re: The Ever-Ready experimental transistor TV set.

Good radios, at that.
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Old 4th Jun 2020, 9:15 am   #55
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Default Re: The Ever-Ready experimental transistor TV set.

As a boy I was given an Every Ready Sky Countess. It was lack luster in every way and would have run through HT and LT batteries at a prodigious rate if I had been rich enough or stupid enough to feed the thing. Great for battery sales but not for me.

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Old 4th Jun 2020, 3:48 pm   #56
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Default Re: The Ever-Ready experimental transistor TV set.

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What a brilliant little set, be interesting to see how long the AA's last.
Hi John Joe,
Today the set was switched on from 11:10 to 13.25. At switch-on the eight AA cell battery voltage was just over 12V. At the time of switch-off the voltage was down to 9.5V. But that's OK because the set will operate without any deterioration to performance with the supply as low as 8volts.

Peter-Scott wrote: "As boy I was given an Every Ready Sky Countess. It was lack luster in every way and would have run through HT and LT batteries at a prodigious rate if I had been rich enough or stupid enough to feed the thing. Great for battery sales but not for me"

Hi Peter,
And that was with the low consumption "96" series valves with 25mA filaments.

DFWB.

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Old 4th Jun 2020, 4:12 pm   #57
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Default Re: The Ever-Ready experimental transistor TV set.

PaulM wrote: "What puzzles me is what must have gone on behind the scenes at Ever Ready management level? The need for less power-hungry wider deflection angles had been one of drivers for new TV product development for years, with one of the few exceptions being high-end applications where function was (at that time) more important than form (eg., broadcast TV monitors). The marketing folk at Ever Ready - if there were any on this project - must have looked aghast at the set's depth. However, for a portable, does it matter so long as it's light weight?"

That long CRT is a strange thing. It has the standard 28.5mm neck with the eight pin B8H base. There is no first anode (accelerator electrode) but it is an auto focus gun assembly. Must check the heater current sometime, the voltage is 6.3V.
As it stands now the Company's bean counters wouldn't allow such an over engineered receiver to be put into full scale production, some means of simplifying the construction would have to be implemented. Also, the operating frequency of the power supply converter must be raised so that smaller smoothing capacitors can be employed. In 1964 capacitors with values of 5000microfarads were expensive and the Ever-Ready TV has five such capacitors.

Attachments show the CRT gun assembly.

DFWB.
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Old 4th Jun 2020, 4:31 pm   #58
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Default Re: The Ever-Ready experimental transistor TV set.

Been following this thread with nuch interest, it's an object lesson in economy and getting the most out of those early devices, where did this set come from?, four watts power consumption is remarkably good, i wonder if the design was too good, perhaps ever ready thought it wasn't going to make them any money in replacement batteries!, very well done and documented restoration.
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Old 4th Jun 2020, 4:58 pm   #59
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Default Re: The Ever-Ready experimental transistor TV set.

Hi Greg,
It came from the Ever-Ready works in Tanfield Lea, County Durham.
The set has been in my possession for more than fifteen years. There was a mention of the set in this Forum in 2013, or was 2015? There was so much alleged mystique about the circuits used in the set I decided to put off examining the receiver only when more spare time would be available. Then lockdown set me free to do the analysis of the circuits. What was in those mu-metal boxes? Now we know, the power supply transformer and the EHT supplier.
Gary, (System A) in this forum tells me if we hadn't saved the set it was destined for the trash can.
There is a rumour that another Ever-Ready TV is still in existence.

DFWB
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Old 4th Jun 2020, 6:25 pm   #60
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Default Re: The Ever-Ready experimental transistor TV set.

Thanks for the reply, it's a great set, and a very modern aquare display area, I'm glad it was saved from the skip, wonder where the other one is?.....
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