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Old 16th Feb 2019, 11:06 pm   #1
slidertogrid
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Default Pye K30

Hi all I thought I would share my latest acquisition. I didn't go looking it sort of found me!

I have very fond memories of the Pye / Philips K30 I had loads of them back in the 1980's, in my opinion one of the best sets from the Philips group excellent pictures reliable and a very long life. we had sets out well into the 1990's . We fitted tubes to some when they got past their best as we knew there was a few more years to be had from the chassis. The horrid Amstrad "superwide" was often the donor!
Anyway my phone rang and a mate who is a bit of a skip diver asked did I want an old telly? Its a wood Pye , ropy cabinet and dumped beside a skip...

He sent me a picture to my phone and I recognised it as a K30.
My first thoughts were that it was much too 'New' but then on second thoughts it was 35 or so years old now … it was free... might be fun to have a look at one again after all these years... I bet I haven't worked on one for at least 20 years..
Go on then I said save it

A couple of hours later I had a very mucky rough old K30 on my dining room table!
Looking at the chassis revealed a set that was cleaner inside than out and looked as if it hadn't ever had any repairs.
I removed the anode cap and cleaned the tube the cap had been arcing to a label with the model number printed on it that had been stuck on the tube very near the cap.
I removed the burnt remains of the label and cleaned the cap removing some minor burn marks from the lip.
I then dried the set out a bit with a hair drier checked the plug and switched on.
The set sprung into life and very soon I had a slightly purple snowy raster.

I connected my colour bar generator and after a while the tube warmed up and the greyscale got a lot better.
The tube is not perfect but it's good enough, no doubt a long run will see further improvement.
The set will clean up it will want the wood effect sticky back plastic replacing but considering where it came from it has escaped relatively unscathed, no broken buttons or scratches on the screen.
It's nice to see an old K30 again!

The first picture is the one my mate sent to my phone, the poor old thing...

Rich
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Old 16th Feb 2019, 11:11 pm   #2
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Default Re: Pye K30

Hopefully this is a picture of the chassis
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Old 16th Feb 2019, 11:35 pm   #3
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Default Re: Pye K30

These sets had a chassis with little problems, but enough cracked solder around the LOPT to keep me in business.

The tubes were either soft/bad or fantastic. Was there a prpduction fault on a series of these tubes?
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Old 16th Feb 2019, 11:50 pm   #4
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Default Re: Pye K30

Hi Hans
Yes I had forgotten about the dry joints on the LOPT Not as bad as the G11 Though.. Dry joints just about everywhere!

I think some tubes were a bit underrun on the heaters which caused them to look a bit low, the KT3 suffered the same.

The heater chokes on the CRT base could be shortened slightly or a bit of the ferrite core removed to give the heaters a bit of a lift this often resulted in a complete cure for a low tube for years. The secret was to only 'adjust' the coils slightly. I saw some sets sold off by ex rental disposal shops where one or both coils had been shorted out completely with a wire link this resulted in very bright heaters. they didn't last long like that...

Rich.
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Old 16th Feb 2019, 11:51 pm   #5
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Default Re: Pye K30

Hi Rich,

Great write up, skip find tellies make up a good deal of my collection. What's not to like, the price is right and if it's a total disaster I can dispose of it properly at the weee centre after removing any useful parts. My latest find was a KT3, only work it needed was a plug fitted!

Here's to many more skip finds, cheers!

John Joe.
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Old 16th Feb 2019, 11:53 pm   #6
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Default Re: Pye K30

I'll drink to that
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Old 17th Feb 2019, 1:27 am   #7
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Default Re: Pye K30

Another one saved, a worthy set at that!
I have seen my fair share of these sets with soft tubes unfortunately. The Philips version was very common in Spain. The 17" (or was it 16") ones were plentiful too, I have a couple stashed away.
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Old 17th Feb 2019, 6:51 am   #8
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Default Re: Pye K30

Yes the KT3 was the small screen version of this chassis available as a 14" 16" or 20" with a PIL tube and a tripler rather than a diode split LOPT. They were almost as reliable, the tripler being the commonest cause of breakdowns.
The green 4R7 surge limiter resistor failing was another easy fix that was a fairly common fault. You didn't need to test it there was a little black tell tale spot on the body of a failed resistor

I remember when I had my TV shop used colour portables were always in demand. I managed to find some 16" KT3 portables that had been used as viewdata terminals, I think they came out of bookies shops.
They were exactly the same as the standard portable but had no tuner or IF modules fitted, the decoder / RGB module was different being wired for the video input. The front panel had no push button unit or tuner pot drawer fitted. However the front of the cabinet was the same as standard set though with a standard size hole for the front control escutcheon.

A front control assembly with tuner pot drawer from a 20" set fitted perfectly.
All that was needed was a 20" donor set with a flat tube this provided the parts needed to convert the terminal into a telly. Everything plugged in so the conversion was dead easy.

I cannot remember when this was but the sets must have been fairly old by then as there was no shortage of ex rental donor scrap sets.
They were converted a few at a time as the scrap 20" sets became available and sold very well. the portable tubes always seemed to last well and they gave very good pictures.
Happy days !
Rich.

Last edited by slidertogrid; 17th Feb 2019 at 6:59 am.
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Old 17th Feb 2019, 10:07 am   #9
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Default Re: Pye K30

I have a couple of these in my collection. We sold literally hundreds of these sets, mostly Pye 1060 22", some with remote and/or teletext. The issue with the 4R7 surge limiter resistors seemed to occur on sets made around 1981/2 and included all the K30 and KT3 series II versions, as well as the CTX-E chassis. Word is that Philips used a duff batch of these resistors as it was never a problem with the original sets that were made around 1979/80. Nearly every week, i used to visit Philips Service in Victoria Street, Bristol and present them with a handful of 4R7 wirewound resistors as well as 2 or 3 remote handsets. Again, the handsets used on the later sets (RC4001 and RC5001) were notorious for buttons breaking away. The later RC5991 series handsets were far more satisfactory all round.
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Old 17th Feb 2019, 10:37 am   #10
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Default Re: Pye K30

I used to have one of these with the remote and teletext control panel when I was about 12! Came from the tip for £2, back when they were allowed to sell stuff, I had been pestering my Dad to get me an old telly to try and fix up, only thing was it just needed a new mains lead and then it worked perfectly! It unfortunately went back to the top later on an enforced clear out I’d love to find another, but now I don’t have space for one, I’d have to get rid of a few things before one could come in. Pleased you saved this one!

Regards
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Old 17th Feb 2019, 8:35 pm   #11
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Default Re: Pye K30

Well worth saving, these were very good sets, in fact I still have the 16" portable version that was given to me over 20 years ago!

The cabinet should be no problem, I have spruced up many cabinets with a roll of Fablon!

Mark
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Old 17th Feb 2019, 9:00 pm   #12
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Default Re: Pye K30

Quote:
Originally Posted by Vectamart View Post
Word is that Philips used a duff batch of these resistors as it was never a problem with the original sets that were made around 1979/80.
Hi

I often wondered whether that was the case as I never had to replace that surge limiting resistor on early examples of the KT3/K30. I loved the K30, it was a joy to repair and very little went wrong with that chassis, dry joints being the main issue. I recall having to replace the thick film focus unit on a few occasions and the odd line output transistor fault probably brought on by dry joints in the line output stage. The diode split LOPT was totally reliable and never had to replace one.
Again, it was a quality issue with early 30AX tubes, once sorted these tubes lasted very well. Agreed about the 14" and 16" tubes in the KT3 they lasted well not like the A51 570X 20" version.

EDIT: My Pye 14" KT3 Edition II still has a pin sharp picture with its original A37 556X tube.

Regards,
Symon

Last edited by Philips210; 17th Feb 2019 at 9:05 pm. Reason: Additional info
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Old 18th Feb 2019, 9:45 am   #13
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Default Re: Pye K30

Quote:
Originally Posted by slidertogrid View Post
The heater chokes on the CRT base could be shortened slightly or a bit of the ferrite core removed to give the heaters a bit of a lift this often resulted in a complete cure for a low tube for years. The secret was to only 'adjust' the coils slightly. I saw some sets sold off by ex rental disposal shops where one or both coils had been shorted out completely with a wire link this resulted in very bright heaters. they didn't last long like that...
This was common practice where I worked part time during my college years.

The shop sold either new B-grade Samsung or ex rental TVs. We would get the ex-rentals by the truck load and there would be all sorts in there, a real mixed bag. Any with low tubes were 'adjusted' as you describe. If they had had some 'adjustment' to the coils, this was known as a half-mod, completely shorted coils was known as a full-mod.

Any with shorted coils and heater glowing like a 60W lamp went on the shelf for £29.99 with a 3 month warranty, and with the 'half-mod' went up for £59.99 with a 6 month warranty.

Most seemed to go for around 6 months with a full short, We had a few regulars that would come a buy a £29.99 set every 6 months as it worked out cheaper than renting, and we would dispose of the old set for them (cannibalise it for good parts and skip the rest).
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Old 19th Feb 2019, 10:08 am   #14
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Default Re: Pye K30

I like that half mod or full mod... read as half knackered tube ..full knackered...
I think over the years a lot of sets were written off when a slight tweak on the tube heaters would have got a few more years out of them.
I bought a load of PYE 725 chassis sets ex rental they were about 5 years old at the time and were sold off as the tubes were past their best. The first I looked at had very dim heaters.
I found On the CRT base there was two 2R2 carbon resistors is parallel these were flaking their paint and had risen in value somewhat.
I fitted a 1 ohm wirewound and ran the sets on test within an hour or two the tubes had recovered. I sold and rented them and had years out of the rentals.
The thorn 3000/3500 even had a "boost tap" on the mains transformer to help get the most out of the tube.
Later on most sets had a Heater resistor of some description (TX9/10 Panasonic 30AX Etc) which if was lowered a bit could often improve an aging tube, If the set was old anyway what was there to lose ?
As far as shorting both coils and flogging the set as a magic lantern... no I never went that far...

Rich.
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Old 20th Feb 2019, 9:21 am   #15
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Default Re: Pye K30

Quote:
Originally Posted by slidertogrid View Post
I like that half mod or full mod... read as half knackered tube ..full knackered...

Later on most sets had a Heater resistor of some description (TX9/10 Panasonic 30AX Etc) which if was lowered a bit could often improve an aging tube, If the set was old anyway what was there to lose ?
It still worked with the later sets, Halve the resistance value was half mod, Short it out completely was full mod.

I remember doing the "half mod" on my granddads old TV set. He thought it was like some kind of magic how I had made his telly "like new" in just a couple of minutes. Of course he told all his mates at the social club and they all wanted their tellies to be made 'better' even though most of them were almost new and had absolutely nothing wrong with them.
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Old 20th Feb 2019, 10:54 am   #16
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Default Re: Pye K30

The K30 was great as was the KT3, though they weren't too keen on damp conditions - some even wore grooves in the CRT around the anode cap! As in the OP, we kept lots of the 22" versions going with donor tubes from the Amstrad 2200 which were like new as the chassis never lasted long enough to wear one out!
The KT3's A51-570 was a bit of a disaster as mentioned, and I'm sure we all experimented with other tubes to see if one would work - they didn't! The odd KT3 had a Matsushita tube that lasted forever, and it was worth looking in the backs of the sets in the disposal houses for sets with that tube - or a rare Mullard that hadn't had the aforementioned 'modification'!
The K35 was excellent as well, but the K40 with its numerous variants and baffling manual wasn't quite so welcome a visitor to the workshop.
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Old 20th Feb 2019, 6:03 pm   #17
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Default Re: Pye K30

No I wasn't so keen on the K40, we still had lots though, The usual story with non Japanese manufacturers each subsequent model has to be worse than the one it replaced... "The British disease"
The K40 had a nasty dry joint on the LTB panel that set fire to the plastic chassis frame reinforcer and made a hole in the back.

The Philips advice was to re solder the dry joints and snip the reinforcer off so if it did go up in smoke it (hopefully) didn't set fire to the chassis frame...

Rich.
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Old 20th Feb 2019, 8:02 pm   #18
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Default Re: Pye K30

Hi.

There was an isolated and non isolated version of both the KT4 and K40. The 'System 4' sets were always less common than the KT3 and K30 and I found that some spares were quite pricey. One other issue with the K30, KT4 and K40 was the screened EHT lead which could break down mainly due to damp.

I had a set fitted with the KT4 chassis with the CRT's aquadag earth strap hanging down on the power board. The plastic clips fitted to the rimband had become brittle and snapped. Unfortunately, the line processor IC (expensive) was defective as a result. The set was scrapped but it had a good A51 570X CRT that went in a nice KT3 set.
Another KT4 with frequency synthesis tuning (TRD IV) required an expensive micro controller IC due to the EHT arcing over.

Regards
Symon
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Old 21st Feb 2019, 10:51 am   #19
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Default Re: Pye K30

The K30 and K40 suffered from brittle clips - cable ties were the answer unless the dangling strap had met some volts! I remember the first K40 I had to repair caused me confusion with the huge 'System 4' manual unhelpful in finding the line driver - as you know it's on the power board in isolated chassis sets. Would have been easy except for all those yellow supplements - in contrast the K30 and its predecessors has excellent blue manuals with big circuit diagrams and colour coding. As usual the better the manual the less likely you were to require it!
As said above, arcing was a big problem. I had a text PCB from a late KT3 which I sent off to MCES for repair at a reasonable price. I received it back repaired with a terse note telling me all the chips had failed! Well, I sort of guessed that....
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Old 21st Feb 2019, 12:40 pm   #20
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Default Re: Pye K30

Quote:
Originally Posted by Welsh Anorak View Post
I remember the first K40 I had to repair caused me confusion with the huge 'System 4' manual unhelpful in finding the line driver - as you know it's on the power board in isolated chassis sets. Would have been easy except for all those yellow supplements - in contrast the K30 and its predecessors has excellent blue manuals with big circuit diagrams and colour coding. As usual the better the manual the less likely you were to require it!
Unfortunately, the KT3 and K30 CTV chassis manuals were the last to be produced by Philips in the UK. The System 4 manual came from Philips in the Netherlands (I expect - at least not from the UK). The only useful thing about the System 4 manual was the multi-ringed blue A4 binder, which I used to store other Philips "continental style" manuals (e.g. N1500 and N1700).

Last edited by dazzlevision; 21st Feb 2019 at 12:42 pm. Reason: Additional text.
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