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Old 17th Jan 2015, 2:21 pm   #61
Alan Stepney
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I am sure that many here will recall the terrible winter of 62-83.
At that time I was working for Plesseys at their Havant factory.

Some months earlier I had decided to earn some extra money so went round all the radio/TV shops in the area. From 6 calls I was offered 5 jobs, so took the one that looked easiest and paid the best (in cash!). I then did a few hours most evenings plus Saturdays, and was soon earning more than Plesseys were paying me (and I had a good job there.)

Move forward to that winter.
Roads were blocked and many firms just stopped doing calls, except for those in the centre of towns.
The firm I was working for not only continued to do calls in rural West Sussex/Hampshire, but also got the engineers to take boxes of groceries and medicines from the local grocers & chemists, while they were in some remote village or other.

I had some time off from Plessey, so spent my days doing the same.
How we managed to get round when roads were blocked (officially) and other companies couldn't, I can't explain but we did.

The end result was that that company picked up loads of customers who were so impressed with the service plus the fact that we had undertaken deliveries too.
Plus, masses of substantial tips from grateful people.

When the snow cleared I wasn't sure if I was pleased to be getting back to normal, or just sorry that the tips had ended.
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Old 17th Jan 2015, 2:39 pm   #62
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My area was West Dorset and East Devon.
That sounds like a rather inefficient use of resources !
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Old 17th Jan 2015, 3:25 pm   #63
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The winter 62/63, I was on aerial duty, not much fun on the slippery roofs even with roof ladders, still H&S is not what it used to be.
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Old 17th Jan 2015, 3:41 pm   #64
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Yes Alan, I remember that winter. Being based out in the sticks I was unable to get out for a couple of days. Had to walk across fields to get milk. A huge artic lorry got stuck in the lane and was there for days. Just where the driver went I know not.
Looks as though you were able to do a few good turns whilst fixing TVs.
Collecting overdue accounts was a chore I did not welcome, but puts me in mind of one call. No cash was forthcoming, only a few choice words from the customer. Just as the door shut, a small boy came up the drive bawling his eyes out. Seems he was lost, but managed to tell me where he lived.
"Hop in the van", I said.
A mile down the road the youngster ran happily up his drive and in the front door.
I wonder how such a situation would be dealt with today. Would be a question of trying to pacify a tearful youngster at arm's length, while waiting for the police.
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Old 17th Jan 2015, 4:24 pm   #65
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As a teenager I had been repairing jumble sale radio's and TV's, plus building my own radio equipment. I started working as a Radio and TV engineer in 1966. The company I worked for, Weatherheads, didn't pay well, and they were often engineers short. I remember when I was helping out at their Berkhamsted branch. I was a 3rd year apprentice, and the other engineers were a 1st year apprentice and an apprentice in his 5th final year. I went on a service call to Stirling Moss's mothers large house in Tring. I've always got on well with dogs, but there I was attacked by her Chihuahua. It went for my ankles, and had its teeth into the bottom of my trousers as she came back into the room. At that moment I was trying to shake the viscous rat like thing off me. She later complained to the shop manager. Most dogs were no trouble.

I later worked for Visionhire and then Rumbelows. I left the trade in the late 1970's. I did carry on repairing TV's and audio equipment privately in a small way for around another 10 years. From TV servicing I then worked on industrial controllers, then for a defence contractor, first as a test engineer, then in the engineering department. I then worked for some time for a service company repairing switch mode power supplies, 8" floppy drives, printers, and then computer monitors in a big way, for Sun Microsystems, ICL Worldwide Spares, IBM, Radius, Sigma Designs and many other manufacturers. For some time now I've been a service technician working for an Apple Authorised Service Provider. At work I only turn the soldering iron on on average once a month, and not for Apple products. Most Apple products are repaired by modular exchange. Some years ago I returned to a hobby of mine I was last interested in during 1960's and early 1970's, amateur radio, building modern semiconductor kit and restoring valve radios and transceivers. I currently have a backlog of Eddystone and KW kit queuing up for when I retire. It's been an interesting career. I gather TV servicing as a trade is dead.
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Old 17th Jan 2015, 5:31 pm   #66
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Hi Steve. Know what you mean about dogs, the smaller they are often the snappier. I remember trading on a carboot once when a woman came by carrying one of those little ones which was growling in sheer fury as though it hated the whole world. I stood there with a grin, she looked across with the comment:
"Yes, I know, he's the boss!"
I left the trade in 1980, when TV's were becoming software driven. Somehow I've never taken an interest in that method of controlling things, clever though it is. If I make a receiver, then it has to be tuned by a standard gang and have hard switching. I do use chips but sparingly, mainly because the finished article takes up less space and power. My only reason for taking ther back off our set here was to connect an extension speaker for my wife who is gettig a bit hard of hearing. I was amazed to find there was so little inside.
I can go back to the days of heavy consoles when EHT was transformer driven, 7KV with .5mfd resevoir capacitor. Absolutely lethal.
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Old 17th Jan 2015, 5:42 pm   #67
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Quote:
Originally Posted by techiesteve View Post
I went on a service call to Stirling Moss's mothers large house in Tring. I've always got on well with dogs, but there I was attacked by her Chihuahua.
Strange-but-true: in the very-early-1980s I did the wireless-mics for a motorsport-event at which Stirling Moss was the compere.

During the presentations, there was an almighty CRASH!

One of the hostesses delivering drinks to a table had tripped and dropped a half-dozen glasses of champagne.

Mr. Moss, seeing the unfortunate hostess in a state of spectacular embarrassment with the entire assembled throng staring at her, defused the situation by announcing on the PA:

"Let me say '~B****R~' for you".

There was a round of applause - and the inconvenienced hostess took a bow.

That's truly the kind of guy Stirling is.
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Old 18th Jan 2015, 9:49 am   #68
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The dog incident reminded me of David, my aerial man, he didn't get on with dogs for some reason, he used to tell me what a vicious dog a particular customer had and when I had been there I didn't remember seeing a dog, it was probably there but I didn't take any notice of them but they always used to seek him out.

He went to a house near Stockland Hill aerial and was chased from the property by a rather aggressive sounding German Shepherd, when I went there, I did notice the dog but it hid behind the settee. We have had a long line of Shepherds but he got on alright with ours.

I also had the experience of being attached to small dogs, several of them on this occasion, this was at a farm as a large proportion of my calls were, I was just in the process of trying to remove the dogs from my right trouser leg with my left foot - when the customer opened the door.

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Old 18th Jan 2015, 11:06 am   #69
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It was cold enough when I was on the Coop TV van for a short period during Xmas 1966 but I recall the Winter of 1962-63 as being particularly harsh [posts 61-64] I was just a schoolboy then. On the other hand, as I remember, everyone seemed to pretty much just grin and bear it [remnants of war time stoic attitudes?].

Most people will have forgotten already how cold it was in the 2012-13 winter.
Combined with rail problems a friend visiting from Canada took all day to get from Victoria Station to the South Coast here, post Xmas. Coincidentally the Beeb ran a Documentary made during the "Big Freeze" of 1963 the same day, to Mark 50 years! This graphically illustrated the struggles which went on and on towards Spring that year. Locomotives were being dug out of the snow and desperate appeals made for householders to put out milk bottles buried beneath the snow as Dairies weren't getting the usual "returns". Postmen and Milkmen etc just seemed to struggle on [perhaps assisted by TV repair guys as describe].

I'm still not sure whether [pun] the Beeb had the film scheduled in the first place or they just decided to run it? It didn't seem to be listed generally.
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Old 18th Jan 2015, 11:38 am   #70
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These stories are great reading. I was still at school in the winter of 62-63, but I certainly recall all the roads being frozen up and the bus service stopping. Still had to walk the mile to school though!
I love the story about Stirling Moss. It started me thinking of the various famous faces I met during my years in the trade (69 - 89).

I installed a new all-singing and dancing Panasonic telly at the home of Mike Summerbee. He was there at the time and he was in the process of setting up his new business in the clothing profession. Somewhat brusque.
I went out to fix Eddie Large's N1500 video recorder. A nice bloke, but he wouldn't shut up!
I made an audio lead up for (not very) famous Radio One DJ Dave Eager. Very nice bloke who couldn't believe I remembered him sitting-in for Tony Blackburn.
Had a pint with Frankie Vaughan (although he didn't drink) after I had video taped him doing a charity presentation. Another really nice chap.
Are we allowed to mention Jimmy Savile? I set up an AV presentation for him. He was there, but it was almost impossible to penetrate his 'owz about that guys and gals' patter. He never lowered his facade.
Met Keith Allen when he was doing a voice over for a CH4 documentary about a (shhhh) pirate radio station I was involved with. I won't say anything about him, except that he took us round the corner and treated us to a sausage butty. Ahem.
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Old 18th Jan 2015, 12:08 pm   #71
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Cold weather had an effect on TV too. I wonder if those who worked in the fifties remember the tea time fade out. Overloaded power stations shed the load with voltage reductions, and coupled with the drop in local power lines this could amount to 10% or more. OK if the TV was relatively new, but failing emission in valves would be greatly enhanced with just a small reduction in heater voltage.
Shops would get frantic calls from viewers with anything from frame roll to total fade out, and were unable to understand why the TV should go down, when the lights remained on, albeit a touch dimmer, only to go back to normal later in the evening. Replacing a number of valves would often cure the problem, but engineers had to be diplomatic about the cost. Adjusting the mains tap was another method, but care was needed here in case the set was oveloaded later on.
I used to try and explain why sets behaved in this way, all the while estimating the family's possible financial status. For those who clearly could not afford a PL81, 2-EF80s, and a PCL83 all in one go, I had to advise they leave the TV off until the peak demand had passed, and until they had finished with the cooker.

Another power surge was caused by thousands of kettles going on at end of programmes, but that was relatively short lived. Now with a vast number of channels the load at those times is more evenly spread.
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Old 18th Jan 2015, 12:26 pm   #72
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Back in the 80's we had a prolonged power surge in West Cornwall in the Helston area, RNAS Culdrose clocked around 280/290 volts, ITT spares dept. didn't believe us when we told them how many LT transformers we needed for replacement in their tellies.

Reservoir capacitors also suffered (amongst other things) but a lot of problems didn't manifest until later on.

SWEB forked out for a lot of fridges/freezers etc.

Lawrence.

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Old 18th Jan 2015, 12:33 pm   #73
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Another power surge was caused by thousands of kettles going on at end of programmes, but that was relatively short lived. Now with a vast number of channels the load at those times is more evenly spread.
Are you sure? The advertisement breaks seem to be timed to occur at the same time on all stations. Surf around in an advert break, and every other station seems to be showing adverts. No doubt this is all part of the broadcasters' effort to keep the real paying customers (i.e., the advertisers) happy by making sure they get the eyes they paid for even if you try flicking away .....

I suppose, though, with advertisement breaks so much less than a whole cup of tea apart, there's some room for diversity there because not every kettle will be turned on during the same break.
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Old 18th Jan 2015, 1:01 pm   #74
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Another power surge was caused by thousands of kettles going on at end of programmes

A little OT but a company I worked for had a number of large IBM computers. It was decided that it was necessary to know how much power they consumed, probably to see if the standby genny was up to it. So it was announced that at a particular time one day the IBMs would be turned off and the power consumption drop measured. In fact the consumption went up. The next day a memo went round banning private kettles.

Gordon
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Old 18th Jan 2015, 1:04 pm   #75
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Remembering the Emley Moor TV mast collapsing in March 1969; being in Ilkley West Yorks, we had many aerial jobs come in.

As usual the apprentices (i.e me and my associate Lionel) had to go out with the nominated engineer at the time.
Mostly Ilkley was ok as we had the relay, but out of the town and surrounding areas such as Otley, Burley, Addingham etc were not so lucky; manic was not the word, sheer bedlam may be nearer. The first temp mast "60 metres" was reasonable, but when the second at 90 metres went up, it made some customers totally without signals.
Fortunately the present tower came into service in January 1971.

Mike.. you really started something with this thread.
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Old 18th Jan 2015, 1:50 pm   #76
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The "power urge at TV shutdown" I remember was during the 3 day weeks of the 1970's. Originally BBC and ITV switched off at the same time (10.30?), but they soon had to stagger shut down to smooth out the electric kettle power surge.
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Old 18th Jan 2015, 2:10 pm   #77
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OK on the power surge Lawrence. Must have caused a great number of headaches, and as you say side effects would rear heads later on. I was spared that type of thing, but do remember Electicity Board engineers made a mistake while working on a village supply and got the phases mixed up, shoving 440 volts down the line. Caused quite a rumpus.
I once had a call from a lady who ran a small guest house to say they were getting shocks off the taps. I told her not to let guests use the bathroom, and that I would be right over.
On arrival I found the plumbing 240 volts above physical earth outside and that the immersion heater to be the problem. Once this was disconnected all returned to normal, but I was concerned the fuses did not blow. A poke around the meter area revealed a main earth link disconnected, and the cable was brand new. Seemed the Board had been working there a few days previously, and had omitted the final connection.
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Old 18th Jan 2015, 2:19 pm   #78
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Yes you have a point there AJS. I should have mentioned that modern TVs are far more tolerant of voltage reductions, and failing valve emission is a thing of the past. I think that with use of PVRs these days, that in itself probably helps to spread things out. No doubt there could be a surge come half time on a cup final.
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Old 18th Jan 2015, 2:30 pm   #79
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Yes Wendy, I remember the Emley Moor Mast going down. Didn't affect me of course, but it's your area. Bet you were busy! That must have been a truly dreadful night.
Our local mast is at Mendlesham and used to carry the 405 line service from Anglia TV. When 405 closed down a scrap dealer came to me with a proposal. Seems he'd heard mistakenly that the mast was being offered for sale for £1 to the one who was prepared to drop it! It was a laugh at the time, and of course the mast is still alive today and provides other services.
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Old 18th Jan 2015, 4:38 pm   #80
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We experienced a severe power reduction in the '50s. A new estate had just been built on the outskirts of Orpington, we had a number out sets out there and were getting complaints of frame roll, line going out of lock and pictures shrinking, culminating in complete loss of reception at times.

We didn't twig what the problem was at first because we were not made aware that it was time sensitive, numerous checks during the day proved fruitless, so I was put on evening shift, suffice it to say that the mains was dropping to 180 volts at the worst times.

I seem to remember that a lot of the problem was caused by the new estate being tagged on to an existing transformer that wasn't up to the job, as it was eventually cured I think they must have installed another sub station.

Strange isn't it, a modern set would work quite happily on 180 Volts.

Peter

PS I too remember the emley moor mast collapsing, we had a PMR mast fall down not far from here. I believe there was a film of the building of the present mast I saw somewhere - although it may have been on TV.
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