PYE V4 and B18T Jubilee

[Heatercathodeshort]

My PYE V4 service manual is dated Jan 1953. They must have sold in large numbers in time for the Coronation in June of that year. They would have been especially popular in districts remote from the transmitters due to the Automatic Picture Control, high gain and flywheel sync.
There is a picture that pops up from time to time with a village hall packed with people watching a 14" V4.
The1948/49 B18T must have been the most watched 9"TVs probably even more than the Bush TV22 series.
One of the pictures shows the 1950 GEC BT2147, another early contender.
John.

[Heatercathodeshort]

A few more.

[Heatercathodeshort]

Finally the last picture is the PYE B18T.

[Heatercathodeshort]

The V4 must have brought the Coronation to many outlying locations. Distant viewers from Sutton Coldfield and Holme Moss with their high power transmitters must have been amazed even if the pictures received were a little grainy.
I don't expect they would have worried too much. With a picture and viewed at a reasonable distance the picture certainly has entertainment value.
The pictures were taken with the V4 sensitivity control on full and untouched for the three pictures.
1 Shows the signal level from the Aurora with it's output split to two locations.
2 with a 36DB attenuator fitted to the aerial socket and 3 with 72DB!
The line flywheel sync is holding strong. The superb interlace filter does a very good job not seen in the pictures. It is 100%, not often seen.
With just two EF80 vision I.F stages and standard PCC84 and PCF80 valves in the tuner, [no frame grid back then] it is certainly a credit to those PYE circuit designers back in the early 50s.
How did the assembly girls make it with such a high component count? Amazing. John.

[Graham G3ZVT]

Here's my Cossor 916 on Royal duty this week. It has the modified KB EV30 LOPTX that David Boynes donated.

The set would have been 3 or 4 years old at the Coronation, I was born three months later, that's my portrait on top of the TV. The midwife reckoned I would have been better looking if my mum hadn't watched Quatermass just before I was born.

[Freya]

It surprises me that the Pye V4 isn't more popular for restorations, it has much more interesting circuit design, high capacitor counts, and superior black level etc.

[wd40addict]

Here's a short video of my TV22 doing its thing at our informal street gathering - party like it's 1953!

[Lloyd 1985]

Some fantastic shots of your PYE sets there John, I have 2 PYE sets, but neither work! I have an LV30, and a PV110. I don’t thing the LV30 will ever work, it’s been seriously got at in the past, snipped wiring everywhere. The PV110 however does seem to work, just not very well!

Regards
Lloyd

[Heatercathodeshort]

That TV22 looks great! J.

[wd40addict]

Thank you John! Something the neighbours didn't expect I had to set it up in their garage so there was some shade.

[beery]

Hi guys,
Great stuff.
John, I guess your V4 with its futuristic looks must have been a bit of a statement to the Jones's that this really was the latest tech. It must have made the 9" round CRT sets suddenly look very old.

Here is a picture of my TV22 pressed into service over the Jubilee weekend.

Cheers
Andy

[mark pirate]

John, I guess your V4 with its futuristic looks must have been a bit of a statement to the Jones's that this really was the latest tech. It must have made the 9" round CRT sets suddenly look very old.

I had my rare 1953 Pye V09 fired up for the festivities, all the style of the V4, but with a 9" tube, I often wonder if it was purchased for the coronation


Mark

[Heatercathodeshort]

During it's glory days the V4 with it's distinct appearance was immediately. recognized. Even GILES the Daily Express cartoonist included a V4 in a couple of his famous illustration's. The console and even more so the 17" versions, V7 etc were very rare. I have only seen one 17" table model.

The 14" is a nice screen size for the smaller rooms. Back in 1958 I was on holiday at my Aunts terraced house [7 Walker Street exactly like Coronation Street] Thornaby-on Tees. She purchased an Ekco T311, the 14" table model with FM radio.

I remember it being delivered and installed with the aerial on the roof. It was standing on a tall table in the back parlour complete with cooking range and gave a really cracking picture. The 14" was exactly right and being a table model could be raised high enough on it's table to clear the tall Victorian furniture. The Ekco other than the KB ER30 radio were the only items of 20th Century technology in the house!

That Ekco gave my Aunt and her family and I must include Gran that lived next door at No 5 a tremendous amount of entertainment. My Gran could not understand how the picture travelled through the air!

No doubt the Coronation brought television for the first time to many people. Compact lightweight receivers such as the PYE V4 and the Ferguson 991T series extended the normal service area to include many remote areas.

Understandably it is just accepted today. Nothing surprises people anymore. It is assumed everything is possible. John.

[peter_scott]

John, In this image I could easily imagine that you just have the Queen sitting on the other side of your workbench with your test instruments behind her.

Peter

[Heatercathodeshort]

I would imagine the Queen could come in handy rewinding LOPTs and gramophone pick ups. Experience Her Majesty gained during WW2 when serving with the Auxiliary Territorial Service. [ATS] She learned how to drive and maintain lorries. Quite a Gal! John.

[Heatercathodeshort]

Originally Posted by Freya

It surprises me that the Pye V4 isn't more popular for restorations, it has much more interesting circuit design, high capacitor counts, and superior black level etc.

Yes I agree but with it's very high component count and the weakness of the LOPT and scan coils , I can see why guys shy away from V4.
TV guys of the early 50's had problems working out how the APC worked [picture negative and no control of contrast] and also the flywheel sync. It was new technology and it was all in one box with the V4!

Saying that, with a good service manual it is quite straightforward but possibility of the LOPT or scan coils being faulty or failing soon after all your careful rebuild is high on the list. Probably the scan coils are the most difficult to source. The LOPT can be rewound. Just for the record the V4[pink screen filter] has cellophane insulation between the line and frame coils. This breaks down causing destructive arcing, ruining the coils.

The later VT4 [grey filter]with the inbuilt multiband tuner has Polythene sheet to insulate the coils and does not tend to breakdown.

Avoid rusted heaps at all cost! They can contain a good tube so useful for the odd part but the V4 contains many wound components that are likely to be O/C if stored badly. [damp]

If you do come across one and feel like having a go, for goodness sake don't do a mad recap! It will end in tears and probably never work again...!

The V4 components are of good quality and I can only suggest you follow the code: Power supply. Line timebase. Frame timebase. tuner-I.F. and sync followed by audio. Get something on the screen as early as possible. This will avoid expense if the LOPT, S/Coils or tube are unserviceable. Tread carefully! Regards, John.

[kan_turk]

Absolutely excellent advice - I’m not a fan of ‘shotgun’ replacement of capacitors for the reason stated - perhaps if one is extremely familiar with the ‘beast’ you can get away with it but in general, IMO, it is a no no