Updated: 2nd of July 2007 - Added Ferguson 3629 "Personal"

This page contains pictures of some slightly-interesting Black and White television sets.

When the TV Museum is up and running, these sets will all be on display properly. At the moment a lot of the sets are in storage, however, if you would like to see any of them "in the flesh" in Solihull, UK, please email me at mdb@oldtechnology.net.

405 Line Only CRT Sets

The first set is a 1949 Pye model LV20. It is a typical-of-the-age Pye 405 line TRF set. It uses a "Wedge" shaped chassis, loads of red Mullard EF50's (with horrible wobbly intermittent valve-holder contacts) and a 9 inch Mullard tube. I was half way through the restoration of this set, when I accidentally connected my VHF modulator to the live chassis and blew the modulator up. Doh! The set is now partly restored, although there are still a few minor faults to be sorted out.

Pye LV20

Next is a little 1949 Ekco 9" model TS88. I bought it several years ago from a shop in Woodbury called Kilve Marchant Antiques. The tube emission is low, but it gives a very good picture, if a little dull. It's best viewed in a darkened room. Unfortunately, and quite worryingly, a very fine hairline crack has appeared in the front of the Mazda CRM91A tube and, although the vacuum is still intact, I suspect that the tube has become quite dangerous.

Ekco TS88

This set is a 1950 single channel Ambassador model TV2; it is one of the few sets that I've bought from ebay. The set is a very unusual shape and was designed to fit into the corner of a room. It uses a 12-inch Mazda CRM121 tube, although I suspect the emission is low as someone has fitted a heater booster transformer. The set isn't in top condition although it does look complete (apart from it's 2 back covers which are both missing.) The "Ambassador" badge is also broken on the front, and I would very much like to find a replacement. If you have one that you would like to sell me, I would be very happy. Please email me at mdb@oldtechnology.net. Thank you.

Ambassador TV2

The next set is a 9" Sobell T90 set. It came from a good friend of mine, the late Bob Cook who had it lying in the back of his workshop for many years. Although not obvious at all from the top or sides, this set was riddled with woodworm and all-but fell apart after I doused it in woodworm killer and then went to lift it up. :-(

Sobell T90

This is a 1950 Bush model TV22. It is a set that I wanted for many years, and I only recently bought it from the National Vintage Communications Fare in Birmingham. The TV22 is a very attractive set, and good examples are highly regarded by collectors and restorers. I have yet to start any restoration on it, but I will take another picture of it when it's working.

Bush TV22

Next is a 1953 Bush model TV24. This was very kindly supplied by a late friend of mine called Bob Cook who had it in the bottom of a big trunk for many years. It didn't require an awful lot of technical skill to repair - I simply replaced all the wax capacitors, some rubber wiring and the thing worked - as easy as that really. (Actually, Andy Beer gave me a good tip for replacing a VDR that commonly fails, although it turned out to be OK in this set.) The inside and outside of the cabinet were really dirty, but a bit of cleaning has brought the thing up nicely. It does have a minor problem in that it takes ages to warm up, but I know what the problem is and I'll get round to fixing it one day. (Maybe...) The Bush TV24 was almost identical inside to the Bush TV22 (Above), although it had a bigger (12-inch) tube. When new, the TV24 was more expensive than the TV22, although now TV22s are very desirable and the poor old TV24s are not really worth anything...

Bush TV24

The next set is yet another Bush.  This time it's a 17-inch 1955 model TV56. This set has had quite a lot of restoration work carried out, although some of the rubber wiring is perishing badly and needs replacing. The Bush model TV66 looked almost identical to this set but used PVC wiring which didn't rot as badly as the nasty rubber stuff. There was a 14-inch version of this set, the TV53 which had a quite odd-looking rectangular tube. This set works very well, although the horizontal linearity needs a little bit of a tweak. There are also a couple of wax capacitors that I have not replaced in the line timebase section, which I must replace soon otherwise there is a danger of them damaging other components (i.e. the Line Output Transformer.)

Bush TV56

Next is a very large and heavy Invicta Television / Wireless / Record Player. It came from an excellent chap called John from London. I went up with Andy Beer to look at it originally and we decided that it would need a much larger car than I had to take the huge beast away. Some weeks later I came up to London with a Transit van to pick the thing up (Much to John's relief) and we managed to cart it down the stairs and into the van without too much bother. Save for a few valves, it appears to be complete, but it does need some electrical restoration before it is really useable. Many thanks John - it's a fantastic set.

Invicta TV / Radiogram

Many years ago this 1959 Philips 21-inch TV model 21TG100 was used in my living room as my everyday set (through a remote-control extender, a remote control video and a "Dinosaur" 625-405 line standards converter.) It came from a second-hand shop on the A377 between Exeter and Barnstaple in 1998. A sign on the top said "10 Pounds - Probably Still Works." It didn't, although it didn't need an awful lot of work to get it going. The PL81 cathode resistor had gone open circuit, and the usual replacement of capacitors in the frame stage produced a cracking picture and the set is still working exceptionally well today. Does anyone know if there's supposed to be a "Frame Lin Top" control anywhwere?

Philips 21TG100

This next set is a 1961 Pye V220 and came from an excellent chap from Stoke-on-Trent.  Apparently it worked before it went into storage, but I haven't been brave enough to fire it up yet.

Pye V220