Trevor Wilson wrote:

"Michael A. Terrell" wrote in message
m...

Trevor Wilson wrote:

"Sylvia Else" wrote in message
...

Whatever happened to circuits that just contained a couple of valves?


**There never were any "circuits that just contained a couple of valves".
When they first arrived, TV sets were mindbogglingly complex devices
compared to anything that preceded them (in domestic appliance-speak).
They
were also fabulously unreliable. You could figure that the average TV set
would require several repair jobs every year. Your incredibly complex,
LSI
controlled, TV set is likely to be vastly more reliable. You've probably
found the first fault it has ever had.


It sounds like they only sold crap in Australia, and that you've
never seen the very low parts count in a Muntz TV.

**Very possibly. Don't forget: We are talking about the mid-late 1950s.
Valve TV sets were not very reliable. Dunno about foriegn sets. I never saw
one.


Most american made TVs did much better. We really didn't see sets
with high failure rates until the early japanese sets arrived on US
soil. Everything was crammed in so tight to reduce the size and weight
for shipping that they ran way too hot.


'Madman Muntz' built things with as few components as possible so he
could sell the sets cheaper than anyone else.


My parents had three service calls in 15 years. Two of those were
due to lightning taking out the front end in the VHF tuner. The third
was a bad electrolytic in a voltage doubler that took out a fusible
resistor. That isn't a couple times a year.

**My parents first transistorised set was very reliable. It developed a
fault in 1967 (I was 14 years old). My dad took it to the service guy and
was horrified at being asked to pay $50.00 for a quote. He brought it back
home and asked me if I wanted to have a go at it. I diagnosed the fault at a
dead rectifier in the power supply. I caught the train into the city to buy
a rectifier diode, soldered it in and the thing has operated perfectly ever
since. My dad figured that buying that multimeter for my 13th birthday was
an excellent investment.


I have one of the first Motorola Quasar TVs shipped. My dad bought it
while I was in Jr. High School. It has been repaired a half dozen
times, since the mid '60s. Once was to replace the original 23EGP22 CRT
with a top of the line Channelmaster 25VAP22 black matrix CRT when the
TV was nine years old. People didn't believe it was the same tv. The
23EGP22 was the first, and worst rectangular color CRT. The 25VAP22
black matrix CRT was one of, if not the best produced for consumer use.
It cost 1/3 of the original cost of the TV and required modifications to
the cabinet to install but it was well worth it. I had another set like
it that i converted into a color monitor for my shop so i could service
early video gear.


Valve sets, OTOH, were not very reliable. The first Aussie made colour sets
(all solid state) from Kriesler were basically a large box-full of dry
solder joints. Great picture, but crap reliability.


And crap solder has come full circle, with ROHS.


--
The movie 'Deliverance' isn't a documentary!