Muxes missing on Winter Hill

"Geoff Pearson" wrote in message
...
Ahh the EF50 - such a cosy valve. Whereas the EF86 always seems so cold
and clinical.

Is this anthropomorphism or personification?

Bill

"hb" wrote in message
...
On 10 Apr, 17:05, "Kenneth" wrote:
"Paul D.Smith" wrote in message

...

...snip...

I made my first tv set around 1950 when Holme Moss started....

My step-mother's father did the same when Sutton Coldfield started
up.
Rather puts it into perspective for whipper-snappers like myself who
"build" a computer by buying the various components, power supply
etc and
plugging them together!

I've been known to do some soldering around the motherboard (dodgy
capacitors are surprisingly common) but I wouldn't dream of starting
from
scratch, even with some plans from a hobbyists magazine! These days
even
cars require too much specialist equipment for most amateurs.

Paul DS.

Still have the EF50s in the attic which I used on my home-made TV
circa
1954.

Kenneth

I was a poverty-stricken 18 year old university student at the time.
I bought an ex-WD type 62 display unit with a VCR97 6.1/2"
electrostatic tube (green phosphor) and a vast number of VR65's (Mazda
SP61) and a 1355(?) IF strip also with VR65's. I converted the first
IF stage into a self-oscillating mixer for the Holme Moss transmitter
(no RF stage! shame on me) and used VR65's for everything - video amp,
miller transitron timebases, even the audio output stage. I persuaded
my mother to fund a 250-0-250 transformer, whose 4v. windings I
rewound to provide the 6.3 volts for heaters - each valve a greedy 0.6
amps. The EHT of about 1.5 kv I used a Cockroft-Walton multiplier
for, built from ex-WD selenium rectifiers and 1uF paper capacitors.
I used the VR65 RF pentodes for everything except the ht rectifier.
The whole thing (less transformer) can't have cost me more than £5
(1950 money)

It worked! You quite forgot the screen was black and green, not
black and white. EF50's would have been better in that they only
took 0.3 amps heater current. The only test instrument I had was a
0-100uA surplus meter in a homemade box with 5% resistors and a wafer
switch.

During a summer vac later I worked in a local tv shop and was able to
cadge a used 12inch black and white magnetic tube, and buying surplus
components I built another set using EF80's; this was later fitted
with an ITV converter when Granada started. Two channels seemed a
great luxury.

I built one more tv set after we were married. This was built around
a scrap Ferguson chassis with sliding standards switch and had a 23
inch rectangular tube. When colour came c.1968 I costed out the
Mullard colour receiver circuit and decided it was cheaper to buy,
getting a good price via the purchasing manager at work!

Harry





I have a horrible feeling I still have a VCR97 hidden away somewhere.

Ah, memories...............


--
Woody

harrogate three at ntlworld dot com

"Geoff Pearson" wrote in message
...

"Kenneth" wrote in message
...

"Paul D.Smith" wrote in message
...
...snip...

I made my first tv set around 1950 when Holme Moss started....

My step-mother's father did the same when Sutton Coldfield started up.
Rather puts it into perspective for whipper-snappers like myself who
"build" a computer by buying the various components, power supply etc
and plugging them together!

I've been known to do some soldering around the motherboard (dodgy
capacitors are surprisingly common) but I wouldn't dream of starting
from scratch, even with some plans from a hobbyists magazine! These
days even cars require too much specialist equipment for most amateurs.

Paul DS.

Still have the EF50s in the attic which I used on my home-made TV circa
1954.

Kenneth

Ahh the EF50 - such a cosy valve. Whereas the EF86 always seems so cold
and clinical.

nostalgia mode = on

You guys pre-date me :-)
skips forward a generation of so..

My introduction to electronics as a teenager had me rescue old TVs and other
things from skips, and repair them. ( see previous posts relating to
Ferrograph 4A tape recorders.. )

In regard to TVs, my teenage introduction was the Thorn 1500 and 1700
chassis, IIRC an all-valve dual-standard jobby ( the 1700 was hybrid, with
some transistors, iirc ) with a clunk-clunk rotary VHF tuner, and a
4-mechanical button UHF transistorised UHF tuner. There was a massive
switch, which ran the near the whole length of the main PCB which switched
between 405 / 625.

The PSU had ^H^H^H was a large multi-tap wire-wound dropper resistor mounted
on the top of the chassis, which often failed, with replacement individual
circular ceramic WW resistors bridging the failed sections.

The Line Output stage was a PL504, IIRC, coupled to a LOPT which often
failed with sparks and smoke from the EHT overwinding. The trippler on the
side of it also often failed with smells and smoke.

My early repairs were succesfull surprisingly often..

I always powered them up on the end of a long extension lead, outside!
On-Off real fast.
no explosion feels bolder
On.....Off
no explosion feels bolder still
On.......................Off
still no explosion feels even bolder
On....... goes and has a closer look.
Usually working!

--
Ron

nostalgia mode = off

On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:00:32 +0100, Bill Wright
wrote:

In the late fifties I
worked as a technical writer for Ferranti Computer department (when
computers still used valves or discrete transistors)

Rivals to IBM at the time?

Yes, I guess so. I think they pioneered the first stored programme computer
and were first in on lots of other things.

I worked there for 3 years until early 1989. I left not long after they had
'taken over' (although it was more of a merger) an American outfit called
International Signal Corp. thus becoming Ferranti International.
Less than 6 months after that, a huge financial accounting scandal involving
the American bit of it broke (very similar to Enron I believe) that took
down the whole company.
It's surprising given their history that almost nobody nowadays remembers
anything about the De Ferranti family and their contribution to computing.
Last time I looked there was very little info. on the web.

When I last went to Manchester, the site I used to work at had been flattened
and it looked like they were going to build houses on it, although as it
was only half a mile from the end of the runway at Ringway, it's hardly
gonna be a nice place to live (much like the rest of the Wythenshawe area).

God...........and I just press the on switch.

"Bill Wright" wrote in message
...

"hb" wrote in message
...
On 10 Apr, 07:22, "Woody" wrote:
In the late fifties I
worked as a technical writer for Ferranti Computer department (when
computers still used valves or discrete transistors)


Rivals to IBM at the time?


They were a million miles ahead of IBM. I was programming a very early
Emidec at the time.
--

JohnT

On 11 Apr, 08:40, Paul Matthews wrote:
Bill Wright wrote:

"hb" wrote in message
...
On 10 Apr, 07:22, "Woody" wrote:
In the late fifties I
worked as a technical writer for Ferranti Computer department (when
computers still used valves or discrete transistors)

Rivals to IBM at the time?

IIRC Ferranti becme part of ICL, now part of Fujitsu. One of the main sites for
ICL at West Gorton has recently been closed down and is now in Council hands. I
worked for ICL at the Arndale and then West Gorton for quite a few years. I am
still with the company now.

If HB was with Ferranti in Manchester, does he know Graham Peacock?
--
Paul Matthews


No, I did not know Graham Peacock, I'm afraid. I spent most of my
career in software, doing things like stock control, production
control, engineering diagnostics, and finally expert systems
(artificial intelligence some people called it).

I joined Ferranti Computers at West Gorton in 1958, left in 1968 to do
a study on computerisation for a Manchester newspaper, and in 1971
rejoined what had then become ICL (International Computers Limited).
En route Ferranti Computers had merged with Powers Samas (round
holes) and ???? (square holes) to become International Computers and
Tabulators (ICT) which in turn had merged with English Electric
Computers to become International Computers Limited (ICL). Those
later years with ICL were spent at West Gorton, Arndale and Parsonage
Gardens (behind Kendal Milne) with odd forays to Kidsgrove, Bracknell
and Stevenage..

I took early retirement in 1991 and worked freelance as a consultant,
mostly for an ex-colleague who had started his own (tiny) expert
systems software house. When he got into difficulties a few years
later I retired for good apart from designing and implementing systems
for a charity on a voluntary basis.

Harry

"hb" wrote in message
...
I am situated in East Oldham (OL4 4RS) and receive excellent digital
signals from the Winter Hill muxes on channels 56 60 63 66 67 68. I
also receive reasonable signals from the Winter Hill B transmitter
(directed towards Merseyside) on 40 and 43. I get good analogue
signals on 48, 55, 59, 62, 65. I have a C/D yagi on a short mast
above the rear gutter, with a clear view over Oldham towards Winter
Hill, which I think is about 30 km away. No amplifier or splitter.

For the last week or so, solidly, I have only been able to receive the
two B muxes, but also the full analogue set apparently undiminished.
This has happened once or twice in the past, for a day or two at a
time, and then gone right.

The B frequencies are in the region of 623-647 MHz. The missing
muxes are 751 MHz to end of band.
I suppose I good imagine some kind of intermittent frequency rolloff
between the two regions, although I cannot think of a mechanism; but
in any case the analogue transmitters in the higher region appear to
be undiminished.

I have looked on the BBC transmitter information website, but no
indication of drastic digital engineering work; and I spoke to a lady
on the relevant BBC phone line who had no information about current
problems.

I have a Hauppage TV card on one PC, and a Pinnacle card on another,
both analogue/digital; whichever I connect to the aerial has the
problem. A scan on each system brings up a full list, over all 8
muxes, but if I use ProgDVB it only reports the B channels. The epg
doesn't work.

Anyone any ideas?

Crikey you lot. Shall I break out the Wurthers Originals or what?

Assuming it's not engineering work at the transmitter or a software problem
(wrong setting etc) at your end, have you tried attenuating the WH signal
slightly before putting it into the card? I've seen plenty of DVB-T PCI
cards which refuse to work with anything over 0dBmV. Might be worth a try,
although there are ongoing works to Winter Hill from March 08 to Nov 08!

Paul Ratcliffe wrote:
On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:00:32 +0100, Bill Wright
wrote:

In the late fifties I
worked as a technical writer for Ferranti Computer department (when
computers still used valves or discrete transistors)

Rivals to IBM at the time?

Yes, I guess so. I think they pioneered the first stored programme computer
and were first in on lots of other things.

I worked there for 3 years until early 1989.

I did my college placement there in the ops room in about 1998 or 9.
George 3, VMS and huge HDs in plastic domes. Also the only place I ever
saw that had huge reel-to-reel systems (like they still show on some films).

hb wrote:
I am situated in East Oldham (OL4 4RS) and receive excellent digital
signals from the Winter Hill muxes on channels 56 60 63 66 67 68. I
also receive reasonable signals from the Winter Hill B transmitter
(directed towards Merseyside) on 40 and 43. I get good analogue
signals on 48, 55, 59, 62, 65. I have a C/D yagi on a short mast
above the rear gutter, with a clear view over Oldham towards Winter
Hill, which I think is about 30 km away. No amplifier or splitter.

Can you give me any channel names & I will check if I have any problems
in Royton?

Having said that I always seem to lose picture quality this time of year
due to the enormous sycamore tree in next door's garden.

Regards

Jon