My long gone Granny

I was reminded of this woman who used to live in Southfields in London
during my childhood, mother to my father, deaf as a post but really quite
sharp otherwise.
Her TV was one of those that needed a liquid filled magnifier over the top
and when we made our bi weekly pilgrimage to her house we had to sit and
watch a very grainy slightly yellowy green Perry Como Show which of course
was only normal looking from right in the front, the lens making people look
decidedly odd.
She used to save up all her problems for her son of course, Her hearing
aide usually whistled loudly and needed the ear piece decoking and the
batteries changed, which were weird. One of== was a mercury cell like a
small version of a aaa, and there was this ht battery made by Ever Ready
with a size slightly smaller than a pp3 but with a contact either end. Don't
recall the voltage, but the device itself was about the size of a small
calculator with a clip that attached to her clothing. I personally never saw
evidence that she could hear any better when it was working properly, but
then I was supposed to keep quiet.
Then there was the aerial for the TV. This it appeared was some old Hornby
railway track, gauge 00 which went along the top of the curtain rail and the
other track was then left to dangle behind the curtain.
The small piece of left over sleepers n joining them was the insulator with
a rough old bit of coax soldered to the ends of the track, and the other end
permanently wired into a 'modification box' my father put on the back to
allow this elderly TV to get ITV. she claimed never to watch it, but seemed
to know a lot about adverts...I did not voice this of course, seen and not
heard etc.

I did ask my dad why it was that she never got a more modern TV, or an
outside or loft aerial, and he said it was because she did not see the need
to change if it worked and just needed a bit of bending and things to be
watchable.
This is as you might have noticed, the exact opposite of what people do
today. When anything is more than a couple of years old they bin it and get
the new model.
I used to think my Granny was funny, but despite her still cooking on a
range and having 'oil cloth' on the top of her kitchen table, when lived to
a ripe old age and never seemed to miss the every increasing new fangled
stuff.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
Remember, if you don't like where I post
or what I say, you don't have to
read my posts! :-)

Brian-Gaff wrote:
I was reminded of this woman who used to live in Southfields in London
during my childhood, mother to my father, deaf as a post but really quite
sharp otherwise.
Her TV was one of those that needed a liquid filled magnifier over the top
and when we made our bi weekly pilgrimage to her house we had to sit and
watch a very grainy slightly yellowy green Perry Como Show which of course
was only normal looking from right in the front, the lens making people look
decidedly odd.
She used to save up all her problems for her son of course, Her hearing
aide usually whistled loudly and needed the ear piece decoking and the
batteries changed, which were weird. One of== was a mercury cell like a
small version of a aaa, and there was this ht battery made by Ever Ready
with a size slightly smaller than a pp3 but with a contact either end.

She must have had one of those new fangled valve hearing aids. 22.5 volts
seems to have been the standard for HT hearing aid batteries.

Tim

"Brian-Gaff" wrote in message
...
I was reminded of this woman who used to live in Southfields in London
during my childhood, mother to my father, deaf as a post but really quite
sharp otherwise.
Her TV was one of those that needed a liquid filled magnifier over the top
and when we made our bi weekly pilgrimage to her house we had to sit and
watch a very grainy slightly yellowy green Perry Como Show which of course
was only normal looking from right in the front, the lens making people
look decidedly odd.

My great grandma, who died in 1976, had a TV which was almost as old, with
the characteristic screen that had very rounded corners. It also had the
legendary "spot wobble" switch on the back which I'd heard of many times but
only actually seen on that TV. Mind you, the TV had inbuilt and permanent
"picture wobble" - the frame sync was starting to fail or it was picking up
some noise from somewhere, because the while picture jittered up and down by
several lines Every so often the bottom third of the picture became
compressed into a very small area of the screen, which I suppose was quite
appropriate if she happened to be watching Morecambe and Wise, and Eric made
one of his references to Ernie's "short fat hairy legs".:-)

She also had a 1930s vintage wireless (it would have been very offended if
you'd called it a radio!) in a lovely varnished wooden cabinet and with
large octagonal Bakelite knobs. It took about 10 minutes to warm up, and
gave off a smell of smouldering dust after it had been on a while. Sadly
after she died, when I was given the radio, I committed the ultimate
sacrilege (I was only about 8 at the time) of using paint-stripper to clean
off the old varnish and then stained and varnished it... badly. It looked
really naff afterwards - much worse than with the original varnish, even if
that was starting to peel off in several places.

I learned the meaning of the term "live chassis" the hard way when I
modified the radio to feed an external speaker in my bedroom. One day I
happened to touch one of the speaker wires while my other hand was on
touching my (earthed) bedside lamp. And I got one hell of a jolt :-( So
that's why equipment of that time had big Bakelite knobs - to stop you
accidently touching the shafts of the volume and tone control pots.

"pamela" wrote in message
...
On 08:39 4 Dec 2015, Chris Hogg wrote:

On Fri, 4 Dec 2015 08:01:57 -0000 (UTC), Tim+

wrote:

Brian-Gaff wrote:
I was reminded of this woman who used to live in Southfields in
London during my childhood, mother to my father, deaf as a post
but
really quite sharp otherwise.
Her TV was one of those that needed a liquid filled magnifier
over
the top
and when we made our bi weekly pilgrimage to her house we had to
sit
and watch a very grainy slightly yellowy green Perry Como Show
which
of course was only normal looking from right in the front, the
lens
making people look decidedly odd.
She used to save up all her problems for her son of course, Her
hearing
aide usually whistled loudly and needed the ear piece decoking
and
the batteries changed, which were weird. One of== was a mercury
cell
like a small version of a aaa, and there was this ht battery made
by
Ever Ready with a size slightly smaller than a pp3 but with a
contact either end.

She must have had one of those new fangled valve hearing aids.
22.5
volts seems to have been the standard for HT hearing aid batteries.

Tim

Those subminiature valves were also popular for radio control of
model
aircraft. The Hyvac XFG1 gas-filled triode was one such, usually
used
with a 45 volt battery. See http://tinyurl.com/o76s58n and drag the
text down to fig. 11C5.


The text says:

"It must be empahasised that the valve may require a running-in
period
of approximately 1 to 2 hours before a satisfactory current will be
obtainable at range"

Wow. That's definitely not quick.


What about the hi-fi sophisticates - the followers of rip-off Russ?
They think a valve amp does not get to its best until it has been on
and running for the better part of a week minimum.


--
Woody

harrogate3 at ntlworld dot com

On Fri, 4 Dec 2015 10:08:05 -0000
"Woody" wrote:


"pamela" wrote in message
...
On 08:39 4 Dec 2015, Chris Hogg wrote:

snip

Those subminiature valves were also popular for radio control of
model
aircraft. The Hyvac XFG1 gas-filled triode was one such, usually
used
with a 45 volt battery. See http://tinyurl.com/o76s58n and drag the
text down to fig. 11C5.


The text says:

"It must be empahasised that the valve may require a running-in
period
of approximately 1 to 2 hours before a satisfactory current will be
obtainable at range"

Wow. That's definitely not quick.


What about the hi-fi sophisticates - the followers of rip-off Russ?
They think a valve amp does not get to its best until it has been on
and running for the better part of a week minimum.



Any follower of Russ has only himself/herself to blame for anything,
including all money wasted. In a way, I have a grudging respect for
Russ, in that he can actually persuade so many people about so much
crap.

--
Davey.

In message , Brian-Gaff
writes
snip
I did ask my dad why it was that she never got a more modern TV, or an
outside or loft aerial, and he said it was because she did not see the
need to change if it worked and just needed a bit of bending and
things to be watchable.
This is as you might have noticed, the exact opposite of what people
do today. When anything is more than a couple of years old they bin it
and get the new model.

I'm with Granny. The older I get, the more I dislike change. I still
don't have a mobile phone, for instance, let alone a tablet.
--
John Hall
"Honest criticism is hard to take,
particularly from a relative, a friend,
an acquaintance, or a stranger." Franklin P Jones

"Chris Hogg" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 4 Dec 2015 09:16:42 -0000, "NY" wrote:

I learned the meaning of the term "live chassis" the hard way when I
modified the radio to feed an external speaker in my bedroom. One
day I
happened to touch one of the speaker wires while my other hand was
on
touching my (earthed) bedside lamp. And I got one hell of a jolt
:-( So
that's why equipment of that time had big Bakelite knobs - to stop
you
accidently touching the shafts of the volume and tone control pots.

I had a similar experience when I was a kid. A radio that I was
given
had a simple copper-oxide rectifier power supply which was connected
directly to the mains, live via the on/off/volume control, neutral
to
the chassis. I decided that reception would be improved if I
provided
an earth, so I duly attached a wire to the chassis and threw the
other
end out of the window with the intention of connecting it to a pipe
outside. Unfortunately, someone (not me) had wired the plug in
reverse, so when plugged in, the chassis was live even though the
radio was nominally off. I got a nasty belt on grabbing the wire
with
one hand while holding on to the earth pipe with the other!

It did explain why the previous owner had filled all the grub screw
holes in the knobs with wax!

Happy days!

In those early days the mains was either a two-pin or a bayonet off a
light fitting so you had a 50-50 cahnce of getting a surprise!


--
Woody

harrogate3 at ntlworld dot com

On Fri, 04 Dec 2015 10:24:57 +0000, Chris Hogg wrote:

I learned the meaning of the term "live chassis" the hard way when I
modified the radio to feed an external speaker in my bedroom. One day I
happened to touch one of the speaker wires while my other hand was on
touching my (earthed) bedside lamp. And I got one hell of a jolt :-( So
that's why equipment of that time had big Bakelite knobs - to stop you
accidently touching the shafts of the volume and tone control pots.

I had a similar experience when I was a kid. A radio that I was given
had a simple copper-oxide rectifier power supply which was connected
directly to the mains, live via the on/off/volume control, neutral to
the chassis. I decided that reception would be improved if I provided
an earth, so I duly attached a wire to the chassis and threw the other
end out of the window with the intention of connecting it to a pipe
outside. Unfortunately, someone (not me) had wired the plug in
reverse, so when plugged in, the chassis was live even though the
radio was nominally off. I got a nasty belt on grabbing the wire with
one hand while holding on to the earth pipe with the other!

It did explain why the previous owner had filled all the grub screw
holes in the knobs with wax!

Happy days!

Those grub screws were horribly easy to lose, and as they were
available in different lengths, you'd have to make sure you replaced a
lost one with something similar.

Another hazard could arise because some control spindles had flattened
sides to give the grub screws extra grip, and some hadn't, so if you
replaced a potentiometer that had a flattened spindle with a new one
that had a round spindle, even if you managed not to lose the original
grub screw it would stick out more.

None of this kind of thing need be a problem to a real engineer who
understands the situation and knows how to use a file, but I wonder
how those who manage today's electronics would get on with it?

Rod.

"Brian-Gaff" wrote in message
...
Her TV was one of those that needed a liquid filled magnifier over the top
Hi
This phrase of your nice OT message learned me something although my parents had TV
since 1952.
I found this link that may be useful to other readers:
http://www.tvhistory.tv/1948-TECO-Model-100-USA.JPG
I will now look for the indoor antenna :-)
Here receiving Paris from rather far away we had a big outdoor one
and the mast was in bamboo
I know because I played with what was left of it after it felt down.
First time I saw bamboo in my life :-)
http://www.dgtemadman.com/wirelesspage.htm

On 04/12/2015 11:25, bilou wrote:

"Brian-Gaff" wrote in message
...
Her TV was one of those that needed a liquid filled magnifier over the
top
Hi
This phrase of your nice OT message learned me something although my
parents had TV
since 1952.
I found this link that may be useful to other readers:
http://www.tvhistory.tv/1948-TECO-Model-100-USA.JPG
I will now look for the indoor antenna :-)
Here receiving Paris from rather far away we had a big outdoor one
and the mast was in bamboo
I know because I played with what was left of it after it felt down.
First time I saw bamboo in my life :-)
http://www.dgtemadman.com/wirelesspage.htm


Either very brave or very stupid