PYE 9 inch 1946 Television

This is a 1946 television receiver produced by the British company PYE RADIO who were based at Cambridge. It was the first receiver produced after WW2 and the first models were released in time for the televising of the Victory Parade in London. I obtained the set from an elderly lady who had intended to buy a television in 1940 but had been prevented from doing so by conditions beyond her control. It was one of her first purchases after the war. She never parted with anything and when I delivered her first colour receiver in 1978, discovered this at the back of her very large living room together with two later receivers purchased in 1956 and 1966!
The receiver is a TRF, fixed tuned to the old Alexandra Palace transmitter opened in November 1936.
The vision frequency was 45mc/s, sound 41.5mc/s. The set gives a high definition picture on its 9" circular Mullard [Philips] picture tube. Development work during the war with VHF transmissions brought huge improvements to television resulting in greater sensitivity. This allowed reception beyond the normally excepted range of around 30 miles from the transmitter. The D16T is a sensitive receiver and will operate with a very low signal input. The signals are now supplied from an AURORA standards converter, a miracle of modern technology that converts current 625 line transmissions to the old British 405 line system 'A'.
The high voltage for the final anode of the tube [EHT] is supplied from a mains transformer similar in construction to those used for neon signs. This type of receiver must be treated with great respect when working on the chassis with the mains supply connected. You must be aware of the dangers or you may not live to tell the tale.. The frame timebase scans the tube VERTICALLY of course not horizontally as I said in the video commentary. The volume control requires a clean........Shame on me!
Hope you find this interesting.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• PYE
• 1946
• Television.
• Old
• Pye
• D16T
• T.V.

[suuf1]

great presentatation , thank you so much! I do collect old tellies also, some are here, but none has HV derived from the mains! Pretty scary, how could they do repairs in working sets without being terriefied of being fried? Most be one of the last sets before LOFT derived HT became standard.

[vinylseat]

@suuf1 Mains derived EHT was employed till around late 1948. It was replaced by a few makers by R.F. generation before flyback became the norm in 1950. A few makers produced a few models with mains EHT

to 1951 but this was rare. Great care had to be taken when servicing. You kept one hand in your pocket to prevent shocks across the heart! J.

[atlantic1952]

Many thanks for creating this video. I have a D16T myself and have yet to restore its electronics (I realise the EHT danger!). Your note on Caps is useful. Did you buy from Farnell or RS? Thanks, George

[vinylseat]

Good luck restoring your D16T. The EHT transformer should be ok. It's built to military standards. It may seem that the wax has melted in places but this is quite normal. I used caps from my old stock but any that can be sourced are suitable. J.

[vinylseat]

Visconols were made by T.C.C. and yes it was! I replaced it with a DUBILIAR .1uf 7kv

They are of the best quality and still hold up after 60 years. Hunts smoothing and EHT capacitors also have a good reputation as does B.I.C.C. [British Insulated Callenders Construction] but the T.C.C. oil filled horrors did let us down a bit. J.

[vinylseat]

Already done but its so out of keeping with the old girl I thought it better to stay with the older material. We had a TV plan as early as 1937 but the second World War started in Sept 1939 closing the service down for the duration. The Sutton Coldfield transmitter was built at EMI but sadly was not on air until December 1949 The need to pay back war loans and the austerity after WW2 severely limited the spread of T.V. The interference problem was slight in the UK due to lack of cars! J.

[florickwar2]

the pye retriever chassis kinda won the war . there was nothing that could get on 45MHZ . before Holland was overrun philips made the tooling and the press bases for the EF50 and they where shipped to Britain on the brink of surrender .

if those valves wouldn't be shipped Britain would be overrun . be course there would be no night fighters .



[wisteela]

Very very nice. What are the slider presets?

[OrodesIII]

Television programmes were better back then too.

[DontPublicMe]

Very interesting.

Also very refreshing to see an enthusiastic and professional attitude to your work---something sadly lacking here in Australia.

Also it was a reminder how wartime spurs inventions and technological developments far more than during peacetime.

[NJPurling]

I have a bunch of late '40s & early 50's Practical Wireless.

An awful lot of ex WW2 gear, including radar receiver gear advertised as being convertible for TV purposes.

What are the in the small screening cans? You mentioned the EF50's, but were 7 pin minature valves around in 1946?

If it is not valves that are in those small cans, what are they?

[CoolConejo]

@Ethix127 Actually No 1 single person invented Color TV. It was a collaboration of several inventions/discoveries from various people.

[Ethix127]

did a mexican invent the 1st colored television lol

[laurdy]

if the rms form the eht unit is 5000v the rectified and smoothed dc is about 7000v