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Gec dual standard mono TVs

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slidertogrid
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All this talk of Dual standard GECs' on the suppliers thread has refreshed my enthusiasm for this great chassis! I thought I would share the pictures of the ones in my collection, so here goes hopefully...
Anyone got some pictures of any of these in their collection? It would be great to see them I wonder how many have survived?
First picture is of my 23" "blue front" this was the set I really wanted. it took a while but I got one in the end :aad
It came from a fellow collector who bought it from a friend who had found it in a loft of a house he was working on.
The second is a 19" 1000 series, that one came from our fellow VRAT member Neil and was kindly couriered from Wales by my cousin some time ago, the third was a real bargain! A 99p purchase from e-bay! It did cost a little more to get it couriered to me :bba but never the less a bargain!
:thumb
Rich

 
Posted : 26/01/2015 11:27 pm
Cathovisor
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Now, one d/s GEC that belonged to one of my aunts (the same one who had the Ultra colour set with the touch tuner and curved front - 9800 chassis?) that I recall had four push buttons for UHF, a rotary for VHF and two concentric controls near the bottom for power, volume, brightness and contrast. It was black and silver on the front, the usual script GEC logo and had a 23, or 24" tube. I'm not sure, but I think the tube size was contained proudly in a little square on the front.

Any ideas...?

 
Posted : 26/01/2015 11:56 pm
Katie Bush
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I don't have mine any longer, but in the mid 70's, I acquired my granddad's 23" blue fronted version (as per your top picture) but with wood grain print on the control panel fascia.. That was when he got his first colour set (Philips G8).

Now, I'll be honest, it is a set that is on my hit list - if I ever find one! Like Bush TV75s, they're rare as rocking horse shoes. :qq1

Marion

 
Posted : 27/01/2015 12:02 am
slidertogrid
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Now, one d/s GEC that belonged to one of my aunts (the same one who had the Ultra colour set with the touch tuner and curved front - 9800 chassis?) that I recall had four push buttons for UHF, a rotary for VHF and two concentric controls near the bottom for power, volume, brightness and contrast. It was black and silver on the front, the usual script GEC logo and had a 23, or 24" tube. I'm not sure, but I think the tube size was contained proudly in a little square on the front.

Any ideas...?

It doesn't ring any bells with me I'm sorry to say, all of the ones I had back then had rotary uhf tuners, it was probably one of the very late dual standard sets that were produced concurrently with the single standard sets for areas where UHF was late in coming, Thorn did this, the 1400 dual standard was still available as late as 1972 when they were selling the 8500 colour sets and the 1500 single standard mono's.
I can only remember having one of the later sets (with the hybrid IF panel) but that still had a rotary UHF tuner, chrome plastic knobs with the station numbers on a drum inside the outer chrome knob similar to the Philips style 70.
There was one of these on ebay some time ago, but it ended early...
By the time the series 1 "Fineline" single standard sets were being sold off I had left school and got a job in the trade, the fun sort of went out of doing up old sets in my spare time then!
until now of course..
BTW I do have a series 1 Fineline 20" in the spare room, it works really well but the cabinet build quality is terrible, a sort of cross between really bad chipboard and Weetabix.
:-o
Rich

 
Posted : 27/01/2015 12:47 am
Cathovisor
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By the time the series 1 "Fineline" single standard sets were being sold off I had left school and got a job in the trade, the fun sort of went out of doing up old sets in my spare time then!

Hmmm.

"Fineline".

Now that rings bells... maybe it was a s/s set then... :aaq

 
Posted : 27/01/2015 12:50 am
slidertogrid
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Yes some of the Fineline series did look a bit like the earlier dual standard sets, I think they were all the square screen tubes by then so it would have been 20 or 24 inch. they did one model with a plastic front, concentric controls I think the push button tuner was on the top left hand front, but I'm sure there were variations.
My 20 in set has a wood front with a silver plastic strip top to bottom for the controls, a bit like the hybrid colour sets which I suppose were on sale at the same time.
It's in the back corner of my spare room at the moment, but I am clearing some stuff out soon ready to take to the NVCF so when I get to it I will post a picture.
:thumb
Rich

 
Posted : 27/01/2015 11:15 am
Tazman1966
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Hello there!

There were some versions of the final dual standard chassis in the same style as the Series One single standard sets. They looked the same but with the addition of a VHF tuner in the same style as the dual standard colour 2028 and so on.

 
Posted : 27/01/2015 6:43 pm
Cathovisor
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Hello there!

There were some versions of the final dual standard chassis in the same style as the Series One single standard sets. They looked the same but with the addition of a VHF tuner in the same style as the dual standard colour 2028 and so on.

Hi Tas,

don't suppose you have any pix..?

 
Posted : 27/01/2015 9:11 pm
Tazman1966
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Sorry, only in my mind's eye! However, here is a picture of Steve's Series 1 and if you can imagine the VHF tuner just above the UHF tuner actually in the speaker grille (below the speaker obviously!) that's what they looked like. As you can see, there's a little 24" emblem in a square on the escutcheon.

Hope that jogs the memory,

Tas

 
Posted : 27/01/2015 9:45 pm
Cathovisor
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Sorry, only in my mind's eye! However, here is a picture of Steve's Series 1 and if you can imagine the VHF tuner just above the UHF tuner actually in the speaker grille (below the speaker obviously!) that's what they looked like. As you can see, there's a little 24" emblem in a square on the escutcheon.

Hope that jogs the memory,

Tas

It does indeed, Tas! Can't remember the finish on the set other than it was quite dark, and something makes me think the speaker grille was black too - but the controls are spot-on!

 
Posted : 27/01/2015 9:55 pm
colourstar
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Sometime around 1984 when I was still at skool, I remember staggering back from a local jumble sale with a 24" Sobell-badged single standad Fineline set, no doubt much to my parents' delight.

The styling was quite unusual. The four rotary controls for off/vol/bri/cont and the 4 pushbutton mechanical tuner were mounted across the top of the case, angled skywards, leaving only the crt and moulded plastic speaker grille on the front. I think crt surround was a dark blue/grey textured plastic effect with a silver and black moulded plastic speaker grille. The 'Fineline' logo was in some very period looking typeface across the control panel on the top. That's the only non-GEC Fineline I ever saw.

At school we did have an all-white cased 20" GEC fineline, again with the controls across the top.

I always thought these sets were stylistically more interesting than other b&w single standard sets.

Steve

 
Posted : 27/01/2015 9:57 pm
slidertogrid
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I have found a picture of my 20 inch fineline taken in May last year, it works really well, having been recapped and restored by it's previous owner.
The cabinet is really cheaply made, the veneer (such as it is) is easily chipped revealing the Weetabix beneath, it must have been an entry level model, if you wanted a plastic front it looks like that may have cost extra!
It's one of those sets I didn't really want but sort of found me... but its useful to test unknown valves in :bba so it gets a run from time to time!

 
Posted : 27/01/2015 11:19 pm
Rebel Rafter
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Hi, folks. RR here. I had a GEC 2000 series mono set when I was 16. It was the first set I owned. It was a Sobell gaiety. It didn't work when I first got it and I didn't understand TV's right well then and I struggled for ages to get it going and when I eventually did I found the picture was all wobbling down the sides and I couldn't understand why. I later found out this was because the main smoother was knackered and in those days I didn't have a clue where to get one from and there were no suppliers anywhere near to where I lived so the set got scrapped. I never really liked GEC sets, I hated the double sided print which I really struggled with in those days as I wasn't that used to soldering then. One thing I really hated about the later single standard mono GEC's was those horrible little soldered in IF modules, and if I remember right some of them had print on both sides too, right where they were soldered in to the main board and I could never get them out when they needed fixing. I also remember on the old 2000 series there was a rather unusual sound detector circuit using a little 7-pin valve, I can't quite remember the type but I think it was an EH90. I also remember the big long dropper which was mounted on a bridge over the chassis and the leads to it used to really deteriorate badly. Also weren't these sets the ones which had the aerial sockets on a bracket that used to back away when you tried to plug the lead in. RR.

 
Posted : 28/01/2015 8:43 pm
crustytv
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Wow Graham you have some nice sets in your collection, I wonder what other goodies you have we've not been treated to a viewing of.

I know you're a busy but it would be nice to document them all.

I've been working on a new prototype website as a background task when time permits. It may get released this year, it would allow members to easily create their own collection webpages.

Same goes for Rich's sets shown here and anyone else.

CrustyTV Television Shop: Take a virtual tour
Crusty's TV/VCR Collection: View my collection
Crustys Youtube Channel: My stuff
Crusty's 70s Lounge: Take a peek

 
Posted : 28/01/2015 9:58 pm
Marc
 Marc
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I've been working on a new prototype website as a background task when time permits. It may get released this year, it would allow members to easily create their own collection webpages.

Hi Chris,

That sounds like a fabulous idea, I'll keep an eye out for more info as and when you get the chance. :aad

Marc.

Marc
BVWS member
RSGB call sign 2E0VTN

 
Posted : 28/01/2015 10:01 pm
Till Eulenspiegel
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An interesting GEC dual standard receiver is the hybrid model 2012 of 1965. Sobell version is the 1012. The timebases are similar to the model 1000.
The receiver section employs germanium transistors of the AF179 series. Both tuners were of the rotary type, all transistor.

I used to service lots of the models 1000 and 2000 series. The 1000 was a development of the earlier ST196 series which could be found in three forms. On the ST195DST changing over to UHF625 involved setting the VHF tuner to "UHF" and the separate 405/625 system switch on the right side of the cabinet. The model 2000 addressed that complication, the user simply selected the UHF position on the VHF tuner.
1963 models were: Basic ST196 convertible, ST196DS no UHF tuner and the fully converted ST196-DST.
Later on the dual standard design was tidied up and all the major components were positioned along the base of the cabinet. Model 2017.
There was a special model which employed the six button integrated tuner, I've never seen one.
Look out for the model ST197, the special set with VHF radio,
Also interesting are the early dual standard receivers. These are the sets which have the vertical PCB board assemblies.

Till Eulenspiegel.

 
Posted : 28/01/2015 10:24 pm
Till Eulenspiegel
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Searching through the 1967/68 Radio and Television servicing book reveals that the model 2017 has FM radio. It's an all valve chassis. Uses a similar tuner to the one used in Thorn TVs. Models 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 are similar but for television only. The miniature Philips tuner type AT7650 is employed.
The germanium transistor model 2012 also appears in the 67/68 book . However, I do know it was introduced late 1965.
The models with the six button integrated tuner are the models 2032 and 2033. the transistors employed in the signal circuits are the then new BF196/BF197 lokfit series.
The tuner was of Continental origin, most likey it was made by R E Hopt. Find the model 2032 in the 1969/70 book.
GEC made good use of the dual standard chassis. Receivers fitted with this chassis were available as late as 1972. By 1972 I had a direct account with GEC and the mono TVs I bought from the company were the Series Two single standard models. No need for dual standard set anymore. In fact I was one of those wicked people who wanted rid of 405! Series Two sets were very popular sets with customers. Very stylish cabinets., and reliable to.

Till Eulenspiegel.

 
Posted : 28/01/2015 11:38 pm
hamid_1
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My first "vintage" TV was a GEC series 2 Fineline which I found on a skip in 1986. It had an unusual cabinet presentation - all the controls were on the top, the front just had the tube and speaker grille. The cabinet was plastic with a printed woodgrain effect.

The fault was insufficient height. I knew very little about TV repairs back then, so I asked a secondhand TV dealer for advice. He said that model was a bit too old for him to look at, but he introduced me to an old, semi-retired TV engineer called Mr. Dempford who worked from home repairing old black and white valve tellies like the one I had found. I visited Mr. Dempford's house and found it full of old TVs and valve radios. He told me the low height fault was a 10 megaohm resistor gone open circuit. Not only that, but he gave me some more old junk to play with, including a Marconiphone 4800 (BRC 1500 series) TV and a Marconiphone T69DA valve radio, both of which I eventually got working. This started me off on a career in electronics repair.

A year or two later I found one of the blue front GEC dual standards dumped on the road, just like the one in the first picture, only it was 19". I brought it home, plugged it in and ... frame collapse. I discovered the frame output transformer had an open-circuit winding. Again I asked a TV repair shop if they could supply me with a spare one, but they said no, it's too old. So I tried a frame output transformer from a scrap Bush A774 chassis. It worked! However, the picture had poor focus and contrast. I suspected the tube but never went any further with it. Sadly that set along with nearly all my other old tellies got dumped in 1990 when I had to move house.

I haven't seen any other GEC dual standard or 625 monochrome tellies since the end of the 80's. I wondered if any still existed. It was only at the NVCF in 2013 that I met slidertogrid who was selling a GEC Fineline 625 single standard in working order. Jon (Duke Nukem) also has a blue front GEC dual standard on his TV collection web page: http://www.thevalvepage.com/tv/gec/2019/gec_2019.htm
So at least there are a few survivors.

 
Posted : 29/01/2015 12:43 am
crustytv
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Snap!

I had the same model GEC 2014 until last year (2014) spooky! when I moved it on to another forum member.

Looks like a fair few GEC's survive then

Mine was less than clean inside but was untouched.

CrustyTV Television Shop: Take a virtual tour
Crusty's TV/VCR Collection: View my collection
Crustys Youtube Channel: My stuff
Crusty's 70s Lounge: Take a peek

 
Posted : 29/01/2015 1:37 pm
Till Eulenspiegel
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Pictures of the hand made dual standard receiver unit which was fitted certain GEC and Sobell TV sets made about 1962/3. The unit was fitted all models suffixed as DS and DS-T.
The GEC models were the BT448DS-T, BT451DS-T and the converted versions of the Sobell ST282 and ST286.
An unusual circuit feature of these early convertible and dual standard receivers was the choice of HT rectifier, a Mullard PY33 valve. Just about every other manufacturer had opted for the silcon diode for the HT supply.

Till Eulenspiegel.

 
Posted : 29/01/2015 2:14 pm
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