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Forum 141

Mystery HMV 1807

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Brian Cuff
(@briancuff)
Posts: 2063
Member Rest in Peace
Topic starter
 

Hi all
I bought a sheep in wolves clothing at the Bonhams Michael Bennet-Leavy sale last year. It was listed as, and the ivorine label on the cabinet said it was, an 1804. However, On removing the back, I found it was an 1807, the next model on which has a reputation as a real PUP! I should have realised this before I bid for it as the cabinet is not like the 1804. I restored it some while ago but decided to get it out and power it up again, just for fun!!! It worked. and I must say the tube, an Emiscope 3/13 is great with plenty of brightness (at 4.5kV and pin-sharp). One thing I didn't take any notice of before was the label tied round the neck of the tube as all EMI sets of this vintage had them. However, the label on this tube is dated 10th October 1939! The CRT in the 1804 is the 3/4 which is recognised as a pre-war CRT but my 3/13 CRT label is dated 5 weeks after the UK declared war! Can anyone explain this?

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Posted : 14/12/2011 6:10 pm
Anonymous
(@anonymous)
Posts: 16832
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They had TVs before Victoria in 1807? 8)

Jeffrey's explanation sounds reasonable.

 
Posted : 14/12/2011 7:05 pm
Brian Cuff
(@briancuff)
Posts: 2063
Member Rest in Peace
Topic starter
 

The CRT is a 3/16, not a 3/13 as in my OP. I guess it was a braino, not a typo!

According to a bit of research, the 3/16 was released post-war and designed for series heaters (0.3A). The first series heater TV was, I believe, the Pye B18T - also suitable for DC operation and released a year before the 1807 and two years after the re-start of the TV service (thanks to Jon's fantastic website, http://www.thevalvepage.com/ . The 3/16 uses metal-to-glass sealed pins which were developed just prior to WWII (the EF50 for example).
The whole set is strange with the 1804 label and the label on the CRT neck! It is also very clean inside and out suggesting that it hasn't been used much so I wonder if it was a lab model bought by MBL when EMI sold off their collection! I have another 1807 which is disgustingly filthy inside which is what I would expect of a TV from that era as they cost a lot of money and would be used as much as possible. We will never know!

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Posted : 15/12/2011 1:11 pm
Duke Nukem
(@duke-nukem)
Posts: 254
Reputable Member Registered
 

In its day, the 1807 really was indeed a real pup. It was a response to Pye's B18, and did their reputation no good at all. Which, in my book, makes it an interesting set but once restored will almost certainly avoid some of its issues - it'd be difficult to replace the old caps with something equally bad which will help keep it a bit more stabe for starters. And, if you manage to find a magic balance point where both good brightness and good focus actually co-exist simultaneously then picture is surprisingly good (I would prove that statement by attaching a photo of mine running but the stoopid thing is broken _again_!).

TTFN,
Jon

 
Posted : 16/12/2011 10:09 pm
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