...Sorry, I couldn't resist posting that!!
Actually, there isn't anything wrong with the set, other than it's smell! After it had been on for a while in the workshop there was a distinct whiff of pongy arm-pits! I thought it was me to begin with, and spent some time wandering round the workshop sniffing things to try and find what it was! I did consider just giving it a blast of Right-guard, but that would probably only mask it for a couple of days, so the set was stripped out and the case got a bath with Flash, and the PCB, CRT, and anything else was given a good dusting out in the garden, followed by some foam cleaner.
This being the result:
Much better! And the picture:
Ok, it's got a bit of a line linearity problem creeping in, and no idea what black-level is, but other than that, it's alright!
The story behind this set is that I had an identical one as my first telly, back in about 1995. It was my Dad's telly to begin with, and had followed us to Daventry, and lived on top of a wardrobe, until I asked if I could have it in my bedroom! That set kept me amused for hours, normally being switched on early in the morning just to watch the test card and Ceefax on BBC2. I saw the birth of Channel 5 on it too! But unfortunately that particular set developed a fault, in that the line hold would be miles off on switch on, but once warmed up it would lock for a while. I was then presented with a brand new Daewoo 14" colour TV, but I insisted on keeping the Hitachi! I had them both for a few years, before Dad got his way and took the poor little Hitachi to the tip 
So I kept looking out for another one, and eventually this one turned up! This one had been with it's original owner from new, and when it came to time to clear out, he didn't want to dump it! Luckily eBay was there, and of course these things are becoming collectable, so bunging it on there it was bound to find a new home.
I think I might try adding some sort of black level clamp to it, if I can find any info on it! I did find some articles on fitting it to Thorn 1500's, so maybe the same would work on this.
Regards,
Lloyd.
Oh Lloyd ! Washed out picture indeed 
That little telly reminds me of a Hitachi set bought from Vallance's in Leeds we had in the kitchen at my mum and dads going back to around 1977/78ish except their set had an FM radio built in too, I wonder if one of those would ever turn up. 
Marc.
Marc
BVWS member
RSGB call sign 2E0VTN
Yes! I've seen that model before, whilst looking for this one. It looked almost identical except for the addition of the tuning scale above the controls.
In fact, I think I've found a link to one on Radiomuseum.
Regards,
Lloyd.
Hi Lloyd,
Just been searching the net and found a very similar set to my mum and dads but I'm sure that their set was all black on the front as opposed to silver on the one bellow.
Marc.
Marc
BVWS member
RSGB call sign 2E0VTN
Lloyd said
In fact, I think I've found a link to one on Radiomuseum.Regards,
Lloyd.
Close but a little newer than the one I remember.
Marc.
Marc
BVWS member
RSGB call sign 2E0VTN
Those 1970's Hitachi 12 inch portable B/W sets just worked, sold and rarely saw again for repairs apart from damage, broken knob etc.
Frank
It's strange how different sets can smell, it gives an insight into the cleanliness of the former owner.....
Every set tells a story 
To understand the black art of electronics is to understand witchcraft. Andrew.
PYE625 said
It's strange how different sets can smell, it gives an insight into the cleanliness of the former owner.....Every set tells a story
I have a KB WV90 and boy oh boy did that set tell a story.....must have lived in a house with all occupants smoking 60 a day each at the very least, I felt like I was on a good 40 a day just cleaning the thing 
Mind you it turned into a good looking and odour free set eventually 
Marc.
Marc
BVWS member
RSGB call sign 2E0VTN
marc said
I have a KB WV90 and boy oh boy did that set tell a story.....must have lived in a house with all occupants smoking 60 a day each at the very least, I felt like I was on a good 40 a day just cleaning the thing
Mind you it turned into a good looking and odour free set eventually
Marc.
If memory serves me right, didn't that GEC Crystal I gave you have a bit of an aroma about it? I seem to recall that during its time with me, it had a very distinct mildewy/mouldy/mushroomy kind of aura.
I have ended up with quite a collection of B/W portables, including an Ekco T545 from 1972 made in Japan by Hitachi. I picked it up from a car boot sale 7 years ago for £1.50 and it's still working perfectly, more than 40 years after it was made. I have another Hitachi portable very much like Lloyd's (it might even be the same model) hiding away in my collection which I've not actually tested yet, but wouldn't be surprised if it just works. Must get around to trying it soon ...
Occasionally I've had faulty electrolytic capacitors causing odd faults in B/W portables. Typically the fault is worse when cold, and may go away completely when the set has warmed up after a few minutes. Recently I've used freezer spray to find the faulty capacitor. With the TV switched on, warm the PCB with a hairdryer and observe if the fault clears. If it does, spray some freezer on each electrolytic in turn. When the spray hits the faulty capacitor, the fault will return in a few seconds. Then you've found it. I reckon Lloyd's original Hitachi portable was suffering from that kind of problem (an electrolytic going high ESR when cold).
One thing that Lloyd mentioned is the lack of black level clamp in many of these sets. In my experience, the far-Eastern portables rarely implemented black level clamp, neither did Thorn. On the other hand, Philips seem to have added black level clamp to all of their B/W portables that I've come across, as well as their large screen 625 monochrome sets. As well as Philips, the Bush BM6514 Ranger and the Decca MS1211 Gypsy also have that feature. It makes a big difference to the picture quality! I'm not sure exactly about how to add a black level clamp to an existing TV, but I have the service manuals for the Bush and Decca models. I could post an extract of the video output circuitry. It could be worth studying the schematic to work out how they've done things.
Katie_Bush said
If memory serves me right, didn't that GEC Crystal I gave you have a bit of an aroma about it? I seem to recall that during its time with me, it had a very distinct mildewy/mouldy/mushroomy kind of aura.
Yes Marion, that little Crystal set was a bit on the pungent side but I reckon that one had a bad 'Hamlet or Castella' habit !
Marc
BVWS member
RSGB call sign 2E0VTN
hamid_1 said
I picked it up from a car boot sale 7 years ago for £1.50 and it's still working perfectly, more than 40 years after it was made.
Hi Hamid,
I have noticed that the day's of cheap 70's/80's portables seems to be coming to an end and their prices are slowly creeping ever upwards. For those who like sets of this style era at a sensible price I reckon now could be the time to buy before it's too late.
Marc.
Marc
BVWS member
RSGB call sign 2E0VTN
Hi Marc,
Yes, the days of these being cheap or even free, has gone. I used to get these from the Daventry tip, before they stopped everyone buying them, for £5. If I wanted more sets they would often let me have them for less, especially if they came from the 'junk pile' (not the sets in the for sale area). Before that I remember them selling B&W portables for 50p, and colour sets for £2!
This was certainly not the most unpleasant TV I've had, the worst was the Samsung Slimfit, it had that much condensed fag smoke and cooking grease on it that it was sticky! Took some scrubbing that one did. Of course, it gets into the scan coils so no matter how clean the case and the PCB is, when they warm up all the pong comes out!
Hi Hamid,
Those little Ekco/Hitachi sets are rather cute! I have a little 8 or 9 inch Hitachi as well, which also just works! I really wish I could have kept the original one I had. I really must get some freezer spray, although I'd probably end up wasting most of it, we had some at work and had great fun spraying it into anti-static re-sealable bags, shaking it and throwing it under some unsuspecting person's chair, where it would sit for a while then begin to expand until it went with a deafening BANG! We did some daft things there...
It would be most interesting to see the circuits for the sets with the black level clamp, then I can experiment on one of those little 5" Chinese sets that keep cluttering up the workshop! I too collected a few black and white portables over the years, 2 that I did get from the tip, and are still with me are a Sharp and a Network. I also quite like little 10" colour sets too.
Regards,
Lloyd.
