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1968 Ferguson 3700: Revisited

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crustytv
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As space begins to develop both in the display room and workshop I realised its been 2 years eek_gifsince I repaired two of the Thorn 2000's. They've been turned on a few times since but probably not all last year so I thought it was high time they were give a check over. As I've made it clear in past threads, I only do what's necessary safety wise and what is necessary to get the set working. Therefore there's plenty of scope for the old components to fail and keep me occupied, which for me is the fun of repair orientated approach I take.

So first up is the Ferguson 3700, first thing I notice is a very squished raster, this turns out to be the linearity preset on the field module. A few turns back and forth restores normal operation but I think that's going to need a clean or replacement so as to address the slight linearity errors present. Glad also to find that the tripler repair I performed still seems to be holding up. I think the decoder might also need some attention, the ident might need a tweak or likely some of those callins are starting to creak, we shall see.

All in all not looking too bad for a 49 year old CTV with minimal repairs performed, Thorn certainly knew how to build a TV.

 

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Posted : 06/06/2017 10:03 pm
Cathovisor
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Although my disdain for Thorn products is well known, I have to say that's a belter of a set. I await further colour joys as the 50th approaches thumb_gif

 
Posted : 06/06/2017 10:10 pm
Jayceebee
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Is it really two years ago? how time flies. I think I've recounted the story previously where I received a birthday card with a picture of the 3700 complete with black PVC padding around the mask when I was 12 years old, from that point I vowed I would obtain the real thing. While I was an apprentice with an RBM dealer I bought a "non worker" from Trade Disposals at Thornbury roundabout in Bradford in 1973, little did I know that all the good boards were robbed and replaced with faulty ones to get the "workers" in the shop window going but it taught me a lot in getting it working again. Although I disposed of nearly all of my service data many years ago I couldn't bear to dispose of the 2000 workshop manual which I obtained C.O.D. from the BRC service dept. in Glasgow.

When I read you were thinning out your collection I have to admit I was secretly hoping you might be moving the 3700 on but rather suspect your early Thorn collection will be going nowhere.

John.

John.

 
Posted : 06/06/2017 10:44 pm
crustytv
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Jayceebee said
Is it really two years ago? how time flies.

Hi John,

Actually I'm totally incorrect on the date, I just checked my records and it shows I got the Ferguson 3700 in Dec 2013 along with the Decca CTV25. The HMV 2700 I got a month earlier in November 2013, so its actually 3½ years ago. Finally I got the HMV 2701 in December 2014

Time certainly does seem to fly..

Jayceebee said

When I read you were thinning out your collection I have to admit I was secretly hoping you might be moving the 3700 on but rather suspect your early Thorn collection will be going nowhere.

 Actually you're not far from the truth and I did momentarily consider it, my rational being do I really need two 25" examples of the 2000? Rest assured If I should decide to move the 3700 on you will get first refusal, I could think of no better person to be its guardian.

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Posted : 06/06/2017 11:38 pm
crustytv
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Cathovisor said
Although my disdain for Thorn products is well known, I have to say that's a belter of a set.

It is splendid and although I know many like yourself dislike Thorn, I feel their place in the CTV history books was rightfully earned.  The significance of the first all transistor CTV, the first SMPS with the 3000, the first sub £200 CTV with the 8000 bringing colour to the masses. Not forgetting how they shook up and startled the industry in 1975 with the release of SYCLOPS and finally the TX range.

Cathovisor said
I await further colour joys as the 50th approaches thumb_gif  

It does seem a shame but it appears a distinct possibility the event is likely to go uncovered by the MSM. Still with the G.E. and our imminent extraction from a club and the recent tragic events, its hardly important ( note to all, please no comments on those topics).

For me I plan to quietly celebrate 50 years of colour by giving the early sets in the collection an airing, to dust them down, blow off the cobwebs and see how they're all doing. The other two 2000's I know have faults, the 2701 gave all sorts of trouble, the EHT jelly pot failed, that was replaced. The set was working perfectly but a power up in early 2016 showed it had developed a field collapse. The 2700? Well I've been really naughty and never attempted a repair on that, it still has the sync fault it arrived with. Now I have space in the TV room I can actually get to it to work on.

The Decca CTV25 will be another fun one to give an outing it was working last time it was powered up but again that was a long time ago. If you recall the rare Decca CTV22 CRT was toast, well I decided to reactivate, kill or cure, it worked and seems to be holding up so that's back on as a viable repair, though a daunting one. The G6, well this weekend I was wood working, sorting out and adapting the legs I acquired for it. The plan being to try and get them attached this year. On the service side all that needed were some minor convergence tweaks and a look at the colour circuit as it would not turn off.

Lots to keep me busy.

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Posted : 07/06/2017 12:20 am
Nuvistor
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I think my problems with Thorn was there range of 1960's range of BW TV's. I just don't think they were the best of sets, made down to a price for the rental industry. I do accept that they were easy to repair.

It was this experence that made us stay away from the Thorn CTV's. I have no proof but I think it was the pushing by Jules Thorn that provided the drive to be the first with an all solid state CTV. There must have been a lot of late nights between Thorn and Texas Instruments in some of the design of the 2000 chassis. Being first with something as complicated as domestic large screen solid state CTV did have its drawbacks, Thorn learned a lot from the 2000 that went into the 3000, some other makers also learned from Thorns efforts in sets they produced for the SS CTV's.  

Still it is certainly a milestone in CTV design.

Just to keep the balance fair, Pye had a bad time for a couple of years 65-67 with their BW sets until they got there act together in around 68.

Frank

 
Posted : 07/06/2017 12:30 pm
PYE625
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I kind of like Thorn sets of all vintage as they seem to be pretty advanced for the technology of the time. The Jellypot LOPT was one such thing that comes to mind.

To understand the black art of electronics is to understand witchcraft. Andrew.

 
Posted : 07/06/2017 5:51 pm
Nuvistor
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The jellpot was a good TX, the sets just did not have the performance of the RBM and Philips sets. Only RBM model that was not of the usual quality was the TV135R, specially made for the rental market, The TV135 was a different set with the low power signal circuits all transistor. A set that for me just worked, gave good performance and had few service calls.

Still we all have our favourites.

Frank

 
Posted : 07/06/2017 6:09 pm
PYE625
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nuvistor said

Still we all have our favourites.  

 Now that deserves a thread all of it's own.... Just what is the favourite make of all time of all the members here? hmm_gif

To understand the black art of electronics is to understand witchcraft. Andrew.

 
Posted : 07/06/2017 7:25 pm
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