My latest (and possibly unwise..) purchase has arrived from the states, I've always fancied one of these for the simple flying spot scanner, so I made quite a generous offer on this and won it. Subsequently I've seen others in better condition for less. Never mind.
Astoundingly the CRT has survived the journey, there are some missing valves, 12AT7, 12AU7 and 12AX7 which are all variations of ECC81,82 and 83s which I will have.
The 6CG7 horizontal oscillator may prove a bit more difficult to find but the more obscure US types are all present.
I'm hoping this will prove an interesting project.
Advert from 1963.
Frank
Test report on the 1077 Analyser, page 56.
https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Retailing/60s/Electronic-Technician-1969-06.pdf
Frank
After a bit of a clean up and smoothing cap reforming, the low power sections of this unit have mostly come to life, shorted turns checker, audio generator and vertical drive and output all seem to be working. As I don't have a 6CG7 line oscillator valve, but plenty of ECC82s which are pin compatible but with different heater arrangements, I'll modify the board and see if the line output comes to life. Maybe I'll have some pictures too.
After changing the heater wiring and fitting an ECC82 in the line oscillator position, I was pleased to find the line output and high-volts all came to life and getting a small monitor to lock up at 525 50Hz I got some images.
The linearity issues are a combination of monitor and scanner CRT adjustments, I'll have to find a better monitor to set it up properly.
This unit would have been invaluable to a American TV workshop in the sixties, the instruction manual itself would enable a competent radio engineer to repair black and white TVs. I'm surprised nothing similar was ever marketed in the UK, unless someone knows different ? Maybe TV repair was on a larger and more industrial scale in the US back then so there was more of a market for dedicated test equipment. As recently as the nineties, I saw Sencore equipment in the US which was for diagnosing VCR servo and signal problems and another which was a vastly updated version of the TV Analyst which could provide drive signal for a variety of CRT computer monitors.
Well done, I have only read about them, never seen one either faulty or like this one working.
Until colour TV arrived we had a multimeter and signal generator, that was it. Colour gave us chance to get a decent scope, degaussing coil, high voltage probe and crosshatch gen, thought we had won the pools.
I have not seen this type of test set in the UK.
Frank
Maybe the UK had no need of these in the 50s and 60s because most of daytime TV transmissions would have been a static Test Card C.
That’s a good suggestion but this is instrument is much more than a test card. I suspect one reason was simply the cost of such an instrument especially in the 50’s.
Frank
These pattern generators were available for 405 lines but again I didn’t see any. My first job was at quite a large organisation that had about 12 shops with a large service dept of around a dozen bench engineers for TV and a couple more for radio and audio. This was the early 60’s and there was a shared scope and valve tester but no pattern generator, as you rightly point out there was no need with test card C available. Perhaps some service depts had them.
The BK tester adverts claimed much easier and quicker repairs to be made, it would be nice to hear from someone who used one to see if that claim was justified. I am not totally convinced.
Frank
... I'm surprised nothing similar was ever marketed in the UK, unless someone knows different ? Maybe TV repair was on a larger and more industrial scale in the US back then so there was more of a market for dedicated test equipment.
A fairly comprehensive analysis tool. Interesting, look forward to seeing how the features work. I'm intrigued by the flying spot scanner, reminds me of creative configurations used to create SSTV pictures in the 70's!
Never seen the B&K Television Analyst in the UK, probably due to relatively high cost for most service departments. On the other hand US companies are very competitive in both business and cost-cutting so tend to have a different view on customer service. They will invest in test fixtures and equipment to allow rapid turn-round and increased profits. Having worked for US companies, ahem, it is ALL about profit. Reading between the lines of the 1963 advertisement proclamation of 'find and fix in half the time', for me it simply translates into employing fewer service personnel.
As for other similar equipment, I do recall using a Telequipment Monoscope test card generator which generated 405 line test card C. The RF signal was available in workshops and soak test area via a distribution system. Apart from the following advertisement, there does not appear to be any technical information about it.
Rich
Was the Monoscope in use in a factory, £570 would be a lot of money for most service depts?
Your comment about the advert of the BK unit in fixing faults half the time requiring less service personnel, it also may well have allowed less experienced personnel to be employed, again reducing costs.
Frank
