1983 Philips 26CS3890/05R Teletext & Printer
MRG Systems ATP600 Databridge
Teletext Editing Terminal
Microvitec Monitor 1451MS4
BBC Microcomputer TELETEXT Project
Viewdata, Prestel, Philips
Philips Model Identification
1976/77 Rank Arena AC6333 – Worlds First Teletext Receiver
PYE 1980s Brochure
Ceefax (Teletext) Turns 50
Philips 1980s KT3 – K30 Range Brochure
Zanussi Television Brochure 1982
Ferguson Videostar Review
She soon put that down
1983 Sanyo Brochure
Wireless World Teletext Decoder
Unitra Brochure
Rediffusion CITAC (MK4A)
Thorn TRUMPS 2
Grundig Brochure 1984
The Obscure and missing Continental
G11 Television 1978 – 1980
Reditune
Hitachi VIP201P C.E.D Player
Thorn 3D01 – VHD VideoDisc Player
Granada Television Brochure, 1970s
Long Gone UK TV Shops
Memories of a Derwent Field Service Engineer
PYE Australia Circa 1971
Radios-TV VRAT
Fabulous Fablon
Thorn TX10 Chassis
Crusty-TV Museum, Analogue TV Network
Philips N1500 Warning!
Rumbelows
Thorn EMI Advertising
Thorn’s Guide to Servicing a VCR
Ferguson 3V24 De-Robed
Want to tell us a story?
Video Circuits V15 – Tripler Tester
Thorn Chassis Guide
Remove Teletext Lines & VCR Problems
Suggestions
Website Refresh
Colour TV Brochures
1970s Lounge Recreation
CrustyTV Vintage Television Museum
Linda Lovelace Experience
Humbars on a Sony KV2702
1972 Ultra 6713
1983 Philips 26CS3890/05R Teletext & Printer
MRG Systems ATP600 Databridge
Teletext Editing Terminal
Microvitec Monitor 1451MS4
BBC Microcomputer TELETEXT Project
Viewdata, Prestel, Philips
Philips Model Identification
1976/77 Rank Arena AC6333 – Worlds First Teletext Receiver
PYE 1980s Brochure
Ceefax (Teletext) Turns 50
Philips 1980s KT3 – K30 Range Brochure
Zanussi Television Brochure 1982
Ferguson Videostar Review
She soon put that down
1983 Sanyo Brochure
Wireless World Teletext Decoder
Unitra Brochure
Rediffusion CITAC (MK4A)
Thorn TRUMPS 2
Grundig Brochure 1984
The Obscure and missing Continental
G11 Television 1978 – 1980
Reditune
Hitachi VIP201P C.E.D Player
Thorn 3D01 – VHD VideoDisc Player
Granada Television Brochure, 1970s
Long Gone UK TV Shops
Memories of a Derwent Field Service Engineer
PYE Australia Circa 1971
Radios-TV VRAT
Fabulous Fablon
Thorn TX10 Chassis
Crusty-TV Museum, Analogue TV Network
Philips N1500 Warning!
Rumbelows
Thorn EMI Advertising
Thorn’s Guide to Servicing a VCR
Ferguson 3V24 De-Robed
Want to tell us a story?
Video Circuits V15 – Tripler Tester
Thorn Chassis Guide
Remove Teletext Lines & VCR Problems
Suggestions
Website Refresh
Colour TV Brochures
1970s Lounge Recreation
CrustyTV Vintage Television Museum
Linda Lovelace Experience
Humbars on a Sony KV2702
1972 Ultra 6713
Tech Chat Geek Out On Some Vintage PCB, Silicon & VFD

Decommissioning an ex M.O.D avionics test rack to facilitate the build of my V2.0 signals project, I needed to remove the rather large centre module. I have to say whilst in the process of decommissioning I came to appreciate absolute attention to detail invested. It soon became obvious the entire device had been constructed "in-house". The aluminium rack housing bearing cross score marks where the engineer had marked out cuts, or drill holes etc.
The PCB, were equally a work of art, it was a shame to depopulate them but needs must. When I got to the largest module, the centrepiece, this revealed some really nice period parts, a VFD and an M27C512-15F1 EPROM. Thankfully I won't need to depopulate this module as the LCD monitor will be occupying the space. Who knows, maybe the VFD and EPROM may be of some use in the future.
Thought some of you might appreciate some pics.
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Could be interesting to inject some power into it and see what, if anything, comes up on the display!
Regards,
Lloyd

That is a splendid example of a VFD, hopefully it can be driven someway/somehow. I love VFDs, for their clarity, brightness and not least as one of the last outposts of thermionics. Never really liked LCDs, excusable as a minimal-power technology but otherwise unappealing- while there were inumerable LCD and plenty of LED iterations of the popular PIC frequency counter modules available for a song from China, I was pleased to find that there were just a few examples of a VFD version around. A bit more expensive, a bit more power-hungry but much nicer.

Posted by: @lloydCould be interesting to inject some power into it and see what, if anything, comes up on the display!
Did just that this morning, 9V, and it's alive!
At first I just powered the VFD board, that just had a version code.
I then connected it to the main module, that holds the EPROM, hoping it might load in the stored code, it did.
It draws around 260mA and periodically rises to 275mA, which seems to coincide with a display refresh. There are two blocks on the 3rd line, the second (cursor?) of these pulses for five seconds. At which point the cursor traverses the entire display 8 times (screen rewrite ?) ending back where it started, t repeat the process. I think the contents of the display is an address.
There's a little flashing led on the board with the EPROM. Little else I can do, I suspect the rest of the main board required powering. The main board has a 12V linear voltage regulator L7812CV, I suppose I could give that some volts, which should power all the other main board related silicon.
Nonetheless, very intriguing.
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@crustytv Altenstadt is a area some 60km south-west of Munich - the address in the display is Südliche Römerstraße 12-16, 86972 Altenstadt and the company - Lechmotoren GmbH - is seemingly still in business as part of a company called Vincorion https://www.vincorion.com/en/
Thirty-odd years ago when I was buying components from the bright yellow STC (later ES, for Electronic Services) catalogue for the FM-AM converters Dave Grant and I were building - and Roederstein axial capacitors for radio repairs - the catalogue had several pages devoted to various VFDs and also another oddity I recall from petrol pumps, 7-segment filament displays.

This time power fed in via the 12V regulator, VFD display is now powered via the main PCB. It loads as before, but now I have the bank of LED along the front flashing, no change in the VFD display info. I suspect it probably needs all the other modules in circuit and the D.U.T. connected. That's not going to happen because A) the other modules have been depopulated and B) I haven't a clue what device it would test, and even if I did, I seriously doubt I'd have one.
Here endeth the interesting diversion.
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The boards were probably made around 2003 given the 0125 and 0248 date codes on the EPROM and UDN2543B power driver devices. It would be very unusual to see many if any through hole components or an EPROM in commercially made equipment from that time.
John

Hmmm, just a quick & dirty test, but maybe there is a simple use for it after all, at least it won't sit in a junk box for decades 😎
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I was wondering if it could be re-programmed with something interesting!

Edit - I see you've already worked out how to change the message on the screen, by editing the EPROM contents. You could select a different message using a larger capacity EPROM programmed in two banks, then switching the address line to change to the high or low bank. I did this many years ago to make a 2-in-1 Vectrex game cartridge.

Respectfully, I think you'll find that's what I've already done two posts back.
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Decided what the VFD shall display, just simply what services the unit provides. I just have to figure how and where I mount this. Unfortunately, it cannot reside where it once did, as I've modified the plate to house the LCD monitor. Also need to figure out how I supply it with the 9V to power it.
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Power resolved, and I've a rather neat solution to the placement, which involves another modification exercise to the setup. Hopefully all will be revealed in a few days time over in the Version 2.0 signals thread.
The photo below shows the module running not from the bench PSU, but its own 12V supply.
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