Today I was contacted by an ex Trade engineer called John, asking if I wanted approximately 15 Autovox PCBs before they went off to the tip. Well, of course, I said I would be delighted to take them to join my ever-growing 70s TV PCB stockroom, all of which goes to help maintain the TVs in my museum. But that's not what this post is really about, my curiosity was piqued. You see, Autovox is pretty much an odd-ball brand and quite rare.
What little I know about Autovox TVs can literally be written on a fag packet, and Google is no better. They were Italian, were offered via Comet and were among the many continental imports in the 70s, plugging the gap due to British manufacturing not able to fulfil the demand. I know of only two sets that have survived, one I have, and the other owned by JonJo, or as he's known to many, 'Ojnoj'. Now there might be other survivors out there, but I'm fairly confident not in the 'known' community of collectors.
This is my 26" Autovox 2682
As luck would have it, a while ago I managed to obtain a large 8-page manual for the 2684. It contains the circuits, waveforms and PCB-layouts. For the most part it matches the 2682.
I asked John how he came by 15 Autovox PCBs, I had a sneaking suspicion what the answer would be, and I was right, yes he serviced them for Comet. Below you will find John's response to my query. I don't think John would mind me posting this on here, there is very little on the web about this brand of TV, and that is Radios-TV VRAT's remit, to capture and document the TV trade.
Hi Chris, well it is Indeed a long story. I am now "old " but back in the mid 1970's I spotted an advert in a Birmingham newspaper, it was placed by "Comet", Selly Oak branch. They were and had been for a while importing the AUTOVOX range directly from Italy. Within the range were car radios, two or more models of TV, 22 and 26 (25 ?) inch screens.
The advert related to the accumulating "heap" of service exchange panels, swapped out by the field engineering staff at many Comet branches around the UK. Essentially they had no-one with a suitable electronics engineering background to repair the panels, the design was partly lifted from the Mullard colour TV design lab and partly from a different source, but the overall electronic content was not what most TV engineers of the time were familiar with.
I successfully applied for the job and was presented with two fully built test rigs, which were basically a 22 and 26 inch Autovox T.V. built around a skeleton frame of "dexion". All panels were thus very easy to access. I spent two years repairing hundreds if not thousands of the AUTOVOX TV boards on an exchange basis within the wider Comet service depts around the country. I was in a side warehouse at the Selly Oak Comet branch, where we also had many metres of racking carrying a full range of spare parts. After two or three years the panel repairs were re-sited to a centralised Comet service branch in Leeds, at which time I left the activity. So if there isn't anyone left alive with hands-on experience from 1975 then it is just about myself !!!
I do recall that the design was very solid and in comparison to much other electronic equipment, the number of "stock fauls " was pleasently small. Regards John
There was a survey carried out in 1974 where it was stated the average UK TV had a 50/50 chance of breaking down in the next year. In 1974 2,600 TVs were sampled via a public questionnaire. Back then, very few sets we more than 4-years old, of that sample, about 60% were owned and 40% rented. Autovox appeared in that survey, the result can be seen below.
The first diagram covers reliability; the proportion of sets with zero breakdowns in the first 12-months.
The second diagram covers the average number of days out of action in the last 12-months
The third asked how likely would it be that you would buy or rent the same TV again
As you can see, Autovox faired pretty well on all the main surveys.
No brochures about but what I did find were a couple of B&W Autovox TVs from 1969, they were certainly funky designs, unlike the wooden TVs we imported. The final pic is an advert from 1975 for Autovox colour television, though not a UK advert.
I hope that was of some interest, and I'll certainly update the thread with pics as and when all the boards arrive.
Admin Note:
As suggested, Comet Electrical posts split off to new topic
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The rare Autovox CTV, now has spares thanks to the kind donation of ex trade engineer John. So very pleased to get these, and especially two LOPTs and one tripler. If you're reading this, John, as you can see, the package arrived safe and sound. The boards will all get a thorough clean, then filed away in the storeroom. When time permits, these will then be inspected and repairs effected where necessary.
I would just like to acknowledge what a thoroughly decent and kind individual John is. He did not want payment for the boards and shipped them at his own expense. He just wanted them to go to a good home. With humility, I say thank you, John, and do I believe they have ended up in the safe place you wished.
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Over the next few days, I'll document the PCBs, along with the circuit, which as far as I can tell none of these exist anywhere else, certainly not the circuit.
Starting with the Autovox decoder FG/01 and what appears to be a later release of the decoder, indexed as FG/0197 but over stamped with manufacturer's ink as 185.
There are workshop markings on the delay lines on the FG/01 decoder, the delay line is a Sylvania with marker pen notation of WKS 5/3/92. From that, we can deduce the TV was perhaps still in use up until 1992.
The later decoder FG/185 has marker pen notation of " X JWC INT B-Y". From that, it's fair to deduce there is an intermittent B-Y
Here is the print side of the PCB and the circuit
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Next up is the A/02 module, this combined PCB carries all RF, I.F. sound video. On the circuit diagram, this module is prefixed as A/0679, I guess a later release, as was the decoder I talked about above. The box I received also contained a nearly complete left side chassis assembly, which included the sound sub aluminium panel. You'll see that I have now assembled the chassis in the final photos.
The Circuit diagram and PCB plan view for RF, I.F. sound & video
The Assembled left-side chassis
In the final photo, you will note some interesting outputs, 5-pin DIN, speaker?, no idea what the rectangle was used for.
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The timebase & power supply chassis frame is not present, so I set about gathering the boards that would have made up that part of the TV. It appears I have everything but the power supply.
Next I will document all the above and the convergence module.
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Next up Line timebase module I've two of these, again as with other modules, board prefixes suggest there appears to be a first gen (Z/01) and subsequent release (Z.0501).
The Z/01 module has distorted, with a banana like bow to the board, and has the tripler is missing. The Z.0501 (later release) is the best of the two, and is complete.
Z.0501
Circuit and PCB plan view
Z/01
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Field Timebase; module T.049 & Field Circuit
Convergence I have two modules, H/01 GB and H/01. There are component differences between the two.
H/01 GB Convergence Module
H/01 Convergence Module
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To conclude the documentation of the Autovox Colour Television PCBs and circuits.
This covers modules V/01, the CRT base panel (I have three of these). M/02, this board has all the A1 pots and switches. Finally, L/01 the mains inlet panel.
V/01 & Circuit
M/02 & Circuit
L/01-02 & Circuit
Hopefully, should anyone in the future be seeking technical information regarding the Autovox 2682/2684, will now come across this thread on a google search.
Edit:
Oh, almost forgot as there wasn't a power supply module in this batch of spares, the only one I have is in the set, and that's under 3 other TV's so not easy to get at to take a photo. For completeness, here is the cct for the PSU.
p.s.
There are little daughter modules to catalogue, these will be done when I've cleaned the boards and carefully removed them to photo.
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I won't bore you all with endless photos of the Autovox boards being cleaned. However, by way of example, here is the field timebase after it was subjected to the cleaning process.
I think that pretty much concludes this thread.
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As requested, close up photos of the Tripler
Before
After
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