Fabulous Finlandia; 1982 Granada C22XZ5
A little back story
About five years ago I was offered a Finlandia teletext by a renowned hoarder of all things vintage. At the time I had just acquired a 1979/1980 Salora 1F4K TV, so I declined the offer to buy. A while later I acquired a number of Granada dealer advertising signs, a couple of which advertised the new 22″, yep, I now kicked myself and I’d lost contact with the owner.
Roll on today (April 2025) a visit to my usual partner in vintage TV crime revealed he had recently been on a TV collection caper, coming back with a haul seven new (old) TVs. To say my jaw hit the floor would be an understatement when Low and behold there sitting at the bottom of the pile was the exact same TV (probably not the one, but who knows) I had rejected all those years ago.
When he mentioned he was not sure about keeping it being that it’s a in-line tube which had had ceased to collect, that it was 80s and he prefers delta and in particular hybrids, so was not sure why he had it other than it was a bargain, I said I would love to have this and relayed the story as above. Now, I have a TV that I got from the source I mentioned at the start of this post that I knew my friend was keen on having, it was a delta tube and hybrid, so we arranged a mutually beneficial swap.
Is it a Granada? is it a Finlandia? no, it’s Superman a Salora!
This TV is a Granada Colour badged Finlandia, which is a really a Salora, a 1H4 series chassis to be precise and as mentioned dates from 1982. In case you are wondering, the Granada model codes can be decoded here. In this TVs case C means colour, 22 is the CRT size, X is for the year 1982, Z is for the actual manufactured chassis in this case Salora and finally 5 denoted it has Teletext.
Despite having a few RIFA caps, caution was thrown to the wind except the TV was introduced to power via a variac. No dramatics, sound came up along with a nice snowy raster. A test card F signal with sound was injected and tuned in, we were presented with a superb and correctly coloured test card and excellent sound, so the power, line, field, signal, sound and RGB stages all appear to be OK. Now the set is at my workshop and I have Teletext signals , I can check that stage out. The set was not powered for too long as it will need some servicing as many of the caps will be pas their prime and those RIFA caps need ejecting.
For those so inclined and interested this set uses Thyristors and employs IPSALO Integrated Power Supply And Line Output. Prior to IPSALO the 1F series chassis which was *non IPSALO
IPSALO1:
Used a thyristor as the chopper device and a second thyristor for protection and soft start, also a 28-pin hybrid i.c. for chopper control. It has two driver transformers for the two thyristors
IPSALO2:
Used a couple of transistors in the chopper cct as switching devices and a 20-pin i.c. as a control device. Has one driver transformer with two windings for the two transistors.
Both IPSALO’s circuits provide mains isolation.
*Non IPSALO
The earlier “C” and the “F” chassis’ use a 4 Thyristor, line output stage. One for line scan, one for flyback, one for regulation and the final one acts as a trip.
Photos
Side Note:
I have a nice Finlandia badged VCR to go with this that is also ex Granada stock. I picked it up as non-working for £8, the repair of that can be found here
Finlandia , Granada, Hitachi…. PSU – Video Recorder
On the Bench
Before work commences, time to hoover up all the filthy dust that leave you covered in black soot!
Servicing Commences
For ease of access to service this set, the chassis was removed in its entirety from the cabinet. First ones to tackle are those awful RIFA caps, there are six in the mains supply, C701, C702 both 100n, C704, C704, C708 & C709 all 3n3.
New components top row, old below. All RIFA’s were showing the usual signs, multiple fractures in the encapsulation package.
Update 18th May 2025
Much progress but one I’m left with one curious fault, more on that later.
The TV is pretty much working well now, the lack of height resolved due to ageing blue Philips electrolytics. The remote control is working as is Teletext. I’m left with one curious fault which I describe below.
The outstanding random fault
The TV randomly shuts itself down, both sound and picture, but instantly comes back on as if nothing ever happened! I’ve yet to track down the cause, and is proving elusive to find.
Looking at the physical mainboard, I believe this set employs IPSALO-1.
IPSALO-1 was used on the Salora G-Chassis up to serial number 300,000 and versions of the H-Chassis ( this TV uses the H) up to serial number 200,000 ( this TV is 184,438).
Another dead give away making this TV IPSALO-1 being it employs two Thyristors in the primary THB700 & THB701, (see below) one providing protection and soft start, the other acted as chopper for regulation. The control circuit that drives the thyristors is mainly contained in a 28 -pin thick -film hybrid i.c. (LF0015) it was developed and manufactured by Salora. In addition to driving the thyristors, it controls the soft start, electronic fusing and voltage limiting functions.I do hope this is not faulty as I’m never going to find one of these. IPSALO-2 replaced the thyristors with two switching transistors.
From what is happening I’m wondering if this random fault is due something up with the IPSALO circuit. It would seem like a transient over voltage condition due to the circuit starting up again so quickly, restoring normal operation. If there was a definite fault condition THB700 would remain cut-off and the set would remain off. Because this happens so fast, I’m finding it hard to fault-find.
As this is my first introduction to IPSALO, it is a learning curve to get my head around what is exactly going on and where.
This was one of the 7 I handed over to Chris Field owing to imminent job redundancy meaning I had to clear my 3 storage units. (ESA is not going to cover £350 p/m storage costs plus my living costs!) I’d intended on getting this and all the other sets (about 70 of them!) restored and then selling them on after each restoration but the redundancy then forced me to get rid of my collection in one go. I couldn’t bring them home because – joy of joys – I’m going to be moving house soon, too! And I have no driving licence so it wouldn’t be easy to move 70 sets without having to pay for a man with a van!
They say trouble comes in threes. 1) Needing to move soon, 2) Redundancy from a job I love and 3) having to give up most of my collection. So I think I’ve had my quota of s**t that life tends to throw at people for now… There’s an Ekco-badged 693 I really regret letting go of but I need to get my priorities right at this time in my life! I’ll still continue to collect and restore sets once I’ve got my life sorted out.
I got this Finlandia from a house clearance in Stoke-on-Trent around 2017 or 2018. The son of the owner whose house was being cleared said he tested it and it intermittently lost picture. It’s too long ago though for me to remember whether he meant losing picture and keeping the raster or losing the raster completely.
Hi, Aidan, when Chris field explained your circumstance, I was truly sorry to hear of your redudancy and thus forced into letting the majority of your collection go, a double blow.
From the photos I’ve seen, you had amassed quite a diverse collection. At least you know they have gone to good homes and who knows a lot of TVs in the vintage community have a habit of moving around between all us collectors, so you never know some may well end up making their way back to you.
The fault you describe on this TV reared its head, I saw it happen, the TV was displaying a really good test card the all of a sudden it disappeared then reappeared as quickly, needless to say it was turned off at this point. Close inspection shows a lot of really tired caps, a handful RIFAS and a collection of dry joints.
Thanks Chris.
I’m sad but also glad at the same time, even when I do get a new job, this will be a be massive financial weight off my shoulders. I’m nearly 35 and have no savings, have never taken driving lessons and have no chance of saving for a mortgage deposit now this side of 45. I’ve wasted all that money that could have gone on those things on buying and storing old TVs instead!
My collecting now is going to be strictly one in, one out!
There were some really rare sets in my collection! A silver 20” Grundig B/W from the 1980s that’s gone to Michael Dranfield, along with an Ultra-badged Thorn 1615. Mr. Field has what was my 9800. I think Mr. Dranfield also took a Rediffusion-badged Luxor colour hybrid.
Sorry if I still seem a bit bitter in my above comments, it’s because I’m still getting over the news of my redundancy. Not only did the b*****ds release the news on Sky News before they told many of us (some had learned beforehand), they also made us sit through a Teams video recording of some HR shill say with an obviously acted “sad” face who, in her 20 minute speech of corporate b****cks, actually said this genuine sentence. “These are exciting and dynamic times for Sky. Unfortunately as part of our transformation, we’ve decided to close our contact centres in Sheffield, Stockport and Leeds”. Errr… OK then! I’ll just “excitedly” take the no. 80 bus down to Staveley Job Centre, shall I? And “dynamically” walk through the doors and put myself at the mercy of the heartless automatons in the DWP, shall I?
I wasn’t the only one to cry myself to sleep that night with shock and worry, there were 2,000 of us!
Hi Aidan, no problem, understandable in the circumstances. Having worked for most of my life for a large company I’ve been made to feast on many mighty plates of bovine excrement too. These people are so detached from reality it beggars belief, I’ll refrain from stating any more, we should leave it there.
I wish you good fortune, one thing which will sound crap but in my experience is true. Its always darkest before the light of dawn, things will turn around for you, keep the faith and you will prevail.