Labrat, I didn't think anyone else spotted that on the picture tubes. My Thorn had the purple tinge to it. My parent's AWA had the grey tinge, yet both were the same model apart from the badge engineering.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

Yes I know about that.

Mainly used here with the Mitsubishi Q chassis, the Mitsubishi CRT had blue tinted glass in the faceplate. The idea was to allow the use of non-optimal but high light output phosphors. The red in particular was actually orange, the blue tint corrected it (sort of!).

They made a feature of it, but it was actually a kludge to allow the use of cheaper and more environmentally friendly screen chemicals.

Disposal of waste water laced with various nasty heavy metals like cadmium used in the screen deposition and washing processes became a problem, particularly in Japan. Which is why colour CRT production gradually moved to places where they could get away with it.

One of the other tricks that was done to compensate for phosphors with bad colourimetry was to raise the white point from the "correct" 6500 degrees K ("Illuminant D") to around 9000 degrees K.

One of the secrets with the CRT tubes lay in the way you drove them. I had two Thorns with Mitsubishi chasses in them. One failed well over 20 and the other was passed onto a collector when I moved house & it was 70's & still running perfectly, same as the one in the picture. The TV that failed was the EHT transformer, coating cracked & it flashed over.

There was a tendency to drive CRT,s too hard, failing to appreciate that they were never going to put out the same lumens as a B&W.

The secret of the colour was in the lack of it: Strange statement you think? Not at all.

In order to get the colour right, the first thing to do is turn it to B&W (all guns full on). Not until the B&W is correct, will you have the slightest hope of getting the colour right.

If its the same one the speaker plug is dodgy. Take a photo of the back. I took it off a few times & blew the drought sand & dust out of it & I may have written a purchase date on it if it was mine.

Marc

I always used to take great care to make sure the B&W image was in fact B&W with the chroma wound out.
I used a reference 6500K test flouro to get the white point as close to correct as I could. Then do the cutoffs.
They were interactive so it often took a few goes to get it right but worth it in the end.
Trouble was as CRT's aged the tracking would go off as the Gamma's of the three guns drifted making the whole process a compromise.
All this in someones lounge room. Often with them watching your every move.
No wonder my right knee is crook.

Never forgot the incident when some customers were watching me repair their ctv.
They were chatting away in their native tongue, about how young I was, and whether I was qualified and that I was probably stuffing it up and then would charge them a fortune.
After successfully repairing the set and handing them the account, walked to the front door and out wishing them luck and goodbye in their own language.
The look on their faces is one of the best rewards and karma I have ever experienced.
Believe it or not some years later with another problem they asked the boss they wanted me and only me. I refused.
I also refused to go back to some customers who insisted I use the back door.
It almost cost me my job once.
JJ

Descriptions from Irext and Johnny of being TV field techs. in the mid 70's are truly descriptive of what we were up against.

During my training I considered we were a cut and a half above the rest. To most people electronics is an esoteric subject, but
here we were, young fellas deep in customers' precious CTV's which cost quite a bit of money in those days, carrying out
complex fault-finding tasks under the worst possible conditions.

Nothing like the luxury of a workbench or workshop test gear. On your knees in often dimly lit corners with a multimeter and a soldering
iron while customers looked on suspiciously and/or yapping constantly.

Crook knees? Yep! Two memorable events;

Just about to remove the back of the set in a dingy filthy corner when my knees sank into a puddle of dog p-ss. Second memorable
event, as I knelt down behind a set a protruding floorboard nail head went into my left knee.

Don't miss those days at all.

Don't be ashamed or regretful about choosing your customers. I have worked for myself a couple of times and whilst not a TV serviceman, the same principle applies. Those who tried to tear me a new one with their haggling, didn't pay on time or demanded that I accept credit cards or cheques, those who'd stand over me and watch every move I made, etc ended up being oncers.

There were also professions and even nationalities that I would not work for, again, due to previous experiences and not due to being prejudicial.

If I went back into business now, yes, I'd need an EFTPOS machine but the rest would probably still apply. There are no friends in business and at the end of the day, the businessman has to put bread on the table and pay his bills.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

I met many different people while servicing equipment (in the power generating business).
Most were happy to see you, seeing the lights were out and the computers were down.
However some...………………
Yes, a couple of times I packed my tools up and left.
The most notable was in a large insurance building in Sydney where the CEO finally had to come from the top floor and issue an apology and grovel. Long story but the grovel was so good I relented and completed the job.
The other point raised was payment.
When self employed, when someone failed to pay on time I simply refused to work for that client again.
No excuses, no bargaining, get someone else,.
I lost contracts and a lot of work over that attitude.
In the end I only worked for people that would pay, and that was fine by me.

Fred.

Since we are talking about memorable service calls, I had one in a block of units.
The one I was visiting was being rented by some young blokes and the TV was of Japanese make (can't remember what brand).
The set wouldn't fire up at all and upon inspection of the mother board it was obvious that something had been spilled into the back of the set. They all pleaded innocence but it was obviously a bench job to clean it up and repair the damage.
I took it back to the workshop and cleaned up the mess and repaired the fault (I think it was pcb tracks corroded and burn't).
Upon delivery the owner let it slip that they had a party and someone threw up over the set!!!
No wonder they didn't tell me beforehand.

We probably should start a new thread for this, there will be lots of stories. Here's another one:

Late 60's, tech from service company I worked for at the time pulls an HMV F series chassis in from a pub in Balmain. Reason - chassis was so coated with 10 years of nicotine mixed with general detritus that he wouldn't attempt to repair it.

Workshop foreman (a heavy smoker) took one look at it, ran outside to the carpark and threw up!

He kicked the habit there and then. Still alive last I heard!

Chassis was declared a health hazard and scrapped.

I've had to contend with many light fittings and those old Mistral exhaust fans that were affected the same way. I really do not understand the methodology behind people shelling out so much money to the manufacturers of 4,000 different poisons, not to mention government excise just for the privilege of an early grave. To each their own but I just will never understand it.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

Hi Ray.
That set came out in 1976. We had one from new and it we originally rented it then bought it.
It is still in my possession and still works. A good performer.

QUOTE: the Mitsubishi CRT had blue tinted glass in the faceplate. The idea was to allow the use of non-optimal but high light output phosphors. The red in particular was actually orange, the blue tint corrected it (sort of!).

They made a feature of it, but it was actually a kludge to allow the use of cheaper and more environmentally friendly screen chemicals

General Electric in the USA had sets with CRTs that looked blue when off. This in the mid 1980's. They claimed "Our TVs look great even when turned off!""

Hi Raytube.

Now that I am locked up at home, and down to a four day working week, I have had the time to look up the data on your Thorn 9405.

This is from a 1990 information booklet compiled by Rod Humphris.

Screen size 53cm
Channel selection Twin Rotary
Cabinet type Single ended lowboy
Year 1977/78
Where made Australia
Chassis type K
Picture tube 560AMB22P
U.H.F. Yes

I am probably just confirming what other members have already said.

All the best

Wayne.

Rod Humphris.
That name rings a bell.
A lecturer from RMIT ??