Hi, I'm interested to find out what I can about this Rank Arena Auto Colour set, which was purchased by my parents, I think, in about 1972. It was the first and only colour TV they owned. They had it for over 40 years and I'm pretty sure it never needed repairs, except for replacing the tuner knob. It was in good working order right up until the analogue network was switched off and the cabinet is in good shape with a stand.

I cannot find a model number on the outside, although there is a manufacturer's sticker on the back that says, "C-2615, No. 5372". Any idea what those numbers mean?

As you can see it has both UHF and VHF tuners. Presumably, the manufacturer thought UHF was on its way in. A label on the back also mentions "PAL (D) De-Luxe" as a feature, but not sure what that is.

I imagine lots of these were manufactured and sold in Australia. So I expect there would still be a few kicking around, but please let me know if you think otherwise.

C-2615 looks like the model number and will probably relate to the screen size, 63cm (26 inches). The other number will most likely be a serial number.

Most colour televisions came with UHF tuners. Shortly after the introduction of colour transmissions the Commonwealth Government required UHF tuners to be fitted to receivers and the same practice followed through with video cassette recorders.

Rank Arena did have an assembly plant here in Sydney, later owned by NEC. They were a popular brand in the late 1970s and early 1980s, possibly because of their marketing rhetoric that the picture on their sets was the best, offering a complete refund if a buyer thought another set did better. I wonder if they ever lost any money because of that...

Rank Arena Ad.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

Thanks Brad. I doubt they would have made much money from built in redundancy if their sets lasted 40 yrs. Thanks for the ad - so 80s

C-2615 is the model number. The TV is a later model from around 1977 or 1978.
The first Rank Arena 26" TV was the model C-2601 from 1975.
Quite a few still around as they are very reliable and seem to last forever!

My main set is a 1979 C-2014, which is pretty beaten up, though is still my every-day watcher. It's never missed a beat since I've owned it, and is definitely a great set. Hopefully I will be able to get many more years of use out of it.

Chris

Hi Chris,
I assumed (wrongly it seems) that the set would not commune with the digital network. What do you use to make that happen?

Also, thanks for the correction on the date.

Jumping in here with the short answer, just the standard set top box if the TV has a UHF tuner.

I recently retired one of the Thorn ones that was still working to a collector.

It was one with the two tuners & worked fine via a set top box. If you do get onto a set top box (I was given a Grundig recently (untested); Avoid Thompson.

Marc

Hi Dave,

You can use either an RF-output set-top box or an RF modulator for sets like these. You can still buy UHF modulators and set-top boxes at stores like Dick Smith, Jaycar and Bing Lee Electronics. They're cheaper online though.

Chris