Howdy all.
I have an HMV model E2-A Television set, and am interested in having it serviced. I dont know where to start.

I dont really know how old it is apart from the fact that it doesnt have the channel 0 or 5A on the selector dial, its in a full wooden cabinet with front cover doors.

50"s?

No 0 or 5A means a very early set, perhaps 1956-58. Channels 0 and 5A came along just before the opening of ABWN 5A in Wollongong on the 28th October, 1963 though I am not sure of an exact allocation date.

Hi Admin/Brad

Thanks for that.

I powered it up earlier and it worked, only with low vollume, however after a few mins while I got some wire for an aerial (its got two wires at the back) the screen had gone black - all the valves I could see were glowing, so nothing obvious to me was wrong there(??)

Anyone with some ideas on how to remedy?

I am not all that experienced with televisions though the basic restoration tasks that relate to radio would be similar for television. Unless your set has been restored at some stage in the last ten years then the capacitors are likely to be due for replacement and possibly some of the resistors as well.

The chassis should be checked by an experienced serviceman before being turned on again otherwise there is a chance that things will start to go 'pop'. Many electronic components can suffer from a fault known as thermal stress, whereby they will work satisfactorily when power is applied but give an appearance that they have failed when their operating temperature rises. Most televisions contain between 10 and 20 valves, including the picture tube so the temperature inside the box gets quite high.

The HMV model E2 TV's are very early models dating back to around 1956-57.

Due to the age of the TV it will need to be overhauled before you can expect it to work. Components from the 1950's (especially capacitors) are very unreliable after 50+ years and are nearly always faulty to various degrees.

Unless you have some experience with working on electronic equipment, I wouldn't attempt to repair this TV yourself. It is very old and with a lot of near impossible to replace parts that can be damaged if you don't know what you're doing.

Unfortunately, I can't recommend anyone to fix it for you either. Many restorers of valve radios won't go near TV's due to their complexity despite the repair techniques being the same.

Thanks for the info so far.

No, my intention was not to play with it. Rather to see if theres a technician who can/will look at it and get it working again. I've had it for 20 years as furniture but really want it to work now.

I have a similar looking HMV radio Model 661.
It works fine but has developed a hum after operating for a while.

Wow, I'm quite pleased its such an early TV.
Now all I need is for it to work....

Cheers.

This is all I have in the Services Directory for Queensland. They don't indicate that they deal with televisions but at the time they were added to the directory we pretty much only dealt with radio. Either of these contacts may well know someone that can help.