Last 405-only TV.

[colly0410]

Been thinking. When was the last 405 only TV made? Anyone know make & model?

[ppppenguin]

This question has definitely been asked before elsewhere but I can't find any trace of it.

The Thorn 980 chassis mentioned here could be a contender:
http://golbornevintageradio.co.uk/forum/...p?tid=2316

Pretty sure it's going to be a portable of some kind.

The 980 is said to be Thorn/BRC's last 405 only chassis from 1966:
http://www.oldtechnology.net/mono.html

[Murphyv310]

Yes the 980 and its bigger brother the 16inch sets using the 981 chassis, production ceased in late 1968.

[colly0410]

Wow 1968, I was thinking about 1965-ish, think I'm a bit out. Thanks for info..

[Geordie McBoyne]

The last of the big screen sets 405 only sets were still being made made in 1962. By the end of that year the convertible sets were in the shops, also a few dual standard sets sans UHF tuners.
At the end of 1963 all sets were dual standard.

Geordie McBoyne.

[Murphyv310]

The last of the big screen sets 405 only sets were still being made made in 1962. By the end of that year the convertible sets were in the shops, also a few dual standard sets sans UHF tuners.
At the end of 1963 all sets were dual standard.

Geordie McBoyne.

Ah but..... What do you consider "big screen"? The 981 was sold with the CME1601 crt a 16 inch, a decade earlier 17 inch sets were the top sellers. The 981 series were given free with top model thorn colour sets as late as mid 69 the year of duplication, November if I'm not mistaken.

[Terry]

The 981 series were given free with top model thorn colour sets as late as mid 69 the year of duplication, November if I'm not mistaken.

I'd agree with you on the date, Trevor! The 15th November 1969, to be precise.

I had an export model VHF 19" PYE I'd bought for £20 brand new and boxed a couple of years previously which I'd realigned to System I and added a UHF tuner. We'd been watching BBC1 on it for a while before the official date but not ITV, who adopted a policy of only showing the odd colour programme on UHF with the test card being transmitted for most of the time up until the launch.

As for the free 981s, does this not suggest to you that Thorn had seriously over estimated the demand for single standard 405-line receivers and would rather give them away as a sales gimmick than scrap them?

[colly0410]

Talking of give away's: My parents bought a Sony 18 inches colour set in 72/73 & were given a free Elizabethan 12 inches B/W portable, it has been all over England & Wales on camping trips & always got some kind of picture on it's loop aerial, even in the mountains of Wales where local houses had great big aerial arrays on the roof. It worked sort of OK-ish when I tried it out a couple of years ago via the RF output from an old video..

[Murphyv310]

Knowing Thorn I think they made a good decision to make the 980/981 chassis.
They made them at a price that could have easily been absorbed in the cost of a new Colour set. The public like a bargain or a free gift and the 12 inch 980 fitted the bill perfectly, it was portable and could receive the main two channels with ease, being one standard only they were cheap to make and reliable enough. Considering the amount that actually survive as it was literally a throw away set makes me think the production run must have been reasonable.
The 16 inch 981 doesn't fit quite so well in this, OK it was transportable and a very good performer but "if" Thorn did give them away it would have been more costly, I also don't see it as a big seller as there was a Dual standard 16 inch set on the market too.
My 981 16 inch set is quite tatty, the thin mask is cracked, one of the knobs is broken but give it it's due it works extremely well. The tuner with its PC97 RF stage is light years better than any tuner with a PCC84.

[Geordie McBoyne]

By the mid sixties the 16" CRT was considered only for small screen viewing, a type of CRT to to be fitted in largish portable TVs. In terms of screen area it is slightly smaller than the mid fifties 17" CRT, actually when you look at those 17" rectangular tubes they do look really small nowadays.
The 19" CRT was introduced in early 1961 and was a squared up version of the awful looking 17" 110 degree tube.
The first 23" "square screen" CRT appeared in mid 1960 in the Pye V600A. The tube is the Sylvania 23SP4, I'm using the present tense because I have a working V600A and it is equipped with this tube, some later sets employed the Mullard AW59-90.

Geordie McBoyne.