I have recently acquired three TV's that are now very hard to find in Australia.

The first is an Australian Healing 22" color TV that used an imported Decca 33 chassis sourced from Great Britain. I have been trying to track down one of these sets for a while now as I believe that it is the only color TV on the Australian market that uses a hybrid chassis. The set was made in 1975 for the introduction of color TV to Australia.
This chassis was quite popular at the time as it was one of the few imported chassis that tolerated the Australian conditions and was reasonably reliable. It was also sold under its original Decca brand.
The set is missing its back and is not in very good condition but it is 95% complete. Hopefully I will be able to get it working without too much work.

The second set is a mid seventies german Korting-Transmare model 56 696.
It is an 18" set that was sold here for a short time. This set has an adjustment for just about everything including a control on the front panel for tint. This is a PAL set so it is unusual to see it.
Again the back is missing and the set is in poor condition with corrosion on a lot of the high wattage resistors. I think it will need a lot of work before it is operational.
If any of our European members has any information about the Korting, I would be interested to hear of it as these were not a common set even when new.

Last of all is an Australian designed B&W Thorn 17" set. This is an early to mid seventies hybrid chassis that was once very common in a lot of different case styles. Apart from a missing tuner valve (tube) the set appears complete. It will probably require some capacitor replacements despite its relative youth as the epoxy resin moulded caps are started to crack as the resin ages.

Very interesting. Thank you for sharing. Please keep us updated.

That B&W set with the tubes, is it a "hot chassis" design? If it is, I wonder how they dropped the 220V mains to run the heaters. Or did the heaters add up to 220V?

You may be amused to see that we in America had outlets that would fit your plugs. It was an early proposed grounded outlet, before someone figured out that just adding an extra pin to the existing 2 pin pattern we had made more sense. This dated back to the early 50's.
http://www.geocities.com/wa2ise/radios/Au-style-outlet.jpg
This one, in my mom's house, is fed the two 120V lines most all American houses are fed, to provide 240VAC centertap grounded. At 60Hz, though.

The B&W Thorn uses a transformer to isolate the mains from the chassis and supply 6.3v for the heaters. The same chassis was later designed as a series heater string again using the transformer for isolation and filament supply. This was done to help reduce the heat produced in the transformer.
Not many B&W sets in Australia had hot chassis. Those that did used a few different methods to drop the supply voltage for the heaters. One popular method was to use a diode in series with the heaters to give 110v half wave AC.

I'm surprised to see "our" 3 pin socket used in the US. Since the voltage is similar I guess they considered it safe to use there especially since Australian spec electrical equipment would be most unusual in the US.

i have once worked on a similar Korting set, it had a 90 degree Videocolor PIL CRT, the pushbutton assembly is a weak spot and you may need to disassemble and clean it thoroughly

Korting sets were manufactured in Germany, in Italy and maybe also in other countries. (UK?)

Not many B&W sets in Australia had hot chassis. Those that did used a few different methods to drop the supply voltage for the heaters. One popular method was to use a diode in series with the heaters to give 110v half wave AC.

I'm surprised to see "our" 3 pin socket used in the US. Since the voltage is similar I guess they considered it safe to use there especially since Australian spec electrical equipment would be most unusual in the US.

A diode in the heater string would yield the equivalent of 155V out of 220V on the heaters. This gets confusing, but power=volts squared/resistance. A diode will halve the power if the voltage is AC powerline. Half of 220^2 = 155^2. The ratio works out to 1/(square root of 2)=0.707

Below are a few more pictures of the American Australia style power plug. These are no longer manufactured, but they were briefly in the early 50's. The ratings say 15A 125V or 10A 250V. And pictures showing a comparison between an Aussie plug and the American made one. And a strange adapter. In my mom's house the few in use
have 125Vac on both current carrying pins, \ and /, but with both AC waveforms 180 degrees out of phase of each other, to give me 250Vac. The | pin is the safety ground. I have an Australian made radio: http://www.geocities.com/wa2ise/radios/calstan.jpg which is quite happy plugged into this outlet. :yes:

Your right about the diode halving power not voltage. My excuse is I was being lazy and not thinking about what I was typing!

Interesting to see your 240v plugs are an exact match for ours. I wonder if that was intentional or just a happy coincidence.

Your Calstan radio is a long way from home. Do you know how it found its way to the States?

Interesting to see your 240v plugs are an exact match for ours. I wonder if that was intentional or just a happy coincidence.

Your Calstan radio is a long way from home. Do you know how it found its way to the States?

Actually, today's American 240VAC outlets look like this: http://www.geocities.com/wa2ise/radios/240vout.jpg
Used for large air conditioners mainly.
I would be sure that my old Australian looking plugs and yours have a common ancestor, don't know which came first. Don't know why we abandoned the Aussie style plug.

I got the Calstan radio off ebay if I recall correctly, got it about ten years ago. Forgot if the seller was in Australia, or maybe in the USA. It tunes our "Standard Broadcast" AM radio band, 540 to 1600. Here's a closeup of the dial: http://www.geocities.com/wa2ise/radios/calstandial.gif
Radio stations must have not changed callsigns too often, today in the USA such a dial would out of date within 6 months.


I took a vacation trip to Australia back in April 1986. Was part of a tour group to see Haley's Comet at night near Ayer's Rock. Also we visited Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef (nice small town then, I heard that today it's all casinos like Las Vegas), Melbourne, Sydney (and yes, we paid the standard visit to the opera house), and Alice Springs. I brought along an AM-FM casette recorder radio http://www.geocities.com/wa2ise/radios/emk3550.jpg and taped "airchecks" (samples of radio station programs, like DJ talk between songs). Found that there were NO AM or FM stations to be heard anywhere on its dial during the daytime at Ayer's Rock.

It was a great trip, Australia is a nice country.

I've had a closer look a the sets over the last few days and the Korting may have a big problem. There is a row of pins visible in the top left corner of the mainboard picture that looks like it held a plug in module. At this stage I have no info on this chassis so I don't know if it should be there or not. I'll have to investigate further.

After looking through my schematics collection, I've found that the Thorn came in three different power supply configurations. Aside from the transformer isolated models, there was also a hot chassis model with a diode and series resistor for the heater string supply.

At this stage the Healing is missing its horizontal output and audio amp valves (tubes). I believe I have used spares for these so I will be able to make some progress on its repair.

I've had a closer look a the sets over the last few days and the Korting may have a big problem. There is a row of pins visible in the top left corner of the mainboard picture that looks like it held a plug in module. At this stage I have no info on this chassis so I don't know if it should be there or not. I'll have to investigate further.



At this stage the Healing is missing its horizontal output and audio amp valves (tubes). I believe I have used spares for these so I will be able to make some progress on its repair.

From your picture of the Korting's chassis/ motherboard, I see what looks like components installed into traces that lead to the module that's not there. Parts that would not have been installed by the factory if that module was not going to be used in that set.

Do these modules plug into female receptacle pins, or are they usually soldered onto the motherboard? Looks like connectors, but the picture isn't quite sharp enough to tell (might be header pins that were clipped). RCA in the USA did something like this in the late 70's, they were thinking of these modules being like tubes, that a repair person could swap out. But more often than not, the connection pins become bad.

Sadly, I have confirmed that the Korting is missing a module. The set provided two clues:
- German text screen printed on the PCB which when translated reads "Automatic control inoperative by short circuiting"
- A label on the CRT giving information on how to disable the protection circuit on module R.

It can be safely surmised that the missing module R contains the line out safety circuits and I think the set will not work without it as (I think) it provides the supply to the SCR line output commutating transformer.

If anyone has any information on module R I'd like to hear from them so that I can rig up a way of safely bypassing or duplicating it.

I also gently powered up the Thorn B&W to check its condition. The CRT is confirmed working but the set is sick as it's drawing excessive current and will not give a raster. On switch off I am getting partial scan so at least the important bits are all right.

I think you'll need to make a replica of the original module, i'll see if i can get you a schematic...

Don't toss that Korting set anyway! it's really rare and cool!

I'd appreciate any information you can find on it. I intend to make every effort to save the Korting as it is quite rare and it appears Korting as a manufacturer ceased trading in the late 1970's.

I've been looking at the Thorn recently and as expected the 1970's epoxy capacitors are all VERY leaky. I'll be sourcing and replacing capacitors over the next couple of weeks so I'll give you all an update then. On the upside, the electrolytic capacitors seem to be in good shape still.

The two colour sets have been on the back burner lately. I will have to give the Healing a look over soon as it may work with minimal attention.

Here's an update on the three sets:

The Thorn B&W has been put aside while I wait for a package of capacitors to arrive in the mail.

The Korting is on the backburner until I have more information for it. I have been in contact with a fellow collector locally who believes he may have the schematic for it.

The Healing has been receiving all the attention these last few days as I nurse it back to life. I have had to make some PCB repairs to the colour decoder panel as the blue channel output transistor bore the brunt of a monitor falling against it at its previous home. I've also applied power to the chassis progressively with the heater string open to check the health of the capacitors. Surprisingly they have all passed in good condition and no leakage of voltage to the valve grids.
With things looking good, I spent an hour looking for an elusive PCL82 audio output valve to replace the missing one as well as the easier to find PL509 line output valve. With the heater string complete, power was applied via a 200w globe and after warming up I had sound and line whistle with no distress evident.
The next step was to apply power directly as these sets use 250w of power so again after hooking up meters to monitor the 300v and 24v supplies, power was applied.
Things were looking good with a healthy line whistle developing before SPLAT! A rather loud flashover occured. After killing the power and recovering, I reapplied power to narrow the source of the fireworks. Sure enough, after warming up a healthy set of arcs between the CRT anode connection and the nearby magnetic shield occurred.
So I'll be doing some remedial work around this area before trying again. Hopefully I'll be able to have some screenshots soon.

I've been busy with work so no real progress yet. In the meantime the postman delivered the capacitors I need for the Thorn so I can now proceed on its repairs.

I've also been most fortunate to obtain the service manual for the Korting from a retired TV serviceman I know. As suspected the missing module "R" contains the power regulation circuit for the line output stage as well as a line derived 12v supply for the horizontal oscillator. The circuit is fairly simple with three transistors and two SCR's so I can replicate it sometime.
The manual also has a drawing of the module with the PCB details so it will be quite feasible to etch a replacement one rainy day in the future!