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FERRANTI T1505

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Front view [63K]
  • Released June 1950
  • Single channel T.R.F. (available as London or
    Birmingham versions).
  • 12" 'flat faced' Screen (Ferranti T12/54)
  • 13 Mullard valves (7xEF80, 2xEB91, 2xECL80,
    EL38 and EY51)
  • A.C. Mains Only.
  • Original Cost : £106 9s 6d
NOTES

Really advanced technology here [snigger]. No dual A.C./D.C. mains either, the heaters for the not-often-found-in-tellies 'E' range of Mullard valves having their own heater transformer whilst the H.T. - always a struggle to get enough volts here and hence would really benefit from a mains transformer - is directly rectified from the mains.

You won't find any poncy energy recovery diodes either, something that had become pretty much standard design by other manufacturers during the previous decade. Perhaps that was because Mullard never thought someone would be dumb enough to use the 'E' range in a telly and therefore only produced 'P' versions of boost diodes. Without the energy recovery diode, I'm impressed it managed to get enough power to scan the C.R.T. - pehaps the total lack of any line linearity control that might have sapped a bit of power helped.

Cor, just look at all that screening (!) [26K]

By now, most sets were superhet designs, but good old Ferranti stuck to the T.R.F. design (only to release a modified superhet version, the T1505S, the following year). Screening between sections of a T.R.F. receiver is even more important than with a superhet design so it is good to see Ferranti putting so much effort into such screening ... errr... riiiiight ...

Ornate tuning scale [11K] One of their top of the range sets this, having as it does a built in radio complete with highly ornate no-expense-spared designer tuning scale. No attempt for any commonality between the TV and radio sections, the radio is a completely seperate unit right down to having its own weenie little speaker (well, you wouldn't want to wear out the thumping great speaker used by the telly now would you). Having said that, by keeping the telly and radio units completely and utterly seperate, you could at least listen to the radio whilst the telly was bust.
Patented drift compensation  [27K]
And what to do if you can't design a stable circuit ? Simple, make everything easilly accessible from the front of the set. The amount of wear around the width and horizontal hold controls prove how wise a design idea this was and must have been a blessing for the set's original owner !

Still not stable enough ? Well, time to mention that in the perhaps 12 months before the replacement model was introduced, Ferranti tried no less than three different frame timebase circuits. However, in each instance the same frame sync circuit was used; amazingly, a feed was take from the last but one I.F. stage, fed to it's own personal I.F. stage that was demodulated and fed to the frame timebase.
I bet the service engineer also worshiped the ground the set stood on, with such well thought out positioning of serviceable items such as main fuses.

Incidently, the service manual shows the metal rectifier mounted directly below the scan coils but it seems in this version some bright spark finally saw the light and thought "hey, wouldn't all that heating of the coils make warm-up drift even worse ? Lets move it somewhere sensible just like almost every other manufacturer in the freakin' world".
Easy access for servicing [17K]

Well, having almost assasinated the set, time to come clean. I've no idea whether they were really aweful or really excellent sets. Not that it matters - its a lovely and unusual set, you don't see many Ferranti's about from this period (though can't help feeling I know the reason why). Also, like GEC, Ferranti seemed to have used C.R.T.s with a particularly flat front face, though to be honest I'd rather have a slighly bulbous C.R.T. face if it meant I also got an ion trap magnet to protect the C.R.T.!
SERVICE DATA The set is covered by "Trader" service sheet #1011 (the superhet version is covered by trader sheet #1103).
CURRENT STATE Worm free and the set has clearly not seen much damp. The finish would have been good too in as much as there is no cracking to the finish and the top, which usually suffers from many years of vases and other crap perched on top of it, is very good; but overall it is peppered with little dings here and there.
WHERE FOUND £59.99 from Fleabuy. An unusual set and only a few miles down the road to collect it. Sweeeeet !
CRT lable, attatched to some kind of linen material [18K]   Rear view of set [36K]
 
Note that there appears to be some kind of linen material bonded to the bulb of the C.R.T., presumably as some kind of protection should the C.R.T. implode. By coincidence, the original warning text on the back cover of the receiver of the receiver has been covered by a different warning label particularly emphasising the risk of C.R.T. implosion. I wonder if there is a connction here ?   That C.R.T. looks way more bulbous than the front of the set would suggest.

Note the completely seperate radio section in the lower half of the set - complete with the radio's original back panel !


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2nd July 2008