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PYE BV20C

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Front view [30K]

  • Late 1949
  • Band I T.R.F.
  • 9" MW22-14 C.R.T. with 6.5KV E.H.T.
  • 19 Valves (eleven of them pretty EF50's!)
  • AC/DC mains
  • Original Cost £49 14s 8d + Tax
NOTES Being a BV20 this is, of course a Birmingham model, however there was no equivalent London model. Londeners still had the D18T which was essentially the same circuit as the BV20C but in a much narrower cabinet. Thus the BV20C is one of the few, perhaps only, television models where a cabinet was designed for one specific region.

The reason for the different cabinet of the BV20C was probably to reduce the number of chassis variations. The London D18T took the equivalent table model, the B18T or LV20, mounted the chassis vertically and bolted an additional horizontal chassis to it. However by making the D18T cabinet wider they could insert the standard table model's chassis in the cabinet and that is what they did with the BV20C ; it is the same height D18T but with the appearance of having put on some weight !

Control with additional ring [11K] Control with ring removed [8K]
Control with additional bakelight
ring and backing felt.		 Ring removed, showing very
misaligned control.
A few of both table and console models appear to have an additional bakelite ring placed around the two front control knobs and this set has them too. They are an extremely loose fit and I dare say a lot went missnig, however so few sets seem to have these rings I wonder if they applied when the chassis holding the control knob wouldn't quite line up with the holes in the cabinet; this would have left a very un-even untidy looking gap around the contol which was then masked by fitting these rings ? Pure guesswork.

It seems that the set may have also have been made available with a purple screen filter to give improved image quality under ambient lighting.

There don't seem to be many BV21C's knocking about. This may be partly due to the fact that within little more than six months the model was replaced by Pye's newer model, the LV30C.
SERVICE DATA A copy of the Trader service sheet #946 is available on the TV Service Data CD.
CURRENT STATE Tidy and complete right down to the last rear cover screw. Very clean in the back too, and no worm. A very nice set.
WHERE FOUND From a museum in exchange for a suitable donation. The set had turned up in a house in Birmingham,where it had lived since the early/mid 50's when it had been bought second hand.

Readr view [33K]

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THE TELLIES GALLERY		 Last updated
22nd November 2007