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UK Television August 1939

Wireless World, August 24, 1939.
    
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Many new sets at Radiolympia.
The Scophony advert.

The radio show Radiolympia in 1939 featured a large number of television sets from table top add-on vision units to the large Scophony designs.

Having geared-up for a rapid expansion of the London television service from Alexandra Palace it was a major set-back when the government closed the service on 1st September for the duration of the war. The main fear was that the 45 MHz signal would act as a homing beacon for enemy bombers.

Another factor was probably that with component shortages and the need for 45 MHz IF strips for Radar the television service to a small proportion of the public was a frivolous luxury. Radio would reach all.

[The Scophony 18 inch set] The television receivers produced by this firm are, of course, of a mechanical type, and in this respect are unusual, The smallest is known as the 18 inch receiver, since it gives a picture 18 inch by 14.5 inch. The viewing screen is flat and is built into the cabinet; there are four vision controls and one sound.
The vision receiver has three RF stages before a diode detector, the output of which feeds a VF stage. The output of this is taken through a DC restoring circuit to a buffer stage modulating the RF amplifier which feeds the light control system. The buffer stage also feeds a sync separator, which is followed by line and frame pulse amplifiers.
A larger receiver is very similar, but gives a picture with a 24in. side, and then there is the Palace De Luxe Receiver. This gives a picture 4 ft by 3.25 ft and is intended for use in ballrooms or small cinemas.
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[Invicta. TL4 add-on vision unit.] In addition to the broadcast receivers there are three television sets. Model TL7 is a console with a nine inch tube and costs 32 guineas. There is a similar model (TL8) with a 12 inch tube, and also a unit for vision only designed for addition to an existing broadcast receiver. [Murphy V86c] To cater for a wider range of requirements, four new television receivers have been introduced to take the place of the A56V, which was the backbone of last season's television programme. They include a table model (V84) with nine inch tube at £29, and a combined television and broadcast receiver (V880) with a 12 inch tube, at £50. The two intermediate models (V84c and V86c) have nine inch and 12 inch tubes respectively, and are restricted to the television programmes. A feature of the new models is an audio noise-suppression circuit fer minimising car interference..
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