Sinclair MTV1

[@speedy19085]

that kitty presenter is ways too adorable to not subscribe :D

[@KeritechElectronics]

Whoa, that's a really densely packed one! Nice job. And let's watch TV once again just to see if it was not a Fluke!

[@wadowicegwadowiceg8093]

It makes one appreciate the effort put into designing those devices.

[@atkelar]

And to think that this is most certailny done without any CAD...

[@colinstu]

@@atkelar imagine the assembly line needed to put these together too?! it's amazing any money could even be made off them through part and labor costs... let alone R&D costs in the first place...

[@cornwallonline]

I remember those TV's well! Great video, as always. My first memories of Sinclair was the early 70's, the adverts were always in my electronics magazines. As a 12 year old, I had to save hard to buy the Sinclair 'worlds smallest radio' kit! It was the size of a matchbox, stuffed full of components and used a trimmer cap for tuning, an earpiece output socket and a coin cell for power. When I finally it to work (I was young and armed with a trusty Antex 25watt iron...not a good combination for a small project!) the tuning was awful - no reduction gearing for that trimmer! Next foray was a Sinclair Cambridge calculator kit, a few years later. It was half the price as a kit - about £30 if I recall, in 1973-ish! (£30 in 1973 = £454 today!!!!) It was a gift from a family friend who had sold their house to downsize. I'd have never had that sort of money back then! Anyway, it was a big talking point among my school friends...and subsequently banned from school, as it was considered cheating to use a calculator in a maths class! How things have changed....

[@junefree]

Whoa, a furry tinker, love it!

[@UpLateGeek]

[in the ethereal voice of an angel] _I want my, I want my MTV_

[@alakani]

Omg it's adorable, perfect size for kitty hehe

[@acehart2]

Meow that was fun to watch you get working real nice piece of history

[@JimmytheCow2000]

What a fun repair! Thank you for the insides of that one! a delight

[@byterock]

I saw the UK add in 74 for 199.99 pounds and 'I really want one' , by the time they came out in 78 for NTSC I was past my 'I really want one' phase, but I think it was the 495$ price tag that got me mostly.

[@TeslaTales59]

Now that's a tiny CRT! If I could not fix it, I would make a CRT clock...

[@atkelar]

I'm trying to keep devices active; Still trying to find NOS tubes for such projects, but they are getting rare...

[@ghostbombl8034]

I can see a husband huddled up on the churche attic watching game while his wife sits alone in mass watching the ball game with this.😅

[@atkelar]

I'm pretty sure it was used like that quite often 😆

[@Spookieham]

I have also seen a very similar small crt used in a big train signalling office in a 1970s British Rail video where it was used to put train codes onto a fixed track layout diagram. I would not be surprised if it was the same unit.

[@amtsgedicht]

thanks again - I really enjoy watching your videos - with very nice sound!

[@jeanaimarre8605]

How this guy is rebuilding such a device when throwing screws all over on his bench ? Amazing…

[@atkelar]

Dropping the screws is just step 1 - I try to keep an eye on the device when removing screws; it happened before that things "fell apart" unexpectedly, so I just make sure the screws land on the desk but keep focussed on the "thing"

[@nutsnproud6932]

Our neighbour had one of those TVs in 1979. When our rented TV went bang we borrowed it until the repair man came to fix the TV. The family sat close to it with a big magnifier.

[@chriholt]

"I want my MTV" - if you are old enough, you know :)

[@atkelar]

but... it works! I haven't spent my money for nothing! 😉

[@JamesHalfHorse]

Nice channel. I would totally have to do an avatar of some sort like that if I were to ever do repairs on youtube. I need to heat the iron up here soon myself and hoping channels like this give me some motivation. Ironically it's a broken 9 pin on/on switch for the peak kit in my RF meter. Fortunately for me it's a toggle. Some of my consoles use those push buttons and they are damn near impossible to find new, new old stock or in working shape.

[@atkelar]

Old switches are indeed tricky to find. I love the positive feedback of mechanical switches but once they break... it's usually just possible to find a close enough replacement. Almost no "series" of switches survived more than a decade.

[@shappert1]

nice! For the switches: there some soviet copies of those. П2К (bigger) or ПКн61 (smaller) series. there were a lot of different options. Possible substitution

[@atkelar]

Thanks! I'll have a look!

[@gammarayflash1170]

If you've created all the CAD drawings, JLC 3D printing can perhaps helping here. They also do metal 3D printing, so those parts should withstand the stress.

[@PikaPetey]

Slick little tv!!

[@WulfWehrle]

Looking forward to this one! Telefunken CRT!

[@mibnsharpals]

It is a special tube, it has a static deflection. It requires a higher deflection voltage, but is easier to integrate than a tube with magnetic deflection. The disadvantage that it requires a higher voltage is that the deflection currents are quite low. It's actually an oscillograph tube with white phosphor

[@R.Daneel]

Wow. I'm sure I've used on of those "new". I would have to have been... 11 or so. Yeah, that adds up. Neat.

[@NiallWardrop]

Ah, Sinclair - the absolute masters of cost cutting stuff until it just about did what it was supposed to. My ZX80 ended up with the 7805 on a chunk of metal bolted to the outside of the case so it didn't lose pixels as it warmed up. A TV antenna plugged into the RF output pointed at the TV across the room - the 80s version of streaming to TV.

[@tim0steele]

More info on the TV here: rk.nvg.ntnu.no/sinclair/televisions/tv1a.htm

[@SnepperStepTV]

this makes me so happy

[@tehlaser]

oh my gosh, it’s so cute

[@Runco990]

The Sinclair was an absolute marvel of it's time. The construction is nearly identical to the Tektronix 200 series portable oscilloscopes. Of course, as far as I know, the smallest CRT tv was built by Panasonic, the Travel vision. I have a "small" 😉collection of these sets, 2" and smaller.

[@oblioi]

got to the worlds oldest smart tv using youtube :o)❤

[@Pulverrostmannen]

very nice as always, I bet those switches was a headache in it´s own, you could fix my old "Tele HTV-001" too while you are at it ha ha. I want to fix it up and do a composite mod on it. but it already has picture but is getting unstable. but I had it since the 90s and actually did use it back in the days as a small backup tv

[@atkelar]

I am pretty sure that the issue with my unit here was in the capacitors; I didn't replace anything else except the batteries of course. And being "unstable" sounds a bit like a component that is on its way out. Might as well start with the electrolytics. Careful about polarity though 😊

[@Pulverrostmannen]

@@atkelar yeah I am pretty sure the caps are not the best in this TV anymore. My main issue with it is that the video won’t lock to sync all the time and starts rolling and getting poorly defined. It could be because I don’t really have a transmitter for sending video and been injecting the signal into the antenna directly instead. But at the same time it is not behaving as I remember it anyway. So that is the reason I would like to just bypass the receiver and composite mod it because there is literally nothing here to receive anymore on analog TV. Everything here is shut down and is moved over to digital. So the only thing I have use for is to connect older gaming consoles for fun but that don’t work well either. I actually gotten the exact same model TV last summer but have not gotten to test this one yet to see if that behaves different or if it even work at all. I should compare them some day to rule differences out. But it’s also the reason why I could modify one as I have the second device I can keep mint if I so desire

[@atkelar]

Connecting an antenna output from one device directly to a rod antenna or similar might be overpowering to the reception circuit. Try putting a very tiny capactior between, and/or a resistor of a few 100 ohms. Antenna sockets usually have those built in compared to any rod that is connected inside them. Also, the sync frequencies are pretty much the only timing related places where I ever have seen electrolytics used. Might indeed be a good idea to check that portion of the circuit. Not sure how it's implemented in your unit though...

[@RegiPavan]

😎😎😊😊

[@fletcherreder6091]

That _style_ of switch is still made, but without knowing what vendor they used it would be very difficult to find an exact replacement, assuming they exist. It shouldn't be too difficult to find something that will work, with the caveat that the cross-style actuator appears to be extinct in favor of square. So long as the buttons will either accept square, or you don't mind whittling down the switches to fit, then Alps, C&K, and E-Switch have some offerings that look like they would fit.

[@SnepperStepTV]

some parts fit a lot better than you'd think! its amazing how much crossover is achievable when you match size/use rather than brand.

[@sideburn]

wow what a cooincidence i just got one off ebay and the battery corrosion inside is a nightmare... starting a restoration on it now. Need to find out what kind of cells they are and the area on the board that says LINK where it connects ts the two cells i don't see how the cells were connected there. The corrosion was so bad there's a lot of broken traces i need to sort out

[@matthiasjagdm3949]

Saw a cab driver have one of these but with holes crudely drilled into it and wires comming out hocked up to 2 different boxes, i asked and he said yea i can see some satellite tv and netflix on it ..i asked why not get a modern screen? , he said this is what i always used...edit: rest of the drive was akward silence

[@graealex]

What's up with the LED text? I would have loved for you to go into more details about magnetic vs electric deflection. I'm also stunned that Sinclair made this device, and not for example Sony, since they're known for shrinking down stuff to a point where it becomes useless. I assume Sinclair did it because they got a really good deal on those tubes.

[@atkelar]

The LED text was a trial... that didn't really work out. But I couldn't just film the thing again because of it. I use that tag in my rare live streams and wondered if it would work in regular videos too. I'll put that explanation on my "ideas" pile!

[@graealex]

@@atkelar Thanks for the explanation! If Big Clive can get away with a simple printed-out logo, then you probably can too.

[@gordonwedman3179]

That TV is designed to receive analog signals, correct? I don't think there are many analog TV stations anymore?

[@atkelar]

Indeed. Hence why I had to get some RF modulators for the job. "truly mobile" won't work anymore, I'm afraid.

[@sideburn]

I see at 10:28 yours is there same as mine. the "-" pad for one of the battery cells is not connected to anything. So how can this have worked?!?

[@graealex]

Also love the more upbeat music, but it doesn't seem coherent. Maybe take a look at RotarySMP, and maybe ask whether he can give you some pointers. He's a fellow Austrian.

[@atkelar]

I use what I can find on the KZbin audio library; anything else is potentially expensive or a potential takedown reason. Still looking into getting custom music eventually...

[@graealex]

@@atkelar I'll ask Mark where he gets his music from. It's obviously royalty free stuff.

[@shawnhuk]

Don’t meddle with the music! It’s a channel staple! Just like CuriousMarc, that jazz opener must never go away

[@sideburn]

ahhhhh i guess i should watch the whole video it was a wire as a fuse.. are you using AA NICD cells? Also will this power up without any batteries attached to test it first?

[@atkelar]

Indeed; NiCd are rare these days, but the charging is a bit too extreme with direct NiMH replacements. NiCd can be left trickle charging and will only get "body temperature" while NiMH will heat up considerably. While maybe not at "fire hazard level", I certainly think they won't last very long. EDIT: sorry, line break posted... Anyhow: It should power on just fine without the batteries, but you might need to tweak the input voltage a bit more accurately. These batteries and the input charging resistor are used as a rather crude voltage regulator which may or may not be important; the details for the custom ICs is lost to history it seems. I'd start with 4.5V on the 6V input and increase slightly up to maximum 6V while measuring the voltage across the (missing) battery pack. It should be around 4.6v for the 1.2V cells.

[@sideburn]

Right. I figured. I have a supply of AA nicd’s already from doing a tektroniks 214 ‘o scope restoration. Very similar boards from same era. My TV1 is in much worse shape than yours. Lots of corrosion and the batteries were the worst I’ve ever seen. I’ve got all of the boards cleaned up now with vinegar and isopropyl and jumped all the broken traces. I assume this board must have the batteries in order to work like the 214 was where the batteries act as a capacitor. Edit: just saw you covered this in your reply… What type of glue did you use when gluing that Bakelite type plastic? Also, do you know what the barrel jack sizes are for the 6 and 12v inputs?

[@atkelar]

I think I got lucky with how little the batteries leaked. Seen quite a bit worse in other devices too. Including my (upcoming) Tek 212 ;) I used my regular 2-part epoxy glue; nothing fancy. Since the plastic bezel shrunk a bit, there is now a minimal gap visible, but at least it's not "flapping around" anymore. And: sorry, no official sizes; I have a grab bag of "universal charger adapters" and tried until I found one that fits. But it also has no markings on it. Careful about the polarity though! Center negative! The 6V one switches something. I didn't follow the circuit, so I'm not sure if that means it can't charge or is a charger only... Depends on which part of the socket is "active".

[@sideburn]

@@atkelarok I thought it might be epoxy and not CA. Looking at the barrel jacks and they are different. I have one that fits the 12v but the 6v has a fatter center. Also it looks like they are center negative from what I can see with the DMM. Correct? Subbed to your channel looks like we do similar stuff. I don’t have any restoration vids mostly other projects but I repair and restore vintage electronics and computers etc. my pile is getting too big though! 😂

[@atkelar]

They are indeed center negative and differnt; I think the different pin is to avoid 12V supply in 6V socket situations. That would certainly be bad. I might be wrong (and my unit is assembled ATM) but it looks like the 6V provides direct power to the "battery bus" while cutting out the batteries entirely, while the 12V one charges the batteries and can - additionally - also power the device. Again, please verify that the contact inside the 6V jack does open the battery connection not the "supply" one. I'm guessing on that part! Also, thanks for the sub! I might have a strange way of presenting my projects, but I have a lot in the queue too :)

[@WooShell]

Tolles Video mal wieder =^.^= Falls du irgendwas an Maßen von dem Reihenschalter aufgezeichnet hast, kannst mir das gern mal schicken (TG).. ich hab ne ziemliche Wühlkiste von den Teilen aus allen möglichen Geräten seit den 80ern, evtl hab ich da einen passenden Ersatz für dich.

[@qwertykeyboard5901]

Scored on of those at a flea market for $3! Absolutely butchered it. This thing is sadly really REALLY difficult to service. Just, horrible. The batteries leaked onto the tuner board, and for some reason the thing started arcing on the main board.

[@atkelar]

Indeed, the current condition really depends on how lucky the batteries were. My unit had only very little damage from those, but I know many are worse off. The arcing might indicate something wrong with the voltage regulation? The HV cascade is made from diodes and capacitors, if the input is too high, the output is proportionally higher even. Also... maybe some gunk from the batteries that creates shorts? Hard to tell really...

[@qwertykeyboard5901]

@@atkelar It ended up in the parts drawer.

[@gerardzi7930]

UHF/VHF TV monitor

[@bziemko1066]

First