This is how we got our first colour TV set in 1982

[@stujham]

remember New Cross Supplies in Manchester, right at the bottom of Oldham Rd. Had a lot of scopes, rf generators/meters etc and a lot of it I couldn't afford. Also Globe Radio and Shudehill Supplies along with Wizard Components who supplied a lot of TV & Video components in the early 80's

[@michaeldranfield7140]

went to new cross radio as a kid many times in the 70s , I was there Manchester coming back from new cross when woolworths caught fire .

[@RobIngleby-m4q]

Reminded me of me! Great days sadly never to be repeated. Loved the 80s.

[@Philip---pip267]

Love that story ! I was the same, but my folks invoked the 5 in, 1 out rule, most lenient, but still my maximum count was 7, when I was about 17, including two at the bottom of my walk in wardrobe among my clothes, and two allowed in the shed. Typically, at any one time, around half worked. I also scoured the tips on a bicycle, about 14 years old in 1974. I would limit my collections to record players, tape recorders and radios, whilst my tellies came mainly from friends and family hand me downs. First was a 405 line Pam 606s from 1961. Loved it, kept till late 90s. ( First colour was a 26 inch hybrid korting transmare, with all the controls in German, acquired in 1983.. This was followed by a rank A823,with a soft tube. My alll time favourite : Philips model 520, with G8 chassis.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

One thing I have never done is the old 405 only sets, I couldn't get them back from the tip on my bike and I always considered them old fashioned , I use to call them box sets , I repaired an 823 about a year ago for a customer but never seen a G8 since the mid 1980s , I see the odd one one e bay but nothing is ever near me for collection .

[@Philip---pip267]

@@michaeldranfield7140 I'm actually with you on the look of the 405 line monos. Sets to me, didn't become "pretty" until about 1970, when the cabinets got rectangular and slimmer, and they had the squared off tubes without the ugly implosion protection. I think I loved the pam set more down to circumstance, as it was my aunts which I used to watch Dad tinker with when I was about 8 years old. She later fell out with my mum, so mum didn't like it being in the house any more. So I told her I had chucked it, but Instead took it to work and hid it. 5 years later due to re fit, I was forced to sneak it back home after working late. I covered it in a blanket, and never ever knew if she discovered it for a second time.......

[@mattsan70]

Love hearing these stories from your youth - You remember such details, its like being transported back in time.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

My only regret is that I didn't take more photographs in my younger days

[@aroundthebush8514]

@@michaeldranfield7140 It's easy to think this. I do too. However - don't forget it wasn't as convenient or cheap (free) as it is now.

[@Bucharestguidedtours]

Great story, I wasn't born until 74, but our first Colour set was an ITT CVC5, it ran for years. I was a tv engineer from 91 untill about 2002, then i got back into TV repair in the LED backlight era..The first LED TV I ever did backlights in was a Toshiba 40L1333DB, (early ones had A Samsung unit if i remember ,LTA400HM23)..Its still running today unbelievably. To this day I still do backlights, although recently its getting harder with the Hisense bond to metal back style units... Best wishes.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

If I remember correctly didn't the Toshiba set have the inverter built into the screen and you had to remove the LCD panel to get at it, I think the days of backlight repairs are numbered , it wont be long before everyone follows Hi sense by gluing in the screen

[@Bucharestguidedtours]

@michaeldranfield7140 ,it could well have been, or there was a similar model, which was a real Toshiba, no Vestel parts but looked nearly identical and ran on a proper l Toshiba remote ...(they used to need software upgrades a lot ) . Cheers for the reply, Great channel.

[@anthonychallis2472]

Michael, what a wonderful video. So many memories, I used to fix up old radios, easier to transport😀. I remember going up the high street (in the days when they had shops rather than barbers, betting shops & casinos) to the local TV shop to get spare parts. If you were careful you could end up with a job as you got to know the engineers. No interview needed, enthusiasm was enough. You want to be careful showing your old house, if this video goes viral you could end up with crowds of people turning up there, to see where the great Michael Dranfield lived 😂. In fact I’m thinking of suggesting it for a blue plaque 😀. Keep up these videos they are great.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

We had loads of TV repair shops back in the 70 s , quite often I would go round them at night and rummage in the dustbin , I remember the massive industrial bin at radio rentals on wheels, I use to use my bike to stand on and climb inside the bin, never found anything at all though in the bin and when I said this on a forum someone who worked at radio rentals said there wouldn't be anything as all faulty boards and components had to be sent back to head office for examination .

[@Roundymooney]

Lovely historical snapshot! Thanks Mr. Dranfield.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Thankyou , just a shame the photos weren't better .

[@hapskie]

@@michaeldranfield7140 We got the picture ;)

[@crr8297]

Thanks, that was a great story, I remember dragging electronic junk home I found in the trash, the worst thing I brought home was a portable record player in the winter, it was all wet and a dog peed on it, my mom wasn't too happy about that one but they still encouraged me in my endeavors and I eventually became a TV serviceman

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Same here , my parents encouraged me too.

[@telemedic5142]

Thoroughly enjoyed this! Thanks for sharing

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Thankyou for that .

[@matambale]

Michael, you are officially my hero. Thank you for this story.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Its a shame the photos weren't better , I did try to get them enhanced but I was told they couldn't be improved .

[@clivecorrie7870]

Great Story, I remember doing much the same struggling up the stairs with an ancient enormous B&W set. I worked part time in a electronics shop in Hurst Street Birmingham. We sold second hand colour sets used by the BBC to test colour transmissions in the 70's. I could never get the hang on the complexity but was quite adept adjusting convergence.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Must admit I have never been that good at convergence , I was glad when the pre converged tubes came out .

[@jimg492]

Love this video.TX9, TX10, G8, G11, its what I grew up with. Great times

[@michaeldranfield7140]

loved all those sets, so easy to repair, I have TX10 and TX9 s in my collection but sadly no G11 or G8.

[@SSJRayman]

Thank you for sharing such wonderful memories ♥ Your work bench was very impressive for the early 80s - a digital multimeter! 🙂

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Still have that multimeter , It was a Christmas present from my boss when I worked in an electrical shop after school, unfortunately I wrote it off repairing a microwave oven in the 90 s but recently I pulled it out of the loft with a view to seeing if I can repair it for a youtube video .

[@BongbongA99]

I can just imagine your heart beating like the clappers and sweat pouring off your forehead as you executed the stealth move. I also smuggled things in, but I was never brave enough to take on a complete van load in one go! Well done Michael! Thank you for reliving the memories. Great stuff.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

It was quite a task but back then I could lift anything, sadly I'm paying for it now with my back problems.

[@truthreigns7]

Thank you for sharing this with us.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

No problem at all.

[@franciscosanchez-wl1fk]

Hello, greetings from Spain, I have had my own workshop since 1987. My first 20" color television was assembled by me with a recreational machine monitor to which I added the intermediate frequency audio modules and tuner keyboard and a wooden piece of furniture in approximately 1985.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

I would have loved to make a TV , back in the 70-80s there were a few designs published in Television magazine but I have missed the boat now .

[@johndunleavy]

Brilliant. Your story has made my night. You devil you!! I was fortunate that my Dad had a TV, furniture, carpets and white goods shop, and I could play with the old sets stored in the upstairs workshop. I discovered that valves had different heater voltages the exciting way. 🙂In the garage at home all the scrap TVs were dumped. I collected the ion trap magnets and had great fun! In the early 90s I used to do a run to Briarwood TV in Bradford and pick up a carload of Co-op ex rentals (Bush A823) and do them up. I graduated to Philips G8s and G11s as time went on. Happy days. I gave it all up in 2003. My Dad stopped before colour, I stopped when flat screens started.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

I went to a place once , I think that was in Bradford, it was in an old church and I still remember the name , Frank Ford, It was much further out than we would normally go I and I think we only tried once looking for cheaper prices but it turned out to be no cheaper than any ware else. I still repair flat screen TV s but there getting worse and a lot less repairable , how I miss the old days.

[@johndunleavy]

@@michaeldranfield7140 I used to go to Briarwood TV on the Euroway Trading Estate, just of the M606. Easy to get to.

[@igotes]

This is a great story. Tellies were expensive back then, we rented ours. Wow, you had a lot of fancy gear for a teenager! I had a cheap multimeter from Maplins and a handful of screwdrivers.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

I think most people would have rented back then , not that fancy, the big scope was a converted engine analyser and some of the other stuff I made myself .

[@crumplezone1]

Fantastic absolutely fantastic stories

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Many thanks for that .

[@herbiescruff5708]

I too in my early teens started on b/w TV's (in the early 80's) which I got from the back of Visionhire - taking them home on converted shopping trolleys some 2miles home to an 8ftx8ft shed as my workshop. I was then given some GEC, G8, Pye and ITT hybrids and Bradford sets (my favs!) which gave me a good insight to colour tv repair including a Telefunken 711 which after a line o/p repair became our 2nd lounge TV - the local CooP repair workshop guys were also helpfull to me back then. So fast forward to the present day... I'm still in the TV game and for the last 33 years in a High St shop with 2 workshops still keeping the world of TV, Audio and Digital repairs alive! Great video Michael!

[@michaeldranfield7140]

I had a high-street shop once, but then going digital and the internet killed everything so now I just have an out of town workshop, you must be doing something very right if your still on the high street , our high street now consists of charity shops, barbers and coffee shops.

[@herbiescruff5708]

@@michaeldranfield7140 My original workshop was above a very busy video library back in '91 to '97 (video repairs were big then!) - they decided to demolish the complex I was in, so we moved only a few miles to a nearer town - albeit a smaller High St - I may be the only one in my area.

[@Lyndalewinder]

Brilliant video Michael - love your determination to smuggle the TVs into the house!

[@michaeldranfield7140]

I did that same trick a few times after this and never got caught !!

[@ianedwards468]

Hi Michael and belated happy returns for your 60th! This brings back all sorts of memories struggling home with sets and chassis - and then trying to smuggle them indoors. When I was 16 I brought a Pye 20ins monochrome set (173 chassis) home on the bus having fished it out of a skip. I then had to carry it half a mile from the bus stop - nearly killed me, don't think I could do it now. A CVC9 was a nice find back in 1981, excellent sets. The yellow mains filter was notorious! Cheers Ian E

[@michaeldranfield7140]

I remember the Pye 173 chassis , in fact one came up for sale a few months ago but like everything I see it was too far away for collection , I have seen the odd CVC9 come up for sale but always miles away, don't think I could lift one on my own now .

[@mistermikeanson]

What a brilliant story - loved it!! You must have developed some muscles carrying those old sets upstairs!!

[@michaeldranfield7140]

trouble is I'm paying for it now but my back problems .

[@hymermobiler]

Great video! I did similar for my Gran I went to Blackpool to do a TOPS course on Video games and juke box repairs at the college in the 80s when every pub / cafe had video games fruit machines and juke box and I learned enough about electronics to start repairing TVs for family. My Gran was renting a black and white TV from Rumbelows so I persuaded her to let me get a second hand one from a place in Manchester that did ex rental TVs in bulk in a warehouse. I think you mentioned them on your channel before. The deal was she paid me her rental until it was paid for (didnt take long) and I would repair it if it went wrong. After about 12 months she was so pleased she let me get her a colour set and she had that until she passed away.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Mantles , 419 barlowmoor road, will be the place in Manchester , I remember the 80s pub scene very well, jiggling the mains plug with my foot on the space invader machine so it would crash and then come back on with one credit !!

[@hymermobiler]

@@michaeldranfield7140 Yes it was on Barlow Moor Road they used to advertise in TV Mag. There was also another place I used on the left after the Apollo on the A6 going towards Stockport probably longsight or levenshume always had loads of TVs on and ready to collect when you chose which one you wanted.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

@@hymermobiler repo TV

[@dogastus]

I made a colour TV from scratch in 1969. Philips had brought out all the special inductors needed for things like convergence waveform generation etc. It was all solid state apart from two valves in the line output stage. I drove it once to a convention in central London from Gillingham in Kent. The only way I could transport it was by removing the passenger seat in my mini. The set didn't have a back and the base of the CRT was facing towards me, it's a miracle I didn't hit it when I was changing gears!

[@michaeldranfield7140]

I would have loved to make a TV set, there was a few designs published in Television magazine back in the 70 s but sadly I have missed the boat now .

[@ronroberts34]

Lovely story, and a beautiful old house. I also remember the days of only having one room heated in the whole of the house. Upstairs was always freezing - in the winter we had ice on the inside of the windows!

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Same here , our coal fire also heated the hot water so we had to light the fire even in the middle of summer .

[@ronroberts34]

Ours too - back boiler built in behind the fire. No hot water unless the fire was lit. But I really do remember my bedroom was bitterly cold during the winter.

[@Simon-qn5wm]

Great story Michael. I used to throw a length of cable out of the bathroom window & tie the end to the electronic gadgets i was smuggling in and haul them up the wall, through the bathroon and into my room.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Funney thing is unlike you I was allowed to bring small things in .

[@Televid4]

Really Nice Micheal. I also remember Tales of the unexpected and the Benny hill show and Bullseye which used to air on TV in the evenings starting from 8.00pm weekdays. There were also some very good spares shops for TVs and Videos Local to us (Grandata, Tidman Mail order, Teleview, CPC, Willowvale etc) where we used to get spares from. We used think those days will never end but time moves everything on. Thanks. Excellent Video....

[@michaeldranfield7140]

I use to think the TV trade would never end , but it did more or less as soon as we went digital .Out of all the companies you mention I think only CPC is still going .

[@ralphj4012]

Some positive nostalgia. 17.5% VAT on those rental prices, those were the days. We made do with a wooden go-kart to transport TVs back from the dump, a Chopper was just a dream.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

it was the chopper bike that changed my life , when the local tip closed the next one was 2 miles away so without a bike it would have taken too long to walk .

[@mendelpearl8066]

Amazing. I was exactly like that as a boy. I was so fanatic I managed to carry a K9 color tv 3 miles home. Over my handle bars and seat, me just walking along the bike. That was the end of b/w tv in our home...

[@michaeldranfield7140]

I remember the Phillips K9 , the handlebars on a chopper didn't support carrying TV s so I could only carry stuff on the cross rails .

[@peterensinger1770]

I enjoyed this video and I am amazed by the similarities of your early teenage and mine. on the estate I lived at in my childhood there was a yard surrounded by lock up garages that the residents rented. Next to the end of one of the blocks of garages there was a site that was used as an unofficial refuse tip. The local residents would dump bulky items there was always things like record players tvs radios as well as white goods and furniture. I used to go to this site with my mothers shopping trolley frame and collect the tvs radios and record players to repair this is how we got our first colour tv. On one occasion I found 2 colour tvs one was a Philips G8 and the other one was a decca Bradford chassis set I was able to repair both of them so we had the G8 in the lounge and I had the Bradford set in my bedroom I was 14 at the time and I was the envy of my school mates as I was the only kid who had a colour tv in their bedroom. Watching this video brought all the memories from my childhood back. I, too, had a chopper bike it was an orange it had the 3 speed gear lever on those top tubes of the frame just in front of the seat. the one thing I remember about the chopper was that It was a heavy bike. Peter Ensinger M7DTK

[@michaeldranfield7140]

so nice that my video has trigged some happy memories for you also , the chopper bike was very heavy and the one I had was purple , the one in the video I just borrowed to make the video, a very dangerous bike at speed though as I nearly found out, behind our house is a big steep hill and coming down it started to shake violently from side to side and nearly threw me off , that was the last time I ever went down hill with no brakes .

[@phillipyannone3195]

That was great Michael wonderful house and history.😊

[@michaeldranfield7140]

I dream of having a large house again , just need a lottery win !

[@markdunstan8277]

This is absolutely fantastic

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Many thanks for that .

[@groover5524]

A really fascinating story ! What a great old house ! I wish I had that space at the top when I was a teenager . My first colour TV was the result of a ride on my newly acquired motorcycle in around 1978 / 79 . Out in the country I came across the remains of 3 Philips G8s . Two had their tubes smashed but there was one intact CRT . I rode back and me and my Dad squeezed the carcasses into his car . I managed to make one working TV out of the 3 . This gave good service for many years ! Eventually replaced with a Decca 110 when the tube started going downhill. . Cheers !

[@michaeldranfield7140]

I think it was living in an old house that made me , we never had the luxury of a car ,despite living in a big house that didn't cost a lot of money we were actually quite poor.

[@mrnmrn1]

That was a great and very relatable story of you smuggling TVs into your room and attic workshop, it gave me some giggles. I did the same when I was a kid. Your mom's request to leave the smoking TV on was also hilarious. Those metallised paper X2 capacitors are absolute smoke machines.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

The ITT been a continental set the filter capacitor was only rated for 220v so the set did well to last especially when running on 240v in this country, I saw one for sale on e bay about a year ago but it was too far away for collection .

[@christianeck97]

Thank you so much for sharing this story 💖

[@michaeldranfield7140]

No problem at all , thankyou for watching .

[@TigerBoyRS]

Great story! One can just imagine the ecstatic state, managing the delivery and bringing inside, behind the parents back, a lot of precious junk into the attic. Cheers 🍷

[@michaeldranfield7140]

I did the same trick as this on a few occasions , all without getting caught !!

[@kendom33]

Great story Michael. My goodness what a chance you took ! Fantastic insight into your early years. I do think they took advantage of a young lad though . Your parents would have been delighted. Thank you

[@michaeldranfield7140]

My mum was over the moon , we could not afford to rent a colour set, despite the very big house that didn't cost a lot of money we were actually quite poor .

[@simonbeasley989]

Brilliant story! How times have changed.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Thankyou , times have changed and not for the better, most stuff now is disposable .

[@gpo746]

Loved hearing that Michael . Super story ! Thanks for sharing it.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

No problem , many thanks for watching .

[@markpirateuk]

Reminds me of my misspent youth, I used to finish school & get a bus into town where there was loads of 405 line & dual standard mono sets behind a department store, I would select a couple of sets & carry them to the bus stop, luckily my house was close to a bus stop! Like you, I had to wait until the coast was clear to get the tellies in to my bedroom. Most of the sets I got were easily repairable, so made a bit of pocket money selling them to my school friends, my first colour TV was a dual standard GEC set with a dead blue gun, but got another tube for it & spent many hours playing with the convergence 🤣

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Had a GEC dual standard set, its on the photo in my workshop , I remember it very well , the PL509 was down to air, I fitted another one and it worked, then come the next day the 509 was down to air again after going through a few 509 s I found the cause and it was an open circuit resistor in the line output stage , I think the valve was running far too hot so when the set was switched off it cooled down to quickly and cracked the glass . Like you I was always looking in the backyard of Tv shops at night and just over the road from my house was a TV shop , there were 6 or so A823 s in the backyard , I did the same trick getting them in the house but when I looked the next day all the necks had been broken off and they were just totally useless and I had a hell of a job getting rid of them , many years later I spoke with the guy who use to be an engineer at this shop and he said it was company policy to knock the neck off the tube before disposal becuse the dustbin men had complained of TV exploding in the back of the dustbin waggon when they were crushed.

[@MichaelSmith-xm7ll]

Very interesting story Michael,this also takes me back to my TV-Radios days?

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Glad you liked it , very happy days , I would go as far as saying best days of my life .

[@richardwoodwards1202]

That brought back memories of me struggling to bring TV home that I was given in the late 60s

[@michaeldranfield7140]

anything was a challenge without a car .

[@robertball2741]

Great story Michael!

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Many thanks for that Robert, just a shame the photos weren't that good . I did ask someone if they could be enhanced but he came back with a no .

[@davidloftus2654]

I was very much like you at that age. I remember getting my first soldering iron for my 14th birthday, happy memories 😃. Just out of curiosity I looked on Google Street View and your old house is still there.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

yes , its still there ,the video of the house was done the week before , it was not taken from a vintage photo .

[@terryblackman6217]

A nice little trip down memory lane.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Yes , brought back very happy memories making this video , pity the photos weren't very good .

[@f.k.burnham8491]

That brings back memories of when I was in high school and after I graduated. My friend had an International 4WD 1 ton pickup and we would go hit all the dumps for chassis, tubes, & parts, then scrap all the stuff out. Seldom could we find an intact TV set, and the dump people wanted all the transformers & yokes for copper scrap. We must have acquired over 100 chassis for .25-.50 each. I still have some of the parts too, as some sets were really rare even then.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

On the few occasions I found a colour TV on the tip I would take out all the valves as I couldn't bring back the whole set , those were the days when the tip was just open and you could wander on and take what you want , I miss those days so much.

[@michaelwaite6725]

Reminds me of similar experiences in the the early 70s my brother was a tv engineer and we always seemed to have multiple tvs in our house in the hall, in the front room , some stored in the garage in various stages of repair. Needless to say later I was also involved in the repair and sale of mono tvs and early colour sets. Our first permanent colour tv was also a ITT cvc8 which lasted for years Brings back memories Michael

[@michaeldranfield7140]

I think this is the reason my dad decorated one of the attic rooms and said I could have it as a workshop because I had bits lying around the living room floor .

[@marcse7en]

Great story about your mum, saying don't turn off the TV when smoke was pouring from the back, because she wanted to see how the programme ended! 🤣 My dad bought his first colour TV in 1973 for £300 from Trident in Lancaster. It was an Ultra Bermuda Colour 26" (massive!). We had it until 1981, when we got a Doric with an in-line picture tube. It had an ultrasonic remote, and when you turned the set off, the power button would ping across the room! I have video of the Doric working in 1984, playing a VHS recording of Top Of The Pops. Before the Ultra, we had an Ecko B&W 405 line valve set, with doors that rolled up when you opened them.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

My mum was like that , glued to the TV and wouldn't move until a program ended , I used this this fact to my advantage many times to sneak stuff in ! I may well have one of those 26 inch ultra sets you mention , bought it about a year ago but not got round to looking at it yet and I need a hand to lift it now . Did a couple of videos few weeks ago of the Doric set with solenoid on /off switch .

[@marcse7en]

@@michaeldranfield7140 Happy days! ... Flat panels are boring in comparison!

[@SusanAmberBruce]

Thanks, I enjoyed hearing that story.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Thankyou for that, its a pity the photos weren't very good .

[@SusanAmberBruce]

@@michaeldranfield7140 they were historically realistic and I thought they were fine

[@Linkvagen]

Very interesting to hear your story about the stealthy start of your career.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Started a lot earlier than that but I couldn't have TV s in the house till I was 10 .

[@andrewbeynon739]

This reminds me of when I started my own business. I bought 54 ex-rental Decca Bradford TVs, mostly partially dismantled with boxes of spare panels etc. and I managed to persuade my parents to allow me to store them in their spare bedroom, outhouse and garage. Some of the rougher ones had to go outside as 54 TVs take up a lot of room! Anyway I managed to repair and sell over half of them but looking back I’m amazed how my Mum and Dad put up with them! Happy Days!

[@michaeldranfield7140]

I remember the Decca Bradford very well, in fact I still have the service manual .

[@michaelmcdonald2348]

Great hearing these old memories. I thought I was odd for picking up old TV's from the street or tip as a youngster. Seems it was quite a popular thing to do for many of us back then. Have to say my success rate back then was much less than yours. I had absolutely no test equipment and a lack of any knowledge apart from being able to identify components.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

i have been picking things up ever since I can remember , as a very small boy I remember setting off for the gardens with my dad , my bucket and spade in hand ready for the sand pit and on the way seeing part of an old chassis off something in the grass, which I picked up and carried in my bucket to the gardens, my dad was not amused , we walked all that way to the play area and I sat there the whole of the time playing with this chassis , never went on anything or in the sand pit !

[@MrFixiit]

lol what a beautiful picture you paint.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Just a great shame about the photos not been very good though.

[@graemedavidson499]

Our first colour TV was a CVC 5 based set and introduced me to TV repair with its habit of destroying the RGB gun drive transistors. Still remember getting up early, turning on the TV and waiting for Open University to finish and the fun viewing to begin!

[@michaeldranfield7140]

I use to sometimes watch open university but then back them there was a lot of good stuff on TV when we only had 3 channels and it went off air at midnight .

[@doublehaven]

What a story, the things we do as electronics enthusiasts 👍

[@michaeldranfield7140]

too right .

[@stephenriley971]

I remember the good old ITT CVC series tvs. I was always impressed with the sharp picture quality, especially if you took some time getting the convergence right. Common faults i remember were focus problems due to the 4.7 megohm resistors rising in value, the 0.1uf 1000v boost often went short causing the boost valve, PY500 i think, to glow like a lamp. Happy days.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

For a hybrid these were as you say the best picture of all time , far better than the TX10 I eventually replaced it with .

[@SamM-oh2cx]

I remember in the 70s, the back of our tv had a coin box, you would have to put money in to watch the tv. The guy used to come every friday and empty the money box. Can still remember the smell of solder when the engineer would come out and fix the tv.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Yes , the shop where these sets came from did slot meter rental so more than likley these had been ex rentals .

[@mosfettg6857]

🤣Great Story, I had one of those chopper bikes myself.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

a good load carrying bike but dangerous at speed, big hill behind our house , came down there once and the bike went out of control and nearly threw me off , it started shaking violently from side to side, original ones worth a fortune now .

[@Synthematix]

Back when there were only 3 channels yet there was always something on worth watching, we now have 300 channels and its all crap.

[@marcse7en]

Not exactly, because some of that 300 channels of "crap" is some of the things that were "worth watching!" ... Talking Pictures TV is a good example.

[@chr1s.c]

Quantity over quality now

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Hammer house of horror Friday night my favourite program, low budget but as you say, far better than the rubbish on today's TV.

[@Synthematix]

@@michaeldranfield7140 Quantum Leap, Night Rider and Highway To Heaven were my favourites.

[@marcse7en]

@@michaeldranfield7140 Good television doesn't have to cost a fortune! Some of the best TV was made on a shoestring. Creativity, imagination, and talented people are the key. My beloved Classic "Doctor Who" for example.

[@drcrusherdata]

great reminder of growing up in the 80's going the tip and finding old TVs and Betamax VCR's. and my mother was not pleased.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Its a habit that has stuck , I continued to get TV s from different tips right up to only about 2010, most of the reconditioned sets I sold in the shop came from the tip , I have made good money over the years from buying at the tip, sadly now all the tips are owned by the council and they wont sell anything , I still go to my local recycling centre getting stuff is not easy but still possible , so you will see more vintage stuff appearing on my channel !!!

[@peterferguson2344]

Good memories Michael 😁 I was also governed by the very same ' 1 item out before another item in' rule which was probably a very smart move on my parents part 😂

[@michaeldranfield7140]

I know , look at me now, moved to a 1700 sq feet building 9 years ago and its full already .

[@michaeloconnor7849]

We got our first colour TV when I was 6 years old in 1978 when our grandma passed away (we inherited it)and I remember being baffled by bagpuss and the clangers etc not looking right, and the repairman coming round and waving a soldering gun over the top of it after my dad had hit the top with the back of his hand once too often.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

we would never of had a colour TV if it wasn't for me , my grandma also rented !

[@marksntl7632]

Most Excelent! You little rascal 🙂As cunnning as fox, taught by a Professor in Cunning at Oxford 🙂

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Where theses a will there's a way !

[@brucejoseph8367]

I bet your parents were proud of you, they had an intelligent and industrious son who knew exactly what he wanted to do in life, turning a hobby into a career. Most youngsters that go to university don't really know what they want to do when they leave, often they just waste that time. The 80's were good times, the world made much more sense back then, England was still a green and pleasant land, not like now.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

they were immensely proud of me and knew where my destiny lay , my mum would always come back from Bingo with a transistor radio or some other small item someone wanted repairing , sadly my mum died 3 years after I got us the colour TV in 1984 so she never saw the shop I opened up in 1985 but she knew where I was heading .

[@aroundthebush8514]

Abolutely love this story. So many similarities to my own youth. I see your stealth methods have carried on - in one of your other videos you had to sneak the washing up bowl in and out of your kitchen before your wife got back! Forgotten what for, ha.

[@martinfitzgerald169]

I smuggled an identical black and white home. On my bike after skip diving, me and my brother steading my bike. Back in 1995.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

thorn 1500 was my favourite set, I grew up repairing these , happy days .

[@MizMite2002]

We left England for Canada in 68 and had our color tv in 1972.

[@njm1971nyc]

I was the same with jumble sales... bringing home tape recorders, music centers, all kinds of 1970s stuff. Almost every Saturday there would be a jumble sale at one of the nearby parish halls or schools, the Scouts jumble sales were absolutely mega!! A FEAST of electronic goodies. My parents went along with it, on the whole, but I got a very firm NO when it came to old colour TV's! That was pushing my luck a little too far, lol. I was only about 10 when I started my "refurbishment business"! Once fixed, I'd advertise the audio gear in the local paper, and have grown adults coming to the house, to buy an amplifier or a music center or whatever from a child 🤣🤣🤣

[@michaeldranfield7140]

I have never had much luck at jumbles sales or the scout hut sales and back then charity shops were almost non existant , the backyard or dustbin of TV repair shops were my favourite places .

[@njm1971nyc]

@@michaeldranfield7140 I guess it all depends where you live, and whether you have a lot of rich neighbors! I grew up in a very "ordinary" 3-bed semi, but surrounded by a lot of very affluent people in big, expensive houses. Lots of "quality gear" being thrown out, back in the day! Long time ago now. Not sure whether jumble sales are even a thing these days! (I haven't lived in the UK for the past 25 yrs or so). I've found some great stuff just in the garbage room of my apartment building here in NY - absolutely surrounded by rich people - but the nearest Salvation Army store is full of absolute crap and super-high prices. I'm sure all the "good stuff" gets taken by the staff before it has the chance to end up on the shelves!

[@oldblokeh]

How lovely to have such clear memories. Two questions:1. Were you ever found out? 2: Was it noisy living next to the railway bridge?

[@michaeldranfield7140]

no , never found out and I did this same trick quite a few times after this , my parents bedroom was the one right next to the railway line so I cant say for sure but I would say not as noisy as you may think because the line is freight only and carries stone from the nearby quarries .

[@mikecooper9134]

Spent many hours on Hogshaw Tip back in the day. lol😊

[@michaeldranfield7140]

That's where it all started for me Hogshaw tip the early 70 s, Saturday night my dad would take me to the working men's club and as soon as bingo started I would be off to Hogshaw tip because I wouldn't be missed until bingo had finished , this is also where I dumped all the stuff that was no good from Highfield Television, at the side of the pigeon huts in the grass ! .

[@kevinharrison4909]

8% VAT in 1981. They abolished the 15% rate in 1979. With the arrival of japenese sets and decreasing prices of electronics and higher integrated electronics bringing down the prices, the rentals business model was doomed to fail in the UK. I remember a black and white PYE we had that ran for years, and various models of Grundig, ferguson and Thorn EMi sets rented from radio rentals. We always used to have a guy that used to come out and try to fix them by repatedly tapping the boards in the TV with the blunt end of a screwdriver, but always used to take them away in the van. I don't recall him ever fixing anything on site. I supposed this is why people rented, because if anything went wrong you just got another to replace it.

[@adriansdigitalbasement]

What a great story! What did you end up doing with all those junk sets you ended up with? Did you have to smuggle them out one by one?

[@michaeldranfield7140]

worse than that , had to take the stuff out in cardboard boxes all dismantled, CRT s were smashed up with a hammer to reduce the size ,we only had a galvanised steel dustbin so using the bin was not an option , after a friend of mine who was a year older than me passed his test and got an old car we took everything out in cardboard boxes for a ride and dumped in in the allotments not too far way.

[@charliea697]

Great video :)

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Many thanks for that .

[@darrenmurphy6251]

haha good thinking but you did it the hard way (the chopper) , i can beat that ,i built a go cart and took home 22 inch bush a823,s philips g8,s and a few thorn 8500/ 8800 for what ever reason all the regular local flytipping points were up hill so braking was my only concern, there was a local granada rental service depot (completely anonymous building, but i knew) down hill from me but they rarelly scrapped complete sets so i just took parts, my parents didnt want much to do with me so just left me alone (every cloud and silver linings!) till i had too much horde! then it was clearout time for another year or 2 .i used to burn scrap pcbs in my bedroom coal fire ,and occassionally set fire to the unswept chimney, the heat given off was intense once i was into my teens i had arcade machines and mk1+2 ford escort bits everywhere too, great times!

[@michaeldranfield7140]

A go cart would not have been very practical for me as the tip was two miles away and mostly up hill on the way there .

[@EastAngliaUK]

I was born in the 80s I think we had tv and the picture was always very snowy. my nan used to live in London and got a perfect picture on a little battered old aerial but hear the picture was quite poor till we got sky digital. I don't think high gain aerials were a thing back then also

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Same here , we didn't get a relay transmitter in Buxton until about 1974 so TV transmission came from a long way away and we had a booster and grainy pictures, as a very small boy I switched the booster power supply off once for a laugh and my mum called out the rental company , don't think they were best pleased !

[@bweebar]

The original Chopper had a crotch gear selector, did that help or hinder the transport effort?

[@michaelturner4457]

On a Chopper mk2 with the gear shifter in the fully forward position, there is room to balance a slimline monochrome TV on the crossbars.

[@darrenmurphy6251]

i wish i still had my 1st decent scope- an ex bbc 1974 tektronix 7403n i had dual timebase 7b53a which was amazing with its stretch out vernier and i had twin dual input verticle modules 7a18 for 4 trace -the plastics started rotting and crumbling ,when one of the attenuator cams fell apart i tipped it regretted that soon after when my next scope was a 1980,s dartron that was as light as air the case was mostly empty and all the switches felt so cheap and nasty just like hobbyist lorlin switches ,and the knobs always fell off or spun (collets) i also had a really nice clam shell micronta analog multimeter too ,i never understood why all the tv engineers in the area used these huge ugly avo multimeters that looked like they came out of a ww2 bomber! the overload trip they had was neat though, i was often replacing meter fuses!

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Same here , theres a lot off stuff I threw away when it was worthless and now it would be worth loads of money , same with cars .

[@BjornV78]

Hi Michael, what a great story. Funny when the TV was smoking and your mother wouldn't let you turn it off, loved it 🙂 How did your parents react when they discovered your collection tv's in the attic? Grtz

[@michaeldranfield7140]

my parents never came up to the top floor, I was left completely on my own up there and I spent all of my time in that room .

[@adamdavies163]

That Chopper's worth a few quid now 🙂. Grifter was my favourite in the day.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

The one in the video is just one I borrowed off a friend to make the video, the one I had was purple with red writing , I sold it to a friend of mine when I could no longer peddle as my legs would hit the handlebars, prob about 1979 , let him have the bike for £10 and he never paid me .

[@tubeDude48]

You needed a wagon! 😀

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Im still collecting stuff now , I need a bigger place , 1700 sq feet is not enough anymore !

[@DaveBrown1]

ITT has Tint Control, remember that model.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

That's the one , I think a lot of continental sets had a tint control back then .

[@steve83803]

£2.70 plus 17.5% VAT is £3.17. Think I was working for Telefusion in Matlock in 1984.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Do you know I I once bought some ex rental Phillips KT3 sets from place in Matlock , it was over the bridge , round the corner and a biggish place on the righthand side , would that have been Telefusion ?? cant be exact on the year but it would have been after 1985.

[@markpitts5194]

You were fitter back then! The idea of dragging one big CRT up there makes me feel out of breath. The things we used to sneak in and out as kids.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Tell me about it , trouble is Im paying for it now with my back troubles , I have to get someone to help me now with big stuff.

[@PureHairdressing-k7w]

did you put 50 pence in the back? we didnt my dad worked for Focus tv rentals

[@michaeldranfield7140]

No we didnt have a slot meter , just a payment card .

[@mistermikeanson]

Arnold and Plant is now a pizza shop! Hahah!!

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Its a long time since I last came to new mills, I know back in the late 80s they had some sort of dispute with the landlord and re located to Marple but they moved opposite to another well established TV shop so I think it was downhill from there on .

[@Synthematix]

@Michael Dranfield SHOULD HAVE GONE TO RADIO RENTALS

[@michaeldranfield7140]

I did go to radio rentals workshop as a kid on my bike , use to park my bike at the side of there bin climb up on the seat and into the dustbin which was a massive big thing about 6 feet tall on wheels , never found a single thing of any use, only cigarette ends , teabags and waste paper .

[@Synthematix]

@@michaeldranfield7140 Remember those cardboard crushing machines? i used to play in those as a kid, and climb up the card in the scrapyard lol

[@michaeldranfield7140]

@@Synthematix Dont remember them .

[@xyredmax]

Hello MD - This is from the era when your mates judged you on the height of your Hi Fi stack! I often think mine was beyond obession, more like a fetish 🤣

[@michaeldranfield7140]

I cant ever remember a time when I didnt collect old electronic parts , I started off by twisting resistors off , later realising these were no good with no wire so any time my parents took me out I would be carrying a pair of nail cutters.

[@lesliedymond2268]

lovly luvly vry much similar to myself

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Thankyou for that.

[@BigA1]

Most of my early electronics learning was done by taking old radios and TV apart. I was given a pre-war TV, where the HT and EHT was derived from a massive 50hz transformer - very dangerous but I'm still here to tell the story. Did you have any scary experiences with high voltages?

[@michaeldranfield7140]

No , never had an electric shock despite plugging valve radios into the mains on the living room floor and as a very small boy I use to come home with boards I had found out of old TV sets and sit on the living room carpet desoldering components with a red hot poker from our coal fire and never once set fire to anything so my parents completely trusted my , the only scary experience I ever had was connecting a neon lamp across the primary winding of a mains transformer and the neon exploded at switch on , at the time I didn't know a neon lamp needed a limiting resistor , luckily I was doing this in another room so no one knew what had happened .

[@jonathanInLondonUK]

Not your average teenager's photo album!

[@michaeldranfield7140]

its worse than that , later on I use to photograph TV sets I had repaired , still have all the photos .

[@Meepsmusic63]

paused at 37 seconds, where there's a will there's a way Michael, The year is 1979, havalock gardens birkenhead, mum and dad had just split up, mum says to a 16 year old me, im out of here, do ya wana come with me and ya younger brother and sister? or do ya wana stay with ya dad? i stayed with dad, dad went nuts and went AWOL, so i was left in our old house "Home alone" at 16 years of age.. what to do? how to make money? how to survive? all i had was a bike with 26" wheels, flat handle bars and a basic understanding of electro mechanical devices. about a mile away was the old comet shop and on the loading bay was loads of twin tubs (AKA Washing machines to some of you young folks) the loading bay where all the old washers where where elevated at about 3 feet, perfect height to slide them onto the seat and handle bars of an old bike, i was selling those things for £35 a time, i was loaded lol.. my point, it would take a slight modification to place an old tv set on a bike at that time, and thats exactly what i did when i was buying old ctr tv sets from bidston tip in about 1980 onwards. A guy called billy quigly was working there, in time billy died and as a memorial there was a path at bidston tip called "Quigley way" well not find that kind of respect here in 2024 Michael, case in point, an hour ago, im walking down royal navel avenue here in Plymouth where im now located (since 1985) three kids on the pavement on peddle bikes coming towards me, im thinking, ok, i dont want to force them onto the road at peak time traffic cause they are kids, so i steps onto the road and beckons them forward, they rides through, and not one of them looks me in the eye, and not one of them says thank you..400 yeards later. some guy in his 40's is walking his dogs, and three ladys about the same age are behind him, they all said, thank you..clearly a lot of our younger generation have zero respect and seem to be according to my perception wannabe psychopaths and or sociopaths. my question is, what has caused this lack of respect from our young ones? ps, this is not an isolated event, billy moor at the all or nothing podcast is seeing it on a dailey basis. ill watch the rest of ya video now Michael.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

I know exactly what you mean a good few years ago walking to the supermarket with my wife we came across a lady lying on the pavement, my wife been a nurse crouched down and asked the lady if she needed some help only to be met with a load of verbal abuse as if it was our fault she had tripped up . Personally though I think everything is worse now after covid, no one cares about anything , no one can be bothered to help, had a problem with my credit card, couldn't change the pin number , girl in the bank says nothing to do with us you have to ring this number , ring a number there just reading from a script, never even addressed the problem I had .

[@Meepsmusic63]

@@michaeldranfield7140 thank yup Michael, and i hear you (And your good wife) and i dont comment a lot here, but i want you to know that people like me, and so many others simply watch ya videos, but we are so troubled in life that we dont get around to saying>> thank you, but i promise you this, almost all of us around here adore the work you are doing (99.999999%) the technical stuff and spirit behind what you are doing has so much value, its timeless.. thats all i have to say

[@tof3275]

1991, Conservative Chancellor Norman Lamont increased it from 15% to 17.5%. So your actual rent was £31.62 i/c vat

[@andrewbancroft6174]

Brilliant story. Miss the days people at the tip would sell you things, and the tv's could be repaired instead of piles of flat screen garbage. Always wanted a valve hybrid they seem such monsters, but are now fetching good money.

[@michaeldranfield7140]

When I first started going to the tip it was all open and you just dumped and took anything you wanted, in later years they put cabins and men on the tip and then you had to pay for stuff, now they wont sell anything but I still have the knack of making things appear in my car !

[@darkobrankovic-el7gm]

FOR REAL ?

[@michaeldranfield7140]

Yes .