The Viewmaster.

Forum for discussion of electronic television. Generally, stuff to do with CRTs and not using mechanical displays.

The Viewmaster.

Postby Steve Anderson » Sun Aug 03, 2014 1:13 pm

I would think that Albert is aware of this...

The 'Viewmaster' build it at home TV. It differs from Steve O's 'Argus' in that it uses magnetic rather than electrostatic deflection.

I cannot find out where or when it was published.

Steve A.
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Re: The Viewmaster.

Postby Panrock » Tue Aug 05, 2014 4:07 am

Thanks for the .pdf! I've just re-discovered this old thread on the VRR board and it seems the Viewmaster was considered a definite step up on the Argus. What fun it must have been!

http://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/show ... hp?t=55889

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Re: The Viewmaster.

Postby Viewmaster » Tue Aug 05, 2014 5:05 pm

Steve Anderson wrote:I would think that Albert is aware of this...

The 'Viewmaster' build it at home TV.

Steve A.


Yes Steve, I built the Viewmaster when a teenager. That is why my forum name is Viewmaster. Not that I am a master in anything really, but in fond memory of the build in about 1950ish.

When first switched on the vert scan coils were reversed so we watched the 8 o/clock news upside down.....
...also as I was a low earner then, could only afford a cheap second hand 9" tube with an intermittent heater/cathode short. So had to put the set on 5 minutes before a program started for the short to unshort. :D

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Re: The Viewmaster.

Postby Steve Anderson » Thu Aug 07, 2014 5:09 pm

Panrock wrote:...it seems the Viewmaster was considered a definite step up on the Argus. Steve O


Well, apart from the Argus's (original) green screen and smaller tube I'm surprised by that. I have only really skimmed through the Viewmaster pdf, somehow I got the impression that it wasn't as well engineered as the Argus. I guess I'm wrong again!

Steve A.

I wonder how many of each were successfully built? And how many didn't quite get there? When you consider the average wage coming into a UK household in 1952, 20 quid for the Argus was a lot of cash to invest. A quick Google reveals men got an average 9 quid a week, the ladies just 5.

We know at least one of each were successfully constucted, Albert's Viewmaster (once he sorted out the Australian display) and Steve's Argus.
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Re: The Viewmaster.

Postby Panrock » Thu Aug 07, 2014 7:55 pm

Steve A, not for the first time, I've been speaking cr*p! I had thought the Viewmaster was a 'step up' in the sense it gave a larger picture using leaner, more up-to-date techniques such as AC-DC, LOPT EHT (though thyratron timebases were to prove a short-lived fashion). It seems to have been a 'Birmingham only' receiver, including precautions to prevent interference from future Holme Moss. This, and the letter quoted from a satisfied cutomer, date it to late 1949, well before the Argus.

There are two other "Argi" built in the past few years that I personally know of.

The off-screen pictures in your .pdf make me nostalgic for the programmes of the time!

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Re: The Viewmaster.

Postby Steve Anderson » Thu Aug 07, 2014 10:28 pm

Panrock wrote:...though thyratron timebases were to prove a short-lived fashion. Steve O


I have a cluster of 884's Thyratrons here waiting to be set free, though at this stage I have no idea what I'll use them for! A whim purchase at the same time as the 931A PMT's I did those tests on. Cute little octal bottles though.

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Re: The Viewmaster.

Postby Panrock » Thu Aug 07, 2014 11:40 pm

Apparently thyratrons used to suffer from jitter on the sync, probably when they got a little worn. I have seen this too, in a 1949 Ekco.

As you may recall, I have three of those 931A's in the colour camera that feeds the 'Grosvenor'. One of them is a red-sensitive type. Can't remember if that one is called something else.

Should PMTs best be stored in the dark?

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Re: The Viewmaster.

Postby Viewmaster » Thu Aug 07, 2014 11:47 pm

Panrock wrote:. It seems to have been a 'Birmingham only' receiver, including precautions to prevent interference from future Holme Moss.
The off-screen pictures in your .pdf make me nostalgic for the programmes of the time!

Steve O


My own View Master was for Ally Pally and ran at Shepherds Bush, London on a few feet of wire on the first floor of a
six floor block of flats.

I always feel elation when I remember experiencing those early days of post war TV first hand. Sylvia Peters, Mac Hobley being nightly visitors to our flat, :) The Potter's wheel, Windmill etc to entertain us when,
'Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.'

At that time I was contracted by the BBC to make 3 further interlude films ( spiders webs, feathers, and sea shells) but when finished, colour was acoming in so my B/W efforts never hit the 9 inch tubes. :D But I did get paid still ! :lol:

That old sea shells film is on my web site BTW. Goto films/foyer to see it listed..............
www.retinascope.co.uk

That's another plug done and dusted. :D
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Re: The Viewmaster.

Postby Panrock » Fri Aug 08, 2014 2:58 am

Viewmaster wrote:I always feel elation when I remember experiencing those early days of post war TV first hand. Sylvia Peters, Mac Hobley being nightly visitors to our flat, :)

Mac Hobley was one of my favourites too, and I still remember him appearing, like a dinner guest, on the small screen of our television set in Sevenoaks in the early 'fifties.

Here he is, a little later, on ITV. These 'Film Fanfares' on the Pathé site are well worth exploring.

http://www.britishpathe.com/programmes/ ... laylist/10

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Re: The Viewmaster.

Postby Steve Anderson » Fri Aug 08, 2014 6:11 pm

I was either too young, perhaps not even born to remember these programmes and then we set sail (on a 707) to Australia when I was 13 in 1969. But I do recall watching 'Blue Peter' and 'Tomorrow's World' in 405-lines on a Ferguson 17" TV, at least I think it was a Ferguson, hard to make out in the photo below. Unfortunately the flash has 'swamped' the CRT picture.

And of course the Apollo 11 landing live...I could actually see the moon out of the patio windows as I watched Neil Armstrong and 'Buzz' Aldrin decend the LEM's ladder.

Steve A.

Photo is a scan of a 35mm reversal-film (slide) not in the best of condition, probably '67-'68. I'm not sure how good or bad these TVs were, I can only recall a serviceman coming once in the six or so years we had it. I think my father bought it second-hand from a guy at work so it was possibly eight years old the last time I saw it. It of course was useless taking it to Australia.
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Re: The Viewmaster.

Postby Steve Anderson » Fri Aug 08, 2014 7:09 pm

Steve, PMTs don't need to be stored in the dark, their box/carton should be fine, I think the expession is 'subdued light'. But it will not cause them any harm. Reading references (Burle/Photonix) a few years back it was mentioned that they ideally be 'dark-adapted' for 24 hours or so before use, again no long-term harm appears to result. After a moderate to long-term inactivity the dark current can be out of specification but it settles down to in-spec values after a short while...usually minutes.

It may depend on how 'delicate' (darlings) the tube is, for yer average 931A type I doubt it would be of any consequence.

Are you thinking of firing-up the Grosvenor and camera again?

Or perhaps a follow-on act for next years convention after the mirror-screw monitor/display? It's about that time of year to start thinking about it....

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Re: The Viewmaster.

Postby Viewmaster » Fri Aug 08, 2014 9:00 pm

What I really miss now is the car ignition splatter on 405 as cars went down Goldhawk Road.
Also the flutter on the screen when an aircraft flew by. So bad at times that sync was lost.
I also miss the loss of sync when switching from studio to OB etc.
The flare out when the TV camera had some bright light in its view.

Why is everything so bloody perfect these days :D Perfection is so boring, don't you think?
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Re: The Viewmaster.

Postby Panrock » Fri Aug 08, 2014 9:20 pm

Steve Anderson wrote:Are you thinking of firing-up the Grosvenor and camera again?

If I can get to it in the packed store room! Really it needs the cabinet refinishing before I should exhibit it again.

Steve Anderson wrote:Or perhaps a follow-on act for next years convention after the mirror-screw monitor/display? It's about that time of year to start thinking about it....

I might bring in the Argus but it would be a bit boring. Who cares about 180-lines when on the tiny screen it looks just like 405? Talking of which, a very challenging, multi-year, project would be to attempt Scophony. One crucial, absolutely necessary part for this still survives:
http://nationalmediamuseumblog.wordpres ... ner-motor/

Anyway, I think Albert would be the star of the next show with his 'Niptrix'.

Steve O
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Re: The Viewmaster.

Postby Steve Anderson » Fri Aug 08, 2014 9:43 pm

Viewmaster wrote:...Why is everything so bloody perfect these days.


I wish it were. I notice the compession artifacts, the 'blocking' that happens with fast-panned cameras, e.g. motor sports (not that I watch them). Shuttered cameras used on ordinary TV shows which have no need for them. (Used to get clear freeze-frame pictures in fast sports events like tennis, similar to using a film camera at 1/1000 second or faster exposure). The outages caused by thunderstorms (frequent here at this of year) due to power interruptions of only a few seconds but followed by 2-3 minutes for the set-top box to wake up, by which time you've lost the plot of the story. Or heavy rain at the downlink site which on Ku-band birds can last 30 minutes (a rain-out), however from there it's fibre to the house.

Or the dubbed programmes which carry English as the dual-languge channel are so poorly mixed that the incidental music or sound effects drown out the narration or dialogue. It's done locally, one audio track carries 'International Sound' which is everything except speech. Onto this they overlay the local language. For the alternate language (usually the original) they mix I.S. with the original dialogue-only track. It's just done badly, really badly.

Last but certainly not least, the absolute dismal choice of viewing. 200+ channels, maybe four are worth sampling...sometimes. Progress?

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Re: The Viewmaster.

Postby Viewmaster » Sat Aug 09, 2014 3:23 am

Steve Anderson wrote:
Viewmaster wrote:...Why is everything so bloody perfect these days.



Or the dubbed programmes which carry English as the dual-languge channel are so poorly mixed that the incidental music or sound effects drown out the narration or dialogue.Steve A.


Over here, Steve, both BBC and ITV lay sound/music on top of dialogue or use poor acoustics so that one cannot understand what the actors are mumbling.
Sound engineers and editors both collude in this game of indistinct speech together with mumbling actors...........
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazin ... r-23328037

That's why there are teletext sub titles on all channels so that we, the audience, have a chance to follow what is in the script. :D
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