Living History

Memoirs of a television technician

It is hard to believe that in the early days of television there was a great deal of misinformation held by the general consumer,
There were those who had firm beliefs in how a television set should perform when deciding which brand to purchase. This was understandable, as the technology was very new and very expensive. We wince at the cost of new digital high definition tv about to come on to the market place, but in 1957 the scene was just as bad. A typical TV cost the consumer around 200 to 250 Pounds A very good wage was around 20 pounds a week the average 12 pounds per week. Thus a TV cost more than 10 to 15 weeks salary. This means at today's wage levels the cost of a TV would be $5,000, hard to imagine.
Tv's were invariably purchased under a Hire Purchase plan with flat interest at 5% to 7%. Per annum.
An absolute rip off for many as the deposit of 20 pounds left 200 pounds to pay interest on. 200 pounds at 5% was 10 pounds per year but this was multiplied by the number of years you contracted to make the payments regardless of the balance left to pay. It could be that with a five year term (common) the last year you owed 40 pounds, the interest was still 10 pounds which was 25% interest in actual fact.

I happened to be employed in an electrical appliance shop in Parkdale a small suburb of Melbourne as the resident technician and part time assistant shop manager /salesman.
One day into the shop walked an older gentleman very purposeful and with, of all things, a large metal ruler under his arm. I watched as he wandered from TV to TV, we had several operating on the floor. At this time TV transmissions during the day were limited to Test patterns to assist in setting up TV's and as the stations had no programmes yet organised.

The gentleman proceeded to measure the screen s of all the Tv's vertically, muttering as he went. I plucked up the courage to attempt to make a sale and walked over to the man and asked if I could be of assistance.
I was severely and abruptly set back on my heels with his reply, he retorted "your tv's are definitely not up to standards" he exclaimed. " I am an engineer, " he stated "and I know what I am talking about, you salesmen are not going to pull the wool over my eyes"
I was very young and not used to such aggressive argument, I asked hesitatingly, what's wrong with our TV's?
"Look at them" he said pointing to the offending sets " they are supposed to operate on a 625 line system and according to my measurements there are NOT 625 lines showing on any of them."
He was referring to the number of horizontal lines produced on the screen from top to bottom.
This was according to the TV system adopted by Australia an international convention, 625 lines at 50 cycles per second. Which the engineer had obviously had some knowledge.

"I have measured the screens from top to bottom and divided that by 625 and measured each screen accordingly with my ruler, there all wrong, there short! "
I was dumbfounded, could the engineer be right what shall I do or for that matter say? He looked at me waiting for my answer and all I could give was a blank stare and a scratch of my head, slamming his ruler under his arm the engineer stomped out of the shop in triumph, he had won I had no answer. The sale was lost.

Later when I went back to my manuals and read them carefully I realised that not all of the lines show on the screen. Many of them disappear on top and at the bottom to enable the screen to fill and to have no black borders. I had the answer but it was too late, the engineer was gone and I did not know who he was. I guess he eventually realised that the TV with 625 lines did not exist and settled for less, I never saw him again.

Tom, Frankston, Victoria

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