GEC 405 line Television factory Coventry 1960 [Video]

I can prove now to my kids how smarter we dressed to now.

Yes, I was apprentice TV and radio engineer, no one had a TV then so it was tedious theory learning. Everyone turned up smartly dressed Including a tie and well polished shoes.. Even so I didn't know what smartness was until I joined the Marines.It took at least half an hour to polish boots and buttons to required standard. If everything was not in order it was a run around the parade ground with an old Lee Enfield 303 held above the head. Once a Commando though it was a part of the image to be a bit scruffy. The SAS were just the same.

Some of these bow-fronted GEC sets are still knocking around in the hands of collectors, few of them still work though.

I am totally out of touch Dutchman. Is a 405 line TV signal still broadcast? The first working TV I saw was at an uncles home in Leamington Spa. Think it was only 9 inch but boy was he proud. Does anyone remember those early sets with so many knobs to fiddle with? Horizontal and vertical hold, brightness, contrast, probably others that I cannot recall. An X or H antenna on the roof. Now no one gets up from the armchair to change channels. Sets get bigger and bigger and usually to big for the room. My sons inlaws have a massive set in quite a small room and its overpowering, to me anyway. It occupies about 50% of an end wall. They would buy a set as big as Belgium if they could get one.

I am totally out of touch Dutchman. Is a 405 line TV signal still broadcast?

No Jock they ended in 1985 but 625-line video to 405-line VHF adapters are available (at a price).

Does anyone remember those early sets with so many knobs to fiddle with? Horizontal and vertical hold, brightness, contrast, probably others that I cannot recall. An X or H antenna on the roof.

Yes, the first set I saw (in this country) was BBC-only, fed by an X-array. I had to go round a friend's house to watch ITV. A later set had separate controls for 405 and 625-lines.

There are still a few X and H-arrays around, often with an element or two missing.

There are still a few X and H-arrays around, often with an element or two missing.

From memory, those elements made quite good pea shooters