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TV servicing
equipment
ca. 1955
Jan Buiting
Up to about 1985 radio and TV
repair and servicing was a seri-
ous business providing employ-
ment to thousands of trained
technicians. With the arrival of
the microcontroller and dirt-
cheap Far East import TV sets
the noble art of repairing TV sets
at the component level (one
hand in pocket!) was no longer
economic and disappeared in
all but the lowest developed
countries in the world. The last
fairly authentic TV Service Chop
(sic) I saw was in an idyllic street
near Pythagorion harbour on the
Greek island of Samos (yes, the
birthplace of Pythagoras). The
lettering on the shop window did
not belie the (admittedly mini-
mum) activity in the shop, which
actually had a cluttered work-
bench and fair piles of 1970s
test equipment. The weary-look-
ing shop owner, an English
expatriate, I would describe as
an old hippy.
In most European countries, the
TV set took about ten years to
5/2005 - elektor electronics
become an affordable and Googling turned out to be a con-
common electrical item in
households. The equipment
shown in the picture dates from
about 1955 and was Philips’
way to give backing to their
massive sales of early TV sets
(all with valves, of course).
Retailers selling Philips TV sets
would also install Philips test
equipment in the service and
repair department.
The photograph shows three
items typically found therein in
the mid-1950’s, and one per-
haps less usual instrument.
The large instrument is a
GM2893 RF Signal Generator
for 90 kHz – 50 MHz with AM
modulation facilities. I guess this
‘boatanchor’ was mostly used to
test TV IF amplifiers at the then
widely used 37-38 MHz fre-
quency. The specimen shown
has French-language print with
the controls. Its output signal is
incredibly stable.
The GM2315 AF Signal Gener-
ator
I would expect to have
been used in conjunction with the
GM7628 RF/AF Signal Tracer 
in order to locate faults in all
kinds of amplifiers. The signal
tracer still has the original probe.
The odd man out is the PR9500
unit  which after some
represent any great value
ductance tester for liquids. Typi-
cal use would be in a laboratory
to check the quality of (drinking)
water. However, the instrument
having an external reference
input as well as an accurate
internal bridge circuit, the TV
servicing fraternity soon found
out that the PR9500 was also
great for R, C and even L meas-
urements.
GM denotes a series of early
electronics lab instruments and
eventually comprised more than
50 items, including several all-
valve oscilloscopes. All were
designed and built between
1948 and about 1958 (cf the
design/lifecycle of today’s ‘dis-
posable’ equipment!). Philips
‘GM’ test equipment with
black, shiny front panels and
knurled black knobs almost
invariably contains ‘40’ and
‘80’ series consumer electron-
ics valves throughout the
designs. These valves are still
widely available today and the
instruments themselves are also
easily repaired and calibrated
thanks to service manuals and
the use of fairly common parts.
These 50-year-old test instru-
ments are still a common find
on radio rallies, hence do not
except to the keen collector.
I obtained the instruments as part
of an inheritance. Unfortunately,
the previous owner had been a
lifetime chain smoker so drastic
action was required to remove a
persistent nicotine ‘look & smell’.
Each instrument was scrubbed
clean with a mild detergent,
dried and then put into a box
and fully covered in cat litter to
absorb the smell1. The process
takes about a week to complete
and did not fail to restore the
equipment to its former glory.
(045126-1)
Reference:
1. Electronic Classics,
Collecting, Restoration and
Repair,
Andrew Emmerson, Newnes,
ISBN 0-7506-3788-9.

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Retronics is a monthly column cover-
ing vintage electronics including leg-
endary Elektor designs. Contribu-
tions, suggestions and requests are
welcomed; please send an email to
editor@elektor-electronics.co.uk,
subject: Retronics EE.
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