A Pye Television

[Flying10uk]

I thought that people may like to see this. My parents purchased this Pye black& white television in the late 1950's, second hand, as an ex-rental TV when it was about 2 years old. It is believed to be my parent's 2nd TV that they purchased after getting married. The first was similar looking but a slightly older model which I remember being disposed of in the early to mid 1970's after it stopped working and was not economic to repair. Fortunately this Pye set, seen below, was saved.

For many years this was our "main TV" and continued to be used by us until the late 1970's. It worked on 405 lines transmissions which meant that picture quality was of much poorer quality and "grainier" than we would expect today. After turning the set on you got absolutely nothing for a few minutes until the valves/vacuum tubes inside had warmed up and then the set gradually came to life.

For the last few years the TV set has been on loan as part of a 1950's display which has now ended and, therefore, it has been returned to me. I well remember watching many a programme on this TV, as a child, in the 1970's, such as Dr Who, for example, and the picture quality seemed perfectly fine in black and white (with a touch of grey). That was until 1974 when my Gran went "way-out" and became the first person in the family to own a colour TV. Black and white TV never looked the same again but I would have to wait about another 5 years before my parents could afford our first colour TV.

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