5.5 inch Television Electronics

This 5.5 inch black and white TV with AM/FM Radio has interesting electronic circuitry, and is definitely worth more than the sum of its parts. The Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) is much smaller however; its principle of operation remains the same. In the picture above, you can see a miniature deflection coil, final anode cap, and components normally found on conventional televisions that use a CRT. The Radio PCB is vertically oriented to the side where the rotary control knob is for the tuning capacitor. The construction and components are good quality, for a mass produced product from China.

Recycle for Spare Parts

in the UK, we normally throw these away and it ends up in landfill, however it occurred to me that there must be a layer over a mile long filled with television sets of the last five decades together with their valves, which would cost a fortune today. The dinosaurs gave us oil; I wonder what humankind will leave the next species.

Even though this television uses the single chip solution to minimize component count, it still requires many conventional components. For electronics enthusiasts, it may be an excellent source of spare parts because many oscilloscopes used a 5.5-inch CRT.

There is also a single chip radio circuit, which would be useful for enthusiasts building their own radios. It has a ferrite rod together with a coil for AM reception, a variable tuning capacitor, and even some diodes. There is also a small analogue UHF tuner, which may receive signals in the UHF and VHF bands after some modifications. Therefore, even a broken television such as this may be useful to a qualified engineer for spare parts.

Deflection Coil

Here is a photograph showing the deflection coil and ring magnets. The deflection coil produced a rapidly sweeping magnetic field, which deflected the electron beam to create a raster.

The magnetism in the coil varied in such a way so that the electron beam drew 625 horizontal lines, and each picture was composed of these lines.

Analogue TV Tuner

This is a TDQ-4D tuner module, which receives analogue transmissions in the UHF band. A tuner such as this may receive up to six television signals, where each signal consisted of audio and video information. There are many electronic radio projects where enthusiasts convert an old tuner module to receive VHF transmissions. My friend Rufus was playing with just such a circuit and could receive wireless telephone broadcasts.

Small Loudspeaker

It also has a little loudspeaker that produces a great sound. Today it would cost a fiver to purchase in the shops. This is very useful for those two transistor amplifier and radio projects.

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