Saturday 4 February 2012

Bell TV202 Bellini 23" TV ** This set no longer exists **

Here is set number three. This is a Bell 23 inch Model TV202. The owner of the Bell company
Al Bell was a pioneering manufacturer and was making prototype television sets while the NZ Government was trying to decide whether to use the UK 405 line standard or step straight up to 625 lines. 
According to local legend Al Bell set up a studio and transmitter, and built some 405 line sets so that he could have an audience. When 625 lines was decided upon he was quick to get sets underway and off production line, and this is one example of that. 
Quite a stunning looking set and rather retro with its styling and Formica cabinet. 
The chassis is very well laid out and Bell used printed circuit boards when most other NZ manufactures were still using point to point wiring. Again he used quality Philips capacitors and resistors so these would have been fairly reliable and good for servicing as well.
The picture tube in this tests almost dead, but it may respond to a cook on the heaters or a quick blast with the rejvunator, I only use this option as a last resort, and if the tube is totally useless I do have a couple of good spare picture tubes I can put in, but will attempt to get it going first before I go that far.
Here are some photos of it for now...





2 comments:

  1. When I was a kid, we had a Bell Belinda. At least I think it was called that. Anyway, the chassis looked identical to this. What was the difference between a Belinda and Belini? I was doing radio as a hobby then (1965 or so) and with the help of the local TV serviceman, used to do some to the repairs on it myself. It brings back memories looking at these pictures.

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  2. We too had a Bell Bellini identical to this during the 1960s and early 1970's when it was traded on new Bell Coloursonic console about 1974. The Bellini only required repair once after it fell over while being turned around to face the dining table by my young brother (it had been mounted on a trolley with wheels to enable easy movement) It was easily fixed and suffered no permanent damage even the cabinet was unmarked! The new Colour Bell was a different story being one of the first off the line it required many callouts under warranty all of which were quickly sorted by the local Bell agents often swapping a faulty board on site in a few minutes and it eventually became reliable with a picture quality equal too or better than the class leading Philips K9. In fact I think the Coloursonic was basically a Philips kitset modified by Bell in their own attractive cabinets. Too my surprise I've only seen one Bellini since ours was traded in 74.

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