PYE V14

NOTES	Modern semiconductors start to make their presence felt. This set features "automatic picture control" and an "interlace filter", both making use of a number of semiconductor diodes. Still no trannies though (phew !). Apparantly, in its day this set was a real dog and cost Pye dear, such was its unreliability. To quote visitor John Wakely :- "All the problems with the PYE V14 were caused by a badly designed flywheel sync circuit. This was made worse due to the use of an unsuitable valve for the line osc notably the Mullard PCF80 that was more suited as a mixer in the new band 3 tuners. The horror piled on when the small metal 'M3' squeezed together demodulator diodes went o/c together with small value capacitors in the same circuit. The results of this made it very difficult or impossible to lock the line hold over a period.The problem went on too long before PYE began to realize something was wrong. The previous V4 series must have been very expensive to produce but the 'cut down' V14 was cut down a little too far." Click for larger view [160K] Indeed, Mullard describe the PCF80 primarily as for use as an oscillator/mixer at 220MHz. However Mullard did initially try and promote the use of their PCF80 for other uses, as can be seen in the application not (opposite) so it is perhaps a bit unfair to give Pye all of the blame. 18 months after its release, Pye modified the frame timebase circuit (marking the modified chassis with a painted green spot or "V") but ths wasn't 100% successful and was too late anyway.
SERVICE DATA	I have the original Pye service data dated April 1955. There is also a copy of the "Trader" service sheet on the Vintage Television Service Data CDROM.
CURRENT STATE	A tidy little set, awaiting electrical restoration.
WHERE FOUND	Early 2001 NVCF event for £20

The following extract is from a brief history of Pye, taken with permission from the East Anglia Network site :-

"1955 saw the start of the Pye record label and The independent Television Authority, ITA, officially started transmitting late 1955. This meant more development, the tuners had to be switched to receive ITV on band 3. Pye were ahead of this again and released in March 1954 a tunable V4. The V14 followed the V4 but was a blunder, it had numerous component failings and was such a disaster many Pye dealers gave their support to other manufacturers. Pye never regained their dominance as leaders in development after this, although they did develop the first British transistor in 1956. Treading carefully because of their recent problems, Pye decided to put transistors into a Pam 710, Pam being a subsidiary company of Pye."

This second extract, taken from Inventors World Limited comes from an interesting article primarily concerning one Mrs. Marie Killick who tried (and failed) to take on the mighty Pye over a patent infringment to do with record stylus design :-

"There is an interesting footnote. The Pye Company didn't have it all their own way. A certain poetic justice appeared in the guise of their 'V14' television set."

"Launched in 1955, the year they had first learned of the gathering Killick storm, the Pye V14 had by 1959 turned out to be a complete (and costly) lemon. Its design was technically seriously flawed. There were constant complaints by customers requiring the replacement of faulty parts or sets."

"The V14 became a commercial nightmare. It was so expensive to cover up that Pye could have paid Marie £1 million for her patent, defrayed horrendous legal expenses, and still thought it cheap compared to the total outlay on the V14."