Ekcovision Portable Television
From Object Wiki
| Ekcovision Portable Television | |
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| Manufacturer | E K Cole Limited (later acquired by Pye) |
| Production years | 1956 |
| Production location | Southend on Sea. |
The Ekcovision was the first truly portable television. It could run off batteries or be connected to the mains supply. The Ekco factory was in Southend on Sea. In 1956 it would have been able to receive just two programmes, BBC and ITV, dependent upon the roll-out of ITV's transmitter network, which commenced in London in September 1955, before expanding across the United Kingdom.
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[edit] How it works
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Please help improve this section by expanding it. |
In a black-and-white TV, the screen is coated with white phosphor and the electron beam "paints" an image onto the screen by moving the electron beam across the phosphor a line at a time. To "paint" the entire screen, electronic circuits inside the TV use the magnetic coils to move the electron beam in a "raster scan" pattern across and down the screen. The beam paints one line across the screen from left to right. It then quickly flies back to the left side, moves down slightly and paints another horizontal line, and so on down the screen. As the beam paints each line from left to right, the intensity of the beam is changed to create different shades of black, gray and white across the screen. Because the lines are spaced very closely together, your brain integrates them into a single image. A TV screen of that period would have had 405 lines visible from top to bottom.
[edit] Memories
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Do you remember this television? Add your memories. |
I still have my Ekcovision portable TV. My Ekcovision Model TX.275 portable TV is an export version that was exported to Australia. The Ekcovision model TX.275 was designed to work on 12V 7 Amp DC supply or 110V-120V, 210V-220V, 230V-240V 50/60Hz AC mains. There is a Mains Setting terminal on the back of the TV that can only be changed when the Mains input connector is removed (for safety reasons). I'm in the process of restoring my Ekcovision portable TV and haven't turned it on for over 20 years. I believe my Ekcovision TX.275 has 625 lines and not 405 lines as for the English TMB272 model. The TX.275 model also has two aerial connections, a balanced twinlead connector and an unbalanced coax connector. If anyone knows where I can get a Service manual for my Ekcovision Model TX.275 portable TV I would appreciate it.
— Roderick Wall
[edit] In the Science Museum
Source: B Hyde. Inv: No: 1974-335.
This object is currently on display in the Dan Dare & the Birth of Hi-Tech Britain exhibition at the Science Museum, London.[edit] Images
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