Transistors

[Nick]

Just come back from Armenia & Georgia... visited a few (big) flea markets, like the vernissage in Yerevan, but little Soviet era stuff remains... 

It was annoying not being able to speak Russian - my wife is a linguist - 6 languages spoken/read/written, including modern Greek & Arabic (various dialects) - so we're not used to being unable to communicate easily - outside of Yerevan/Tibilisi you really need Russian (Georgian & Armenian are next to impossible). She has some Russian (not one of the 6), but not enough, so is having to brush up for the next trip (Kyrgyzstan in September). Georgia, which is very pro-West, wants to make English its second language (replacing Russian) by 2020 - not helpful for anyone over 20 though as they will still have no English.

Some Russian radios for sale, but silly prices. Likewise cameras and watches... got some lovely silver Soviet medals though...

[Nowhere-Man]

I'm highly unlikely to return to Russia but was there in the early Yeltsin era when Soviet society still lingered. It's easier to kill two birds with one stone and learn electronics terminology and also dig around for USSR vintage radio publications. Fortunately Russian language resources on yandex are really good with various online dictionaries. I guess the study of early germanium USSR transistors borders both electronics and political history.

[Terry]

In 1969 I was rather surprised when our Brown Brothers rep asked me if I was going to the Trade Shows and, if so, would I mind popping into their office and giving them my opinion of a Russian TV they had on display there!

So, a slight diversion to Great Eastern Street on arrival in London where I was warmly greeted and shown this new set - probably under the Rigonda trade mark, but I could be wrong.

What a sight! Of course we were used to the cut down 'slim-line' cabinets extended to the full length of the receiver inside by a deep back cover which had been introduced with 110º tubes to give a false impression of the depth savings created by the new tubes but the Russian public were obviously not so easily deceived! So, the cabinet was a large cube with a straight back. It was single standard, of course, and had obviously been produced to take advantage of full 625 working due to start the following November.

The back came off straight away, of course, and the first impressions were of the design of the Bush TV75 et al some 12 years or so earlier with its vertical chassis. Except that this set had several PCBs mounted on the chassis. Now, the quality of the base material of a PCB can be judged by how translucent it is. These boards were jet black! The chassis was all valve, of course but, in keeping with the subject of this thread, I can report that it did contain some transistors - in the UHF tuner which, despite the Russian components mounted on it was clearly the product of AB Electronics of Abercynon, South Wales!

All in all it looked like the product of a bygone age. I can't remember much about the performance but I don't recall being particularly impressed by it.

I was thanked for my opinions and put in a taxi - at Brown Brothers expense, of course - for the journey to my next port of call in the West End.

I left the retail trade at the end of that year but I never heard of any sightings of such a set. Did anyone else ever see one, I wonder?

[Nowhere-Man]

Someone is restoring this on the Russian forum.

[Murphyv310]

Cheap Rigonda VL100. Loads sold here to caravanners in the 70's
Unreliable to a fore. Many were replaced or repaired under the 6 month warranty. Dad had one and it regularly went wrong. Eventually I got him a second-hand Philips TV-Ette that worked for years and had 405 which was a better bet for the highlands of Scotland.

[Terry]

Not, of course, the set I saw which was a 19" set in a substantial polished wooden cabinet.

[Murphyv310]

Must have been a "quality" set then Terry!!!!
TBH there was little real quality from the USSR, Watches, Camera's & Military perhaps but my Dad's Moskvitch 427 was utter junk and a Lada 1200 Estate I had for a few months was little better.

[Terry]

A few years ago there was an International Police Conference in London and they held a special exhibition open to the public at the Metropolitan Police Sports Ground at Chigwell, not far from Ilford.

The Germans brought over a Lada police car from the former East Germany which was a great source of interest. Under the bonnet was mainly fresh air with a small battery and a minuscule engine nestling at the bottom!

Try getting a look under the bonnet of a British police car!

[Nowhere-Man]

I study the whole Glasnost and Perestroika period and am trying to develop this interest into USSR transistors and radios. The Soviet economy was run via targets so the tech factories took short-cuts to churn out consumer items. I wouldn't say the quality was overly bad but time constraints and targets would have inspired cheating. I repeat the USSR TV I watched in Estonia was pretty decent. The audio was better and deeper than the streamlined modern sets. It weighed a ton. No chance of competing as an export TV but basically did the job.

[Murphyv310]

Keep your eye on the members section and "Comecon products", some good posts there.