10-10-2026, 01:42 PM
My second job was as a YTS for a tv repair shop. Most of the business was renting out TVs with a coin meter attached to the rear - you inserted your 50p, turned the handle and a mechanical timer counted whilst the set was on - when the time was up, "clunk" it went off - time for another 50p. What do you do when they won't let you in to collect those 50ps for weeks? simple - an engineer would sneak round to the house at an early hour, push a pin through the aerial co-ax cable and then wait for the call into the office to report the fault. Our van would arrive with the promise of a new set, and I would be waiting in the back of the van outside - out comes the engineer with the old set - launches it into the back of the van caught by me, he jumps in - engine running and off we go leaving the customer either scratching their head or running after the van swearing. Ah - the good old days - all Bush chassis then with the PL509 / PY500 output stage - lethal to work on if a bleeder resistor had quietly gone o/c on one of those huge electrolytics in the bottom! "Get it right in black and white" - hello everybody.
