Brenton, at 21:52 on Thu, Aug 11 1994, you wrote to Bill Grimsley ...

BG> I wanted to be sure you were using the tuner on the VCR, and not the 
BG> monitor (does the Sony have a tuner at all?).

BV> Sony KX-20PS1 "monitor" !!! What fucking tuner ?

What sort of a stupid TV set doesn't have a fucking tuner?  I didn't know,
as Sony is one of the few brands for which we weren't service agents, and I
have very little to do with their products.

BV> 'already done that. The tuner in my Panasonic works fine if I 
BV> switch between them the Philips if stuffed and the Panasonic is 
BV> great. When the Philips has warmed up, they both work great !

OK, you've done the hard part, and proved the Sony to be woking to spec.

BG> Presumably you have a can of freeze

BV> No, I don't and I know it's going to turn out to be a specialist
BV> part or something that I won't be able to get at Tricky Dickies,
BV> hence the request for info. What do I assume to be crook without
BV> pulling it out ? The Philips is on the bottom of the bloody 
BV> stack Bill !!!!

BG> (and I'm sure that Patricia has a hair dryer).

BV> Dunno, if not, she soon will have :)

Waddya mean, "dunno"?  All bloody women have hair dryers, even bald ones!

BV> Okay, I've had a look. There are three switches in the tuner panel.

BV> ABS Off/On  --- Was set to On, now set to Off

Auto Blank-section Scan.  Leave ON to FF when no video info on tape.

BV> Colour/Auto --- Was set to Auto, now set to Colour

Should be on Colour, otherwise mono broadcasts will have coloured snow,
unless the station turns off the burst (and they usually don't, so that the
ads are in colour).  If switching to Colour didn't fix the problem, put it
back to Auto.  It was only for testing your problem.

BV> AFT Off/On  --- Was set to On, now set to Off

Set to OFF while tuning the thumb-wheels.  When tuned accurately, turn ON,
which will compensate for any minor tuner drift (and they all do it).

BV> I'll have to get back to you tomorrow to let you know if it 
BV> makes any difference.

Probably not, but the Colour switch may prove a point.

BG> My reasoning is that if the problem was with the VCR's chroma
BG> circuitry, your tapes would be doing exactly the same thing,
BG> but it's not.

BV> But wouldn't the Tuner have it's own chroma section ?

Sort of, but the decoded off-air signal is composite, and the colour should
be there.  Not too much can stop it, actually.

BG> If you do need the manual, let me know, ..[chomp]..

BV> Thanks but no thanks. It won't take that long. It would be a 
BV> help if you could give me the part number I need though :)

I'll check my manual and have a guess, but it could simply be an alignment
problem, and you'll need the manual (and a CRO and Frequency counter) to do
that.

10 minutes later:

Mmmm, I hate to say this, but you're possibly looking at a leaky electro or
similar, so the freeze will be necessary to locate it.  You might also
check the DC rails for excessive ripple (electro/s in PSU cause this, and
it's not uncommon either), but you'll need a CRO to do that.

The offer of a loan of the manual still stands.  ;-)

BG> Regards, Bill (say hello to the tribe for me as well)

BV> Tribal "Hello" is returned with lots of smiling faces.

You mean that Michael and Aurelia actually remember me?  ;-)


BV> I figured as much :)

Very apt for this current discussion too.

Regards, Bill

--- Msgedsq/2 2.2e