Technical bulletin - Electronica Bucuresti Nr.10 - Televisions with 4 integrated circuits

Reading time: 2 minute

In this issue, the "lion's share" was reserved for color television. It deals with the supply of circuits in extenso because it presented new notions in 1983 compared to black and white TV: power supply, chrominance and kinescope.

The beginnings of color TV manufacturing in Romania

The color TV that was to be manufactured at Electronica in 1983 consumes less than 100 from the mains and operate freely at mains voltages between 150V and 250V. In this way, the design ensures that an essential task for the national economy and for the remote owner is achieved: energy saving.

Consumption of approx. 80 a color TV with a 56 cm screen was a reality in 1983; in 1979 this was a hope, a desideratum and because this desideratum was of major importance it was given a wider space than it seemed necessary.

In short, compared to a 1983 TV-AN, a Secam color TV requires 4 new integrated circuits for that time: TCA640, TCA650, TCA660, TBA530.

A standard PAL-SECAM TV requires only an extra IC: TBA540, which for the technical capacity of IPRS since 1983, did not constitute any difficulty. Therefore, a standard PAL-SECAM chrominance module is outlined, containing CI TCA 640, TCA650, TBA540 and two color channel modules common to both systems:

  • Luminance amplifier with TCA660 (Y mode);
  • Matrix and final R, G, B with TBA530 (RGB mode).

Paper structure:

HEAD. 1. 4 CI TVs

1.1. Some TV defects with 4 ICs
1.2. Troubleshooting functional modules
1.3. More common module defects

HEAD. 2. THE PRACTICE OF TV with CI troubleshooting

HEAD. 3. COLOR TV POWER SUPPLY

3.1. Switching power supply and series storage inductor
3.2. Self-locking converter as power supply for color TV

  • Self-locking converter as voltage stabilizer
  • Self-locking converter with BO series power supply
  • The chopper principle CESSY

HEAD. 4. VOLTAGE RECTIFIER AND MULTIPLICATORS

4.1. Monoalternating recovery with resistive load
4.2. Monoalternating recovery with filtering capacity
4.3. Recovery of both alternates
4.4. Voltage recovery
4.5. Voltage multiplication for FIT

  • FIT rectification with voltage doubling
  • Tension triplet for color TV

4.6. Voltage triplet DIODE-SPLIT
4.7. Line pulse recovery

CHAPTER.5. COLOR TV OPTIONS

5.1. NTSC? SECAM? pal
5.2. TCA 600 series

  • Chrominance amplifier
  • The chrominance demodulator
  • Luminance amplifier
  • RGB matrix

5.3.Module adjustment bench

Thanks too Mr. Adrian Dobrescu for completing the collection of Electronica Bucharest technical bulletins, with this book.

Author: Ing. Statnic Eugen

19 comments

    1. Do you know what technology is in the factories today, in what density are the integrated ones made? You also know that fewer and fewer discrete components are used in equipment…

      1. I don't know if it's true, but I saw a documentary about the rovers used by NASA in space research. 90% of the chips used are from Taiwan. Nothing was said about integration. I think that these integrates will also be a thing of the past. And then I was thinking, what are we talking about then, the "Chinese" laughing at them with their mouths up to their ears ?!

        1. Taiwan currently makes 80-90% of its "chips" worldwide. They have invested a lot in this, now they are reaping the "fruits". Including the fact that China will annex them to the first possible geopolitical movement (the story of US weapons and bases in Ukraine).

        2. The rovers used by NASA are ARO in disguise! I would like to tell the nostalgic IPRS that at ELECTROTEHNICA (we worked there in the years 75-90) in order to be able to mount the IPRS components on the electronic boards, they had to be tested and sorted. Deviation from the catalog parameters (resistive value, amplification factor, leakage currents, etc.) was far beyond the tolerance allowed! Because of this, the component testing and sorting laboratory was set up in the factory (Gena Dumitrache - head of the laboratory!). The percentage of non-compliant IPRS components was extremely high, some of which could not even be used by amateurs! Let's be serious, at that time they were buying licenses that foreign holders had not used for a long time! I have always been far behind what was done well outside, functional, reliable and especially aesthetic! Virtually every product was unique, mass production and competitiveness were propaganda words, those of us who worked there were forced to compromise upon compromise!

          1. It was a good start for IPRS even though the quality of the parts was really a bit poor. 35 years ago I went to the flea market and bought such components, transistors / integrated from students from Timisoara. He gave them in bulk at an acceptable price. They probably got it right from the factory. There were whole lots of components that fell under the CTC check and did not have approval for release in specialty stores. Let's say that "from that batch" of 10 pcs -> 3-4 integrated or transistors were defective in manufacturing. But the price was so low that this risk suited me. There were situations when I caught 9 out of 10 good ones. And I wasn't the only one who used this way. If you have worked in the field, of course you are better informed and you know more. But it was a start. Why couldn't we be big producers of CIPs today worldwide? Because he didn't want to. They resorted to sabotage, corruption, bankruptcy and the destruction of these factories as well as many others in other fields. Romania, a foreign colony that produces almost nothing! This is a long and difficult history for many to understand!

    2. IPRS was created then in the late 60's and early 70's, due to the fact that I bought some manufacturing licenses. And with those I stayed, with a few exceptions, until the 90's. The 80's "turned off the light" in Romania. In the 80's the technological leap was huge! "Pingelica", however, banned him in his stupidity. That was "high technology." What chance do you have of resisting competition? Who will take components from you, when everyone else makes them 90 times cheaper and much better than you?

      1. I will not tell you anything about the history of Romania and its "progress"! You will try to contradict me everywhere. When "Pingeal" was president of the country in Romania, Mao Tse Tung committed genocidal crimes in China. More than 20 million Chinese have died of hunger in 2-3 years. Have you heard of "that order" for all the Chinese to follow and kill the birds that eat the country's grains ?! As then, there were more people in the population than the poor birds managed to destroy most of the birds. But this has led to an imbalance in the food chain so huge that hunger has become even greater. Then the Americans offered to help them with the so-called Marshal Plan. They have sent more than 10.000 specialists to China in all fields. Agriculture / industry and the economy have begun to bear fruit. Ceausescu had become a close friend of Mao. Business between our countries was prosperous. At a time when China was bankrupt and starving to death in new branches of heavy and light industry, agriculture was rising to another level. We made massive exports to our friend China. Conclusion! We were above China with at least 90% economic and living standards. Marshal's plan took them out of their misery and brought them to where they are today, the biggest powerful "economy"! On the military front, it will soon become one. Today the Americans regret that they helped them! Blah, blah, blah! Romania in 10 years will need that "Marshal Plan" to exist as a nation. Your conception of "Let others do better and cheaper" is totally inconceivable. Stand in the face of progress, of development, with your hand outstretched to others. It won't hurt when others have and can, and we stand with our hands outstretched? !! During this time the national anthem is sung!

        1. I don't see the connection. Neither Ceausescu nor Mao would ever have conceived of something like "one country, two systems!". Mao had his flair, Ceausescu was an old-school Stalinist and had invented what is now called "national Ceausescuism." To me, the precept doesn't just apply to Hong Kong. It is Deng Xiaoping's merit that he allowed the transition to a market economy and propelled China to where it is now.
          The Americans did not help China. The Marshall Plan ended in the 70s in Western Europe. It is again Deng's merit to have set up free economic zones. Americans have been drawn to the possibility of investing at low cost. They came after the bait! They brought the technology on their own! All the Chinese had to do was copy and develop! We, as fools, "do not sell our country!" Nonsense! I threw it in the trash! Maybe that was necessary, but did we know how to throw such bait? Not! Investors would have liked it more here, because it is difficult to work with China, due to the enormous distances and the extremely different culture. It would have been easier with us. But the neo-communists did everything they could to give their guns, they didn't have any strategy to attract investment, or worse, it was as if they did and still do anything to make it harder for them. Cancer infrastructure, cumbersome legislation, and corrupt authorities, with a downright hostile attitude toward investors, whom I see as cow milking cows. Not to mention, you'd better shoot yourself than open a business today in Romanica…

          1. The Americans first used the Marshal plan after World War II in France. They came out great. However, they had the greatest success in China!

    3. Did we really need the aircraft factory in Craiova? He made one plane and the one with a Rolls Royce engine! Does anyone know how many KW produced by the bituminous shale power plant from Anina? 1000 KW! It has been worked on for over 6 years with over 1000 workers! Who wants to know more can do a google search, "ANINA BITUMINOUS SYSTEMS POWER PLANT". It's really interesting if it weren't too sad! The examples can continue, by the thousands, the five-year era in 4 and a half years!

  1. I never understood why we have to do everything when others do it much better, cheaper, they have a tradition? Here was the bankruptcy of the developed multilateral socialism, to do everything and nothing like the world! Develop a few branches where you have potential, tourism, agriculture and natural wealth processing and otherwise buy from those who know how to do good and cheap! And the Americans take a lot from the Chinese for the same reason!

  2. To have had access to these bulletins as a student, while I was repairing another TV, how good it was. Reading through it, some things became clear to me, some I deduced empirically at that time, e.g. depending on the end of the video, others… eh!
    I had an Olt TV with 4 ICs, black and white, taken in 1991, it is still in the country. I didn't understand two things about him, maybe you met.
    First: it had an uneven rustle on the sound, it did not depend on the position of the volume potentiometer. The TBA120 voltage-controlled volume output was used (pin 8). I moved the volume potentiometer to the normal output (pin 12) in the classic assembly, the noise stopped, but I still didn't find its cause.
    The second problem was the uneven illumination of the track, the video signal probably including harmonics from the horizontal scan. I had a vertical "folding curtain" effect. I couldn't shake their head, though if I moved from the TV cables, it would slow down at times.

    1. 1. Was this defect when you turned on the TV again or did it appear in time? Why do you say that "after" you "moved" to pin 12 the normal output disappeared the symptom? If pin 8 was working fine and then the defect appeared, why couldn't it be the normal output ?! Interesting defect? ​​!!
      2. I met the curtain effect of the image, and with the effects of moving the wires inside, especially of the bus that passed over the Channel Selector, I met it once. I have not found anything. But I redid the soldering on the back (very coarse) in the Selector and it disappeared. Probably something to do with the table.
      And once again, curtain effect and on the track not only on the image, normal sound. Those cables crossed over the TK did not intersect with the chassis table. The first time I went to the big Cs of filtering. The same goes for replacing them. That's all I remember. I can't give you precise data!

      1. Both defects were from the factory. The sound went wrong on pin 8 from the beginning. After I used the exit on pin 12 with the corresponding changes, the sound went right.
        I suspect that such defects should be remedied in the factory, but they did not bother to worry too much about them.

        1. So yes! But who does not make mistakes or omits. He didn't have to leave the production line under the CTC stamp! They even had a test stand for "shaking" for any loose parts or cold soldering! Ok! Correct observation!

  3. I bought these bulletins from someone who worked on the design in the Electronic Plant, upstairs by the gate. There was also a German engineer named Statnic at the Brasov office, who then left for Germany. Statnic made the technical bulletins for internal use.

  4. It's pure history, but technically and commercially, the "achievements" were embarrassing for 1983 in a global context. Even the suffering brothers in CAER, East Germany, performed infinitely better.

Add a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked with *

The maximum upload file size: 2 MB. you can upload: image, audio, video, document, spreadsheet, Interactive, text, archive, queues, Other. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop files here