Opinions please on this as a useful TV repair troubleshooting tool.

What all will it do...and not do.

Thanks
Joe

This article includes a page from the 1077B owner's manual that lists everything you can do with it:

http://antiqueradio.org/BK1077BTelevisionAnalyst.htm

The 1077B is a slightly newer version. The article has a link to a discussion of the different versions.

Like other equipment of that vintage, it may need some restoration/adjustment. I like my 1077B, but I find myself using other (newer) equipment much more often.

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

These days, finding a good used Sencore VA48 or better yet the VA62 would be much more useful as well as more modern and reliable than those old tube type pattern generators.

Granted the B&K is unique with the CRT and slide in transparencies. With that it has some applications not easily done with other pattern generators.

Just my 2 cents

-Steve

Personally, I hated those pattern generators. The ONLY reason I would buy one is to resell it to someone who likes them.

Thanks for the great writeup Phil
Mostly I use mine for troubleshooting IF stages. More modern generators can't do the IF frequencies used in early sets.

Good point on the IF frequencies. The Sencores only work on the 40 MHz Color TV IFs.

Why didn't I think of that before I posted?

-Steve

Besides using for video, I have used mine for driving flybacks and Horz output tubes when trouble shooting HV.

I can never resist posting on this subject:

I have two 1077B’s one 1076, and a model 1000 which I believe to be the original.

I find them highly useful because of the ability to produce various TV channel and IF frequencies which can be modulated with video and audio all contained in one box.

I have used them to drive a horizontal output stage in a TV set,

My electronics shop is out in the garage and I don’t have a converter box set up to feed an old TV set.

The fixed slide is quite useful especially when working on projection sets. (Ever try to focus on a moving picture?)

These things show up too cheap to pass up.

I have printed some old test patterns on transparency which can be fun. They don’t take up much bench space.

I also have an exciter from an NTSC TV transmitter (channel 5) which provides a perfect NTSC broadcast quality signal at an RF level suitable for feeding my antenna system.

The low cost VCR type modulators and particularly the digital converter boxes produce a fairly crappy RF signal.

I have several 7” electrostatic sets I never watch so I just feed the 1077B into my distribution system and let them run for an hour or so with a test pattern on the screen and an audio tone.

Jim

Hi Jim,

Can you provide more details on how you went about doing this? All that came with my 1077 and 1076 were the main target slide. I'd like to have a crosshatch and a few others. Thanks for any help.

Kevin

My web article has scans of the basic pattern slides, which you can print on transparency sheets. Or, you can create your own patterns in Photoshop (or whatever) and print away.

I'd take them to Kinko's and have them done on laser printers. I'm not sure how well a home ink-jet printer would work.

Phil Nelson

Kevin

There is a guy who posts here on the forum who has a stash of B&K parts and I got one complete set of slides he had reproduced photographically. Reproducing them using a digital camera and printer did not yield the very best results. I will try and find his email address. The transparency material I got has a slightly hazy finish.

Then:

I poked around on the web and copied all of the test pattern photos I could find.

The process of sizing them up to fit the 1077B using Photoshop caused occasional aliasing (zigzag edges) on some of the files. I also had to do some messing with the grayscale (gamma).

I printed these out using a color laser printer on transparency material. A fair number are presentable and I have one with KDYL / W6XIS which was the original call for a TV station I worked for, they used in 1946 (before my time).

If you are looking for a crosshatch or the dots, I would expect these could be made on Photoshop and would work just fine.

The 1077B (latest edition 1976,) that I own produces the very best looking video resolution. This later 1077B uses a pair of Flip-Flop IC’s to divide the horizontal oscillator frequency down from the crystal controlled color bar oscillator making for more precise H frequency (15,750 Hz). My earlier 1077B has a pot where the two ICs are on the front left PC board.

The symmetry of the picture from the 1077B is every bit as good as any TV camera I have ever worked on. The resolution goes up past 4.5 MHz using a photo test pattern slide. The dots and cross hatch slide is highly useful when aligning the optics in an old projection set like a Scott 6T11.

Having the IF frequencies already modulated with video has been useful in chasing a problem on a Tele-Tone 7” set.

The 1077B generates both VHF and UHF TV channels, IF, Video, Audio, Audio modulating a 4.5 MHz carrier, vertical and horizontal drive. A beam pentode tube with a plate connection ready for a TV set under test.

If I am going to sweep an IF I use a Sencore SM-152 which will sweep the old 20 MHz ish IF frequencies although I have to generate the marker externally.

The 1077B has series string filaments which operate from a winding on the power transformer. I bought a set of spare tubes with no problem. The original 6GH8 tubes were in when I got these and of course they were all nearly dead. The Photomultiplier tube may be harder to find. There are later PM tubes used in the 1077B which have stunning sensitivity.

The days of hooking a clip lead to the antenna terminals to get a signal are gone forever.

Jim

I have a few of these. If you are thinking of buying it, test it first to make sure the special
phosphor CRT works and the 931-a is OK. It probably will be next to useless on solid state
TV sets, but otherwise it is fairly complete for tube sets. Make sure all the jacks on the front
are not damaged. I don't know if its worth its safe shipping cost these days.

Its main use was providing a raster signal on all VHF channels where there was none The sync,
vertical, horizontal and video signals were candy more or or less for shops whose specialty wasn't
TV and couldn't light up a screen with other trouble shooting techniques. For color work, it has
limited use and only if it works well. I wonder how well a single 6J9 tube works as a color bar
generator after 40 years. The dot pattern generator is a transparency.
Edit: while putting away the file, I found the book for the other 1076. So there are two versions.
Added is the list for the earlier one, sans the 6T9 color bar circuit and crystal oscillator.

More of my ranting

I obtained three of these on ebay a couple of years ago and had them shipped and I have never had damage. I would just have the shipper fill the cabinet with popcorn in case something comes loose, pack it with several layers of bubble wrap and maybe double box it.

I paid between $9.00 and $20.00 for these and the shipping is usually $25.00 UPS.

I have re-soldered the PC boards on all three of these that I have which is easy as the PC boards are open from the bottom.

All four of my CRT’s are in good condition, they have a special ultraviolet phosphor which has extremely low/no persistence. These are what are called a Flying Spot Scanners.

The 931 photomultiplier tubes are fairly rugged and available new. The design applies about 700 volts which is divided along the dynodes. The video gain on the 1076 and 1077 varies part of the dynode voltage to change the PM tubes gain. The 931 does not have a heater as electrons are emitted by the photocathode and focused through a chain of secondary emission dynodes. With fairly low light from the face of the CRT you will get from one to two volts of video directly out of the photo tube with no noise. You will see a purple raster when you look at the face of the CRT but the PM tube sees a single spot of light as it scans the transparency which modulates the light passing through. The transparency is directly against the face of the CRT so it in almost perfect focus. The CRT phosphor has absolutely no persistence which produces scanned video without streaking or smear and a frequency response well into 5 MHz.

My 1077B’s came with a later PM tube which I believe is a 7744, I have several of these tubes and most have a B&K part number label. This tube is interchangeable with the 931 but has at least twice the sensitivity.

I try not to expose them to light when the dynode voltage is applied which can be done by turning down the Video gain before you lift the lid.

I have replace electrolytic’s and other capacitors in all four of my B&K’s. The 1076 uses more conventional tubes as the 1077 is series string.

Everything works reliably on these , The color bar pattern is a phase shift of 360 degrees of color subcarrier but it will test the color circuits.

The 1077B’s provide proper H and V drive for transistor TV’s.

I believe the model 1000 (which I have one) to be the first official product of Dynascan corp. In the late 1940’s early 1950’s the TV installer could set up the new TV in the home during the daytime before the TV stations went on the air at 5:00 PM with a test pattern. Dynascan and B&K apparently merged and B&K was making tube testers at the time.

We have plenty of scans of the manuals for all of these.

Jim

There was a TV Analyst on the service bench of the shop I worked for in the early 1960s. It was there when I began working there. I too found it useful for supplying a horizontal drive signal as a diagnostic tool. I never found it's ability to produce a test pattern all that essential or impressive.
It had been a major investment for the shop's owners and they were glad to see it get used for something.

right, its a quick way to clear a flyback

I've accumulated 4 of these B&K 1077's. It seems once you land your first one, it attracts others:-)

Wish there was an on-line tutorial video on how to use these devices. The only thing I have used mine for is to present a test pattern RF signal. Would love to learn how one can use this device to test the flyback, etc.

Carl

As noted in my article (listed above), there is a good book, Television Analyzing Simplified by Milton S. Kiver. Readily available on the used book market.

Phil Nelson

Someone from this forum had the entire 1076 operators and service manual posted online. As usual I can't locate it now. I find the 1076 manual much easier to understand than what came with the 1077B, plus there's none of the solid-state stuff to wade through. I found the 1076 circuits discription section very interesting.

[Edit] Here we go, although I'm still not sure who to give credit to.

http://mrftoday.com/coppermine/displayi ... m=70&pos=0

I have the 1076 manual but the thing is 15 Meg (zipped).

The schematic and parts list are always a separate sheet for the 1076 and 1077B. easy to email

As I have mentioned there are at least two separate versions of the 1077B and I have heard there was a model 1077. There was a model 1075 which is more similar to the model 1000.

I finally obtained the manual for my model 1000 after years of looking and it actually contains the schematic.

The book Television Analyzing Simplified by Milton S. Kiver is as good as anything for instruction. The manual for the 1077B has some confusing parts especially in the Flyback testing section. I thought possibly a Japanese translation gone bad. Some of the tubes used in the 1077 appear to be only Japanese made.

Jim

Do they also provide H and V drive for tube TVs as the older models did or was that feature dropped?