Saturn E 59-710

The Saturn E 59-710 was the first hybrid television set (H1) made by Electronica in Bucharest, in 1971: the first set partly transistorised in its very-high-frequency stages [1]. The power stages kept six tubes: PCL86 and PL84 for audio, PCL85 for vertical sweep, and PCF802, PL500 and PY88 for horizontal sweep (the annex counts seven tubes) [1]. The small-signal stages used 14 transistors – BF214 in the sound IF, BF167 and two BF173 in the video-sound IF, BF214 and BF178 in the video amplifier, BC107 and BC108 in the sync separator – and only three (mesa types) came from abroad; the 18 kV EHT rectifier, type TV18, was an “infinite column” of 330 selenium pellets pressed in series in a ceramic tube [1]. The project was led by engineer Lucian Nițescu; the single-board construction had three shielded blocks [1].

In 1971–1972, as Romanian transistor production grew, Electronica replaced tubes with transistors in the low-power stages – channel selector, video-sound and sound IF amplifiers, video amplifier, AGC and sync separator – creating a new generation of “hybrid” sets with longer life, lower power consumption and fewer imported tubes [1]. The first was the Saturn E 59-710 of 1971 (hybrid 1, H1), which kept six proven tubes for the audio, vertical and horizontal power stages and used 14 transistors, only three of them imported, in the small-signal stages [1]. HS stands for a hybrid set with a silicon-transistor channel selector, three times cheaper to make than the tube turret tuner [1]. In 1971–1976 about 2.4 million hybrid H1 and H2 sets were made (up to 500,000–550,000 a year) for the home market and for export [1].

In the source table, video sensitivity is given for 6 V rms on the picture-tube cathode, the signal-to-noise ratio on the sound path, and the selectivity values are, in order, the rejection of the own sound carrier and of signals below and above the picture carrier (and, where given, of the IF and the image frequency); the audio response is at −3 dB [1].