PHOENIX MOD. PH417 YEAR 1976.

The PHOENIX MOD. PH417 is a 17 inches B/W portable television with 8 programs preselection keyboard potentiometric tuning search.
The mechanical turret approach to television tuning has been used almost exclusively for the past 60 years. Even though replete with the inherent disadvantages of mechanical complexity, unreliability and cost, such apparatus has been technically capable of performing its intended function and as a result the consumer has had to bear the burdens associated with the device. However, with the " recent " Broadcast demands for parity of tuning for UHF and VHF channels, the increasing number of UHF and cable TV stations have imposed new tuning performance requirements which severely tax the capability of the mechanical turret tuner. Consequently, attempts are now being made to provide all electronic tuning to meet the new requirements.

The invention relates to a tuning unit with bandswitch for high frequency receivers, especially radio and television receivers, having a potentiometer system for the control of capacity diodes, the said potentiometer system consisting of a plurality of parallel resistance paths along which wiper contacts can be driven by means of screw spindles disposed adjacent one another in a common insulating material housing in which a bandswitch formed of metal rods is associated with each tuning spindle.

In these tuning units, the working voltages of the capacity diodes in the tuning circuits are recorded once a precise tuning to the desired frequency has been performed. A potentiometer tuning system has great advantages over the formerly used channel selectors operating with mechanically adjustable capacitors (tuning condensers) or mechanically adjustable inductances (variometers), mainly because it is not required to have such great precision in its tuning mechanism.

Tuning units with bandswitches formed of variable resistances and combined with interlocking pushbuttons controlling the supply of recorded working voltages to capacity diodes are known. Channel selection is accomplished by depressing the knobs, and the tuning or fine tuning are performed by turning the knobs. The resistances serving as voltage dividers in these tuning units are combined into a component unit such that they are in the form of a ladderlike pattern on a common insulating plate forming the cover of the housing in which the tuning spindles and wiper contacts corresponding to the variable resistances are housed. The number of resistances corresponds to the number of channels or frequencies which are to be recorded. The wiper contact picks up a voltage which, when applied to the capacity diodes determines their capacitance and hence the frequency of the corresponding oscillating circuit. The adjustment of the wipers is performed by turning the tuning spindle coupled to the tuning knob. By the depression of a button the electrical connection between a contact rod and a tuning spindle is brought about and thus the selected voltage is applied to the capacity diodes. Since the push buttons release one another, it is possible simply by depressing another button to tune to a different receiving frequency or a different channel, as the case may be.

 Moreover, using this arrangement, the only indication--during adjustment--of which channel is selected is by station identification.

All commands are above located and was possible to power it even with a 12volt source.


The set is fabricated by FORMENTI an extint Italian Industry.

FORMENTI GROUP HISTORY It was founded in Desio ( Milan ) from Carlo Formenti in 1947 , under the name Carlo Formenti sas, and began his activities with the construction of radio , designed by the same founder, private label and under contract with other brands.

In 1953 the activities were moved to a new factory with 80 employees and was launched early production of TV sets in black and white , mostly as a subcontractor for major brands like Telefunken , Singer and Siemens .

Three years later began exports to foreign countries, and always as a subcontractor produced devices with trademarks for the large retail chains in Europe.


In 1961 took over the Italian plant of U.S. Admiral of Concorezzo with its 1,000 employees and a production capacity of 500 units per day, the license for the brand , and continued with the production of television and radio.
Admiral was formed Formenti SpA based in Milan , Lombardy and the company began its period of expansion so that within a few years led her to be one of the largest in the industry nationally.

Moreover, the production was extended to the field of "white" with the start of production of washing machines .

During the sixties , the head office and administration of the company, which changed its name to Industrie Formenti SpA Italy, was moved to Liss .

In 1972 was inaugurated a new plant in Sessa Aurunca for the production of color televisions with brands Admiral, Phoenix , Philco , and Televideon Uranya. Formenti was actually the first in Italy to produce the equipment, but until 1976 were marketed exclusively in the Central European countries, especially France and Germany , where for some time had already begun broadcasting in color.

Since 1983 the Group Formenti appeared on the market with another brand, White-Westinghouse , which became the most important with TVs, VCRs and household products from the same company Brianza.
In subsequent years Formenti used other brands as DuMont and Schaub-Lorenz .

Partially affected by the general crisis of the Italian electronic, in 1984 the public financial REL entered the capital Formenti record the 27.75% of the shares . The company, which by then had 580 employees scattered in the two plants, however, was one of the few entries in orbit REL able to repair their accounts in a short time.

In 1989 was started the modernization and extension of the establishment of Sessa, the installation of assembly automation , which allowed the company to undergo an increase in productivity from 300 to 2,200 pieces per day,The establishment of Concorezzo was instead intended to produce a new monitor and display for professional computer and ATM .

The company's continued successful period during the nineties . Its sales went from over 108 billion lire in 1991 to 310 made in 1999 . Meanwhile, the Group acquired it in Monza 1997 the brand Imperial and the failed Sèleco , noting the brands Brionvega and Tandberg and the establishment of Pordenone (activated in 1998 ), and finally the Formenti family formed a new group called Sèleco-Formenti SpA, the which Charles, the founder, assumed the presidency, while the sons John and Julius, held the positions of CEO and director, respectively .



But since the year 2000 for Formenti begins a period of severe crisis. The company's balance sheet records a large deficit due to declining sales, the latter factor caused by the aggressive competition of producers Turkish color TV, put on the market at competitive prices clearly and without adequate anti- dumping on the part of ' European Union .

Also as a result of the difficulties facing the company, it decided to close the two plants Concorezzo ( 2000 ) and Sessa Aurunca ( 2003 ), respectively, 130 and 440 employees, as well as staff reductions in the Friuli region in northern  East Italy  .

In 2004 the company was put into liquidation , and then it is decided by the commissioner, the Court of Monza that appointment as curator Professor. Francesco Fimmanò. After a long period of unemployment benefits for workers of the company, shed of Pordenone and brands Sèleco, Brionvega and Imperial in 2006 are awarded to the Super / / Fluo , a company based in Udine owned by the brothers Carlo and Marco Asquini. The new property will only tempoi to produce some brand Imperial model tv, radio, and a Seleco brand new LCD TV brand Brionvega before the bankruptcy of the same. From this to save the brand Super / / Fluo, while the other brands owned and acquired by Formenti will pass to the new property called Selek Brionvega Technology and the mark for both audio and video production will switch to SIM2 Multimedia, the renowned Italian company field projectors.