Alan Zoff

Just as an update, I tried to fit the new regulator but the miniscule soldering requirements were beyond my skill level - and I probably needed a much finer iron. But worth a try. However, a reconditioned PCB arrived very quickly for the reasonable £30 outlay and the set is restored to perfect condition. I had brought it over to UK for the repair and it will be back in France shortly. I hope it won't be needed but I will hang onto the faulty board as a source of possible spare parts. Thanks again for the expert comments and advice. I learn a bit more each time.

Noted. Many thanks.

Thanks all. I will have a play and see what happens.... As I said, nothing to lose, as long as I don't damage anything else in the process. I suspect I will end up buying a second hand board which it seems can be had for around £35 on Ebay uk which I will be happy enough to pay if the set is restored to its previous performance.

Thanks Chancer. The original (apparently obsolete) part is Sharp 070XZ1H The Farnell replacement is ROHM type BA00BC0WFP-E2

This query should really be for a dedicated electronics forum but I thought I would try here first as I know some members have a lot of relevant knowledge. Our 6 years old Panasonic LCD TV which we brought over from the UK developed a fault on the main PCB which will cost more to replace with a new PCB than the TV is probably worth. But it has been an excellent TV with a superb picture. I have tracked down the problem to a small voltage regulator. Farnell in the UK told me the original Sharp component was obsolete but they supplied an "equivalent" for next to nothing. However, in addition to the fiddly soldering required, the new part has 4 long pins, 2 either side of a middle short pin that seems to float in mid-air, whilst the original has 5 long pins, all soldered to the PCB. Farnell seem unwilling to offer any advice on what happens to the middle pin, no doubt concerned about liability. The Panasonic guy who identified the (apparently common) fault was obliged to suggest I obtained a very expensive new panel or engage the services of an equally expensive engineer. Anyone know/have useful suggestions? As you will have gathered, I am not an electronics person myself but have successfully repaired circuit boards in the past when supplied with good advice and am aware of safety issues when working with TVs. Spending £100 plus on a new PCB or a professional repair seems excessive so I am willing to play with the existing one if the alternative is to dump the set.

Now that the clever techies have explained how to get the UK radio signal, I am keen to know the prospects for getting it with subtitles in the foreseeable future. For severely hard-of-hearing people like me, radio is a no-no, whatever the language. I recall that there were experiments with radio "captioning" in America some time ago but I am not aware of any progress in Europe.

What a nice thread. Informative, helpful to the grateful OP - and no one slagging off the other posters.

"dense bimbo in a tight dress wearing no bra"? Which channel and what time is this programme on, please?

Many years ago when we were visiting a friend who had emigrated to Italy, I asked her if she had had any difficulty driving on the other side of the road. She said it didn't really matter as they all drive down the middle anyway.

Perhaps someone would like to make a joke out of this, too http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-38290888

In so many ways, the world seems to be going backwards. And it becomes ever more difficult to speak out without some religious group playing the racism card with the full support of the authorities.

On one of our early visits to France we stayed in a gite in Brittany. When I asked the French owners if I could park our car in the space between the gite and the neighbouring property, they told us that that land belonged to the neighbours. However, our hosts encouraged us to park there and to be as much of a nuisance as we liked as the neighbouring owners were Parisians whom they seemed to despise. It might be a superiority/inferiority thing between the big city and smaller towns/ countryside. Same might be said for south east England versus the north. The only problem I can recall in Paris was when I was determined to try out my French on the chap in the rail station information kiosk. He was equally determined that we would both speak English and he punished me for my perseverance by giving me completely false directions which cost me a lot of inconvenience. Connard! Not that it still bothers me, of course.

Last year I asked 2 local plumbers to look at our broken boiler. Both I would say are in their late 30s; neither speaks English. The first ummed and ahhed about the boiler's overall condition, said some expensive bits needed to be replaced and quoted over 2,000 euros. The second said it was a good boiler, identified the problem in less than 5 minutes, took the details, came back with a new burner nozzle, fitted it, adjusted the boiler settings and charged me 50 euros. He also gave me a fact sheet he had printed off his computer relating to the new part, marked to show how he had reset the boiler, for future reference. It has worked fine ever since. I think I know which of them I will call if ever I need a plumber/heating engineer again. But he might want a little more than 50 euros to do a job in the Quillan area.

Thanks for the tip, Hereford. Yes Jon, that's the same story.

No vets involved when I was attacked by a cat. We once allowed a local cat (in UK) to share our house. It seemed quite docile/friendly until it suddenly bit into my knuckle for no apparent reason. It had simply been lying on my lap while we were watching TV. It buried its fangs really deeply and refused to let go. My wife and I tried to pull it away but I ended up having to punch it to get it to release. This led to hospital treatment, tetanus jabs, etc and an ongoing distrust of felines. I see also a recent warning about children cuddling cats and the risk of picking up serious diseases. Perhaps the badger cull should be extended....

The citrus fruit works but you need quite a lot to be effective over a big area and have to renew regularly. So can cost quite a bit in lemons and you have the mess of all that scattered peel to contend with. Our terrier was extremely effective until old age ruined his sight. He has now departed - and we are plagued with marauding cats. I wouldn't mind so much if they would keep down mice and rats but they seem to prefer terrorising lizards and the small birds we like to encourage. The water pistol scares the cats off but they soon return. When we first visited France, all animals seemed to be fair game for hunters and spiteful kids. But France (like Britain) has become a nation of cat lovers.

You might not get red rust - just a white powder as the ally reacts with water. The mirrors on my first Mazda Xedos went this way - while the steel panels remained rust-free. Same happened to the mirror base plates on my van, causing one mirror to drop off. Mazda changed to plastic mirror covers for the later model of the Xedos, while I have replaced the ally plates on my van with steel.

In case it's of interest, a couple of years ago I bought some dye for cement off Ebay. It was very effective - the mortar is still the same colour. Incredibly strong dye so I needed to add only the tiniest amount of the powder to the mix. Had to experiment quite a bit until I got the shade I was after.

So it wasn't the Union Jack design, then?

We have metal shutters which are ancient but seem indestructible. I agree though that they are no substitute for wood in terms of insulation. Hopeless in the winter and although the white paint helps to reflect light, they still heat up - quite considerably - so that any air passing through the slats is also heated. If it wasn't for the cost of changing, and some difficulty in fitting them to our particular windows, I would replace with wooden shutters.

I tend to turn the volume right down if it's dubbed and just read the text. Obviously, some atmosphere is lost but I am so used to doing this now that my imagination seems to fill in the "sound".

Being very hard of hearing, subtitles are essential for me, whether programmes are in French or English. So the more that carry subtitles, the better. It irritates me that so few of the films shown on Freeview have them. I have noticed a gradual improvement in France, but still some way to go.

A French friend said after 5 years he was beginning to appreciate my English sense of humour. To be fair, there are a lot of English who don't appreciate it.

Precisely!

Trust Norman to make a meal of it