Einheitsempfänger

On 1 September 1939, Germany introduced a 441-line, 50 interlaced frames per second television system. The project started in 1938, associating the Reichspost and several companies, including Bosch, Blaupunkt, Loewe, Lorenz, TeKaDe and Telefunken. The objective was to produce 10,000 units, but due to the start of World War II only about 50 devices were installed in military hospitals and various government departments. The Berlin transmitter was destroyed by allied bombing in November 1943.

The Einheitsempfänger is a German TV receiver from 1939. It could only receive one channel with its frequency pre-tuned from the factory. This allowed for lower prices and would have made the reception of foreign channels difficult (although there weren't any available).

To date, only a few surviving and functioning units are known:

• Museum for Communication in Berlin, (Telefunken)
• Museum for Communication in Berlin, (Blaupunkt, incomplete)
• Museum of Communication in Frankfurt, (Telefunken, with a new speaker, otherwise completely preserved)
• Private Collection August-Peter Nehrig, (Telefunken, completely preserved)
• German Radio Museum Berlin, (reproduction without original chassis and a new speaker fabric)
• Custodian of telecommunications tools Office, (manufacturer unknown, apparently unharmed and completely preserved)
• University of Mittweida (Blaupunkt, with a new speaker material, condition unknown)
• Radio Museum Fuerth (original chassis with power transformer in the exhibition)
• Radio Museum Fuerth (functional, for demonstration)

Technical data for a typical set

• Case dimensions (W×H×D): 65 cm × 37 cm × 38 cm
• Image size: 19.5 cm × 22.5 cm, 29 cm diagonal
• Power consumption: 185 W at television, 60 W in radio reception

References

• "World Analogue Television Standards and Waveforms - Line Standards". Retrieved 2007-04-03. 
• Fernsehen und Tonfilm, (i.e. Television and Sound film, journal) October 1939