Laurence Payne wrote:
Probably a simple capacitor. Perfectly standard practice in such
appliances as TV sets and video recorders, ensuring that program data
was not lost if mains power was briefly interrupted.

Thanks a lot, guys. So it sounds like I can count on at least a few
minutes' worth of backup, or maybe even as much as five hours. Hope
it's more towards the latter. We're in south west Shropshire, almost on
the Welsh border, very rural, very isolated - occasional power
failures, poor mobile phone coverage, no digital TV or radio, weak
analogue TV . . . but amazing BBC FM Radio 1, 2, 3, & 4, for some
reason. Hence, the love affair with the
http://www.comet.co.uk/comet/dyn_img...rge/330647.jpg

:-)

Eddy.