I might be the one person here who doesn't have cable TV. My reasoning is kind of a viscious circle... Having cable TV would mean I'd probably sit on my a$$ all day watching Monster Garage and History Channel. But if I only watched TV as much as I do now, I'd be pi$$ed about blowing $50 a month on cable. I suppose one benefit of infrequent TV use (beyond never having seen any "reality" shows) is being able to use a tube set as a daily watcher.

In the Detoit area, we get a couple stations from Canada (actually only one, since the other is in French!). Thus Channel 9 becomes my exotic cable channel. (Note the CBC logo in the bottom right corner) The other day noticed this kids show with computer animated tractors from England. The colors looked amazing on this old Zenith that Doug gave me, so I decided to snap a digital picture (of course they look less amazing now than in person). Funny to think that this set went from Chicago to Detroit, Detroit to Chicago, then back to Detroit.

One problem that concerns me with this set is a fear that HV might be too high. The picture is always too big for the screen (won't reduce enough with size controls) and it will bloom if I advance the brightness to far, or sometimes if a bright graphic is displayed (I can even hear the thing crackle). Is there anyway to properly adjust the HV without a HV probe?

Carmine,

Having the CRT high voltage too low is the culprit when the picture is too large, the opposite to what you were thinking. The higher the acceleration potential in a CRT the more deflection power is required to deflect the e-beam the same amount, so lower high voltage means more deflection. That would also help explain the blooming. As to the crackle, well your voltage may be so low that it is below where the focus regulator can keep things level. I'm assuming you have a 6BK4 shunt regulator when I say this.

Make sure that the outer aquadag on the CRT bell has the grounding straps properly installed.

I cannot think of a simple and safe method of measuring the HV without a proper meter probe. It should jump About 3/4 of an inch to your finger, but that is only approximate. :D

NO DON'T DO THIS! I'M KIDDING. ;) That could knock you so hard on your ass you might never get up.

One thing you can check without actually measuring the HV is the regulator current (6BK4.) You measure the voltage drop across the 1000 ohm cathode resistor. (Caution! 400 volts on both sides of the resistor!) Normal current draw is about 800-1000 microamps, which is about 0.8-1 volt dropped if I remember correctly. You are overloading the system if you are drawing say 1500 microamps, you are dragging down the HV with too much 6Bk4 current. On the other hand if the current is say 300 microamps your HV is probably too high and the tube may be weak if you can't adjust the HV control to make the 6Bk4 draw more current. Now this is not a total substitute for the real thing, using the HV probe to measure the anode voltage, but it can help you check out the 6Bk4 stage.

Using these tests has helped me find bad 6Bk4 tubes as well as off-tolerance resistors in the 6BK4 circuit.

I have a spare HV probe. Send me your address via PM and I'll send it to you when I dig it up.

Carmine,

Even though you are having troubles making the picture fit, you certainly have nice vivid color on that tube!

I'm with ya there on the rabbit ears. I decided not to pay for cable being that I am only home for six months of the year. I think of getting cable every now and then, but I decide against it being that I really don't watch too many programs. I'm happy enough if I get to watch Enterprise on Saturday night!

Carmine,

That's a very good picture on your Zenith TV, even if you are only receiving over-the-air signals now--and even if the HV is acting up. My question: How far are you from the TV transmitters serving Detroit, which are in Southfield, Michigan? I live in northeastern Ohio, 30 miles east of Cleveland, but I used to get every Detroit TV station in the summer before I got cable, which is why I know where the Detroit stations' transmitters are--I used to get up at 5 a. m. just to watch the stations sign on!

Since I like NBC-TV programming (even some of today's prime-time offerings), my favorite Detroit station was always WDIV-TV [formerly WWJ, now CBS channel 62]. Since I still use an antenna on my stereo and all the other FM radios in my apartment, I also get quite a few Detroit FM stations when the band opens up in the summer, especially now that I live within a half-mile of the south shore of Lake Erie, not to mention every 50kw Detroit AM station, including CKLW and WJR.

Jeff,

I took off-screen pics of WDIV 62 Detroit last year during a superb inversion creating unusual ducting conditions. Stuff was booming in from everywhere. I lost the pics in my big HD crash recently. :(