Hi all. I'm a newbie here, but have been collecting vintage TV's for about 20 years. I have just acquired my first vintage color set, a mid sixties Admiral. The set is is good shape and plays OK (a little soft perhaps) but is in desperate need of a color alignment. The convergence is the first thing I notice as being way off and the colors are blotchy, for lack of a better word.

I live in S. Florida. Does anyone on the board know of someone in my general area I can pay to align the set? I don't have the manual and even if I did I don't know that I could do that myself, though I have all the patterns on a video set-up DVD.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Ian :confused:

Sadly no...but I love your set! Congrats!

This post should be in the Rectangular Tube category.

Gilbert

I wasn't sure. Be happy to have the mod move it. Sorry the "mid sixties" threw me.

you dont need a manual.set up is generally the same procedure om these delta gun sets.much,much,posting in this forum on set up.i like that set. the cabinet screams 60s.awesome looking!!!!

Did you get that photo from drh4683? That looks like his things and his basement in the background.

Yes. I bought the set from him. He was a great guy to deal with.

I was very happy to finally acquire a 60's color set and had it moved all the way from Chicago.

Cool! Then you got yourself a good tv, he finds some of the best around here. Also, welcome to the forum!

Yes indeed! Welcome and very nice set! I would look ar purity rings first, could have been bumped or jossled in transportation, as well as yoke alignment.

I would buy or make a degaussing coil and give the CRT a through degaussing. Afterwards, turn off the blue and green screens and see how uniform the picture looks. If the red is patchy, adjust the purity rings until the red is uniform in the center. If its then blotchy on the edges, the deflection yoke needs to be repositioned. This is best done with the set sitting in front of a mirror so you can see the progress.

After purity is done, set the convergence. Turn all three screens down. Flip the service switch. Turn up the red until you can just see a faint red line on the screen. Then turn up the green until the line becomes amber. If the lines don't converge don't worry about it, just set the green for as equal brightness as the red.

Now flip the service switch back to normal. Get a crosshatch pattern up on the screen. Now adjust the red and green static magnets on the CRT to converge the red and green on top of each other at the center. The red and green move diagonally, so it might be a bit tricky at first. Just look in the mirror to check your progress.

Once that has been done, flip it back into service mode and you should see an amber line again. turn up the blue until the line becomes white. If the blue line doesn't line up just make it the same brightness. switch back into normal mode again. With the cross hatch pattern up, converge the blue on top of the red and green. The blue static magnet on the CRT moves the blue up and down. The blue lateral magnet is on the assembly where the purity rings were.

Once the static convergence has been completed, touch up the grayscale by adjusting the screens for the perfect black and white picture. Then adjust the drives for the correct whites. Afterwards you can really get it looking good by performing the dynamic convergence setup.

Great looking set. Welcome aboard!

Jordan:

I appreciate the reply and the thorough instructions. Unfortunately, I don't know that I am capable of performing those tasks. I will learn if need be but I would be happy to pay someone local to set this up for me.

I hope someone out there in S. Florida can help.

Hmmm...Bill Cahill is somewhere in FL, not sure how far down though?

Once the static convergence has been completed, touch up the grayscale by adjusting the screens for the perfect black and white picture. Then adjust the drives for the correct whites.

Great looking set. Welcome aboard!

Did any of these older sets have controls for both ends of the grayscale like most of the modern sets other than screen and drive controls you mentioned? For the low end of the scale, most will have something like "cut" labeled and the high end would be the "drive".

Hmmm...Bill S. is somewhere in FL, not sure how far down though?

I am in Boynton Beach. About 15 min south of West Palm and about 70 mins North of Miami.

I would buy or make a degaussing coil and give the CRT a through degaussing. Afterwards, turn off the blue and green screens and see how uniform the picture looks. If the red is patchy, adjust the purity rings until the red is uniform in the center. If its then blotchy on the edges, the deflection yoke needs to be repositioned. This is best done with the set sitting in front of a mirror so you can see the progress.

After purity is done, set the convergence. Turn all three screens down. Flip the service switch. Turn up the red until you can just see a faint red line on the screen. Then turn up the green until the line becomes amber. If the lines don't converge don't worry about it, just set the green for as equal brightness as the red.

Now flip the service switch back to normal. Get a crosshatch pattern up on the screen. Now adjust the red and green static magnets on the CRT to converge the red and green on top of each other at the center. The red and green move diagonally, so it might be a bit tricky at first. Just look in the mirror to check your progress.

Once that has been done, flip it back into service mode and you should see an amber line again. turn up the blue until the line becomes white. If the blue line doesn't line up just make it the same brightness. switch back into normal mode again. With the cross hatch pattern up, converge the blue on top of the red and green. The blue static magnet on the CRT moves the blue up and down. The blue lateral magnet is on the assembly where the purity rings were.

Once the static convergence has been completed, touch up the grayscale by adjusting the screens for the perfect black and white picture. Then adjust the drives for the correct whites. Afterwards you can really get it looking good by performing the dynamic convergence setup.

Great looking set. Welcome aboard!

OK, I degaussed it. I feel like an idiot asking, but what are the purity rings? Can you point that out from my picture #2? What is the deflection yoke in the same picture. Also, I didn't see a service switch anywhere on the set.

Sorry for asking, I had a really good repair guy in NY many years ago, someone named Vaughn, when I bought my first sets and he always set them up. I am no where near as technical as many on this board but I usually can learn if I get instructions.

Thanks to all for their assistance.

If you can post a bigger picture of the set with the back off I can point out each component. :yes:

Thank you very much. I will post some pictures tomorrow. :D

OK here goes. Looking at pic 2, on the neck of the picture tube there is a red blue and green thing. That is the convergence yoke. Behind that is the deflection yoke. If you have to move it be careful since there is several hundred volts there. In front of the convergence yoke is the blue lateral magnet/purity rings. The long thing on laying across the top is the blue lateral magnet, and the metal rings are the purity rings. Back to the convergence yoke (the red, blue, and green thing), there is a small thumbwheel adjustment on each of the colored pieces. These are used for the static convergence.

Since you have already have degaussed it, you need to check the purity of a red screen. Turn the blue and green screens all the way down. If the screen is evenly red you are good to go. If not you will need to set the purity before going any further. To set the purity you will need to loosen the deflection yoke and move it all the way forward. Be careful not to touch the wiring in the yoke, and do not tilt it left or right. You should have a picture with a bunch of colors, and near the center a red blotch of color. You move the purity rings around until the red spot is in the center of the screen then stop. Move the deflection yoke straight back until the red uniformly fills the screen, then thghten it down. Just snug.

Next turn the blue and green screens up to make a near white screen. This is not critical yet. You need a cross hatch patern on the screen. At this time you only want to look at the center of the screen. You will be setting the static convergence. You will use the thumbwheels on the red blue and green parts and the blue lateral magnet. Do not move the purity rings. Adujst the red and green controls to superimpose the red and green lines in the center of the picture. Don't worry about the edges yet. Red and green will move move diagnally so be patient. A mirror is very helpfull. Once red and green are on top of each other move the blue on top of them the control on top of the convergence yoke will move blue up and down, and the blue lateral adjustment will move it left and right. This should get acceptable convergence over 80 percent of the screen.

After static convergence is done, check that red screen again. If it is not pure start over. Most of the time it will be fine. If it is not be patient you may have to do it more than one time. This is critical to get right or the dynamic convergence will never be quite right.

Once you are finished with convergence you can do a final grey scale adjustment. I do not remember if that set has a service switch or not. If it does it will be on the rear of the chassis. If not use a good black and white picture. Turn the color control all the way down. Turn the brightness down and set the contrest to the mid position. You want a fairly dark, but viewable picture at first. Turn the red and green drive controls down. Turn all the screen controls down. Turn the red screen control up for an even red picture. Next turn the green screen up and you will have an amber pictuer. In other words the green level is even with the red level. Then turn up the blue control until you have a normal black and white picture. Adjust the drive controls to eliminate any coloring in the dark areas of the picture, and the touch up the screen controls for true white in the light areas. Then turn the brightness up. The picture should stay uniform black and white through the entire brightness range with no blooming (picture expands and goes slightly out of focus). If it doesn't just touch up the appropriate screen control. Then back the brightness down and adjust the contrest for a normal black and white picture. Remember you will never have a good color picture if you do not have a good black and white picture.

After the purity, static convergence, and grey scale have been done, turn the color up and adjust the tint control for normal skin tones. If that set has a control that says color fidelity leave it set at mid range. It will affect your black and white picture.

If all is well you will have correct flesh tones with the tint control at the center of its range. If it has to be at either end the set will need a chroma alignment.

Good luck and lets see some pictures.

Bill R

One more thing, I mentioned dynamic convergenc. This involves all the controls on that small board in the upper left of the set. For now do not turn any of them. You will find the dynamic convergence procedure in a Sam's Photofact set or service manual for that chassis. There are about thirty steps and all the controls interact with each other. Dynamic convergence will clean up the convergence at the edges of the picture. Often once the static convergence is done the dynamic will be fine. You will likely never get it perfect all the way to the edges. Your eye will not notice slight misconvergence at 6 feet or so away anyhow.

Bill R

Please see attachment. I could almost make out everything from your post Bill but this clearer picture should help identify everything.

What source should be on the screen when I am checking red? Video white noise? A DVD?


Thanks!

P.S. Based upon Bill's comment on moving the deflection yoke (I assume it's that black metal circle with the white lettering X6 showing), how do I move it without getting zapped?

See attached.

Awesome! Thank you.

The only thing I couldn't make out from your diagram is the deflection yoke. I assume it's that circle with the white lettering.

How do I avoid getting shocked when I move it?

P.S. Can't find that Service Switch anywhere. Can anyone point me in the right direction. I looked and looked and just don't see it.

The deflection yoie is the black thing with the white writing on it as Jordan pointed out. You can touch the black plastic part, just do not get your fingers in the windings.

I do not think that chassis has a service switch. Use a blank white raster with green and blue turned down. If you have a good red raster with no other colors you do not need to move the deflection yoke at all.

Bill R

The deflection yoie is the black thing with the white writing on it as Jordan pointed out. You can touch the black plastic part, just do not get your fingers in the windings.

I do not think that chassis has a service switch. Use a blank white raster with green and blue turned down. If you have a good red raster with no other colors you do not need to move the deflection yoke at all.

Bill R

I've got some test patterns on a video set-up DVD but I think they're all for setting color level, tint, contrast brightness etc. Any other content you can think of that I can use to set this?

I've got the purity rings set (I think) but now it is way out of convergence. I guess the next step is to adjust the thumbwheels.

BTW, where is brightness and contrast on that set? I don't see it?? :scratch2:

HI Ian,

Glad you were able to join the forum. If you flip down the admiral door up front, it will reveal the auxilary controls including the brightness and contrast. Convergence should go easy. If you have a stable immage with good edges, you can adjust the statics to get satisfactory results. The best though is if you have a dot/crosshatch generator. You shouldn't need to adjust the dynamics which is the board of controls you see up top of the cabinet in back.

I'm in Boca Raton. Call anytime.
Johnny (561) 245-5195

Thank you all very much!

I think I've got it pretty much set-up. Boy, what a nice set. I could not have done it without the help of you guys. Now I know why I never purchased one of these before. I guess it's like a vintage automobile in that if you can't maintain it yourself it will be difficult to keep it on the road.

I will put up some pictures tomorrow. Again thanks to all for your kindness. :thmbsp:

glad to hear its lookin good to ya! :thmbsp:

Nice job! After a few times you get in down pat on setup. Hey take some pics!

The good news is that once purity and convergence are set, you do not have to adjust it anymore. Unless you make a major move with the set, and even then it will be minimal, and you will have no problem making the adjustment. Even if a componant fails, once you replace it convergence will only need touch up. The real fun comes when you have to replace the crt. Then you get to take all those componants off the neck of the old tube and reinstall them on the new one. That is when all those adjustments get really out of whack, because the tube is different and the componants are located in slightly different positions. That is why the labor was so high on a color picture tube replacement, and a lot of people just bought new sets and junked their old one.

Bill R

Yeah but that's the real challenge! I did that last year on a Magnavox. PITA but after its all done it's a pleasure to watch and know you did it...

Only 1 photo, I will take more this evening. I didn't do a very good job on this one...

From Odd Couple DVD, Season 4.

Looks like you did quite well actually, It most likely looks sharper in person. Sometimes it shows up a little blurry in my pics too. Good job man! Once you get the hang of these sets, they are a helluva fun hobby. I think you'll learn fast, I've only been working on color sets for about two years as far as full restorations go. It will amaze you how fast you can learn.

I have some experience with older B&W sets (40's and 50's) but this is my first color set. Exponentially more difficult to set-up. The end result turned out well, but without the help of this board I would have been S.O.L.

Reminds me, I should probably take a look at the two old B&W RCA's I have in storage. I can't remember what level of functionality (if any) they currently have...

OK, added 2 more photos. In the second you will not only see that the colors on the Hawaii 5-0 graphic are pretty good, you'll see the lovely remnants of copy protection in the upper left corner. What the hell do I do about that? It was never a problem on my B&W sets but I'd say about 40% of my DVDs have this problem on the Admiral. Really pisses me off...

...

I have tried a few different inline jobs and they all never quite worked right. the best way is to copy the dvd's. But that costs money unless you do not buy the original but borrow/rent/or check it out at your library and copy those. So what did copy protection accomplish? The exact opposite of what they wanted. I'm surprised there was never a class action lawsuit over people buying video tapes and then not being able to watch them on their tv. My parents tv is fairly new and it hates tapes with copy protection. It does ok on dvds though.

I have tried a few different inline jobs and they all never quite worked right. the best way is to copy the dvd's. But that costs money unless you do not buy the original but borrow/rent/or check it out at your library and copy those. So what did copy protection accomplish? The exact opposite of what they wanted. I'm surprised there was never a class action lawsuit over people buying video tapes and then not being able to watch them on their tv. My parents tv is fairly new and it hates tapes with copy protection. It does ok on dvds though.

Does that suck or what? I pay $50 bucks for a legitimate version and I'd have to make a copy so it plays correctly. That just seems so wrong. :thumbsdn:

I wonder if it would play better on another DVD player or if its the TV? I didn't have that problem on a 1955 B&W RCA I was using before this.

I think I remember reading somewhere on here, a long time ago, that someone used an el cheapo wal-mart special VCR as an RF modulator and it done away with the copy protection artifacts on the screen. Finding one of those types of VCR's should not be difficult. One trip to the local dump would porbably yield quite a few.

I guess the only advantage to copying new DVD's would be that you can play the copy and put the original away for safe keeping.

BTW, that's a very nice Admiral you've got! Those old TV's sure do look good when working right, don't they?

XBOX BABY! Works like a charm!