Hey!

This is unusual for me to post here cause my TV's are usually older! I bought a beauty off Ebay(Some would say different!) A 12 inch General Electric SF2100 AME Bicentennial. Chassis 12 SE

What the heck was it made for and in what year? I'd like to know more about it. Its coloring seems highly unusual, like a kids TV or something. I havne't seen one of these before. Are they "rare" for a 60'a set?

Does anybody have the SAMS for this set on PDF? If not what is the SAMs #?

Any comments welcome!
Best regards,
Matt Davala

That was a very popular TV, offered in several versions over several years. Your color combination was made as a promotion for the 1976 bicentennial year.

Not surprising that GE would make a tube B&W TV as late as '76. They made tube portacolors up until at least '78 and maybe as late as '80. I wonder if GE made a tube type B&W set after '76.

I once had a GE B&W with that same chassis. It was in a woodgrain plastic case and used a click-stop UHF tuner. Actually, the case looked almost identical to the solid state XB chassis sets. By it having click stop UHF tuning, it couldn't have been older than the mid '70's.

I had a similar GE set, it was two-tone puke-green and white. But it must have been older than that one because it had the continuous uhf tuner. I think the chassis was mostly compactron tubes mounted on a single board. GE 12SE is in sams 1217-1

Those are pretty good, I have 2 but not the bicentennial model. One is black and grey, the other is black and white (the cabinet lol) with foe wood trim around the knobs. Both are continuous UHF and from '76, black one might be a '75. The latter is my favorite of the two. Yours is in nice shape, hold onto it. People collect bicentennial stuff.

12 inch General Electric SF2100 AME Bicentennial.

That should have been your first clue to the year. ;)

My SF-chassis GE is a '75. Wonder what the differences between the SE and SF were ?

That should have been your first clue to the year. ;)


You'd think so huh? I actuall had to look up the word bicentennial. I'll blame that on my generation. Don't use it too often during the day. . . or ever.

I then thought, celebrating 200 years of what? GE hadn't been around that long. OOOhhhh. Our country!! Makes sence now of the colors of the TV!! I feel like an idiot. . .. .

Pretty cool now that I know!

Anyone with a schematic?
Thanks,
Matt D

Looks like the NFL symbol on the front, though, dunnit?

Don't feel too bad Matt, you were born after the fact.
OTOH people of my generation can't help but know about the Bicentennial, it was a big huge Hoop-Dee-Doo at the time, Bicentennial this and Bicentennial that.

Wow, it's been 33 years already! :sigh:

I still have some Bicentennial Mugs from Jack In The Box!

Not to be OT, but to add to what you said Eric, remember the bicentennial Lawn-Boy mowers? There was just about anything you wanted "bicentennial" back then. I was born in '82 but have studied much of what went on before me.

GE also made a solid state Bicentennial B&W and a pocket radio. Zenith also made a small B&W that looked like the Declaration of Independance with all the signatures.

All you had to do was paint something red, white and blue, throw in some stars and stripes, and it was "Bicentennial". Plastic pink flamingos painted red, white and blue... :D

funny tv ......

When I was maybe 15 (I remember I didn't have my license yet) I found 2 TV sets at a yard sale, $15 each, I could only afford one. I could have had a 9" Airline but I chose a bicentennial GE. I can still smell that set! Something in it would burn after a few minutes and I was hopeless then to try and fix it. Maybe a flyback, certainly something I could handle now. Anyway, that poor thing is long gone to the dump. I think they are really cool. I have one in tan, or some similiarly boring color! Typical of GE, these are built about as cheap as possible.

Don't feel too bad Matt, you were born after the fact.
OTOH people of my generation can't help but know about the Bicentennial, it was a big huge Hoop-Dee-Doo at the time, Bicentennial this and Bicentennial that.

Wow, it's been 33 years already! :sigh:

I still have some Bicentennial Mugs from Jack In The Box!

Tell me about it! You couldn't get away from it!! The media was inundated with it.

Still, wouldn't mind going back and seeing it again...:thmbsp:

I bought a new all tube 15" B&W RCA around that same time. Woodgrain plastic and came on a cool little metal woodgrain roll cart.

OTOH people of my generation can't help but know about the Bicentennial, it was a big huge Hoop-Dee-Doo at the time, Bicentennial this and Bicentennial that.


Oh Gawd.....Bicentennial marketing. It was horrible.... red white and blue EVERYTHING. I put it on par with Disco.... distasteful to the extreme.
Disco couldn't die quick enough, and 1976 couldn't end fast enough. The only thing good I can say is that I managed to survive through both.....

Here is an antique from 1949, the RCA 49-1201

I was born in 1956 and remember the Bicentennial very well. As Eric said, there was a huge to-do made over the event, but that's the news media these days; they will grab anything they think is big news (and the Bicentennial was, as it commemorated the 200th anniversary of the founding [for want of a better word] of the United States of America). Further, the newspapers, TV and so on will (and generally do) milk any news item they get for all it is worth, even if it means reporting on the same event for days or weeks (!) on end until there is nothing left to report; this has been going on for decades and shows absolutely no signs whatsoever of letting up. It seems worse today than it used to be because the TV newscasters and newspapers make high drama of just about everything they report these days; witness the use (or overuse, which is probably more accurate) of the word "hit" and other dramatic-sounding words in news reports and newspaper headlines, to cite just one example. I often wonder why TV news and the papers have to be so dramatic; after all, the job of any news organization is to report the day's news, not to show off or to be overdramatic. For that matter, I wish the people who write the local news stories would learn to write as the professionals do. There are two newspapers currently in circulation here in northern Ohio and both of them often contain local news stories that look for all the world as if they were written by journalism school dropouts. I wonder if newspapers in other cities are as bad. I think that because Cleveland is so darned obsessed with rock and roll music (if one can call it that; most of the modern stuff is just so much noise, to me anyway) they have let their reputation go straight down the dumper, and the newspapers and TV/radio news went right with it.

Sheeeesh! If I didn't like the small town in which I live so much (it's 33 miles east of Cleveland, so it isn't considered a suburb of the city, but unfortunately it still gets the Cleveland TV and radio stations and the two northeast Ohio newspapers) I'd leave in a minute and move to Detroit, Chicago or any other city where the newspapers are written using formal American English, not the crazy slang the northern Ohio papers and TV news insist on using day in and day out. This may be the 21st century, but that is no excuse for the poor quality of writing in newspapers and television news. If I could do it and get away with it, I'd tell those writers to clean up their act, and fast, or get out of the business.

Well it looks like I might have ordered two wrong schematics!! Both schematics don't show the correct model numbers. The 12 SE chassis that is shown on the tag of my TV is sams # 1217 folder 1. Its dated from 1971, and this TV is from 1976. Does that make sence that they'd keep this model in production that long? The cabinet does not look the same. And the model number isn't listed in the schematic.

I searched for the model number of SF2100AME and I got SAMS folder 1415 folder 2. Dated 1974. The chassis it lists is 12 SF, not my 12SE. Reading the schematic for model numbers it didn't even list the SF2100AME.

I'm really annoyed at spending 44 bucks on two schematics and I don't even know which is the correct one.
Any help please!
Thanks
Matt Davala

I only know of an SF chassis. This is weird.

Take a good look at the close up of the tag here. I see 12SE.

http://audiokarma.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=143471&d=1238178029

Why must this be a mystery set?
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Matt Davala

Seems highly suspect, but if you ask me, that's an SF chassis and there is a typo. I just checked, and my 12sf uses 110 watts as well. Also...the model number starting with SF is a giveaway since GE's other sets use the chassis number to begin the model #... Surely someone here can clarify this for Matt...

EDIT: The Vertical and Horiz hold controls on the rear of the set are in the same location as on my 12SF.

First, that basic set was in production for quite a long time. I haven't worked on them to any extent so I don't know the changes that took place. I see a notation in my Sams index that says "similiar to chassis" which means the schematic may be slightly different.

Second, for future reference, if you ever need a Sams just ask around. For instance, I have a duplicate copy of 1415-2; I usually just try to get a few dollars for them. Others here have a stash, too.

Oh Gawd.....Bicentennial marketing. It was horrible.... red white and blue EVERYTHING. I put it on par with Disco.... distasteful to the extreme.
Disco couldn't die quick enough, and 1976 couldn't end fast enough. The only thing good I can say is that I managed to survive through both.....

I enjoyed the BiCentennial and disco. I guess because in 1976, my parents divorced, I turned 10 that year (my birthday is July 8th so it was close to the 4th of July) and I went through a lot of problems that year so to me, the BiCentennial was a nice divergence where I could getaway from my problems for a while. I remember all the projects in school and so on leading up to it.

Speaking of the BiCentennial, does anyone remember the CBS "BiCentennial Minutes" that ran from 1974 to New Years' Eve 1976?

Well I finally got the Tv.

So its a 1976? Its using the 12SE chassis!! The lable was correct. Wow! What an old chassis on such a newer TV. Why was this done?

Thanks!
Matt Davala

With GE, who knows! They already had the solid state "XB" chassis out. The XB chassis was around from around '73 until the early '80's. Your tube chassis was probably kept in production as a means to use up existing parts and was likely a cheaper set than the solid state sets. The same basic portacolor chassis design was in use from the beginning (mid '60's) until the end of the portacolors. The portacolors are confirmed to have been made as late as '78 and rumor has it that they were being made as late as 1980. GE was the master at getting by on the cheap.

Speaking of the BiCentennial, does anyone remember the CBS "BiCentennial Minutes" that ran from 1974 to New Years' Eve 1976?

I remember them! They would air each night and talk about a historical event of that day. They were hosted by different celebrities each night. It is hard to believe it has been 33 years since the Bicentennial. 1976 was a busy year. Along with the Bicentennial, it was an election year with both conventions, it was an Olympic year with both Summer and Winter Olympics, and it was the year of NBC's 50th anniversary which they celebrated with their legendary 4 1/2 hour TV special in November, along with a 5 part series on radio. It was quite a year!

Gilbert

HAHA! Looks like the same colors as my first car. Maverick 1976 Bicentennial Special Edition. UGLY but boy did that 302 run!

Just found another 1976 Bicentennial on ebay using a different chassis than mine. I've got the 12SE chassis dating from 71,which is all tube except for the UHF oscillator. 9 tubes plus CRT.

The one on Ebay a 12SF chassis. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=300305223469 The sams is dated from 74. Its a hybrid chassis with transistors and 4 tubes, and even an IC chip for the audio.

Was mine an entry level model and the 12SF the luxury? If not its starting to make sense they were using up left over parts, starting with 1971 era stuff working their way up.
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Matt D

[Apologies for bringing back an old thread, but I'm finally catching up on posts after a few months away from AK...]

As for the SF versus SE chassis-- they're very different. The SF chassis is a tube-hybrid design (about 60% tube), while the older SE chassis is essentially all-tube. ...At least that what I'd say from the 'junker' SE I found in the trash a few years ago and looked at briefly at the time.

The SF chassis is also easy to spot because the audio section (which includes an integrated circuit) is on a plug-in module.

By the way, I thought all of those colorful "Bicentennial" GE sets had the SF chassis. Most of the Bicentennial GEs appear to have been made in 1975, and I think all still had the continuous UHF tuner.

As for longevity, the SE and SF chassis were practically GE's B&W equivalent to the PortaColor, though the H*-series PortaColor design easily outlasted it. The SE and SF chassis were also used in some 15" and perhaps 17" B&W sets.

The SF chassis stuck around at least through 1976, with a totally restyled cabinet (a more conventional 'horizontal' design similar to their solid-state 12" B&W sets) and a click-stop UHF tuner.

I dunno about the SE chassis, but the SF was a pretty mediocre performer at best; not surprising, since those were really low-cost TVs. It only had two IF stages.

My SF is a fake woodgrain cabinet one from 1975. It is a decent set and will likely last a real long time.