rpm1200
04-01-2010, 04:40 PM
I once had a 19-inch GE, believe it was late 70s but could have been early 80s. Plastic woodgrain cabinet. It was pretty unremarkable except for the tuner design. The tuner was quartz-synthesized, with a red LED display, that much was not too out of the ordinary. However rather than using channel up/down or keypad controls, it used a single knob for tuning. The knob did not rock and it was not a rotary encoder (like car radios and some home tuners use for tuning). It was an 82-position switch. I can't remember if it stopped at 2 and 83 or if it let you roll over from 83 to 2. It was not cable-ready nor did it have a remote. It did have VIR, with a VIR LED next to the channel display.
It was one of the ones that came with the service manual tucked into the back, and it illustrated the switching logic (the switches were multiplexed so that there were a handful of leads going from the tuning knob to the synthesizer and another set going to the 7-segment LEDs). I remembered that there was a lot of physical resistance on the tuner knob and it made a bit of a racket, in both senses similar to a knob-tuned varactor but more so. I don't think there were any AFC or fine-tuning controls.
I had bought it used, touched up some solder connections, given it to my then girlfriend (now wife) for the basement, it started acting up again so I took it back and ran it in my basement for a while, eventually disposed of it in the early 90s...
I remember the VIR worked OK, not stunning but functional, except on one channel where the color went way out of whack with it turned on. Even worse than what you could do by deliberately mis-setting the color and tint. I read at some point that some TV stations used the VIR signals for other purposes, which would throw off VIR receivers.
Anyone remember this thing? Anyone got pictures?
Thanks, Rob
It was one of the ones that came with the service manual tucked into the back, and it illustrated the switching logic (the switches were multiplexed so that there were a handful of leads going from the tuning knob to the synthesizer and another set going to the 7-segment LEDs). I remembered that there was a lot of physical resistance on the tuner knob and it made a bit of a racket, in both senses similar to a knob-tuned varactor but more so. I don't think there were any AFC or fine-tuning controls.
I had bought it used, touched up some solder connections, given it to my then girlfriend (now wife) for the basement, it started acting up again so I took it back and ran it in my basement for a while, eventually disposed of it in the early 90s...
I remember the VIR worked OK, not stunning but functional, except on one channel where the color went way out of whack with it turned on. Even worse than what you could do by deliberately mis-setting the color and tint. I read at some point that some TV stations used the VIR signals for other purposes, which would throw off VIR receivers.
Anyone remember this thing? Anyone got pictures?
Thanks, Rob