This topic comes up from time to time, I thought it might be a good way to start up this new forum. So what do you all like to use?

This is my set-up I picked up when I finally decided to try video IF alignment last summer:
RCA WR-59B sweep generator, WR-39C "television calibrator" marker generator, WR-70A marker-adder, and WR-49A signal generator. With a Tek 545A scope, and hp 5245L counter.

The major upside of this old RCA stuff is that it does both the old 21mc IF, and new 41mc IF. With the marker-adder you inject the markers after the sweep signal is demodulated in the tv, before the scope vertical input, as well as adjust marker shape, which makes for a much cleaner looking curve on the scope. The extra signal generator hooked to the marker generator allows me to get 2 markers at once. The downside of this RCA stuff is that you need 4 units, + the scope, the frequency counter, and a separate bias supply, to make the whole thing work.

But it seems most of the sets that I've had that need alignment are the old 21mc IF sets, so I couldn't really see getting newer equipment that couldn't work at those frequencies.

Very cool setup. Perhaps a WR-69A would simplify your setup a little bit with it's built in bias supplies.

I was going to go the RCA route too, but fate landed some other gear in may lap instead.

Currently, I'm using a Hickok 615 sweep/marker generator, Kikusui 1120 frequency counter and an HP54600B scope. I also have a TVG-2 which has some issues but does look pretty cool I think :)

Most recently, I picked up an EICO 369 I'm currently restoring. It a more modern and compact design the the 615. I'm really curious to see how it's post marker-injection and built-in demodulator technique works.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3302/4620005494_e203d2b5e0_m.jpg (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3302/4620005494_f139c63033_o.jpg)

WoW you guys got cool toys......... Can I come over and play at your house....

Actually I was wondering what a lot of you guys are using on the way of IF alignment. I imagine after changinh all the caps in a set alignment is a must, and since I got two candidates for all caps to be replaced I knew I was going to have to start looking at alignment tools so I'm happy to see you all posting your cool toys! !

I'm going to make a work table as well. It looks like a lot of the alignment toys take up quite a bit of space. I know they all don't need to be out all the time, looks like you all have limited space on the bench?!?!?

Besides If I leave my tools out, the squirrels will chew off the knobs. Ind I'de never be able to keep up with fixing the probe wires.

If I had my choice though, I would want a setup like the power consumption room on Forbidden Planet where the entire wall had meters and junk like that.

Thanks for all of you who continue to post your toys, model numbers, and special features of each.

WoW you guys got cool toys......... Can I come over and play at your house....

Actually I was wondering what a lot of you guys are using on the way of IF alignment. I imagine after changinh all the caps in a set alignment is a must, and since I got two candidates for all caps to be replaced I knew I was going to have to start looking at alignment tools so I'm happy to see you all posting your cool toys! !

I'm going to make a work table as well. It looks like a lot of the alignment toys take up quite a bit of space. I know they all don't need to be out all the time, looks like you all have limited space on the bench?!?!?

Besides If I leave my tools out, the squirrels will chew off the knobs. Ind I'de never be able to keep up with fixing the probe wires.

If I had my choice though, I would want a setup like the power consumption room on Forbidden Planet where the entire wall had meters and junk like that.

Thanks for all of you who continue to post your toys, model numbers, and special features of each.


LOL - I just took all 3 out just for the photo op. Normally, I just have the 615 up on the shelf. I've been lucky so far and never had to align the RF and video IF stages in a set - only the audio. I think if you avoid touching the RF/IF coils or small valued mica/ceramic caps you won't need an alignment.

I have a Hallicrafters 506 up on the bench right now. I think I'll try out the EICO just to see what kind of response curve it produces.

Maybe I've been lucky (or I'm not that fussy), but of the two dozen or so TVs that I've restored, only one seemed to need alignment. I took it to a guy whose shop is a place of wonder. Laid off from another job, now he refurbishes scopes and other test equipment whose purpose I barely grasp.

TV alignment is still on my list of things to learn after I grow up. I finally got a decent scope (from said guy), which is a start. I inherited a B&K 415 sweep/marker generator last year, but it only does 40MHz+, so I should trade it for something that can do older sets.

Phil Nelson

Gernsback put out a book called "Sweep and Marker Generators for Television and Radio" back in 1955 that's a good read on the subject. Here's a quote :eek: "The reader should understand that if he applies himself energetically, that he can become something of an expert in visual-alignment procedures after approximately two years of study and practice"

My Marcus book for TV servicemen begins the alignment chapter with this warning.

"Do not attempt realignment until you are sure that there is no other reason for the observed defect."

That's followed by examples of specific conditions that might justify realignment. Nowhere do they mention a condition like, "I think maybe I can make it better." :)

Phil

When I was a kid and regularly picked up tvs that people would gently throw out to be picked up in front of your house by the town for FREE without complaint; A few times I took a set that I was not going to keep or sell, and turn all the very small turnie things that needed a special tool to get into. So I can tell you that first hand the kind of things that need an alignment. When the sound has any kind of hum, buzz, or in some other way seems to sound like a radio not quite on the station. And if the video seems to be smeared on the screen and you can't get it so clear that it looks like its got little lines that make up the picture that run vertical as well as the scanning lines horizontal. Then it needs alignment. Our instructor at BOCES back in the late 70's would turn the fine tuning knob just before the screen let go of sync and any smearing of the screen went away and all the lettering got real crisp, he said "now you're done" if he couldn't get that your set wasn't fixed. And if you turn the little turnie things inside the little square skyscrapers then you will never get that perfect sharp screen...... "Do it again!" he would say......

And he was a perfectionist, the midterm of our first year was to draw without mistake the schematic of a 5 tube radio. And we all could do it, and know the voltages on the tube pins. So tv alignment was nothing. Convergence was only gone over for a few days, the real McCoy was that big flat 60 pound metal thing with the little square metal skyscrapers and glass things with the fire inside.

Here's my Alignment bench. For 21 MHz IF, I use an Eico 369 to which I've added a front-panel jack which performs double duty as an External Marker input or as a Marker Output to my Elenco 9500 (Marker Generator / Frequency Counter combo unit), connected to a LabVolt 10 MHz scope with a 5" CRT. For bias supplies, I fire up the B&K 415 to use its built-in supplies. For 41 MHz IF work, I use the B&K 415 (crystal-controlled markers, no need for a Counter except during annual Calibration check-ups) and B&K 5 MHz scope with 3" CRT. Everything is pre-wired on the bench for maximum efficiency. The Tektronix 547 is my main scope (DC to 50 MHz) for waveform analysis, but I also have a Tektronix 475A (DC to 250 MHz) on the shelf for applications requiring an extremely wideband instrument. The Ext. Mkr. jack was standard on the Eico 368 (which didn't use post-marker injection), but Eico didn't include the Ext. Mkr. jack on the 369 with its post-marker circuitry. Both Eico units achieve their Sweep function by applying a 60 Hz sinewave to the control winding of a saturable reactor, thus varying the inductance in the Sweep oscillator circuit at a 60 Hz rate and proportional to the amplitude of the 60 Hz sweep waveform. With the Sweep Width control set to minimum, a small DC bias current through the control winding establishes a fixed inductance approximately centered between the maximum and minimum values which occur at the corresponding peaks of each cycle of the control waveform at maximum Sweep Width control setting. The saturable reactor method produces Sweep without any wear-prone moving parts, unlike other generators such as the Precision E-400, Philco 7008, Hickok 610, etc. which use a mechanical device resembling a small loudspeaker to vary reactance in their Sweep oscillator circuits by mechanically flexing one of the inductive or capacitive elements of its tuned circuit to vary the output frequency above and below the center frequency determined by the dial setting.

Nice setup :thmbsp: I'd recognize that Admiral chassis anywhere - I recently restored two of them.

I never did get very good sound levels out of them though. I tried aligning the sound in both using a Hickok 615 which helped a little. I plan on trying again with an EICO 369 soon.

Nice setup :thmbsp: I'd recognize that Admiral chassis anywhere - I recently restored two of them.

I never did get very good sound levels out of them though. I tried aligning the sound in both using a Hickok 615 which helped a little. I plan on trying again with an EICO 369 soon.

First, open that First Sound IF transformer can and inpect the 30pF mica capacitor hidden inside. Odds are it's in pretty bad shape and seriously reducing the gain of the IF. They used a "naked" mica cap inside there, no plastic housing or epoxy dip to protect it.

Thanks, I'll be sure to check that. I notice there's a 35pF in the second IF can. I guess I should check that too ?

Thanks, I'll be sure to check that. I notice there's a 35pF in the second IF can. I guess I should check that too ?

Yes, that would be a good idea. I don't remember whether that one is of the same construction as the 30pF in the first can since different parts of this Restoration were worked by me and Big Dave. We've had some shipping damage incidents lately which have forced me to spend more time than usual on Administrative work to make certain that the shipping Insurance claims get handled properly. I find that I have to be ultra thorough so that every attempt by the shipper to weasel out of paying is quickly shot down in flames.

Help! Can anyone provide a scan of the schematic for the Philco 7008? I am in the process of restoring mine, and have a loose wire I need to find where it goes. Thanks!

Yes, here is the schematic page as a jpeg. A.G. Tannenbaum has the full 52-page Manual available in a 5MB pdf file (there are excellent Applications and Troubleshooting sections along with a very detailed Tutorial on Dial Interpolation) and it is well worth their price. PM me for more information.

John, thanks very much for the scan. However, when I open it on my computer, it is so low resolution that nothing is readable. Could you try sending it to me as an email attachment? Maybe that will work.... jfolsomjr@cfl.rr.com

Thanks again!

The amount of equipment in my workshop hit critical mass so I took some time to sort through it. I definitely have too many sweep generators so did a little comparison using an Admiral 20A1 chassis.

The contenders were:

Jackson TVG-2
Hickok 615
Eico 369
Wavetek 1002
Wavetek 1080

The 369 and Waveteks use post-marker injection while the others mix the marker in with the swept RF output. The Jackson and Hickok work OK, but the response curves are kind muddy looking and the markers are not very distinct.

The 369 works well, but mine is definitely out of calibration. Also, the sweep width is not as wide as it should be.

The Waveteks both work very well and have distinct markers. They have also built-in harmonic markers at 1, 10 and 50/100 Mhz. A jack is provided for an external marker.

Here's the setup I settled on. The Wavetek 1080 and a good old Heathkit IG-102 for the variable marker.
The 1002 works just as well and has a neat 'angle' marker feature, but is rather heavy and some of the jacks are inconveniently located in the back.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5299/5560267904_e963d37a7d_z.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5134/5559690427_169a7c6648_z.jpg

After following the alignment steps carefully, I was able to match the sevice manual pretty darn well :)
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5186/5559690601_194a9d3e4e_z.jpg

Here's the picture post-alignment. A little centering and linearity tweaks and it'll be darn near perfect I think :D

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5139/5563880342_7297bb7989_z.jpg

I recorded a little video while doing the alignment and will put it up on YouTube soon.

I have done several sets using the BK415, more 60s color stuff. I have had fairly good luck but I can never get my curves to look that good. I bet most of its is due to bad caps etc in the IF.

I have the entire RCA alignment setup, have never played with it.

Alignment seems to be one of those things you get better at with practice. Im still learning, need to do about 5 more sets then I should have it fairly good.

I think the biggest challenge is obtaining quality, calibrated equipment. This particular set uses a separate IF for sound/video and stagger tuned video IF. You don't actually use a sweep generator for the alignment procedure. Rather you need an accurate RF gen. with good output attenuation. Also quality, terminated test leads are a good idea.

The sweep gen and markers are just to check you work. If the overall pattern is off, you need to go back through the fixed frequency tuning steps. I did about 4 passes to get it right.

I didn't touch any caps in the video IF, but I did replace some exposed micas in the sound IF cans. The biggest surprise was the effect swapping the 6J6 osc/mixer tube had.
The original was a little weak so I popped in a NOS one that tested great. However, this is the best response curve I could get.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5303/5572220960_56b17d1bf0.jpg

I was considering popping the tuner open to check for bad components when I tried swapping in another NOS 6J6. That did the trick :)
I later read in the service info that indeed an RF alignment may be necessary after replacing the 6J6!
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5131/5572221272_8c32ce024b.jpg

I do have an RCA WR-514 which like the 415 uses crystal controlled markers for 44 MHZ IFs, but all my sets are too old to use it.

Here's the picture post-alignment. A little centering and linearity tweaks and it'll be darn near perfect I think :D

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5139/5563880342_7297bb7989_z.jpg

I recorded a little video while doing the alignment and will put it up on YouTube soon.

Darn near perfect? That detail is amazing!

Unfortunately, I was brought up in the school of "don't mess with those IF's!" and to think of alignment as taboo however we did attempt to align an early Sylvania 25" color in my high school electronics class. I remember it looked pretty much the same as before the alignment and we used that model B&K that was styled the same as the 1077B Analyst. That was back in the seventies....I'd love to go through that procedure again sometime!