Greetings and salutations to all. I have browsed this site several times in my search for information on the 1949 Motorola 9L1. A friend of mine had it, and asked me to get it working, was his grandfathers. So, I have been searching the internet for any and all information. It took me some time to even find out what kind I had. I thought, after first glance that I had a VT-71/72/73 "Golden View" ( http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/motorola_vt_73.html ), but it didnt look right. I continued to search, and finally found it. I have an 8" screen, and that was the sticker for me. Finally found the picture, I hope and pray I did (http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/motorola_9l1.html). I have found one or two schematics for the chassis # TS18A, but they dont match as far as resistor/cap numbers or values. I have not even plugged it in yet, as I really would hate to let the magic smoke out of the tubes or any of the other equally ancient parts. I have had some experience in that area, and have never been able to get it back in, nor find an Electronic Smoke Installer, ESI. Any one that has had some experience with this television, of types close to it, or any resources, schematics and such, I would really be grateful. You will have to speak a little less technical to me, small words, short sentences, I have read alot of these thraeds, and it sounds like some of you have been repairing these TV's since they made them. Good to say hey to everyone and thank you a head of time for any and all help/advice.

This is a very good "first TV" to restore. That chassis isn't much more complicated than some radios. It may bounce back with just new caps. I have a VT-71 I brought back to life and, as you have noticed, there were a lot of variations in those circuits. There are some folks on here who would be better than me to walk you through this-hopefully one of them will chime in real soon.

The worst thing that could be wrong with this would be the picture tube. It would be nice to test it before you got started-I would be happy just to know the filaments aren't burnt out on it, and that is very easy to check with a simple multimeter (or a lantern battery.)

BGADOW, thanks for the reply. You said a simple test for the picture tube?? I have a pretty extensive and eclectic back ground in electrical and electronics work and education. But it is just that eclectic. I manage to fumble through things I am not familiar with, but have the background in theory. It has been my ex[experience there is a world of difference between theory and application in real world. Would think that a fast easy simple test of the picture tube would be step one, if that doesnt work, why bother. If you can send the procedure, it would be great. I do have simple test equipment but nothing for audio/radio work specific. No trans testers, sine gens etc.

Hi. I've restored one TS-18 and two of the very similar TS-4 chassis. A 9T1 (bakelite version of your set) is on my horizon too.

I recently picked up the Riders volume that covers these chassis. There were at least two variations of the TS-18 chassis, but the differences are pretty minor. What doesn't match between your chassis and the schematics you have ?

I managed to find two on-line here. One is from a place, cant find it now, Sam's 83-6 schematic, and one was a copy of the original service manual. I havent taken the chassis out as of yet, I wanted to be sure I had something to go by before I did. The TV is sorta a special deal to the guy that asked me to look at it, so I wanted to be very careful. Just looking into the chassis area was not confidence instilling to have a desire to plug it in. bgadow, in this posting mentioned an easy fast test to tell if the picture tube was good and that made sense to me, so I was waiting to hear back what this test was and how to perform it. I did find a very good article at Phil's old radio website, reference restoring vintage TV's and Radio's. After reading it, there seemed to be alot of things that could easily burn out or already were, in the power supply. Being totally ignorant of television servicing, I thought waiting and getting what ever information I could prior to a plug in or tear apart. Replacing all the old paper caps and most of the resistors made sense to me. I believe I could troubleshoot the chassis if I had what the voltages at different points were supposed to be. I do appreciate the help and answers.

Bryan is suggesting that you check the CRT filament for continuity. That's pins 1 & 14. They're on either side of the key. Set your multimeter or VOM for resistance and check those pins.

If you don't have a meter, you can hook up 6 volts AC or DC to those pins and check for a glow. Be very careful that you don't go much above 6 volts or you could blow the filament!

You can download a datasheet here: http://www.tubedata.tubes.se/sheets/127/8/8BP4.pdf

I have a Wallace's Telaides book that covers this model. Believe they come from Motorola info. It shows a TS-18A schematic from December 1949.

Ya'll are the bomb, thank you!!! I will do said same and see what happens. Praying the magic smoke don't escape.

A problem with these circuits is that when the set is first turned on the filaments take a real "hit". You can see them light up very bright for a second. That really hurts the life of the tubes. Not too big a deal with most of the tubes, since they are cheap, but the crt would be hard to replace. Not all that many were made to begin with in the 8" size. I will say, so far every 7" electrostatic tube I found was still good. There are ways you can rig that set to be easier on the filaments-you can worry about that later.

Banderson did a better job of telling you how to test it than I would have!

Mr HadYourPhil, do you have a scanner?? Might be same one I have, but who knows. Maybe I can send it to you and you compare.