I am embarking on buying a circa 1963 color TV receiver whose owner is honest enough to describe as "not working". I would want to have some idea of what is and what is not wrong with the set before I agree on a price and move the set about 100 miles.

Sadly, I do not have a CRT tester at my disposal. I do have an old (receiving) tube tester, two digital multimeters, a DTV converter box that can run on batteries, and assorted "unconventional" test gear (e.g., an AM radio to detect video amp activity, and VHF handi-talkie that could detect local oscillators).

Any suggestions on other things to do to evaluate the set at the owner's house would be most appreciated, thanks.

P.S.: Detroit, MI area.

Has it been turned on (I would guess so if they are going to sell it) lately?

if so any damage that would be done if there was a problem is already been done. Also that era does not have but 1 or 2 paper caps (one across the line, and maybe a couple 1kv hard shelled tube caps) so if the electros did not short out it prob would not hurt to go ahead and power it up, if you get a white raster then prob all the guns are ok in the CRT, or just turn the screen controls down and then turn up one at a time, you should be able to get the RGB colors.

You could also just bring along a RF output DVD player as a video source, and just see if it works.

you can look inside the flyback cage and see if the fly looks burned up. some melted out wax dripping is nothing to worry about, but if it looks burned then the fly may be bad.

look at the horz output tube, if it looks bad (milky getter) or if it starts to red plate, then stop the test, no reason to do more damage.

if you have a small neon bulb you can tape it to a wood stick and hold it near the HORZ plate cap, it will light up if the horz output tube is working after it warms up.

you should hear some crackling as the HV come up as well.

If you get it for a really good price then it really does not matter, just get it as is and deal with problems.

Not working could be DEAD (not even the channel indicator light works) all the way thru will not receive digital transmissions.

100 miles is a pretty good drive each way, I can see why you would want to know more, but unless they can describe what not working means to them, then you pretty much have to just take the chance and go for it.

Got it!

See thread "Zenith roundie in detroit"

Thank you very much for your assistance