This set is at a local auction house, was passed in at the last antique sale.

Never seen one like this before. The swivel base appears to be original to the set. The power cable is mounted to the back cover, which I've never seen on an Australian set before.

It's a 17 inch with a 17CGP4 CRT and looks a lot more "American" than other more common Australian B&W sets.

I'm not looking for such a big project right now, so I'm not picking this one up. I would have grabbed it anyway and passed it on had the owner not wanted so much for it (AU$150, not that I think it's that far out of line for such a rare set).

Thought it was worth posting the pics though.

Looks like someone put a stick HV rectifier in it ?

These sets shure look strange to me.

73 Zeno:smoke:

The stick rectifier appears to be one of those replacement types that plugs into an existing tube socket. It along with the missing HV cage cover and a couple of loose tubes rolling around in the bottom of the cabinet were probably from the last time someone tried to get it going again. The stick rectifier suggests that had to be in the 70s - even then it was an old set.

It's a model CSJ and was made from 1956 (the start of TV in Australia) to 1958 (info from AndrewM who sometimes posts here).

I started in '70 & we saw little from the 50's, usually
old folk had them. UHF was important & most sets
didnt have it til mandated in '64 so old stuff went
away fast.

Loved those sticks, saved time when the HV filament
wire was arcing. A pain to change on some sets........

Its a cool set that could tell some stories. In the states
when someone got an early set everyone would come
over to watch. They would stare at the Indian head test
pattern for hours waiting for a show.

73 Zeno:smoke:

I started in '70 & we saw little from the 50's, usually
old folk had them. UHF was important & most sets
didnt have it til mandated in '64 so old stuff went
away fast.

Loved those sticks, saved time when the HV filament
wire was arcing. A pain to change on some sets........

Its a cool set that could tell some stories. In the states
when someone got an early set everyone would come
over to watch. They would stare at the Indian head test
pattern for hours waiting for a show.

73 Zeno:smoke:

The stick shown, looks like the selenium type that GE and a few others used.
It's hard tp believe that some areas didn't have UHF channels, until it was mandated. Milwaukee had UHF from 1953. There was a lot of UHF convertors used as many of the sets in use were rather new.

There was no UHF here until around 1980 or later in some areas. Other than those relatively recent $20 5" sets B&W TVs here rarely have UHF.

Even then in many areas the 3 commercial networks and the ABC stayed on VHF, so many people didn't use the UHF tuner if they had them. Frozen UHF tuners are common.

The stick shown, looks like the selenium type that GE and a few others used.
It's hard tp believe that some areas didn't have UHF channels, until it was mandated. Milwaukee had UHF from 1953. There was a lot of UHF convertors used as many of the sets in use were rather new.
Boston had the big 4 on VHF early. Between RI, NH,Me & MA
we grabbed all but ch3.
Hartford area was all UHF except 3&8 due to being between NYC & Boston.
First successful UHF here IIRC was ch38 that the church ran then
56 & 44 in the 60's. In the 70's they sprang up like weeds.

73 Zeno

Philadelphia had only one UHF channel in the 50s, only educational programming, that operated during the day. Of course the big 3 VHF stations were from 1947, and three commercial UHF coming in 1965. WPTZ ,later WRCV now KYW , channel 3 reactivated from being Philco's pre-war station, ironically KYW was the last analog channel in this entire region - until late 2010 displaying a message to get a converter box or a new TV.

New York City had a full VHF dial, channels 2 WCBS, 4 WNBC, 5 (independent), 7 WABC, 9 (independent), 11 (independent) 13 PBS. We didn't worry much about our sets lacking UHF, as the stations on UHF were mostly Spanish.

We have the network flagship stations, and when I was a young kid, I thought that these stations covered the entire country. (I confused the stations with the networks, thinking that it was the same thing). So why did empty channels exist, I wondered. Figured it was the government mandating it, just to be a PITA, just like the teachers in my grammar school making us do lots of stupid stuff, like memorizing poems, or names and dates in history :D

New York City had a full VHF dial, channels 2 WCBS, 4 WNBC, 5 (independent), 7 WABC, 9 (independent), 11 (independent) 13 PBS. We didn't worry much about our sets lacking UHF, as the stations on UHF were mostly Spanish.

We have the network flagship stations, and when I was a young kid, I thought that these stations covered the entire country. (I confused the stations with the networks, thinking that it was the same thing). So why did empty channels exist, I wondered. Figured it was the government mandating it, just to be a PITA, just like the teachers in my grammar school making us do lots of stupid stuff, like memorizing poems, or names and dates in history :D

Remember Soupy and Sonny Fox and others on WNEW 5? I lived in Danbury for a while, and the S--tbox Muntz :thumbsdn: we had picked up the low band channels OK with a stacked V-conical, but had trouble with the high band. Forget about 9, 11, and 13.
Kevin