Since starting work with the county, I have already found a relic still in use.

http://i.imgur.com/DZ1Ig52.jpg

Old Zenith! This bad boy is in stereo, with an on screen display. Still used. Not bad, not bad at all.

I want to tell my boss, if they ever retire it, I want it.

Nothing to see here folks, lets move along.
Its mid-late 80's, just broken in.

Last time I was in the hospital abt 10 yrs ago they were replacing
all the RCA CTC175's ( apx 1992) with NAP flat screens. They were not
changing out the older Zenith System 3 sets ( apx 1980).
Also spotted a few CC2 chassis sets with EFL CRT's ( apx 1977).
"Arm" sets were still all 9" Zeniths that had the last 9" real Zenith chassis.
All the RCA sets left had weak CRT's & the NAP flats had
to me unwatchable picture. Yuk.

Put in your request. That set will disappear at the end of the fiscal
year in the big "get rid of the extra $$ fast" scam.

73 Zeno:smoke:

Last time I was in the hospital abt 10 yrs ago they were replacing
all the RCA CTC175's ( apx 1992) with NAP flat screens. They were not
changing out the older Zenith System 3 sets ( apx 1980).
Also spotted a few CC2 chassis sets with EFL CRT's ( apx 1977).
Are the EFL CRTs in CC2 sets inline?

Are the EFL CRTs in CC2 sets inline?

Yes.
EFL came out in H-line on 17 & 19" just the high end sets.
Chassis was a lot like CC2 re-arranged.
Got rid of the 9-89 r-g-b out & put it on the CRT SKT.
9-147 vert replaced with 9-120 & separate beefy outputs.
150-190 IF got -01 added & had a SAW filter.
New tripler for the 3 focus grids.
Other boards got updates & -## Some things got moved around.
Service wise the same as CC2 for the most part, EASY !

73 Zeno:smoke:

Zenith EFL tubers and ALL others like them...do NOT have the "bulletproof" design of their chromacolor delta tubes. Those Tri-potential tubes were dying OVER 25 YEARS ago !!

I've got a '79 Zenith CCII motel set with built-in radio and it uses an inline tube that's still good. However, I agree that the inline tubes (especially the 23" and 25" tubes) didn't hold up nearly as well as the delta gun tubes.

it is 2015, almost 2016. There is nothing wrong with the early system 3s and their tri-pot tubes. Saying they weren't as good as a Chromacolor tube isn't saying much, since nothing has the longevity of a 70s Zenith color tube.
All in all, The system 3 was a very nice set in the eighties.the CRTs are still largely healthy after 25 - 30 years +

...

You have summed it up nicely.
My experience is bad EFL's came in runs. IIRC M1970P was the
nice pecan wood 19" set. Had a lot of them with bad jugs
at 4 yrs. Probably a bad run for whatever reason. Other than
that I only remember a few that were a little weak. IMHO the
only jugs that may have been better in the 80's were RCA's.

73 Zeno:smoke:

it is 2015, almost 2016. There is nothing wrong with the early system 3s and their tri-pot tubes. Saying they weren't as good as a Chromacolor tube isn't saying much, since nothing has the longevity of a 70s Zenith color tube.
All in all, The system 3 was a very nice set in the eighties.the CRTs are still largely healthy after 25 - 30 years +

it is 2015, almost 2016. There is nothing wrong with the early system 3s and their tri-pot tubes. All in all, The system 3 was a very nice set in the eighties.the CRTs are still largely healthy after 25 - 30 years +

I agree emphatically! :thmbsp:


My System 3 is from 1989 and when properly adjusted produces a solid image with accurate colors. I do have to disclose that it has had the HV driver board replaced twice (Once in 1997 and again in 2004.) and I keep stock on hand of the diodes and resistors that cause the HV board to fail if/when it goes again.

The only thing that I wish it had was CC display/decoding. I believe Zenith rolled it out on all models sometime in 1991, well before the 1993 mandate.

The only valid gripe for my set is that on many "cable channels" in the 90s, the majority of the commercials weren't in stereo but most of the programs were, and every time the stereo circuit toggled in/out there would be a brief hiss of static and a pop. This was especially annoying on the networks because during prime-time there were national commercials which could be stereo, and local insertion commercials which weren't. I didn't mind it so much, but it really annoyed my mother, so I tended to leave it set to forced mono in the audio setting menu.

http://www.funkengine.net/vk-img/2015-08-02/08-02-15_1328.jpg

I've got a '79 Zenith CCII motel set with built-in radio and it uses an inline tube that's still good. However, I agree that the inline tubes (especially the 23" and 25" tubes) didn't hold up nearly as well as the delta gun tubes.


The built in radio was always very "cool" to me as a child/teen. Wish that the idea would have caught on with household sets.

So here's some news about this set.

It's not actually used anymore. I was wrong about it being in use still. They switched to IP TV, so these sets are being surplussed as we speak. The other thing, this TV was surplused a while ago, but no one has come to pick it up.

So I may be able to buy it directly off the school if it goes unclaimed. What's a good reasonable offer? I'm not afraid to be generous as I really like this school and wouldn't mind financially supporting them.

EDIT: Woops, I just realized I put my original post in the wrong category. Sorry about that!

The built in radio was always very "cool" to me as a child/teen. Wish that the idea would have caught on with household sets.

I had one with the built in radio on home observation. Tried to pitch it to product planning as a household set, but no one seemed to like it as much as I did - to me, the perfect bedroom set.

I bought this Bad Boy's "Double 1st Cousin" back in the late 80s-early 90s for my office's AV room. We also watched the 9/11 stuff on it.

I bought this Bad Boy's "Double 1st Cousin" back in the late 80s-early 90s for my office's AV room. We also watched the 9/11 stuff on it.

I watched 9/11 on the same exact model as this set. I'll never forget seeing the second tower hit, then watch people jump. I was in shock and horror at the events I saw.