View Full Version : 1963 Zenith k1620 b&w portable


jbivy
09-12-2015, 04:55 PM
So heres my newest toy, picked up off craigslist for the sum of 5 bucks. The previous owners actually had this hooked up to cable in their rec room, still in service!

Works decent. The volume needs to be played with, its touchy and needs to be touched just right, to get it to stop humming. All in all, a great little tv that will get plenty of love :)

Cant wait till i take it apart tomorrow and clean up the chassis. The pics arent great, this is mint green with a grey outer bezel and dark green inner bezel.

http://i61.tinypic.com/2djc93s.jpg

http://i59.tinypic.com/312v3aa.jpg

http://i59.tinypic.com/5f0to9.jpg

zeno
09-12-2015, 05:38 PM
A steal for $5. Great color cabinet, most are tan.
With a little easy care it should outlive everybody
here. A great example of how we used to make every day
things with very long lives.

73 Zeno:smoke:

Eric H
09-12-2015, 06:13 PM
I found one of those at a Thrift about 15 years ago, nearly mint and working.

I sold it to Doug and sadly the CRT got necked in shipping.

The end of the CRT is so close to the inside of the CRT cup there's virtually no room for error, one good bump and poof.

It uses a weird tube I was never able to find so it sat in the garage attic for years and finally went back to the Thrift a few months ago.

fixmeplease
09-12-2015, 07:43 PM
If you need a schematic I can take pictures from my 1963 book. My scanner doesnt work.

Marco-nix
09-13-2015, 07:28 AM
Nice score jbivy... for this price its a steal.

Username1
09-13-2015, 09:05 AM
Nice !

When I was a kid I had picked up a 10" Admiral from the neighbors, it had a problem
with a tube I couldn't get locally. Great tv I like that style.... "Tube Forward" Kinda
like Chrysler's "Cab Forward" back around '99 ??

Is there a better base for that tv than what it looks like sitting on that cart...?
Kinda looks like a 1/16" margin with the tv's feet, and what looks like the
round metal rod stock just right and no margin for error......

.

jbivy
09-13-2015, 09:19 AM
Well I watched a few hours of Star Trek last night on it, no burning smells, nothing bad happened. Im a happy man :) This is one hardcore little tv to have survived over 50 years and still be functioning this well. Im proud to add it to my collection and put it into normal viewing rotation.

Username1

Youre correct, theres not much of a base on these tv's, plus its a bit top heavy. So its going to forever live in its cart, not that i mind, i love its retro cart. I ASSUME the cart is original, since the tv fits it like a glove.

fixmeplease
09-13-2015, 11:16 AM
Ive got a posting on here with a pic of the cart from my 63. Your vertical ends and wheels look the same. On mine the wide boards are on top and the TV sits on them just like a glove. my bottom had wooden dowels.

jbivy
09-13-2015, 04:37 PM
Well I opened the case, blew it out with an air compressor. Tested the tubes, 2 test low. A bit of Deoxit for the volume pot, now i no longer have its squealing when i change volume.

The picture is a tad clearer now, must have been some dirty tube pins. Works pretty darn nice now, watching Invasion of the Body Snatchers at the moment :)