Hello everyone, today (well actually yesterday) I had spotted in one of the donation lowboys at the Goodwill I work at a late 1960s Sony TV-950 B & W portable TV that was still in extremely good shape, including the original rod antenna and I thought about asking them yesterday if I could buy it off them (since they don't take TVs anymore) and I never did it so I came back to work today and I went to see if the lowboy that the TV was in was still there and sure enough it wasn't so I went to look in some of the recycling lowboys and sure enough it was there but the cord was cut off of it so I asked my boss that was working today if I could buy it off of the recycling even though the cord was cut off and she said it was fine and I got it for a $1.99.
So I have to wire on a new cord to see if it still works or not, and hopefully rewiring the cord isn't too convoluted on this TV or else its just going to have to be a display piece.

Its really dirty and the reason why I said it was probably from the late 1960s is because it has the Continuous UHF instead of the Click-Stop UHF.

I have some pictures of the aforementioned unit for you guys to look at.

Hello everyone, today (well actually yesterday) I had spotted in one of the donation lowboys at the Goodwill I work at a late 1960s Sony TV-950 B & W portable TV that was still in extremely good shape, including the original rod antenna and I thought about asking them yesterday if I could buy it off them (since they don't take TVs anymore) and I never did it so I came back to work today and I went to see if the lowboy that the TV was in was still there and sure enough it wasn't so I went to look in some of the recycling lowboys and sure enough it was there but the cord was cut off of it so I asked my boss that was working today if I could buy it off of the recycling even though the cord was cut off and she said it was fine and I got it for a $1.99.
So I have to wire on a new cord to see if it still works or not, and hopefully rewiring the cord isn't too convoluted on this TV or else its just going to have to be a display piece.

Its really dirty and the reason why I said it was probably from the late 1960s is because it has the Continuous UHF instead of the Click-Stop UHF.

I have some pictures of the aforementioned unit for you guys to look at.

You have enough left to splice a temporary cord to it, to check out it's working condition.
If you decide to keep it, you can do it properly.

You have enough left to splice a temporary cord to it, to check out it's working condition.
If you decide to keep it, you can do it properly.

Well I already replaced the cord anyways, and did it right, it wasn't too hard surprisingly enough except for when it came to removing the old cord off of the contacts that they were soldered to on the circuit board for the power supply, so I just moreor less cut it off and just wrapped the new cord's wires around where the old ones were at and soldered it into place. and went from there, I fired it up and it took about 5 minutes for me to get a decent viewable picture from the TV, and even then the picture is kind of dark and dim, and not very bright, although I'm guessing that it might just need to be ran for a while to "wake-up" the picture tube as it looked like it hasn't been used it probably a good 20-30 years or so by the amount of dust built up inside of the unit and by how dirty it is.

Continuous UHF tuners were around till the early-mid 70's. I think it was somewhere between 1973-75 when they were banned on most TVs.

Continuous UHF tuners were around till the early-mid 70's. I think it was somewhere between 1973-75 when they were banned on most TVs.

Yes, I know that, but the overall design of the TV to me looks late 1960s, plus the original power cord on this unit (before it was cut off) looked just like the power cord that was on an old Sony All-in-one stereo system that a friend of mine that I used to go to church with used to have that had a Dual 1218 turntable built into it which the Dual 1218s were from around 1966-1968, which is the other reason why I think this TV is from the late 1960s.

Continuous UHF tuners were around till the early-mid 70's. I think it was somewhere between 1973-75 when they were banned on most TVs.

I don't believe that they were ever "banned"... but the FCC required that the tuning method *must be the same* for both bands. If the VHF band was also continuous tuned it was ok for The UHF. Many small portables, such as the flat tube Sonys used continuous tuning through the 80s-90 or later, when digital tuning took over.

jr

Sony used that style of cord for years and years....I have a 1964 Sony TV, and 70's RTR tape machines with it. The danger is though many of those cords mechanically interchange not all of them send the same voltages to the same terminals. If you ever find a set without a cord and a separate cord elsewhere it would be wise to confirm pin-out and voltage match before applying power.

I don't believe that they were ever "banned"... but the FCC required that the tuning method *must be the same* for both bands. If the VHF band was also continuous tuned it was ok for The UHF. Many small portables, such as the flat tube Sonys used continuous tuning through the 80s-90 or later, when digital tuning took over.

jr

That is why I prefaced that statement with "I think"....It's been too long since I last saw info on the specifics of that to be sure I had it completely right. Thanks for clarifying.

Sony used that style of cord for years and years....I have a 1964 Sony TV, and 70's RTR tape machines with it. The danger is though many of those cords mechanically interchange not all of them send the same voltages to the same terminals. If you ever find a set without a cord and a separate cord elsewhere it would be wise to confirm pin-out and voltage match before applying power.

This had a hardwired power cord so there was nothing to worry about concerning whether or not the cord would be interchangable or not.
This TV was also a Cold Chassis set surprisingly enough which is the other reason why I think this TV predates the 1970s because I think that by the 1970s most portable TVs (specifically 13" or smaller sets, this set being a 9") were Hot Chassis sets, from what little research I was able to do on portable TVs.
The other dead give away is that it uses Germanium Transistors inside the unit instead of Silicone Transistors which I think that by the 1970s they started to phase out Germanium Transistors in favor of Silicone Transistors.

Almost all if not all early sets that ran on 12 VDC used
a power transformer. Latter sets sometimes used a multivibrator
& higher voltages to run the set. RCA comes to mind. Its
all about economics.

73 Zeno:smoke:

Well I already replaced the cord anyways, and did it right, it wasn't too hard surprisingly enough except for when it came to removing the old cord off of the contacts that they were soldered to on the circuit board for the power supply, so I just moreor less cut it off and just wrapped the new cord's wires around where the old ones were at and soldered it into place. and went from there, I fired it up and it took about 5 minutes for me to get a decent viewable picture from the TV, and even then the picture is kind of dark and dim, and not very bright, although I'm guessing that it might just need to be ran for a while to "wake-up" the picture tube as it looked like it hasn't been used it probably a good 20-30 years or so by the amount of dust built up inside of the unit and by how dirty it is.
The buildup of dust on the inside of the set is the result of it being used a lot in a dusty area. The heat and HV draw in the dust.
I have a similar Sony, that was made for world wide use. It has two switches on top, one for 120/220 volts and one for different regions. I don't remember the legends, but when it's switched, the picture rolls and the sound gets distorted. It even has channel one, plus UHF. :thmbsp:

And I have seen ONE GE "XB"hot chassis set--from the mid-70's or so that used a switcher to step UP the 12 volt input for the chassis. It had to be mid-70's or so.

Almost all if not all early sets that ran on 12 VDC used
a power transformer. Latter sets sometimes used a multivibrator
& higher voltages to run the set. RCA comes to mind. Its
all about economics.

73 Zeno:smoke:

And Zenith continued to use cold chassis for their BW 13" sets till 1978..12KB1 chassis. Also in that period their lager BW sets----with the 19GB1 chassis--it used a VRT for power even. As did the "flat chassis BW 19FB12 chassis that came before it , a couple of us here have.

Well Anyways I'm surprised no one on here had mentioned anything about this one being a good save, because I know that the Montgomery Wards TV I saved and posted about on here everyone was talking about and saying how much of a good save that one was but when I save this old Sony regardless of whether or not it was from the '60s or the '70s should of been considered just as good of a save because its a lot earlier than the Montgomery Wards set I saved earlier.

Sony in that era had the really small portable TV market in the palm of it's hand. It is not a very rare set compared to the wards.

Well Anyways I'm surprised no one on here had mentioned anything about this one being a good save, because I know that the Montgomery Wards TV I saved and posted about on here everyone was talking about and saying how much of a good save that one was but when I save this old Sony regardless of whether or not it was from the '60s or the '70s should of been considered just as good of a save because its a lot earlier than the Montgomery Wards set I saved earlier.
Fourteen responses about this set, shows there is a certain degree of interest, as in many entrees on this forum.
Yes, it was a good save!
Ask the person that has control of the disposition of electronic salvage, to let you see the items, before they cut the cords off or do other damage. The worst, they could say is "NO". :sigh:
BTW, My main interest is small screen color sets, like your Wards set. As stated before, I do have several small screen B/W sets, including "jelly bean sets" but they were mostly "Freebees".

Fourteen responses about this set, shows there is a certain degree of interest, as in many entrees on this forum.
Yes, it was a good save!
Ask the person that has control of the disposition of electronic salvage, to let you see the items, before they cut the cords off or do other damage. The worst, they could say is "NO". :sigh:
BTW, My main interest is small screen color sets, like your Wards set. As stated before, I do have several small screen B/W sets, including "jelly bean sets" but they were mostly "Freebees".

OK, that's cool. So how long does it take exactly to "wake up" a picture tube that's been asleep for a long time? Just wondering because I've been trying to use that Montgomery Wards TV fairly often recently and it seems that its still a little dim yet and hasn't completely woken up yet.
What's interesting is that they did put a couple of small portable TVs on the floor, one of them a Realistic 5" portable color TV with Video inputs and outputs on it and an external antenna connection from 1989, and the other one a Hitachi 5" B & W portable from the early 1980s with external antenna connections as well (both had their original rod antennas intact yet). Anyways It seems if the TV is a small enough portable TV they will put it out on the floor. They also had a late 1980s Sony Watchman in their donation bin one day that was still in really good shape yet that was I think scrapped out.

Sony in that era had the really small portable TV market in the palm of it's hand. It is not a very rare set compared to the wards.

OK, I didn't know, although that was the first time I had ever seen one of those before.

OK, that's cool. So how long does it take exactly to "wake up" a picture tube that's been asleep for a long time? Just wondering because I've been trying to use that Montgomery Wards TV fairly often recently and it seems that its still a little dim yet and hasn't completely woken up yet.
What's interesting is that they did put a couple of small portable TVs on the floor, one of them a Realistic 5" portable color TV with Video inputs and outputs on it and an external antenna connection from 1989, and the other one a Hitachi 5" B & W portable from the early 1980s with external antenna connections as well (both had their original rod antennas intact yet). Anyways It seems if the TV is a small enough portable TV they will put it out on the floor. They also had a late 1980s Sony Watchman in their donation bin one day that was still in really good shape yet that was I think scrapped out.
I'm pretty sure is has a "Screen control", that needs adjustment. I should be on the flyback along with the focus control.
BTW, you should buy the Realistic 5" set if it's reasonable enough. One thing nice about them is they're not that large and you can use it for a monitor for VCR repair.

I'm pretty sure is has a "Screen control", that needs adjustment. I should be on the flyback along with the focus control.
BTW, you should buy the Realistic 5" set if it's reasonable enough. One thing nice about them is they're not that large and you can use it for a monitor for VCR repair.

OK, I'll see about getting that Realistic monitor. I think its still there.
I'll check the Screen control Adjustment. The Sony Has the same issue I noticed, so I guess I'll check the screen control on it as well.

OK, I'll see about getting that Realistic monitor. I think its still there.
I'll check the Screen control Adjustment. The Sony Has the same issue I noticed, so I guess I'll check the screen control on it as well.

B/W sets don't have a screen control AFAIK. Maybe a brightness range. The CRT is probably just weak from heavy usage. :sigh:

B/W sets don't have a screen control AFAIK. Maybe a brightness range. The CRT is probably just weak from heavy usage. :sigh:

Hmm, well when I adjust the brightness and contrast controls the screen does some funky stuff like making light tones like light colored skin and what not look almost greyish-black instead of white colored (and dark colored skin and other darker tones look whiteish colored almost like its inverting the greytones), is that a sign that the picture tube is about shot?

Hmm, well when I adjust the brightness and contrast controls the screen does some funky stuff like making light tones like light colored skin and what not look almost greyish-black instead of white colored (and dark colored skin and other darker tones look whiteish colored almost like its inverting the greytones), is that a sign that the picture tube is about shot?

Yes... CRT engineers refer to that phenomenon as "double peaking"... the beam current does not increase in a linear fashion as grid drive is increased, but may actually decrease and then increase again as grid drive is advanced farther, creating a second brightness peak. Very common on a worn out CRT.

jr

Yes... CRT engineers refer to that phenomenon as "double peaking"... the beam current does not increase in a linear fashion as grid drive is increased, but may actually decrease and then increase again as grid drive is advanced farther, creating a second brightness peak. Very common on a worn out CRT.

jr

Ah, well that's too bad, well I guess it would make a nice displaye piece if nothing else.

As for my Montgomery Wards TV the Brightness has to be turned all the way up in order to see the picture otherwise you can't see anything, I was told that it might be an adjustment on the Flyback that needs to be adjusted (screen control?) but other than that I'm hoping that the picture tube isn't about dead on it because that would be rather odd for a TV that saw little use to have a failing picture tube already, especially when the color is fine yet just the brightness is a little off for some reason on it.

Great save.

I think I have a set similar like this set.

I agree.Those PITA Sony power cords.Panasonic follows,are a nightmare If you dont get the right pinout and voltage info .

Pop goes the weasel.

CRT's almost always fail due to low emission. On a
B&W symptoms are dark pix, negative pix, streaking of
bright areas, slow warm up & overly bright whites with no detail or any
combination of.....

Best test is darken the room, turn down the bright & contrast.
If it looks a lot better its the CRT 99%.

All fixes are risky ( except a new CRT )
Rejuvenation, only use a MODERN CRT checker for this made
after the early 70's.
Brighteners only work on some sets.
Most sets have a low ohm resistor in series with the filament.
It can be jumped out to give a little more E but again risky.

As far as waking it up goes regular use will usually improve things
but its a process that goes on just like people getting old &
slowing down......

73 Zeno:smoke:

CRT's almost always fail due to low emission. On a
B&W symptoms are dark pix, negative pix, streaking of
bright areas, slow warm up & overly bright whites with no detail or any
combination of.....

Best test is darken the room, turn down the bright & contrast.
If it looks a lot better its the CRT 99%.

All fixes are risky ( except a new CRT )
Rejuvenation, only use a MODERN CRT checker for this made
after the early 70's.
Brighteners only work on some sets.
Most sets have a low ohm resistor in series with the filament.
It can be jumped out to give a little more E but again risky.

As far as waking it up goes regular use will usually improve things
but its a process that goes on just like people getting old &
slowing down......

73 Zeno:smoke:

OK, I'll give the TV a try and see if it actually exibits any of the symptoms you mentioned or if perhaps its just needs time to wake up the CRT from not being used for a long time, seeing as this TV is from between 1967-1972 I would guess that this TV probably was supplanted by a modern Color TV and was just left in a guest bedroom for years unused, before the previous owners donated the TV to Goodwill.

Nice find.

This reminded me of another Sony 9" portable from the 60's:
Sony TV9-306UB (http://wogew.blogspot.com/2009/10/sgt-pepper-tv.html)
A restoration (http://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/showthread.php?t=93616)

Nice find.

This reminded me of another Sony 9" portable from the 60's:
Sony TV9-306UB (http://wogew.blogspot.com/2009/10/sgt-pepper-tv.html)
A restoration (http://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/showthread.php?t=93616)

That's interesting, although apparently that was strictly a British model only from what I see, whereas the model I have is an American model. Mine has a provision for a rechargable battery pack and also a 12 Volt car plugin on the same socket. on mine the case and antenna and carrying handle were in near mint condition including the original power cord with original Sony plug end before it got cut off at Goodwill, the only issue with it is that the picture tube is about shot on it sadly enough... :sigh: :tears: