Might go get this, depending on what it is. Any guesses? Almost everything after ~1974 I won't bother with at this point. It was a very dark picture - I tried to enhance it a little.

At first glance it may be a Zenith CC2 with 18 pos
selector. Sure its mid 70's to early 80's. May be
something rare like Philco or Admiral SS set so worth
a look-see.

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

I agree with Zeno, go take a look at it, looks like a Zenith CCII to me, as well, I'm thinking mid to late 70's vintage, as best as I can tell by the picture. Good luck!

I'll definitely take a look at it. Maybe if it's free, or in mint condition I'll get it. If it's a remote set, consider it already in my collection. Here is the original picture.

I'll definitely take a look at it. Maybe if it's free, or in mint condition I'll get it. If it's a remote set, consider it already in my collection. Here is the original picture.
Yah, that does make them more interesting. I have three types of ultrasonic remote sets: one with a 20-position motorized varactor tuner and a side-scrolling channel display, one with a motorized VHF tuner (didn't know that is a remote set until it was brought to me) and of course my fully-electronic Heathkit GR-2000. Of course I didn't get the original remote so I'm using a newer-style Magnavox Star System remote for now.

1976 Zenith System 3. Got it for The Best Price. When I showed interest in it, they pretty much begged me to take it.

Displays a decent picture. CRT is pretty tired. Takes its time warming up.

1976 Zenith System 3. Got it for The Best Price. When I showed interest in it, they pretty much begged me to take it.
I'm thinking the manufacture date label is worn, I don't think the System 3s were out until 1978.

It's a 1976. Clear as day.

EDIT - set was made June 1978. I misread the label three times in a row. Only got 4 hours of sleep last night.

Don't tell me CRT's don't wake up! After using this thing for a while, the CRT has woken up big time. When I first got it, I had to have the brightness cranked up to get a usable picture. Today, I put the NTSC generator on it, and if I didn't know any better I'd say somebody rejuvenized when I wasn't looking.

CRTs sure do wake up, but they can die of shock too...I had a LONG dormant 50's monochrome rebuild yesterday come on testing almost full scale then slowly sag with small jumps downward till it was near completely dead....Would not take a rejuve either.

Probably would be a good idea to bring it up real slow on a CRT tester in a situation like that.

Probably would be a good idea to bring it up real slow on a CRT tester in a situation like that.

I was just as slow (if not slower) with that tube as I was with the other ~10 CRTs in that batch, and all of those tubes woke up decently.

Upon the alarm clock going off instead of turning over, clutching for snooze, and eventually rolling outa bed, It pretty much just stood bolt upright clutched at it's chest, shook, and slowly crumpled to the ground dead...Pardon the colorful metaphor. I'd chock it up more to being a flaky rebuild.

I'm thinking the manufacture date label is worn, I don't think the System 3s were out until 1978.

System 3 "style" chassis came out the end of J line on a few
TOTL consoles. As far as I know System 3 was never used on
the sets or in literature.

K line brought the name & ad campaign. Sets were 19" & 25".
System 3 was a feature list not a chassis. J & K sets used the
9-153 HV module not the 9-160. They were the most reliable
sets Zenith ever built. Also the CRT's used a green phosphor
that was stunning. One thing I never tried that I would like
to is swap the 9-152 with a 9-152-02 that has a comb filter.

L line brought the 9-160, comb filter, 13" & 17" and RAT tuner.
Reliability dropped but sales went through the roof......

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

///

... Also the CRT's used a green phosphor
that was stunning. ...


This is a very interesting observation.

I believe by this time they had dropped the cadmium from the green (which made it brighter, but yellower, producing a cyan color bar that was very grayish). (The cadmium was determined to be an environmental hazard.) This means that the green formula was based on copper-activated zinc sulfide like everyone else's green, but there could be unique differences among makers depending on the use of co-activators like gold or aluminum. With the deletion of cadmium, the efficacy of the green was reduced such that it could be the limiting primary for tube brightness rather than red, for D65 color temperature. However, no TV manufacturers at the time setup for D65; they were generally much more blue/cyan, partly as a habit from earlier days. Zenith used a unique 8000K setup that was not as blue as others, but still had a clean white look that accented reds and yellows by contrast, and provided more stable skin tones. I don't know exactly what combination of activators Zenith used in green or the exact color coordinates of the resulting green. I also note that the "stunning" nature of a particular color bar can be influenced greatly by the color demodulator gains and angles.

Dusted inside the set today. After that, I watched the news for about an hour. It has a very good picture, except that it has a little snow.

Vibrant colors.

Dusted inside the set today. After that, I watched the news for about an hour. It has a very good picture, except that it has a little snow.



Is that a coax input on the left, or is that another one of the weird built-in baluns?


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That is a 75ohm coax input. I have a first gen CCII Avanti that uses the same style antenna board. The extra balun on the screw terminals is completely superfluous.

How you use the 75ohm input on these sets is counter intuitive though...When you unscrew the F-connector the male end on the wire is your tuner input (not the female connector mounted on the board as one might expect)...You can confirm by following that wire to the tuner. Since that lead is too short to reach the back of a VCR or anything else useful that you might want to connect it to I recommend you find a double ended female f-type connector (I rip them out of old cable wall plates) such as the one below and use it to connect a longer coax to the antenna lead. You will probably have much less static with a direct 75 ohm connection instead of going through 2 baluns in series as you appear to be doing.

http://s3.showmecables.com/images/catalog/product/F-81-F-Type-Female-to-F-Type-Female-Inline-Splice-Adapter-1.jpg

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Thanks. I'll look into that.