Motorola "works in a drawer" color set wanted

[Eric H]

Originally Posted by heathkit tv

Quasar et al wasn't the only works in the drawer set:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/3473760...n/photostream/

That Heathkit set looks way nicer than the Motorola WID sets!

I remeber seeing an ad for some set, possibly CM? where the entire chassis was removed and replaced with a new unit.
This became common later with sets like the Zenith System Three where the "Motherboard" would get swapped out with a new or rebuilt unit.
I swapped a ton of those out under warranty back around 79 or 80 when they first came out, they were a disaster!

[heathkit tv]

That era Heathkits were built like tanks (you're welcome). The copper (copper-like?) coating on the chassis is so doggone purty and the way the boards are modular reminds me of a moderner (Pat Pend on that word) version of a Setchell Carlson. Very military grade overall.

As many of either know or surmised, I'm more of a tinkerer (especially after too many beers) than a profeshinull smoke reinstaller. Other than connections the weak spot of these sets seems to be the power supply as there's something that's Heath specific and made out of unobtainium. The kits were shipped with this already preassembled...always wondered if that was due to liability concerns or that it was uber tricky to get right.

Sorry for hijacking the thread.

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by heathkit tv

the power supply as there's something that's Heath specific and made out of unobtainium. The kits were shipped with this already preassembled...always wondered if that was due to liability concerns or that it was uber tricky to get right.

Sorry for hijacking the thread.

Pre-assembled so that the HV could not be misadjusted (required for UL listing, I'm sure), the builder was prevented from making rough solder connections that might cause corona, etc. The IF also was a potted pre-aligned assembly that used a complex LC filter, so the builder didn't have the impossible job of aligning without test gear.

[julianburke]

I worked for Modan Service here in Knoxville in the late '60's and we serviced only Motorola's and Zeniths. Charlie Duncan, a former Motorola field service rep and Dan Geddings, a Zenith only service guy merged/partnered with Charles Moore who was retired from Graybar (distributor of Zenith products) and it was a rather large operation servicing about a 100 mile radius. I did field work on both models and funny, I never saw any evidence of a Quasar being "junk". I worked on hundreds of them that came in from all over east Tennessee and even taught a regular class on servicing them. I still have my module caddy and the most trouble I had out of most Quasars was the IF/SOUND module with the VERTICAL module to follow. Quasar was a very expensive set of the day to the tune of $800-1000 when a high priced Zenith was about $700.

Like any other brand and the "servicemen" who have not been to any school of like model and get lost in it through not knowing how it works or to properly troubleshoot it, I suppose they would consider it "junk". It was a very revolutionary and timely set that unquestionably set the standard for modular TV's PERIOD. At that time the market was very ready for more reliability and that the set could be fixed quickly and properly in the customers' home. Tubes and soldered in parts were quickly becoming unpopular not to mention obsolete and the handwriting was on the wall for the old tube guys who could not service or adapt to solid state. Also heavy tube sets that could not be fixed in the home had to leave the home and owners often would have heartburn over this fact as sets would commonly come back with scars, scratches & scrapes from clumsy, careless or poor and cramped work spaces. I personally have seen sets with cigarette burns all over the inside of the cabinet from smoker servicemen. Yep, the Quasar was a welcome and timely instrument for the day!

BTW, I found far more intermittents in Zenith module stake connectors than Motorola. The only Motorola set I would ever consider "junk" was their first rectangular set with a 23EGP22 but that model led the way for newer design of delta picture tubes, AND it was a very short lived set and is an extremely hard TV to find nowadays. I have one of those in my collection.

Also, does anyone know why Zenith had handwired sets for so long?? That manufacturing process was a cumbersome and expensive way to manufacture a TV for the day and was obsolete. Zenith touted it as quality, quality, quality in all of their advertising! Quality had virtually nothing to do with it as Zenith did NOT want to spend the money to update their manufacturing process. This is fact and was a very bad idea at the roundtable as it started the beginning of the end for Zenith. Most of their products were always 40-50% higher than comparable products of different manufacture. Too little too late cost Zenith market share and as always in manufacturing there are three little words in the 'biz--BETTER, FASTER, CHEAPER and not necessarily in that order. Magnavox was made right here in Knoxville to their end of manufacturing and every year the engineers HAD to come up with designs & ideas that would lower the cost of a set by at least 7% annually. Not really hard to do as new IC's and other components would always come on the market yearly.

[dieseljeep]

HEY FELLOW VKers. Keep one thing in mind! Motorola is still in business!

[sampson159]

even thought the picture was bad,my father thought the motorola was electronically advanced for the period.that 23gp22 was sooooo bad.we saw one when we bought the philco.julian is right-it was much more expensive.didnt see many in the shop but there were a few up in german village.service calls were almost always audio problems.with a sylvania replacement crt,that might have been the best set.

[heathkit tv]

Originally Posted by julianburke

Like any other brand and the "servicemen" who have not been to any school of like model and get lost in it through not knowing how it works or to properly troubleshoot it, I suppose they would consider it "junk".

A corollary would be Fairbanks-Morse locomotives which gained a reputation as being troublesome, but the truth was revealed by Southern Pacific who used them exclusively on their Bay Area commuter runs and once the maintenance crews became familiar with the differences from EMD or Alco they discovered that they gave superior service. You can't fix a Ford with a Chevy part....hmm, you can't fix a Ford PERIOD LOL

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

HEY FELLOW VKers. Keep one thing in mind! Motorola is still in business!

Not in the TV biz ;-) Hell, Studebaker is still in business for that matter: https://www.studebaker.com/name.html

[bgadow]

I was just thinking the other day, Zenith, RCA, Magnavox-are just brand names now, the companies don't exist. But General Electric does! What does that say?

[WA3WLJ]

GE is now a French company.....................
Any AMERICAN FRIES AVAILABLE ?????

[WA3WLJ]

Thompson

[NewVista]

I once trashed a WID set. It was interesting technology to explore/dismantle. Quite a unique TV. And if I'm not mistaken, it was the world's first all-solid-state color ? I remember the special (expensive?) HV rectifier was solid state and looked like the Seattle Space Needle. It seems it rectified the entire 25kv from H.O.T. with large coil winding (no high voltage Multiplier employed ?)

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by NewVista

I once trashed a WID set. It was interesting technology to explore/dismantle. Quite a unique TV. And if I'm not mistaken, it was the world's first all-solid-state color ? I remember the special (expensive?) HV rectifier was solid state and looked like the Seattle Space Needle. It seems it rectified the entire 25kv from H.O.T. with large coil winding (no high voltage Multiplier employed ?)

First large screen color all solid state. The solid state HV rectifier consisted of a stack of lower-voltage diodes. The shape of the fins was designed to equalize the capacitive current and therefore the transient voltage across the individual diodes from the top to the bottom of the stack.

[Username1]

I believe that story about Zenith not wanting to update their manufacturing process. Same reason I keep my old cars, I know them inside out. Reminds me of a story I once read online from a former Chrysler engineer that outlined how the company had planned to keep the 225 6Cyl. alive into the 90's. He concluded at the end, that they just loved that engine, and did not want to spend the money on a new design when they knew all the buggs in the current design, had fixes, and the plant to build them was already built.

[andy]

---

[bgadow]

Originally Posted by WA3WLJ

GE is now a French company.....................
Any AMERICAN FRIES AVAILABLE ?????

Unless something has happened that me and wikipedia don't know about, General Electric is still a US company. Sure, the TV division was sold off decades ago...but GE survives, making everything from jet engines to nuclear power plants.

I'm not even sure if Thomson really exists anymore? Hard to keep up with it all.