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Old 04-27-2010, 08:30 PM
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rca2000 rca2000 is offline
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Got a Zenith 25MC30...works, somewhat...

The Good 'ol Zeniths. I do NOT think there will EVER be any tv set built like them again!! A 45 year old color tv with nearly ALL of the original parts including caps....and it STILL works!! There is just something "special" to be said about that kind of thing!!

Now...about THIS Zenith. a couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine called me after work, to tell me about an old round Zenith color tv set he had seen at a local antique mall. He had looked at it a bit, and found that it was a Zenith 25MC30 chassis set, in quite good cabinet and tube physical condition, and he looked inside it. It was a tube-over-speaker set, It looked pretty clean and untouched. They only wanted a bit under $40 for it!! MORE than enough for me---SOLD!! Only problem...he had seen it a few days before...and it might be gone by then. I hoped for the best, as this mall is maybe 8 miles form my house....and I have travelled hundreds of miles before to get similar tv sets. So...I IMMEDIATELY headed there from work, literally praying it was still there.

And it WAS there too!! I had my car, and could not pick it up then, but still bought it. They would hold it for a couple of weeks, and I planned to get it that coming Saturday or so. Sunday night, i went and got it "under the radar" and brought it home, where it stayed in the van for about a week. I did take a cursory look at the chassis, and like Greg said--it was in good shape, no rust to speak of--and with what looked like the original tube.

Last week, I took it out of the van to get ready for the ETF convention. I decided to "give it a shot" and see if it would "light off'... keeping an "eye on it", as it powered up. After all, most 60's Zeniths will come up--for awhile at least, with NO real repairs.

After about 30 seconds, sound "noise" came up, then I heard vertical and horizontal...but NO HV. Maybe b y90 seconds...HV DID come up...VERY slowly...but NO raster. I waited a bit longer...but still no raster. I tried the G2 controls and drive controls...floored them...STILL no raster.

Replacing the focus rect did NOT change things. BUT...when I shut off the set...I DID get a "flash" of raster--and in the "service position" I got a weak line. I figured the output tube was weak--changed it--and it DID make the HV come up a LOT quicker--and stronger...but STILL no raster. I ran out of time...and left it for the night.


Well....last night--I decided to see if maybe the tube was "asleep", as many are after many decades of slumber. My CR--70 showed the 21FJP22 CRT was INDEED either "asleep" or simply DEAD--and on ALL guns, about equally. All 3 came up maybe about 1/4" on the bad scale. I now realized I had no raster--cause the tube was dead. Maybe though....it would "wake up". Raising the filament to about 8 volts DID make a difference, and the red gun rose to about half way up the bad scale--as did the others.

Since the CR-70 has a "soft rejuv' cycle....I figured I had little to lose...in an attempt to "wake up" the tube. It DID respond to a gentle rejuv cycle on all 3 guns. Life test held nice--and at 4 volts--the 3 guns still held pretty good emission and cutoff.

NOW--the raster DID come on--pretty bright!! Since OTA analog is gone=--I have only snow--but pretty good snow. Even with the original 6JS6 H-out--it still gives a nice, bright enough raster. I ran it about 10 minutes--and it did NOT have ANY caps get hot--nor did the flyback.

My next step is to put a signal on the set--with a vcr or such. Looks like the old CRT WILL make it. And like I said...those old metal chassis Zenith sets are just "one of a kind"....asleep for decades--and they will STILL "wake up" and RUN!! Now--I would NOT want to run one for long that way--without a rebuild...but for the short term...not bad!!

I CANNOT say that for most old RCA sets---of similar vintage.
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Old 04-28-2010, 12:21 AM
ChrisW6ATV's Avatar
ChrisW6ATV ChrisW6ATV is offline
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Nice find!
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Quote from another forum: "(Antique TV collecting) always seemed to me to be a fringe hobby that only weirdos did."
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