1964 Zenith 5111 comes to life!

[sampson159]

relax.i want to see pics too.he will post when ready.gives us something to look forward too.

[Tubejunke]

Originally Posted by miniman82

I don't think this thread is worthless, I just really wanna see it! My intention was not to inflame, but obviously you perceived my post the wrong way!

Thank you Miniman, sorry if it seems like I went of the deep end, but as I stated before, I get email reminders in Outlook Express to tell me that someone has replied to my thread. When you post what plainly states, regardless of perception, that the thread is worthless without pictures; I get an email that states the following:

Here is the message that has just been posted:
***************
Just a reminder..











So after a couple of those, I got aggravated as it looks much worse in the email than your actual post. Either way, it is what it is and it's behind us now. I have to get some NiCads for the camera and money is SUPER tight. That is why from time to time I post things that I wish I could sell. I am glad that people want to see what I have, but frankly I thought that such a set would be a pretty common visual, and initially I wasn't probing for technical information that might require a shot of some exact part or whatnot. Either way, thanks for the interest and I will do this as soon as I can.

[compucat]

Originally Posted by Tubejunke

That is exactly the way I am, and always have been. Actually, I think what started my interest in older TVs was seeing sets like this still in living rooms as a kid in the 70s and still as a young adult in the 80s. I remember thinking that they were, in some strange way, simply more interesting to look at; on or off! That interest led me to acquire a few of them at different times throughout the 80s. I would simply wander into one of the then plentiful TV repair shops where they would often have repaired sets that people had not come back to pay the bill on. Sometimes they would give me sets gladly to make room. Seems like I paid $10 for a nice remote RCA set that performed fine for a few years. Eventually the remote control section started acting up, so I just turned it off. Heck, even in the 80s having remote control was still a non-essential creature comfort and it really didn't matter. It was cool if you had it, and still OK if you didn't. Back then, even if you had upgraded from rabbit ears to cable, there was still only a small portion of the available channels compared to today with a few hundred useless DirecTV. At first there was no "cable box" with remote; the coax just plugged into your antenna adapter. Funny thing to me is even though I have DirecTV, I still only watch about the same amount of channels as I would have with basic cable, not many more than the antenna days which we got around five clear channels.

My dislike of a rectangular screen runs so deep that I actually tried to convert my 1947 RCA 8T-243 set from one of the old fake rectangular viewing areas over a round tube to the "double D", but I never came up with the parts. Really, it would destroy any antiquity or value that the set has, but like most hobbies, I have learned that it's best to just enjoy what you have as opposed to worrying about what it is worth to a certain degree. In the case of the old 47 RCA, I would probably be hard pressed to get rid of the set for what the tubes and capacitors are worth. On a final note, I am glad that more interest is rising in 50s sets. I have always liked the space age look of those sets and often surprised at how little interest existed in them. I have found them at dumpsites more than anywhere else. Even though the CRTs are rectangular, they still possess a unique look I think, and many of them are far easier to work on than the 40s sets in my opinion. I must add that through all of my old color sets, the backup set was always my 56 Philco 21". The set still performs well today!

I know what you mean about round tubes with rectangular masks. That has always bothered me too. If my set has a round tube, I want to show it off. I don't worry about the potential monetary value of my sets either. In fact, I purposely do not seek the particularly rare sets because I use mine frequently. I want something that was so popular that finding parts is no problem and I can use it every day without worrying about some unobtanium part going bad. If I had a CT-100 for example, I would most likely sell it rather than worry over the rare and delicate 15GP22.

I saw the color roundies and the 1950s sets still in use during the Seventies as well. I thought they looked great back then even with all the Sixties and Seventies stuff that was around which I also liked. Once the all black plastic cabinets became the norm, all I wanted were vintage sets from then on.

[Tubejunke]

Originally Posted by miniman82

Just a reminder..

OK folks, I'm going to try to upload a couple of shots. I found it necessary to take two to get the best portrayal of the set. I also thought that footage from the Woodstock festival in 1969 would be nice and colorful! I hope this works and I hope everyone likes the set. I think this is a great example of a completely unrestored survivor!

[Tubejunke]

OK! That worked rather well. It's no tall tale that these Zeniths produced a super rich color picture! I thought that I would note that it's really interesting just how far VOMs have come. That is my Hickok VTVOACM (vacuum tube volt, ohm, ampere, capacitance meter) as I like to call it, sitting on top of the Zenith 5111. It is the biggest meter that I have ever run into! Behind the Zenith is a 1948 RCA 8T-243 sitting on top of the 24" space Command that I am always bitching about. This color set coming to life might just mean the end of the Space Command. I just have too much stuff for one modest abode!

[Sandy G]

Glorious Lollipop Color...Ain't NOTHIN' quite like it ! (grin) These new sets w/their AFCs, AFTs, PDQs, all that other garbage just CAN'T really hold a candle to a good ol' Roundie in good shape & tweaked up properly...

[miniman82]

Looks great! Thanks for the pics!

[Tubejunke]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

Glorious Lollipop Color...Ain't NOTHIN' quite like it ! (grin) These new sets w/their AFCs, AFTs, PDQs, all that other garbage just CAN'T really hold a candle to a good ol' Roundie in good shape & tweaked up properly...

Thanks! The GREAT thing here is that this set has not been tweaked, alligned, or otherwise! I replaced three tubes and wa-la. WYSIWYG!! Supposedly, the family that gave it to the party that I got it from said that it worked when last used in the late 70's or early 80s. I guess the story was true! Admittedly, the color does not come in until several minutes of warm up time, but right now that is the only problem that I know of.

I think that the best thing to do is to keep the use light until I can afford to replace capacitors and/or other needed components so I don't fry a transformer or whatnot. Also, it's easier to restore a set that is already working then one riddled with problems like my 58 24" Space Command which now MUST find a home.

[Tubejunke]

Originally Posted by miniman82

Looks great! Thanks for the pics!

You are most welcome!

[compucat]

That Zenith looks great. Now you've got me wanting to fix my Zenith roundie. It has been restored but something has gone reducing the vertical height and skewing the linearity.

[Tubejunke]

Originally Posted by compucat

That Zenith looks great. Now you've got me wanting to fix my Zenith roundie. It has been restored but something has gone reducing the vertical height and skewing the linearity.

Thanks! What model/year do you have? I NEVER would have thought that this set would be any type of attention getter; especially with the metal cabinet, which I have been told makes it MORE special. Have you checked any tubes yet? Since your set is restored, I tend to think of tubes going as opposed to caps, but one never knows for sure I guess. The tubes I replaced to get my set working were not absolutely bad on a tester, but more marginal or weak. Maybe color sets like fresher tubes! LOL!

[marty59]

That's a nice set and a good looking CRT! Even though the metal cabinet sets were considered more "low line or utility" they were usually the first to get thrown out, junked, scratched, beat up, etc. It just seems that they've become more rare as survivors nowadays.

I'd be curious as to all the different color schemes that would have been available. Back in the seventies, I had a black ctc-12 and a silver/bronze color ctc-20.

I do recall seeing a black Zenith roundie in a bar setting once....

[Tubejunke]

Well folks, I guess the nearly inevitable had to happen sometime. The Zenith lost color all together. There is still a decent black and white picture though. I checked all of the color related tubes and video stages. All I found was a shorted 3rd Video IF tube; replacement made no difference. I already realize that a recap is needed in most old sets, but right now I just don't have the time for the complete job. I am pretty new to the color TV repair scene so any pointers will be welcome and appreciated. For now, I need to do a good visual inspection and some VOM checks underneath. I have already noticed that what is called a "horizontal efficiency" coil's plastic structure seems to be broken internally, but for now I see no horizontal issues; just no color.

[Electronic M]

Congrats on getting her going!

I'd make note of the settting of the color killer control, and then try tweaking it, that is how I fixed the no color problem on my 71' Zenith. If the level of the color signal droped, but not below the min necessary level it could cause the collor killer circuit to turn off the color circuits because it is not recieving the proper signal level, which can be fixed by readjusting the color killer control. Also if the color killer control is dirty or open the same problems could result.

It could be anything, but that is the first thing I'd check as it is usually the easiest thing to correct when bad.

Keep up the good work!

Tom C.

[Tubejunke]

Hi Tom! Yes, with little knowledge of color television circuits and the nature of their operation, I guess I can say that I am lucky that terms like chroma, R-Y/G-Y, and color killer sort of clue me in on key areas to look into. Last night I did try adjusting the color killer pot and could easily see that it definitely needs cleaning by its somewhat erratic reaction. However, no matter what adjustment I made I never saw an actual color picture. When I turned it up (or clockwise) I would get what I would call color bleeding into the black and white raster, so I turned it back down. I did notice that when I tune the fine tuning slightly off where a color signal would be present, there is what I would call a hum bar, or some type of interference present just left of center. This goes away if I tune away from where the color normally comes in. Perhaps a capacitor? I hope this makes sense! Like you said, "It could be anything." Thanks for the advice!