Well this is an interesting one, anyone know the particulars on this??

Serial number is 129.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Early-7-inch-video-monitor-Western-Electric-Polarad_W0QQitemZ230324514073QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH _DefaultDomain_0?hash=item230324514073&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2|65%3A10|39%3A1|240%3A1318

We have one at the museum, together with the waveform monitor. They were used as part of the ATT television microwave network:

http://www.earlytelevision.org/western_electric_monitor.html

shhhh... a little secret i'll tell you because you guys are on the other side of the country and wont compete with me at junk sales....

polarad stuff was filled with bugleboys. not sure why but every polarad piece of gear i ever stripped was filled with them.

Here is a description of that unit from a 1957 telephone catalog.

Steve

What CRT does it use? Looks round but 1957 was a little late in the day to be using a round CRT?

I guess these monitors were made for Western Electric by various vendors. Mine is made by Industrial Television Inc, S/N 650. It used a 7TP4, a CRT also used in camera viewfinders.

Ours is made by Polarad, serial number 52. It is an early version, with a 7DP4.

if it was made by different companies that to me is an indication that it may have been part of a military setup. these may have been used as part of a radar system or radar test setup. just my guess.

My unit was definitely use in a TV station. I think Western Electric just jobbed out production lots to various manufactures over time. Most equipment built for the military will have a tag with the contract number and identify the service who let the contract. But these units may well have had a military counterpart.

From the late 40s until the advent of communication satellites, most network feeds to TV stations were through A T & T microwave networks. Western Electric was the sole supplier of equipment to A T & T, and these picture monitors were used at the relay stations (spaced about 25 miles apart) to check the video quality. We have the matching waveform monitor at the museum.

Steve, do you have a photo of the matching waveform monotor? I con't see the Western Electric items in you index page. :-)

Steve K, interesting wording in that monitor ad.... "provides a black and white picture of CBS color or Monochrome signals."

John:

I can post the catalog ad for the waveform monitor and another monitor that states that it can be used with a synchronized color wheel! It will take me a while to scan it in.

Steve

It didn't take as long as I thought it would.

thanks, Steve K.

I like that... "Portable", 50 pounds.

Well, a co-worker of mine once told me his crew used RCA 630's modified for video input as monitors "in the field".