I love the small CRT you have for the Fada project. And, "unobtanium electrodynamic speaker"... I have a 630TS that had been converted to a video monitor at some time, and a video-level control or something was mounted through the speaker grille cloth. I tried some kind of speaker as part of my repair attempts around 1980 but got no sound. Now I think I know the main reason why. I will have to look at the Photofact manual closely at some point and figure out how to make a PM speaker work in there. I do not remember if the audio-output transformer was even still there.

The original RCA service manual (as a 90 MB "pdf" file) is available for free download here http://www.antiqueradioshop.com/RCA630TSService.pdf, linked from this illustrated case history on a 630TS restoration http://www.antiqueradio.org/RCA630TSTelevision.htm.

The 5" CRT pictured is type 5AXP4, designed specifically for use in a repair shop environment. These can be found occasionally on eBay. Most 1950's vintage tube manuals having a "picture tubes" section include the 5AXP4 characteristics under "test" picture tubes.

Obviously-modified sets can be frightening. As long as the mod was added through the grille cloth, though, that should be a relatively simple fix to obtain some reproduction grille cloth of the proper style from AES, provided the IF wasn't gutted. Field coil is 62 ohms and voice coil is 3.2 ohms as I recall. The modification probably included a filter choke subbed for the field coil.

I just burned a DVD today of my new "Angel Head Test Pattern" which I drew on CAD software, superimposed a small photo of the family dog on one side, added a 400 Hz audio tone and transcoded to a video slide show. I may be offering that DVD on my web site soon.

The TV and HiFi sections of the Curtis Mathes "wall unit" slide out for easy servicing and all the "service" adjustments (height, linearity, AGC, etc.) are accessible from the cabinet front, concealed behind the large channel selector knob. The TV section itself isn't much larger than other 23" B/W consoles of early 1960's vintage. There are two sections to the TV chassis, forming an "L" shape as viewed from cabinet rear. Low-voltage power supply and horizontal sweep are on the horizontally-mounted subchassis, the entire signal path from IF to audio, video, and vertical sweep are on the vertically-mounted chassis behind the control panel. Terminal strips are thru-chassis "pin" type similar to those Zenith used in the 1960's. Tuner is a 12-channel turret type with silver contacts.

I may have posted this in the past but I was going through some stuff and came across this old photo of an RCA that was being given away by a theater as a promotion.

I have the exact same model set that I rescued from the back lot of a thrift store more than 10years ago. It's basically restored and working now (with a NOS 16AP4) but I haven't gotten around to finishing it.

In the actual photo I can read that it was the Fox Wichita Theaters and Continental Grill that was sponsoring the giveaway, anyone recognize the place?

Edit: it could be the Orpheum? http://www.wichitaorpheum.com/pictures.php http://www.wichitaorpheum.com/pictures.php
And this shot 3rd photo, looks like the spot where the set was sitting!

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h238/fox_rivers/100_0581.jpg This is My Admiral 19A11-SN I acquired from ebay. Its a very clean and the chassis is rust free and unmolested. I have the caps on order and look forward to restoring this set.http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h238/fox_rivers/100_0599.jpg This is my Sony TV-740 I bought from a thrift store for $3. The set works fine. I have added an video input through the UHF connection which is turned on or off through a switch I added.http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h238/fox_rivers/7-1-06/Photo-0011.jpgThis is My Motorola VT-71 I purchased from an antique store for $75 (sorry for the bad pic) it is in unrestored condition and in Las Vegas with the rest of better radios.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=66424&d=1193613199

This small CRT mounted (a temperary service install) reminds me of s small hole of a company called Matrix Instruments I worked for back in 1979 (just out of college) that made machines that would take video and project it onto Xray film to create hard copy in the form doctors were used to working with back then. Except we used solid state Conrac black and white monitors like their model "QQA" and replaced the big CRT they came with with small flat screen 5 inch CRTs. This would then be installed inside a black metal cabinet with the CRT facing up, aimed at a camera lens with shutter that was part of an Xray camera system. Stupid little product, but thet sold a bunch.

heres my westinghouse,i restored the cabnit,but with my uncle arthur acting up (im only 25 wtf:tears:)in my hands i really cant do anymore than replace the bad tubes,i hooked up the vcr and put in a tape of "SHINDIG WITH JACKIE WILSON".as you can see the vert and horz is off.

I may have posted this in the past but I was going through some stuff and came across this old photo of an RCA that was being given away by a theater as a promotion.

I have the exact same model set that I rescued from the back lot of a thrift store more than 10years ago. It's basically restored and working now (with a NOS 16AP4) but I haven't gotten around to finishing it.

In the actual photo I can read that it was the Fox Wichita Theaters and Continental Grill that was sponsoring the giveaway, anyone recognize the place?

Edit: it could be the Orpheum? http://www.wichitaorpheum.com/pictures.php http://www.wichitaorpheum.com/pictures.php
And this shot 3rd photo, looks like the spot where the set was sitting!


Now, THAT is a TV I would lovingly restore to Like New Condition.

If anyone can put Me in contact with someone who wants to part with a good, origional condition TV like that, I'd appreciate it...

LJB:smoke:

There were several late 1940s TVs which featured some form of magnification or zoom. Most designs simply increased the vertical height, as discussed earlier in this thread.

But Westinghouse took the concept to its logical extreme in the Model H-605T12. This 12 inch table set has a front panel control labeled electronic magnification. When in the normal position, the CRT was masked off in the conventional "double D" format; that is a round CRT with the top and bottom masked off and the sides left rounded, to approximate the 4:3 aspect ration of the trnasmitted image. When the control was moved to the magnification position, two things happened. First, two mechanical shutters at the top and bottom of the CRT moved outware to reveal the full round CRT. Second, both the vertical sweep height and horizontal sweep width were increased to completely fill the round CRT, while maintaining the 4:3 aspect ration of the inage. The magnification was accomplished by switching in two separate vertical height controls to set the vertical height, and the B+ voltage to the horizontal output stage was switched between 2 values to cause the width to change.

In a conventional flyback type horizontal deflection system, changing the B+ voltage would have drematic effects on the high voltage as well as the width. Westinghouse avoided this complication by implementing a RF type high voltage power supply, which operates independently of the horizontal deflection circuitry. This HV supply is a souped-up version of the RF high voltage supply commonly used in 7" sets of the period. It was relatively uncommon to use RF high voltage supplies in sets employing CRTs bigger than 7 inches. The horizontal deflection circuitry of this set used 3 7A3's in parallel to drive a conventional transformer coupled deflection yoke. This set can be found in Sams #97-19.

A friend of mine has one of them, and, I'm trying to persuade him to part with it. Does yours work? Any unusual difficulties in restoring it?

LJB:smoke:

Now, THAT is a TV I would lovingly restore to Like New Condition.

If anyone can put Me in contact with someone who wants to part with a good, origional condition TV like that, I'd appreciate it...

LJB:smoke:


Hmm, where did you say you were located? :scratch2:

M3-SRT8, my Westinghouse does work well. The restoration went smoothly, a standard re-cap of the wax papers and electrolytics, and a general check-up and replacement of anything else way out of tolerance. No troubles with the HV supply. Good luck!

Hmm, where did you say you were located? :scratch2:


Ooooo....Worcester, Mass.

That might be a problem.

LJB:smoke:

M3-SRT8, my Westinghouse does work well. The restoration went smoothly, a standard re-cap of the wax papers and electrolytics, and a general check-up and replacement of anything else way out of tolerance. No troubles with the HV supply. Good luck!


Ahhh....Good. I might call upon your expertise in case I acquire the Set.

LJB:smoke:

...

Just picked this one up today. It's a 1953 RCA Victor Model 17S350G called the "Brent." It's in good physical shape for an all metal cabinet. Don't know about it electronically yet but it does have a raster so I'm encouraged. I also found out that it has the Rotomatic Tuner and Magic Monitor features, whatever they are.

Anyone know where I can get the Sams for it?

Dave

Just picked this one up today. It's a 1953 RCA Victor Model 17S350G called the "Brent." It's in good physical shape for an all metal cabinet. Don't know about it electronically yet but it does have a raster so I'm encouraged. I also found out that it has the Rotomatic Tuner and Magic Monitor features, whatever they are.

Anyone know where I can get the Sams for it?

Dave

Hi Dave,

Nice find. Very clean, original RCA set. "Rotomatic" and "Magic Monitor" sound like stuff right out of the advertising copy writer's playbook. The SAMS' is Photofact 228 Folder 15. You can buy it from the Howard W. Sams web site or try and locate it at your library.

SAMS > PHOTOFACT Electronics Repair Manuals: Main
Address:http://www.samswebsite.com/photofacts.html

-Steve D.

finally I can make a legit post here. My first oldie, a 1954 Philco 54-8486 that I found on the side of the road tonight. These are pics from a short time ago after it spent a couple hours on the poor man variac.

Side note, in spite of the "UHF" badge on the front, it doesn't actually have UHF. There is a tag on the inside that says the set was designed to allow the install of the optional UHF converter.

This is totally as-found condition, the controls aren't even cleaned. The pics are bad because its my cell phone, the memory card in the digicam seems to have died or something. The vertical hold is a bit unstable, but I'm hoping once I get some DeOxit ordered and applied to the controls that will stabilize. The linearity control on the back seems to do nothing, and the height is wonky, maybe dirty controls or something else. I have no real experience working on TV sets so this will be a learning experience for me. This thing has been apart before. There is a service tag inside, but its quite old. Looks like at least one replacement tube, and I think someone has been into the HV cage. Theres a missing screw there. 4 of the screws on the back were also gone, and the tuner chassis (its a 2 chassis design, one side appears to be tuner, the other side video) seems like its not bolted down firmly. Wiggling the tuner knob moved the whole thing around. Apparently whatever tech fooled with it wasn't very good about putting all the parts back inside.

Side note, in spite of the "UHF" badge on the front, it doesn't actually have UHF. There is a tag on the inside that says the set was designed to allow the install of the optional UHF converter.

This is totally as-found condition, the controls aren't even cleaned. The pics are bad because its my cell phone, the memory card in the digicam seems to have died or something. The vertical hold is a bit unstable, but I'm hoping once I get some DeOxit ordered and applied to the controls that will stabilize. The linearity control on the back seems to do nothing, and the height is wonky, maybe dirty controls or something else. I have no real experience working on TV sets so this will be a learning experience for me. This thing has been apart before. There is a service tag inside, but its quite old. Looks like at least one replacement tube, and I think someone has been into the HV cage. Theres a missing screw there. 4 of the screws on the back were also gone, and the tuner chassis (its a 2 chassis design, one side appears to be tuner, the other side video) seems like its not bolted down firmly. Wiggling the tuner knob moved the whole thing around. Apparently whatever tech fooled with it wasn't very good about putting all the parts back inside.

That "UHF" badge probably covers a hole into which the optional UHF tuner fits. Many TVs of 1950s-early sixties (before 1964) vintage were set up this way so that if/when UHF stations came to the area, the set could be retrofitted with a UHF tuner, which was available as optional equipment; however, there were special cases as I mention below. The all-channel reception law went into effect April 30, 1964; it mandated that all televisions manufactured for sale in the U.S. must be equipped with UHF as well as VHF tuners, regardless of whether or not the area in which the set was sold and/or used had UHF stations.

Note also that some areas of the country had only UHF television stations even as far back as the 1950s, so sets marketed in these cities were factory-equipped with UHF tuners; one area I know of right off the bat is Youngstown, Ohio, near Pittsburgh and about 60 miles (more or less) from Cleveland. Youngstown has had only UHF stations from the beginning, so all new TVs in that area were set up for all-channel reception; those sets that were not so equipped (owned by people who had moved to the area from a VHF-only locality, for example) used external UHF converters which converted UHF television signals to one of two VHF channels, either 5 or 6 (some very early converters used channels 2 or 3, but as a general rule the downconversion was either to 5 or 6). To receive UHF stations from the converter, the television's VHF tuner was set on whichever station was not used for local broadcasting and all UHF channel tuning was done at the converter. These converters worked as well as the state of the art at the time allowed, but the early units with tubes (for example, the Blonder-Tongue BTU-99 from the '50s, which was one of the first UHF converters marketed for home use) were known for drifting and other problems attendant to tube-type RF tuning systems.

UHF channel tuning was critical on all converters because the units tuned in channels exactly like a radio, with a continuously variable tuning control. This was changed in the mid-'70s when a new law, requiring that UHF tuning shall be comparable to VHF, went into effect; the industry responded by building TVs with detented UHF tuners as well as VHF. This was later updated when electronic varactor tuners became available; most sets of '80s vintage had these tuners, which covered the standard channels 2 through 13 and, for UHF, there were six positions (actually six independent tuners) after channel 13 (marked U1 through U6) which were independently tunable to the UHF stations in the viewer's local area. This tuning system was eventually superseded by quartz-synthesized all-channel electronic tuners, the type now used in all TVs manufactured since about 1990.

I find it difficult to believe that the linearity control on your Philco TV isn't doing anything. If it were in fact defective, you would have no vertical sweep (a bright white horizontal line across the center of the CRT screen). My best guess is the control is probably incredibly dirty, so much so that the wiper contact inside the control is not contacting the carbon resistance element. I'd try cleaning the control first, before doing anything drastic; in fact, it wouldn't be a bad idea as well to clean the other controls while you are at it. It sounds to me like this TV has been sitting in someone's basement, attic, garage, etc., unused, for decades; under these conditions the controls can become very noisy and intermittent, not to mention fixed capacitors/resistors changing value and deteriorating over time. Many times old B&W TVs were simply relegated to an attic or basement and forgotten when the owner got a new color set; this may well be what happened to your Philco.

The picture on your set doesn't look too bad. There is some vertical foldover at the bottom the picture as shown in one of the thumbnails, but that may well be due to a weak vertical oscillator or output tube or misadjusted vertical height/linearity controls. Again, I'd readjust the controls and replace the tube before going into the vertical circuits. Remember, in tube-type equipment, defective tubes are responsible for some eighty percent of all problems.

One more thing. I'd fasten down those two loose chassis before you lose a connection on them, or worse. I seriously doubt that any real television service person would leave things so loose (after having had the chassis out of the cabinet for repairs) as the tuner and video chassis seem to be in that Philco. Sounds to me as if the set's former owner may have been trying to repair the set and lost or misplaced the screws that hold the tuner, etc. in place. Hardly the mark of any professional television technician, but then again some people will do anything just to get the TV working again--or at least to get some sort of picture back, even if it is terribly flawed. I have rescued old TVs from the trash that basically worked, but the pictures looked awful. However, with a bit of adjustment and perhaps (more often than not, actually) a new tube or two, these sets worked every bit as well as they probably did when they were new. My pride and joy in the late '60s was a 23" Zenith b&w console TV I had rescued from a curb in my old neighborhood. The tubes (all but the HV rectifier and CRT) were missing, but once I replaced the tubes the set worked like a champ, and continued to work flawlessly (that razor-sharp Zenith picture and the best sound I have ever heard in any TV before or certainly since then) until I moved in the early '70s. I had to get rid of that set then, :no: and it was difficult, as I had put so much work into it (new tubes, adjustments, etc.) and it was working so well.

JeffHS: I figured it was more of a case of dirty controls rather than any serious circuit problem. I guess I wasn't clear on that, it just seems that adjusting it has little result on the picture. It kind of shakes and jumps as its rotated but thats about the extent of it. Messing with the height control is very erratic, and definitely indicates a dirty control. Volume and tone controls are very scratchy, tuner needs a lot of fiddling with to make it lock channels, and the horiz hold is real touchy too. I was going to dose all the controls with a quality contact cleaner before going any further. Probably I'll do the tube sockets too. The picture tube actually wouldn't light when I first powered it, the heater wasn't working. I wiggled the connector on the back and it came to life, so I'm figuring this thing is loaded with bad connections. Nothing I wouldn't expect out of a piece of 54 year old electronics.

Also no doubt it sat around for years. I think probably not in a basement though, it was way too clean on the outside. The finish on the doors seems to indicate some sun damage. I bet it was in the house, probably being used as a plant stand or something.

I think you're right about the UHF badge covering a hole. There is a space inside right between the tuner and video chassis that lines up with the badge. Makes sense the UHF tuner would go there, since it really can't go anywhere else.

Regarding the external UHF converters, I found one and used it on an old Motrola tabletop I had for many years. I dont recall what happened to that TV but the converter I got for like $2 at a flea market. It didn't work so well but I grabbed it more because it was an interesting piece than anything else. I don't remember the brand or anything. I don't have it or the TV I used it on either. Probably both consigned to the dump for "i need more room in here" reasons.

I recently sold a '54 Philco that had the UHF installed. The tuner face fit right where that plate goes and was a slide-rule dial. It worked quite well-kinda hated to part with it, but can't keep every TV that comes my way.

I did some simple work that vastly improved the quality of the picture: I removed the glass panel from the front and cleaned the face of the CRT and washed the glass. 50 years of nicotine tar down the drain. Amazingly the halo effect around the picture is gone now. I also managed to fix what I thought was sun fried plastic on the knobs, again more baked-on tar. Its sort of wierd, the set looked reasonably clean to start with, but I guess it didn't really get much cleaning beyond dusting the cabinet off.

Related question, does anyone know a good way to get all the tar and nastiness out of the wood? I wiped the doors down with some windex and it kept turning the cleaning cloth nasty brown. I'd like to get all that old tar out so I can apply some polish or something to the wood, but I don't want to use anything that will destroy the finish. Its not perfect but I'd like to preserve it as-is till I feel brave enough to try restoring it sometime down the road.

Try Murphy's oil soap as it has worked for me in cases like this. Just make sure the cloth isnt too wet and follow up quickly with a dry cloth behind it.
-Tony

This set is in daily use while my main set is being restored. I didn't get this as one unit, I had to piece it together from visits to different thrift stores. All told, the whole outfit cost about $30.oo---- The set was priced at $15.00---but--- it was half-off day! The stand was 5.oo and the Atari 2600 with case was 15.oo:D

Jamie bought this Stromberg-Carlson TV-12 combo set at the first ETF Convention (2007) we attended together. This was her first Vintage TV score, but she didn't officially become a Collector until she bought her SECOND set. Two or more sets qualifies as a Collection, doesn't it? Now, her collection consists of this Stromberg-Carlson, a late-fifties Zenith "bug eyes" portable (eBay score), a Crosley wooden tabletop (2009 ETF Convention score), and a set that's going to be a birthday gift from me next week (she hasn't joined AK yet that I'm aware of, but not revealing what set I got her until after her birthday just in case). Anyway, here's the Stromberg-Carlson on display as an attention-magnet to lure shoppers into a booth she ran earlier this year selling baking supplies and cooking-related art (mainly small ceramic sculptures and jewelry) at a local farmers' market as a side project for her catering business.

The first photo is of the TV chassis undergoing bench-testing at one of the "progress check" points during Restoration.

Next is a screenshot at another "progress check" point. That one was taken while I was setting up test gear for the RF/IF alignment that it needed due to a dial-tracking issue with the Inductuner. Those Mallory Inductuners are great when they work, but can take a while to get working just right when something goes wrong. Anyway, it took a while, but I got it repaired, aligned, and back to proper tracking all across the dial. Incidentally, part of the tracking issue was that the end-stop inside the Inductuner had gotten bent out of place due to someone having tried to "force" the knob past the stop at some point long ago. I would imagine it was an attempt to use brute mechanical force to get the dial to track correctly without opening up the tuner assembly to look for leaky capacitors and/or off-spec resistors. Basically, I ended up replacing almost every resistor inside the tuner and most of the ceramic and mica capacitors.

Next up, here's another shot featuring the AM/SW radio dial and the record changer. The changer was tricky at times due to the first cartridge we ordered for it being a dud right out of the box and the fact that some previous "repair" person had assembled some of the linkages backwards (namely, the Off/On/Rej switch linkage, which was obviously mis-aligned since it was colliding with the Speed linkage). Once I got the control linkages to work and a working cartridge installed, there was another challenge because of a missing setscrew in one of the changer linkages, this one affecting the setdown point of the stylus. Since it was an odd "pointed" screw, it took a while to track the proper replacement part down.

The final picture of the series is of the set on display at Jamie's former baking supplies booth, next to the "ultra comfortable" wingback chair she scored at an antique mall. There's actually a funny story behind that. Before she took an interest in Vintage TV, she sat in that chair to take a break at the antiques place while I searched for more Radio and TV stuff. Not sure if she was bored or tired. Anyway, she liked the chair so much that she ended up buying that chair by the end of the day.

About a year after I initially restored the TV, it developed a vertical sync problem. At first, I suspected that one of the original electrolytics that had re-formed nicely during the initial Restoration work had finally given up (would have been the second such failure in something like 8 years since I started keeping track). Instead, my 99% (probably closer to 99.5% by now) success rate at achieving long-term reliability on electrolytics where ESR and leakage check out OK after re-forming remains intact. It turned out that the electrolytics were OK and that the primary (the sync winding) of the vertical oscillator transformer had gone open. Sams doesn't list any substitutes for it and the same transformer is also used in most Dumont sets from the RA-103 "doghouse" model up to the RA-108 (Dumont p/n 20D490-1, 20004142, and 20003931 are listed in Sams, a different one of these three in each Dumont model's folder). Although each Dumont model lists a different p/n in Sams (with no crosses listed in Sams) they all cross to the same three subs (Merit A-3001, Stancor A-8124, and Thordarson 26A01) per parts catalog listings. Another tip is that ONLY if the transformer fails with the primary (red/blue lead pair) as the open winding, a temporary fix while waiting for the replacement part to arrive is to tack a 22K/2W resistor across the open winding and couple the sync pulses from the junction of the blue lead (output of the integrating network) to the oscillator grid with a 0.0015uF capacitor. That will stop the "rollin', rollin', rollin'" symptom on your Dumont set until the new transformer arrives.

To answer that question, I'm selling it because vintage tv is now more than a hobby. I used to work for a leading long-distance phone company which is now in the news for the worst accounting scandal in US history. Vintage electronics is my job now.

Some products and services we offer are:

1 - We buy, restore and sell vintage radio, tv, hi-fi and guitar amplifiers.

2 - We design and build tube guitar and hi-fi amplifiers.

3 - We restore vintage electronics for those collectors who already have the sets but lack the time or expertise to do their own restorations.

When I acquire an especially rare set (there were fewer Crosley 9-408's made than RCA 630TS's) I hold onto them for private display in my home.

One of my goals is to increase the number of surviving antique sets that are also working antique sets.

This has been something I've wanted to turn from a hobby into a career since I was 12 years old. The ultimate goal of my business is to bring America's consumer electronics industry back to its former glory in the same way as we all love to bring pictures bact to the screens of classic tv sets that have sat dormant for decades. I hope to market a 100% American-made tv set within 10 years. Please visit my Web site and have a lok around. The URL is http://home.earthlink.net/~amptechsys. Here's my AboutMe page on eBay, also http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/jshorva65/

Thank you for the reply.

John

John, I wish you luck in your goal. :thmbsp: I think if this country started making consumer good that were high quality, we can beat anyone in the world.

John, I wish you luck in your goal. :thmbsp: I think if this country started making consumer good that were high quality, we can beat anyone in the world.

Thank you for the words of encouragement and for reminding me of some of the long-term goals I set back when Jan and I first ventured into bringing that childhood dream of mine closer to reality, goals that I still have but now realize will probably take longer to achieve than I had anticipated back then. I was really surprised when Jamie took up collecting Vintage TV sets herself, but inspiring first-time owners of Vintage TV sets toward becoming Collectors seems to be happening more often for me than I originally expected. Tomorrow, Jamie and I will be making a "road trip" to Pennsylvania to see the latest "scores" by a client who is now a friend and one of two part-time subcontract vendors I hope to eventually find myself in a position of offering full-time careers. All in due time, though. For now, Jamie and I will be taking that short road trip with my new Assistant Technician to visit my Cabinetry Expert to see the two Sylvania Halo-Lite sets he scored this week, a rare 50s Sylvania 21" tabletop Color set (an actual Sylvania set, as opposed to a licensed clone of an RCA color chassis), and some test gear and parts inventory he bought out from retired repairmen and engineers.

Here's a crappy vid of my Philco 51-T1634, showing it's first pictures after recap. I found it on the side of the road, someone had thrown it out. Picture quality is better now, I added a composite input for video.
http://myweb.msoe.edu/williamstm/Philco_Tetris2.wmv

Here's a crappy vid of my Philco 51-T1634, showing it's first pictures after recap. I found it on the side of the road, someone had thrown it out. Picture quality is better now, I added a composite input for video.
http://myweb.msoe.edu/williamstm/Philco_Tetris2.wmv

Nice set! Here's a crummy cellphone-captured vid featuring a friend's Philco 50T1403 that I restored for him recently. I just scored a 50T1403 for my own collection this week and delegated its Restoration to my Technical Assistant while I'm busy tending to the planning of a "road trip" to score a truckload of Zenith color roundie sets and as much of the assorted parts and test gear offered by the seller of the Zenith sets as my budget and/or the capacity of the truck will permit. I'll post pics of my own Philco 50T1403 here when it's ready, and I'll post pics of the Zenith roundie sets in the Color thread after picking them up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYVYmUXHQis

Incidentally, the set that would have been my first Vintage TV was a Philco 50T1403. Since I was only about 12 years old and my parents considered my buying it at the garage sale where it was offered for $5 "too dangerous" I had to pass it up. Funny how things come full-circle. The 50T1403 that I just bought was from a contractor who noticed my Vintage TV collection while doing an estimate for some maintenance at my house and contacted me about a week later to let me know he had bought an old TV set to offer for sale to me. Totally unexpected, just like that first garage sale find more than 30 years ago.

Thanks! The cabinet is in realy good condition. I only wish I could find a color Philco to go with it, that would just make my year!:banana:

...About a year after I initially restored the TV, it developed a vertical sync problem. At first, I suspected that one of the original electrolytics that had re-formed nicely during the initial Restoration work had finally given up (would have been the second such failure in something like 8 years since I started keeping track). Instead, my 99% (probably closer to 99.5% by now) success rate at achieving long-term reliability on electrolytics where ESR and leakage check out OK after re-forming remains intact...

I'm glad that I'm not the only one who thinks it's possible to trust vintage electrolytics if the ESR and leakage test ok.

John

Here are the latest additions to the Restored B/W categories of my collection and of Jamie's. The Philco 50T1403 on the left was the one I scored from the contractor I mentioned before who noticed my collection and workstations while compiling an Estimate for some work to be done on the house. The Hotpoint 14S202 on the right was the Birthday gift for Jamie that I had mentioned before. She had seen an overpriced and non-working "hot pink" Hotpoint on eBay and mentioned that she liked the look of the set. With that in mind, I located a working example at a more reasonable price and completed a "preventive maintenance" recap on it.

Since the DTV Conversion has reached my area, there were no off-air signals to tune in. The nearest signal distribution jack from the DTV Converter and DVD player hookup is on the other side of the room. I've got the signal routing set up to facilitate multi-set displays in only one room so far, with just a single connection in other rooms. Expansion for multi-set displays in multiple rooms will be completed later this year.

As of today, Jamie's collection consists of three Restored B/W, one Unrestored B/W. My collection consists of ten Restored B/W sets, eleven Unrestored B/W, three In-Progress B/W Restorations, three Restored Color sets, three Unrestored Color sets, and one In-Progress Color Restoration.

Just scored a Silvertone 110.700 on eBay last week and awaiting its arrival. That model was the first 50s B/W set I had ever restored, about 25 years ago. I've been looking for another example of that model ever since the original one's 12LP4 was destroyed by my younger brother (either accidentally or deliberately, never could tell with him, but the cracked neck was nowhere near as obvious as the BB holes in the screen of a '65 Zenith B/W portable years earlier or the smashed dial glass on a '37 Delco R-1116 table radio before that). I guess it was "bad for his image" as a wannabe high-school football star to have a brother who collected "antique" anything? Who knows? That set is nearly identical to the Pathe 12-2, and a relatively easy chassis to recap due to the 'lytics being tubular axial units mounted under the chassis.

The Silvertone 110.700 arrived today, but with a severe case of "Brown Rot" as "OOPS" yet again earned its nicknames by de-necking the 12LP4 in transit. Note how ALL of the phosphor was blown off the face of the tube in this case. They'll be sending an agent to do an on-site inspection tomorrow. Due to the broken glass inside the set whenever they've broken a CRT, I always insist that the set cannot be moved and must be inspected on-site, and they've typically complied. Besides, I don't trust them to return the remains of a damaged set without creating a far worse situation than the original claim. I also typically have several of my restored sets operating whenever the agent is due to arrive, demonstrating that it is not unusually difficult to bring an undamaged set back to working order.

That sucks John, I hope you can get her back together. Cabinet looks intact. I had a similar experience with Fedex and a '49 Muntz. They insisted on picking it back up and I never saw it again after I said I wanted it back no matter what. I got the shipping back but not the cost of the set. It was very frustrating working with those idiots at fedex, I will never use them again. When a seller says they're going to use them I ask them to use something else, if not, no bid.

My rule is if i cant pick it up then i wont buy it. It took one damaged set to turn me against shipping, no matter who the shipper is.
-Tony

After receiving a couple damaged sets, I have a rule similar to Tony V. The only modification is that I might ship a portable set that is about table radio size. I have had ok luck with these.

Of course, even picking up the set does not always preclude damage. I met someone near where a set that I purchased was located. They had loaded it in to their pickup truck to meet me. They loaded it with the back down and damaged all of the control pots located on the rear of the chassis. Luckily the CRT did not stick out and was not damaged.(Also lucky is that I have a spare chassis in my garage).

I had a similar experience with Fedex and a '49 Muntz. They insisted on picking it back up and I never saw it again after I said I wanted it back no matter what.

FedEx will ALWAYS find a way to either steal the item or duck out of paying a claim without so much as an inspection of the damage. My first bad experience with FedEx involved a Tektronix Type 465 Oscilloscope which was sold to me as a working unit on eBay, but was delivered DOA. The trouble was obvious. A component had been displaced due to rough handling in shipment, causing an internal short. When I reported the damage, FedEx insisted on picking up the item to "inspect" it in order to process the claim for the hour of labor and cost of a new fuse for which I had billed them in the damage report. I never saw the scope again, and they insisted it never arrived at their claims department. My suspicion is that they used the information which my damage report provided to fix the scope and fence it somewhere. That was in 2002. I never chose FedEx again. I also identify technical information obtained in troubleshooting of shipping damage as protected "Work Product" under the law, thereby exercising my right to withhold information which could potentially be used by an unscrupulous employee of a freight carrier to aid in subsequent repair of a damaged item which became "lost" according to official company documents. The manner in which I apply that policy is: Provided the shipper agrees that the item is not to be removed from my premises, I will provide technical details of the damage for their reporting. I will also authorize an unlimited number of photographs of the item to be taken on-site and perform any disassembly tasks on-site which may be necessary to make critical areas visible for photography. If the shipper insists on removing the item for any reason, such removal is authorized only with appropriate documentation, photographs of the employee and his/her credentials, and under the supervision of two witnesses.

In 2008, a client made the mistake of using FedEx to ship the two cartons containing his RCA 621TS and its extremely-rare 7DP4 CRT. When I called FedEx to report the damage, I informed them that a similar incident had been handled by another carrier with an on-site inspection, and that past bad experience with items being "lost" by FedEx en-route to be "inspected" would require that they handle the claim for the 7DP4 in the same manner. First, FedEx insisted that SENDERS are responsible for initiating all damage claims and that I would need the sender to submit the report. After I asked the sender to report the damage, he informed me that they had already dismissed the claim as soon as the word "antique" was mentioned, on the grounds that no guarantee of safe delivery of "used items" was expressed or implied under Terms and Conditions for the Insurance they had sold him. Conveniently, that clause isn't mentioned at the time when the Insurance product is sold and the premium added to the shipping charges.

My rule is if i cant pick it up then i wont buy it. It took one damaged set to turn me against shipping, no matter who the shipper is.
-Tony

Me too, I should have clarified. I don't have sets shipped anymore and I tell anyone that is shipping anything to me not to use fedex. My one damaged set is (or was) that Muntz.

John: They pulled the same crap with me, it was horrible. The seller (sender) didn't want to file a claim either, he had to be bothered by me everyday for a week to do it. Then this crap from fedex.

All of these are in good shape, but still need some restoration. I hope to have a couple Admirals, the GE, a couple Motorolas, and the Predicta done by the end of summer.

RCA 630TS - My first vintage set. I've cleaned up the cabinet, but haven't touched the chassis yet.
http://www.bobandersen.com/images/collection/rca%20630ts.jpg

Philco Predicta Princess. My 2nd set. It was originally rusted out beige. I removed the rust and repainted it red. I'm still working on the chassis.
I think it looks nice in my "retro" bedroom :)
http://www.bobandersen.com/images/collection/philco%20predicta%20princess.jpg

Philco 50T-1401
http://www.bobandersen.com/images/collection/philco%2050t-1401.jpg

Admiral 19A15S
http://www.bobandersen.com/images/collection/admiral%2019a15s.jpg

Admiral 20X12
http://www.bobandersen.com/images/collection/admiral%2020x12.jpg

Admiral 20X122
http://www.bobandersen.com/images/collection/admiral%2020x122.JPG

Admiral 20X22
http://www.bobandersen.com/images/collection/admiral%2020x22.JPG

Admiral 24C16
http://www.bobandersen.com/images/collection/admiral%2024c16.jpg

Airline GSE-3020
http://www.bobandersen.com/images/collection/airline%20gse-3020.jpg

Emerson 648A I was walking around my neighborhood and spotted this in a display window for a stereo shop. I spoke with the owner and he agreed to sell it :)
http://www.bobandersen.com/images/collection/emerson%20648a.jpg

GE 806
http://www.bobandersen.com/images/collection/ge%20806.jpg

Sentinel 430 I picked this up in Evanston, IL original home of Sentinel. The sellers aunt had worked in the factory during WWII building radios.
http://www.bobandersen.com/images/collection/sentinel%20430.jpg

Finally, my set of 7 inch Motorolas
http://www.bobandersen.com/images/collection/motorola%207%20inchers.jpg

You have some great sets Bob! Nice job on the restorations too.

You have some great sets Bob! Nice job on the restorations too.

Thanks! I was just looking through all the great sets on your site. Seems that you have a Sentinel too. Mine has a gassy/weak 16RP4 which are really tough to find :( I've been considering trying a 16TP4 from VDC. A bit pricey though...

---]

Here is a pic of just a few sets in what used to be my dining room.My basement,
attic,garage,spare bedroom,spare closets,and a car or two are packed with tv's.
Almost to the point where it's no fun anymore:no:
The Conrac studio monitor(lower rt) will probably be in the "Buy/sell/trade" forum soon.
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff289/grimer66/manytvs.jpg

Sweet! I'm afraid of reaching that situation. I hate to let stuff go.

Reminds me that I saw a Philco Safari on eBay recently for $75 in great condition that no one bid on. I hesitated 'cause I wasn't sure if it was a good deal. It re-listed and sold for over $200+ IIRC.

Hope I can still attach a picture... I posted too many on the old forum... here we go...

Well this Western Model 31 mechanical may not be exactly B&W, but its not color. (Corrected Model 41, Thanks Steve)

Hope I can still attach a picture... I posted too many on the old forum... here we go...

Neat set! I can't make out the name though...could you enlighten me?

Well this Western Model 31 mechanical may not be exactly B&W, but its not color.

Wow! Where the heck did you find that?

Actually, it is a model 41:

http://www.earlytelevision.org/western_41.html

The brand of my TV is "Colorado."

Wow! Where the heck did you find that?

Steve is right Model 41. Well the simple answer is from my father in law's closet. But his story is much better. He was a truck mechanic, one day a garbage truck was towed into the shop and he saw this TV in the back ready to be crushed, but as fate would have it the truck broke down just in time. He recognized the mechanical TV as one similar to one he saw as a kid in the local hardware store. He has parkinsons so its hard for him to communicate, but thats the best I could understand. I think it came from the Minneapolis area.
He also gave me his mom and dads Atwater Kent 976 radio which I have restored the cabinet and had the radio repaired.

Well this Western Model 31 mechanical may not be exactly B&W, but its not color. (Corrected Model 41, Thanks Steve)

Wow, that is just about the coolest thing ever!
How does it work, is it a projection set, the screen is big for a mechanical set.

Oh, yes, welcome to Videokarma!

It's a lens-disc set. The image is projected by modulating a crater lamp to shine through 45 triple-interlaced lenses onto a ground glass screen.

Here's the current staus on my client's RCA 621TS that needed the new 7DP4 thanks to FedEx. It's almost completed, but there are still some issues to be resolved.

There's a known issue with RCA's KRK-2B 13-Channel tuners involving some solder joints deep inside the unit which I've got strong suspicions of being the root cause of a tricky Intermittent on this 621TS. When first powered up, it takes almost five minutes after the raster appears for the set to produce picture and sound. Since the change in performance manifests as a sudden "popping in" effect and the cycle only starts over if the set is powered down and subsequently powered again from a "cold start" as opposed to being briefly shut down for a "warm" restart, and the bias and B+ voltages remain within specifications both during and after the symptom period, these indications point to a solder joint inside the tuner itself. The prime suspects are the jumpers which join the wiper contacts for each of the pairs of wafer switches (RF/Mixer/Oscillator) and seems more likely to be the jumper in either Mixer or RF since very weak video is evident (out of sync due to simultaneously insufficient sync amplitude) while the symptom is occuring, thus suggesting that the Oscillator must indeed be running and somewhat near its correct frequency.

It's a shame that Louis Stangle of Quality Tuner Service no longer services 24 MHz IF tuners. He did a fantastic job with the 44 MHz Oak TT-166 wafer switch tuner from my Philco 16M91 and at a very reasonable price. We're sufficiently comfortable with servicing drum-type tuners of the 24 MHz IF variety, but have yet to acquire enough practice with "expendable" examples of wafer switch tuners of either IF band to achieve the necessary level of mastery for us to attempt the kind of delicate surgery that Hugo Holden performed on the tuner in his 621TS. Instead, we still prefer to send such work to expert Tuner Surgeons such as Louis.

At any rate, here's a pic of what we've got so far with Jeff's 621TS. We're definitely on the right track, but we still have a ways to go. Many thanks to Todd for the great Restoration work with the finish. Thanks also to Big Dave for the double-checking of everything where my being considerably nearsighted might have caused me to miss some tiny detail had I relied on my eyes alone.

A local TV station went here into my house, and they showed part of my collection yesterday, September 18 ( birthday of Brazilian Television ):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2facGY5Svg

That was cool. Thank you for sharing this with us. Great tv's. What was cool was you got to do a lot of talking. I didn't understand a word you said but I could tell you were giving some good information that here in the states they wouldn't listen too. Someone posted a clip of a collector that was on tv this last week or so here in the states. In typical fashion they just covered what they thought was interesting. Lots of shots of the 7inch sets, and hardly any of the trk12. In the past you have shared some great info with us about your local history of Tv which has been very interesting and kind of gave me an idea on what you were saying. :)

Vanessa and Tayana were great too.:thmbsp:

Very nice! I liked that it let us see much of your collection-and almost meet you in person!

Well, the touchy intermittent in that 621TS is fixed. There were several cold solder joints deep inside the tuner and some tiny "tin whiskers" on some of the switch wafers. The set produces picture and sound of reasonably good quality, but tends to need tweaking of the Contrast and Horizontal Hold controls a little more often than other 1940s sets we've serviced. Further complicating things, I sprained my shoulder last weekend and haven't felt much like working since then. I haven't felt this crappy since I slipped and fell on some ice last winter while clearing snow. I expect to be laid up for a few weeks. For now, at least we've made considerable progress with this one since it arrived with the original 7DP4 necked. The controls never seem to need turned more than 1/16-turn either way to keep good contrast and sync, but even that much seems like too much if readjustment is needed again after the initial 10-minute warm-up.

Here are some more of my sets

Admiral 19A11: It's missing a 7JP4 - that's just a piece of paper ;)
http://www.bobandersen.com/images/collection/admiral%2019a11.jpg

Admiral 30B1 chassis: I garbage picked this chassis out of a neighbors trash way back when i was 15.
He chopped up the cabinet with an axe so the garbage men would take it :tears:
http://www.bobandersen.com/images/collection/admiral%2030B1%20chassis.jpg

Crosley 9-407M: Cool continuous tuner and eye tube indicator.
http://www.bobandersen.com/images/collection/crosley%209-407m.jpg

Philco 49-1040: The dirtiest set I've ever worked on!
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3422/3865996378_c4f9d3bc60.jpg

Philco 50T-1402: Blonde cabinet with back-painted glass
http://www.bobandersen.com/images/collection/philco%2050t-1402.jpg

RCA 8T241: Finally, my latest set. Weighs a ton!
http://www.bobandersen.com/images/collection/rca%208t241.jpg

Wow... the tops of the Admiral and Crosley sure are shiny! Is the Admiral a Bakelite set?

Yes, the Admiral is bakelite. Here's what it looked like when I got it. Novus polish #2 to the rescue :) The top front of that Crosley is a photo finish i.e. it's fake woodgrain. The rest is real mahogany veneer I think.

---

Well, since I have been just getting back into the hobby after a long "break", I am slowly clearing out space in my "TV room" and trying the variac on some sets that have not been turned on in 15 years or so. This is the best B/W set so far (outside of a Philco Safari... they always work). It is an 12" Admiral from about 1949-50 stamped "20Z6" on the chassis.

jr

I've been in the mood to rebuild some sets lately so I grabbed this Philco, I was hoping for something a little different but this one has essentially the same chassis as the 49-1280 I did earlier this year, oh well, it's still a neat set.

I'm waiting on the Electrolytics to arrive but I've done all the paper caps and It has a picture, the Sync is unstable but I expect that will go away after replacing the remaining Caps.

Eric, is that a 7" set? What kind of crt is it using?

Eric, is that a 7" set? What kind of crt is it using?

Hi Charlie, it's a a model 49-1002, 10" set, 10BP4 tube, I forgot to include the model# in my post but edited it just now to fix that.

The picture makes it look small but it's actually 25 inches wide and 14 inches high.

This is the best B/W set so far (outside of a Philco Safari... they always work). It is an 12" Admiral from about 1949-50 stamped "20Z6" on the chassis.

jr

That's a nice looking set, the gold trim looks mint, The door is almost always missing on those Admirals.

Here are the sets I've picked up since my last post in this thread.
The two Motorola cabinets are really in need of some TLC!

Admiral 30A16
Nice limed oak finish.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2638/4062679278_2f46813c16_b.jpg

GE 810
I've powered it up and it runs without any recapping!
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4064/4214133387_1e92a3927b_b.jpg

Hallicrafters T506
I've since gotten a replacement knob from a VK member :thmbsp:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2595/4214920720_399e9eaa7e_b.jpg

Motorola 9T1
The bakelite is cleaning up nicely, but how to repair that broken bezel :scratch2:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2610/4158681941_8199f94736_b.jpg

Motorola 12K2
The cabinet is riddled with Powderpost beetle damage on the right side :tears:
It's in quarantine awaiting fumigation :eek:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2694/4214895536_245a8000cd_b.jpg

Here's my little Admiral collection so far :D
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2457/4062698960_8f3d886b4a_b.jpg

Impressive!!! :)

Beautiful!!!!

No sh*t ! Very neat and clean. It doesn't look as if they take up a tremendous amount of space. Thats cool! Would be for me anyhow! My sets seem to be spread around the house and taking WAY too much space. Still no home found for my 59 Zenith 24" Space Command! I find that almost unbelievable, but nobody wants a large screen, 50s model, REMOTE CONTROL set.

Still no home found for my 59 Zenith 24" Space Command! I find that almost unbelievable, but nobody wants a large screen, 50s model, REMOTE CONTROL set.

It's not that nobody wants it - I think the problem is that most of us are too far away from each other.

I've always thought those Admirals that have the "Sticks out" screen/top part are odd looking-But that being said, would I turn one down ? HELL, NO !!!....'Specially if I could latch on to one as purty as that...

Shes nothing special but she's mine.
Shes a 1953 Packard Bell 2723 Deluxe model.

http://i413.photobucket.com/albums/pp212/01silverado_2008/DSCF1030.jpg

Does that Packard Bell use the 21EP4?

here are 3 of mine that I own

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k316/radioman56/bestpictvemersom.jpg

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k316/radioman56/bestemerson2.jpg

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k316/radioman56/mot1.jpg

here are 3 of mine that I own

Nice sets. That first one is an Emerson I think :scratch2:

Shes nothing special but she's mine.
Shes a 1953 Packard Bell 2723 Deluxe model.

Sure it's special - it looks great and it works :thmbsp: Very few of mine do so far.

No sh*t ! Very neat and clean. It doesn't look as if they take up a tremendous amount of space. Thats cool! Would be for me anyhow! My sets seem to be spread around the house and taking WAY too much space.

That was just a photo op. I normally have them scattered around too.
Here's my main setup with this gear:


Blonder Tongue AM-650 to broadcast to all my sets
Phillips and Apex cheapy DVD players that can play just about any format
Dell SC420 server (hidden behind) with wireless keyboard and mouse. I use it to surf the internet from my couch and stream video and audio to the other gear.
HK Citation 21 Preamp + HK Citation 24 Amp
NAD 420 tuner
NHT 2.5i speakers


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4056/4226220240_e9f08b9838_b.jpg

Hey Charlie,
As of right now,I honestly don't know. I have the SAMS in the cabinet but can't go look at it because its in the bedroom with the wife passed out....Bad juejue if you wake her up.......I know, I've done it. Lol :D

Some cools sets there. Despite the dirt, I really like that crazy Philco 49-1040, if there were a record for the highest ratio of cabinet-to-tube size it'd sure be a winner ! That Admiral 30A16 is really sweet too - reminds me a bit of the British Bush TV1 and TV2 but the Admiral's light coloured cabinet looks much better.

TTFN,
Jon

Some cools sets there. Despite the dirt, I really like that crazy Philco 49-1040, if there were a record for the highest ratio of cabinet-to-tube size it'd sure be a winner ! That Admiral 30A16 is really sweet too - reminds me a bit of the British Bush TV1 and TV2 but the Admiral's light coloured cabinet looks much better.

TTFN,
Jon

Thanks Jon. The Philco 49-1040 is one of my favs too. The cabinet is huge and mostly empty air inside!
I've been slowly restoring the cabinet and it's a lot cleaner now :D

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4041/4226204905_8231011293_o.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2638/4226184375_473650e15d.jpg

The light finish on that Admiral 30A16 is a 'limed' oak. Sort of a whitewash over red oak then yellowish shellac or lacquer.

That Philco does make me wonder, just how much more effort would it have taken to centralise the front controls ? Still, all that empty space in the back must have been good for keeping things cool and reliable. Shame about the cabinet but looks like you are progressing with it.

If that Admiral's cabinet finish is original then that is quite astonishing, it looks fantastic. I want one :D

I don't really have a favourite set in my collection. However, I've always had a soft spot for Etronic - a small manufacturer that invested heavily in TV production after the success of the London and Birmingham transmitters - only to be shafted by the Government who chose the same moment to implement a massive hike in purchase tax that effectively crippled the company. Sadly, this set has a duff LOPT.

Also attached a few pics of my Philips 563A - a mad set with an exposed glass tuning scale. It took me years to get this set, having first seen a picture in a 1947 Wireless World magazine not long after I got into the vintage radio/TV scene, but it was another seven or eight years 'til I saw one in the flesh. Check out the mains transformers - yes, this is one one darn heavy set !

TTFN,
Jon

Check our Eric's Philco set a bit earlier in this thread: http://www.videokarma.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=165032&d=1254644947

That's actually the same chassis and picture tube as my set only placed side-by-side.

Yes, that's the Admiral's original finish - including two big bites out of the top.
You can see them in the thread from when I found that set: http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=246371


Wow! Those cabinets are beautiful :tresbon: I especially like that console in the first picture :yes:
Similar outline to a Dumont Clifton I think.

Yikes that is a big trafo. I've a different Philco set with one like that. I swear at least half of the sets weight is in it!

Ah, LOPT = HOT :o

I spotted a similiar Philco just the other day; this one includes a radio plus phono under a lid above the crt. It is in a local antique mall for just under $100. It will have to stay there if they are waiting on me to buy it.

I like all the British equipment I've seen. The dial on the Philips is a nice touch-is it lighted from the edge (from below?)

I had a cabinet similar to the Philco 49-1040, the only difference being the controls were all covered by a hefty wooden door. The cabinet was in great shape, but in the few years I had it, I never came across a chassis. I see them fairly frequently, but they always seem to be beat to hell, or painted an ugly color.

---

Nice job and very nice sets :thmbsp: I should set up something like that too. Much nicer than stacking sets on top of each other.
I see you have a couple numechrons in there :D

---

I posted about my number-muncher over on AK, but no one seemed interested. It is a later model, maybe that's why? :D

http://miniman82.4t.com/images/12-15-09_2355.jpg

From thread: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=269352&highlight=interesting+clocks

Grimer: what's the porthole-ish looking set at the top- I want it! :)

Thanks........and yes I do have some numerechrons here,3 to be exact,and none of
them work :-(

Wow! I have one and it works fine! What is the common failure mode? ... Motor, or do the digits get messed up and refuse to cycle properly? I have read that the front plastic on these clocks glows in the dark, but mine does not appear to, anybody observe "glow"?

jr

The one shaped like a television has a pilot light inside.

Phil

http://www.antiqueradio.org/art/Tele-VisionClock.jpg

Wow! I have one and it works fine! What is the common failure mode? ... Motor, or do the digits get messed up and refuse to cycle properly? I have read that the front plastic on these clocks glows in the dark, but mine does not appear to, anybody observe "glow"?

jr

The motors tend to seize up. A good oiling can sometimes revive them. Also the metal 'fingers' that ride on the digits can wear out.

Supposedly, some models had radium in the faceplate. Others would glow for a bit after being exposed to bright light.

---

Hi.The porthole tv is a Raytheon:thmbsp:


Cool, she's a looker! :thmbsp:


I just checked out the 3 clocks I have,they all glow in the dark.

You should take great care, then: http://reviews.ebay.com/Radium-Hazard-Warning-in-Pennwood-Numechron-Tymeters_W0QQugidZ10000000002575427

I would have figured that by that time they would have used a non-toxic floursecent material, like what is used nowadays.

put them in a dark room - if they are dark in the morning (before sunup), it's not radium

Well, I coaxed a bit of glow out of mine by taking it into a dark room and charging it with a very bright Fenix LED flashlight. I also measured it with a Lionel* geiger counter and could not measure anything. To check the counter, I measured one of the meters on a R-390a Radio and got about 1 to 2 Mr/hr, so I think my clock is safe... but it is possible that radium paint could have been used on earlier builds of the clock.:scratch2:

jr

*yes, that Lionel... It appears that they made radiation counter sets for CD in the 60s.

I finally scored one of those plastic "Emerson" banks. Unfortunately, the clown picture is in poor condition, but I'm sure I can print out a new one.

Yes, that is a real Emerson 648 in the background ;)

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1117/4734594400_dd488e3dae_b.jpg

Here are a few more of my recent acquisitions.

Admiral 30A12 Admirals first set :banana: I've been searching for one of these for a long time. I found it it a barn in Wisconsin in pieces. It's been refinished horribly with polyurethane - wrong color scheme and all the decals are gone :( That aside, it's in good condition. The chassis are all original.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4014/4668226340_e7f531004a_b.jpg

Predicta Siesta + stand
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3331/4630899789_ec3cd092ec_b.jpg

GE 800 (plus a GE 806 I picked up a while ago)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3303/4649087546_150df4e663_b.jpg

GE 802 It need a lot of work, but I like a challenge :)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2791/4484413859_29b6250491_b.jpg

Stromberg Carlson TC 10-H "Manhattan"
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4061/4670673130_98bd2b9100_b.jpg

Well, I've just scored my first 621TS, but in a kind of "accidental" way. This one started out as a client's set, but arrived for its Evaluation in pretty rough shape including such a bad case of "Brown Rot" (including a "necked" 7DP4, and just look at what happened to the guts of the Tuner) that it literally took over two years to get replacements for all of the damaged parts. Actually, it was White Rot, not Brown Rot. At least Brown Rot can be treated by jumping through some hoops and collecting on Insurance to cover the cost of repairing the damage. With "White Rot", it's "Vintage" = "Used" = Insurance-Exempt and a "so, sue us, and you can lose and pay our legal fees, too" attitude. I wrote the Estimate on it and the client approved it, but I found A LOT more than I had bargained for once I started the Recapping. Since I had already written an Estimate before I discovered the most-hidden of the issues, it made good Customer Service sense for me to cap the total for the Invoice at no more than the standard maximum of 10%-over the Estimate.

Almost finished, I sent the latest Progress Report on Sunday, and the client replied that he had "lost interest" in having the set Restored, said he was "not a true TV Collector per se", said that the set seemed to mean a lot more to me than it did to him, and invited me to make an offer to Purchase it. Well, I made the offer and offered to "split the difference" for the reduction in value caused by the "ineligible for Insurance coverage" damage. Offer accepted, PayPal payment sent, and a 621 in Mahogany finish joins my Collection and list of In-Progress personal Restoration work. At the moment, I could've used the revenue more than the addition to my Collection, but the low APR on my credit card screamed "Score that 621 while you can!" at me. Since 2010 was my best year ever in terms of business and 2011 is starting with four items on the schedule from just one of the Regulars on my client list and some first-time Requests on the way, too, I opted to Buy rather than offer to sell it on Consignment for him.

The bad aspects first. Its 7DP4 necked in transit (despite being shipped separately). Refinishing needed and a weak spot in the veneer adhesive has caused a "bulging" spot in the veneer on one side. Power transformer replaced long ago with splices covered in MASKING tape. Tuner Detent trashed. All six Tuner switch wafers cracked. Cracked Sound IF tube socket. Missing Channel knob. Escutcheon lettering badly worn. HV cage cover missing.

Now for the good aspects. It's a 621TS! The price matched its "kit form" condition. I've already bought and paid for all the parts to Restore it, including a lucky score of an intact replacement 7DP4 with the kind of tester readings normally observed only on a NOS tube at a much lower price than expected. The 7DP4 might very well be a "NOS without Box" tube. By the time the Client backed out of the deal, the Restoration was already 90%+ complete. The HV cage was easy enough for my metalwork vendor to replicate by providing a 721 cage and showing them a photo of a 621cage (identical to the 721 cage except that two corner fillets are omitted from the metalwork of the 621 cage). We have an excellent Cabinetry Specialist. The Machinist who Jamie and I met at a car show (demonstrating 1/4-scale working engines including a replica 5.0L Ford V8 scaled down to 50cc that he built from scratch) had that RCA #71463 Shaft/Detent rebuilt like new in under a week. A complete switch wafer assembly was harvested from the Tuner on a cabinetless early-production 630TS chassis already "stripped" beyond Restoration when we scored it, and was a perfect match.

Other notes include. The screenshot shown is from earlier in the process, when we first tested the Recapped chassis with its replacement 7DP4 instead of a 5AXP4. Since then, picture quality has been improved dramatically. High-frequency response above 2.5 MHz is still substandard, and I'm investigating to find the trouble and get the "spokes" of the vertical wedges sharply defined instead of blurring into a solid wedge of gray beyond the 2.5 MHz / 180 Lines. It seems to be an IF issue, since getting a 22.17 MHz marker anywhere near the same 60% position on the Response curve as 25.75 MHz (corresponding to 3.58 MHz IF bandwidth) is outside available range of the Alignment controls. I've checked essentially everything I can think of, and had BigDave re-check my work.

It has been my experience that the 630/621 chassis do not have very good high frequency response. I was unable to get 3.58 mhz through my 630. Anyone else have similar results?

It has been my experience that the 630/621 chassis do not have very good high frequency response. I was unable to get 3.58 mhz through my 630. Anyone else have similar results?

Since the 630TS that I scored on eBay years ago is still in the process of undergoing Restoration as a series of successive stages of work (another case of an eBay seller's failure to follow very specific instructions and total disregard for Insurance TOS specifications having resulted in severe "Brown Rot" and no Insurance coverage for the cost of replacing the damaged parts), the many "630-type" I've restored on which I have obtained textbook-optimal response curves and test-pattern displays have all been "630 Clone" models and some 8TS30's built after implementation of at least some of the subtle Production Changes which weren't included in the original RCA production models of the 630TS. I've found that the clone sets as far back as the Fada 799 have all produced textbook curves and only slight loss of sharpness above 3.58 MHz on display of the test pattern. When using the B/W output of one DVD player having both Composite and Component video outputs, there is considerably less degradation in Resolution and Response than expected near the 325-Lines / 4.0 MHz extreme. The 8TS30's I've serviced have produced test pattern displays very near the Ideal display parameters, showing very little difference when the onscreen image is compared side-by-side to a high-quality printed Test Card (master image from PC printed on matte Photo paper using a $300-List-Price printer with one of the best Photo print capability specifications of any "Home Office" type printer). The 721's IF response isn't easy to get "just right" on versions not equipped with a 27.25 MHz trap, but it can be done. My first time aligning a 721TS took several hours to complete, although much of that was because I was still using a very "Rube Goldberg" arrangement of test gear (Precision E-400, Precision E-200C, Heathkit IM-4110, and Tektronix 547 'scope), injecting Sweep and Markers separately, and setting Marker points with the E-200C dial while watching the IM-4110 readout for each step of alignment. Here is a screenshot of "Law & Order" showing over-the-air reception on that first 721TS that I aligned, taken in 2002.

Here are my two sets...a 1948 Admiral 30A14-N, which I just picked up locally from craigslist yesterday, and a 1959 Philco Seventeener III. Both are complete and unmolested and I hope that the Admiral will be up and running relatively soon. Due to the compactness and layout of the Philco, I'm not sure what I'll do regarding trying to rebuild it.

Jeff

I have re-built a couple of the Philco Seventeeners. They are not too difficult, there is room behind the TV chassis for new filter caps. The two main difficulties are 1(removing the PC boards from the chassis as they are soldiered down(with no access to the back of the board), and 2(replacing the multi-cap/multi-resistor modules that were in use at that time.

can anyone tell me anything about a 1946 hotpoint tv

That set's from the late 1950s, not '46.

The two main difficulties are 1(removing the PC boards from the chassis as they are soldiered down(with no access to the back of the board)

I just wimp out on a situation like that and connect to the old cap's leads with J hook style. Maybe use a mandrill, using a small nail just slightly wider than the old cap lead, wrap the new cap's lead around it in a spiral pattern and then bend the lead 90 degrees to make it a straight butt connection with the old lead on the circuit board. This avoids having to attempt to remove the circuit board, and damage or mistakes with associated wires with the board. Do it neatly and it won't be that ugly.

and 2(replacing the multi-cap/multi-resistor modules that were in use at that time.
Above j hook method isn't usable for that, unfortunately. :( As you'd probably have less than 2 mm of lead to work with, trying to solder to that without unsoldering the lead from the board backside would be dicey...

can anyone tell me anything about a 1946 hotpoint tv

That's probably a 1958-59 model, 21" screen, slimline chassis.
It was made by General Electric who owned Hotpoint.

Very good set to restore and watch old movies on! I have a tabletop GE that probably has the same chassis.

Here are my two sets...a 1948 Admiral 30A14-N, which I just picked up locally from craigslist yesterday, and a 1959 Philco Seventeener III. Both are complete and unmolested and I hope that the Admiral will be up and running relatively soon. Due to the compactness and layout of the Philco, I'm not sure what I'll do regarding trying to rebuild it.

Jeff
I have a seventeener that my parents bought in about '57 or '58, it is about 13- 1/4 inches deep. It looks as if Philco shaved off about 3-4 inches in the "III" design...how deep is that puppy?

Nice Finds!
jr

I have a seventeener that my parents bought in about '57 or '58, it is about 13- 1/4 inches deep. It looks as if Philco shaved off about 3-4 inches in the "III" design...how deep is that puppy?


From front, to the deepest part of the cover over the CRT neck, it measures about 11" Since you don't see the bulge in the back panel in most pics, it looks deceptively thin. It uses the shallower 110 degree CRT. I think it's an interesting set though, especially the handle with the antenna.

Jeff

From front, to the deepest part of the cover over the CRT neck, it measures about 11" Since you don't see the bulge in the back panel in most pics, it looks deceptively thin. It uses the shallower 110 degree CRT. I think it's an interesting set though, especially the handle with the antenna.
Jeff

Ahhh! That's the difference... the early model did not have much of a CRT "bump"... also the "wrap around" vs the "lip" treatment of the CRT bezel adds to the illusion of a much thinner set!
jr

Update: I just measured a 17" "Predicta" which uses a 110 degree 17ADP4...it is also 11" deep... guess the 114 Degree tubes were not built in time for it or the "Seventeener III"

Here is my 1958 Westinghouse portable. Currently being recapped..

http://i907.photobucket.com/albums/ac275/bigredmachine878/Television001.jpg

Update: I just measured a 17" "Predicta" which uses a 110 degree 17ADP4...it is also 11" deep... guess the 114 Degree tubes were not built in time for it or the "Seventeener III"

Actually the Seventeener III shares the same tube as the 17" Predicta. The 3/59 Sam's lists the tube as using either the Philco or Sylvania 17DAP4/SF-17.

Jeff

Here is my 1958 Westinghouse portable. Currently being recapped..
]

Nice looking set! That looks large enough that it'd stretch the meaning of 'portable'. Also, nice bit of silver Pioneer stereo gear in the background. I've a few bits of that myself.

Jeff

Here's mine so far. DuMont, Zenith porthole combo, Admiral, and Predicta. Three have rasters. The DuMont is completely recapped and on final testing.

Decent looking blond RCA I worked over during the holidays.

Been watching it ever since. I find B&W seems to be easier on the eyes.

Kevin

That Indian Head test pattern looks really awesome on that 1950's RCA Victor TV:-)
Many boomers from the 1940's and 1950's have very fond memories of this from the good ol' 1950's after the TV station signed off for the night after the news or late show:-)

I love the old test patterns. The patterns are from a downloadable DVD from this website;

http://techpreservation.dyndns.org/dvddl/testdisc.htm

Pretty nice of whomever owns that site to generate, and then make them available to us all. They're not all perfectly centered, but they are still very cool to look at.

Kevin

Charlie,
Your site is great,you have some very nice sets!
I love the Sylvania "Dualette" you have,I haven't seen it in brown and yellow two tone before.
I want to find one of those one day soon,I only worry about shipping because the tv is made of plastic.
I am sure I'm going to wind up having to have one shipped though because I have not seen one locally.

Here are some of the sets I've picked up since my last post in this thread.

Admiral 16R12
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6034/6393131233_f944f54161_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/70039806@N00/6393131233/)

Admiral 19A12
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6190/6053516727_c81bc379e8_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/70039806@N00/6053516727/)

Admiral 20X11
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7153/6403581161_fe6d30bc9d_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/70039806@N00/6403581161/)

Admiral 26X56
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5107/5623957594_0328b18944_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/70039806@N00/5623957594/)

Admiral 30A14
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2573/5819721379_cc3d541df0_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/70039806@N00/5819721379/)

Bel-Aire ???
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7029/6467876445_6e0efe88e5_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/70039806@N00/6467876445/)

Emerson 639
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6017/6020150893_1f89b50d98_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/70039806@N00/6020150893/)

Silvertone 8132
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6031/6245505076_f89295fc02_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/70039806@N00/6245505076/)

Zenith G2346R "Graemere"
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7012/6393178837_cf23e4c477_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/70039806@N00/6393178837/)

Zenith G2439RZ "Monroe'
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5221/5662782173_2afe7ee5a3_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/70039806@N00/5662782173/)

Bob, Nice sets! Is that Bel-Air ?? a round or rectangular CRT?

Decent looking blond RCA I worked over during the holidays.

Been watching it ever since. I find B&W seems to be easier on the eyes.

Kevin

I agree. I like to adjust black 7 white sets for a soft picture with nice shades of grey, not too much contrast and moderate brightness. I find it looks better and is easier on the CRT as well. I find I can't set up a color set this way. The color does not display correctly unless there is ample contrast in the picture. Although I still use conservative settings to make the picture tubes last longer.

Bob, Nice sets! Is that Bel-Air ?? a round or rectangular CRT?

Thanks! It's rectangular - about 8".

Good luck with those "Giant Circle" Zeniths. The metal-glass CRTs they use are hard to find.

I just got this cute little 1.5" Broksonic, the thing's darn near mint condition including the battery compartment and Vinyl protective cover but it's missing the cover that snaps over the front.

Haven't powered it up yet but I expect it'll work.
Edit: it does work, it even has a lingering dot when switched off. Also has a SW Radio band.

Attached are photos of my 17DX12, 19B1 chassis. Found at flea market in 1979 and I did a h-a recap :nono:on it then but it worked nice. I am in process of doing it again to VK standards.:thmbsp: I have an enlarged copy of the sams 210 so I can see all the capacitors that need to be changed. This set has about 10 electrolytics.172434

172435

172436

172437

172438

Most of these sets were sold in the Philadelphia area, and are VHF only.

The attached photos: Admiral 17DX12, 1950 Emerson 644 (unchecked), Philco 53T1826 2-chassis(unchecked), 1951 Motorola 17T6 w/metal CRT (had this one working 35 years ago), Sentinel 1U522 w/UHF and the RCA 9PC41 projection set(future major restore). :yes:

Attached are photos of my 17DX12, 19B1 chassis. Found at flea market in 1979 and I did a h-a recap :nono:on it then but it worked nice. I am in process of doing it again to VK standards.:thmbsp: I have an enlarged copy of the sams 210 so I can see all the capacitors that need to be changed. This set has about 10 electrolytics.172434

172435172436172437172438

Most of these sets were sold in the Philadelphia area, and are VHF only.

The attached photos: Admiral 17DX12, 1950 Emerson 644 (unchecked), Philco 53T1826 2-chassis(unchecked), 1951 Motorola 17T6 w/metal CRT (had this one working 35 years ago), Sentinel 1U522 w/UHF and the RCA 9PC41 projection set(future major restore). :yes:

Here's one of mine, a RA-105B7 DuMont "Sussex."

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj7/300cSRT8_photos/DuMont%20TV%20Sign%20Resto/DuMontTVSignResto010.jpg

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj7/300cSRT8_photos/DuMont%20TV%20Sign%20Resto/DuMontTVSignResto010.jpg

Wow, my father had that same set of rabbit ears, with the big coil. He used it on the FM tuner. Don't think the coil did anything, as it would be a high impedace at VHF.

Here's one of mine, a RA-105B7 DuMont "Sussex."



That's the ultimate TV lamp! :yes:

Good luck with those "Giant Circle" Zeniths. The metal-glass CRTs they use are hard to find.

Alas, the metal-glass 16EP4 has virtually 0 emission. All is not lost though. Amazingly a few months ago I stumbled across a porthole chassis with good 16EP4 at an estate sale :banana:
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6209/6154622728_f2504e400f_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/70039806@N00/6154622728/)

As for the smaller porthole, it uses an all glass 12LP4, but it's flaky. I'm hoping the erratic readings are just due to some bad connections in the very loose base.

Yup. The antenna is a "Delta Beam" from the 50's, I believe.

Obviously, it's strictly for show. I restored it completely, just as I did the DuMont Televisor and the Dealer Sign.

Decent looking blond RCA I worked over during the holidays.

Been watching it ever since. I find B&W seems to be easier on the eyes.

Kevin

I used to do a lot of work for elderly people. They claimed that color TV was too hard on their eyes. I still feel that a properly adjusted color set is just as easy on my eyes.

From front, to the deepest part of the cover over the CRT neck, it measures about 11" Since you don't see the bulge in the back panel in most pics, it looks deceptively thin. It uses the shallower 110 degree CRT. I think it's an interesting set though, especially the handle with the antenna.

Jeff


I had a Philco "Briefcase 19" portable in the early '70s, a trash find. Don't know if it was the Seventeener's predecessor or successor. :scratch2: Since I had a color set (RCA CTC12 clone Silvertone roundie) as well at the time, I didn't use the Philco much, until the Silvertone developed a serious problem in 1973. Used the Philco until mid-1975, then I moved and trashed the set shortly thereafter, IIRC. VK, or the Internet for that matter, did not exist at that time -- if they had, I'd have tried to save both sets, or at least the Philco; the Silvertone was too big and heavy to move, and besides, I didn't know enough about TV repair (beyond tube switching) at that time to even try to repair the problem, a large crack in a video PC board. :no:

I had a Philco "Briefcase 19" portable in the early '70s, a trash find. Don't know if it was the Seventeener's predecessor or successor. :scratch2:


The 19" tubes of that era were about the size of the earlier 17" versions, but with the corners "squared off". In similar fashion, the 23" CRTs were "squared off" but otherwise similar in size to the earlier 21s.

Found an ad for the Philco "briefcase 19" ... looks very similar to a "Seventeener III" except for the corners of the CRT.

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-philco-briefcase-19-portable-t-v-television-1

The predecessor to the "Slender Seventeener" was the much deeper "Seventeener" as shown at the bottom of this ad:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1957-Philco-Portable-TV-Television-Hidden-Antenna-Ad-/260633376626?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3caef5b772

not affiliated,
jr

The 19" tubes of that era were about the size of the earlier 17" versions, but with the corners "squared off". In similar fashion, the 23" CRTs were "squared off" but otherwise similar in size to the earlier 21s.

Found an ad for the Philco "briefcase 19" ... looks very similar to a "Seventeener III" except for the corners of the CRT.

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-philco-briefcase-19-portable-t-v-television-1

The predecessor to the "Slender Seventeener" was the much deeper "Seventeener" as shown at the bottom of this ad:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1957-Philco-Portable-TV-Television-Hidden-Antenna-Ad-/260633376626?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3caef5b772

not affiliated,
jr


Thanks much for the info. That Worthpoint ad shows a set exactly like my Briefcase 19 (now long gone), only it shows the set in a slightly different color cabinet (mine was, IIRC, green and white) and the TV in the ad has all its front knobs, whereas mine was missing the channel selector and, again IIRC, the fine tuning. (Perhaps some kid filched the knobs before I got to the set?) I was able to use on the Philco a channel knob from another old TV I had scrapped some time earlier. I don't know exactly why I trashed that Philco in 1976 or thereabouts; the set probably would have been a collector's item today, although both elements of the built-in "Scantenna" handle antenna on mine were missing when I found the TV. No matter; I used rabbit ears with it until I got rid of it, and the set worked perfectly -- both in the Cleveland suburb where the TV replaced my Silvertone color roundie, :no: and in my old neighborhood when I moved back there in 1975.

BTW and a bit OT: I was looking through the ads on eBay.com, looking for a similar Philco Briefcase 19 ad, but didn't find one. However, I did see one ad for "The Seventeener", which looked somewhat like the Briefcase 19, except of course for the CRT, which in the Seventeener was two inches smaller.

I also noticed that, while searching the eBay site for "Philco tv", I found absolutely no actual Philco televisions for auction -- only Philco magazine ads and service info, much of the latter being Sams Photofacts. Are there no more antique or vintage Philco b&w or color televisions left in this country anymore? I realize folks are replacing their old CRT sets with flat-panel digital ones when the former go bad, but I cannot believe all the old Philcos (except those which may now be in the hands of our members here at VK) are gone.

.

A number of vintage Philco TVs on eBay, as well as tons of ads and service literature:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=philco+tv&_sacat=0&_odkw=philco+tv&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313

jr

Here's another batch of sets I've picked up over the last year.

Admiral 30A15
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8338/8237430018_706b2f618c_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/70039806@N00/8237430018/)

GE 21C2465
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8096/8483788691_deca0752bb_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/70039806@N00/8483788691/)

Hoffman
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8296/8010923119_f15a16620a_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/70039806@N00/8010923119/)

Motorola 9L1
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7210/6988177091_5b4b11fd42_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/70039806@N00/6988177091/)

Motorola Y14P3-2
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8288/7787015544_a7a75d4638_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/70039806@N00/7787015544/)

Philco Predicta Tandems
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7114/7024737283_f2082822b2_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/70039806@N00/7024737283/) http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5276/7423175712_a31dcdaf5a_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/70039806@N00/7423175712/) http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8078/8323578757_d4a0b4bbf6_n.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/70039806@N00/8323578757/)

Philco Town & Country
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8286/7719527888_b2a12b28e4_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/70039806@N00/7719527888/)

RCA 630TS
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8084/8273132225_e4be71e4cf_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/70039806@N00/8273132225/)

Stromberg Carlson TV-12
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8328/8368994638_1e1cae7dfb_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/70039806@N00/8368994638/)

Westinghouse H-196 & Sonora 302
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7252/7580131044_6f7a41cfdf_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/70039806@N00/7580131044/)

That's quite a haul over the past year. I like the Westy.

Here are my current vintage TV sets:
1946 RCA Victor 621TS:
http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m554/decojoe67/DSC00426_zpsb5335e85.jpg (http://s1131.photobucket.com/user/decojoe67/media/DSC00426_zpsb5335e85.jpg.html)
1946 RCA Victor 630TS:
http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m554/decojoe67/DSC00425_zps7ce00e1e.jpg (http://s1131.photobucket.com/user/decojoe67/media/DSC00425_zps7ce00e1e.jpg.html)
1948 Motorola VT-71:
http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m554/decojoe67/DSC00378_zps0779dfd4.jpg (http://s1131.photobucket.com/user/decojoe67/media/DSC00378_zps0779dfd4.jpg.html)
1948 GE 800:
http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m554/decojoe67/DSC00294_zps51977012.jpg
1949 Pilot Radio TV-37:
http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m554/decojoe67/DSC00281.jpg
1956 RCA Victor 8PT-7032:
http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m554/decojoe67/DSC00306_zps5986238d.jpg
1957 Admiral T-103:
http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m554/decojoe67/DSC00317_zps7ca9e006.jpg
1958 RCA Victor Deluxe:
http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m554/decojoe67/DSC00449_zpsb90b2307.jpg (http://s1131.photobucket.com/user/decojoe67/media/DSC00449_zpsb90b2307.jpg.html)
1958 Tele-O-Master 8T-58:
http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m554/decojoe67/DSC00330_zps027476da.jpg
1959 Philco Predicta "Debutante":
http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m554/decojoe67/DSC00404_zpsf2d0226b.jpg (http://s1131.photobucket.com/user/decojoe67/media/DSC00404_zpsf2d0226b.jpg.html)
1959 Philco Safari:
http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m554/decojoe67/DSC00451_zps432464ff.jpg (http://s1131.photobucket.com/user/decojoe67/media/DSC00451_zps432464ff.jpg.html)
1959 Philco Seventeener III:
http://i1131.photobucket.com/albums/m554/decojoe67/DSC00363_zpsdf8dbd2d.jpg (http://s1131.photobucket.com/user/decojoe67/media/DSC00363_zpsdf8dbd2d.jpg.html)

[QUOTE=decojoe67;3063215]Here are my current vintage TV sets:
Ahhh HATE Yew...-Yosemite Sam, Esq.... Seriously, THAT is a collection I'd give my EYETEETH for...(grin)

[QUOTE=decojoe67;3063215]Here are my current vintage TV sets:
Ahhh HATE Yew...-Yosemite Sam, Esq.... Seriously, THAT is a collection I'd give my EYETEETH for...(grin)

Thank you. I've been into the vintage radio/TV hobby since my early teens. My interest in the history and the sets themselves only grows as I get older. The collection has constantly evolved through the years - selling and trading due to space limitations. I once had about 12 vintage TV's, mostly early post-war 7 incher's. Now I have mostly 1930's radios - displayed with lots of art-deco items!
Joe

My Dumont Doghouse RA-103 ready for (final?) assembly!

Brian,

Beautiful restoration. Great addition to your collection.

-Steve D.

I just returned from a short road trip to pick up this two tone RCA 17", 17-PD-8096 I think it is, I already have one just like this but for $40 with a stand I couldn't pass it up.

It was about 100 miles round trip including a couple side trips for lunch and Coffee, the home was a 5500 sq ft mini-mansion in a gated community in Chino, A million dollars if it's a penny. :eek: even in So Cal that's a nice house.

Anyway, the set is in decent shape and came with an age appropriate stand, not an RCA part but perfect for the set, it's missing one small knob and the gold V emblem on top is broken but I may have a knob and I do have a V so that's not a big problem.

Powered it up and the tubes light but it's totally dead otherwise, no sound or light.

I'll pull the back and check the CRT next but even if it's bad I have a NOS spare for it. :thmbsp:

I'll pull the back and check the CRT next but even if it's bad I have a NOS spare for it. :thmbsp:

Good news, the CRT checks like new!

This is a series string set with an 8.4 volt CRT, my luck withe them has been 50/50 but this one checks 95/100, even with the heater reduced to less than 6 volts it stays at 95! Cutoff is good too.

Good going Eric,

Looks like a nice clean example w/a good crt. And ez to transport. That knob should be fairly easy to find, although that is not a common color.

-Steve D.

Good going Eric,

Looks like a nice clean example w/a good crt. And ez to transport.

-Steve D.

I just had to tell this story if I haven't before about transporting one of these. As a latch key kid I was put on an airplane every summer to spend time with my mom. One summer around 1981 I found one of these while yard sale hunting with my mom down in Alabama. I think I gave $5 for the almost mint working set. Almost meaning that it had a tendency to get vertical roll.

In those days 50s sets were quite common and sort of considered junk for the most part. But this space age rocketship design to me was 'over the top' and I loved it. So I could not allow myself to be separated from it upon going back to old Virginnie. So on the day of my flight home I carried that RCA right on that plane! There was even enough room in the area above the seat to hold it! I sure did, and I remember someone helping me get the thing up on the cargo shelf and oddly I don't remember getting any hairy eyeball looks. Of course in those days I think people still didn't look at television as some sort of birthright; actually it was still more of a small investment worth repairing. Certainly not a throw away item; not yet. And for sure we didn't carry them around in our pockets like everyone is doing these days.

Anyway, in today's paranoid air terrorism scene I just bet this scenario would raise every red flag in the book in an airport. Heck, the security people probably wouldn't know that it's a TV first off. Just the built in rabbit ears would certainly be the makings of a bomb and rightly so. You could probably make a deadly weapon out of an old set in a hundred ways. Seems I didn't keep the set very long and it developed bad sync issues and at that young age I was pretty much limited to drug store trips to test tubes. It wasn't a tube so I think I took the set apart for practice. A lot of now great sets were donated to me self educating in a doomed career path.....

I guess I was lucky, the last TV that I bought ( a 1957 8 inch metal portable ) I brought with me in an airplane. The airport people were nice enough to me to recognize that it was safer, for the TV, to be transported with me in the passenger area than in the cargo compartment.

Yeah, that was the basic idea for me carrying mine. Hey. it was called a portable!!

It's be-yooooooouti-ful! (And a ways down the road, restoration wise). Gift from another VK'r..

It's be-yooooooouti-ful! (And a ways down the road, restoration wise). Gift from another VK'r..

I really love that Hallicrafters.

Here are the B&W sets I have at home, I'll have to wait for a 'color set' thread to show the others :D

http://www.stellar-tv.com/images/tvhome1.jpg

This one sits on the workbench. I finished recapping it a few weeks ago and have not found another suitable place for it. :)

http://www.stellar-tv.com/images/tvhome2.jpg

GE Locomotive, Crosley, RCA, and GE portable on top of an Admiral.

http://www.stellar-tv.com/images/tvhome3.jpg

'53 Motorola in the bedroom. This one gets nightly exercise when Alfred hits the air at 11. :D

The equipment tower was a piece that my father built in 1977. He came home from working offshore and bought a brand new 19" Sony Trinitron TV (to the tune of nearly $3000 at that time.) This was built to house his turntable, stereo receiver, TV, and record collection, along with a pullout drawer for his top-loading VCR. Over the years to TV area was hollowed out larger and larger as my family got larger sets and finally I ended up with it. The Moto was a perfect fit..... after hollowing it out one further, final time.

StellarTV, what a beautiful collection!

That bedroom Chrysler building of entertainment is awesome!

That is a nice cabinet, and collection.

Then I'm definitely a weirdo!

Quote from another forum: "(Antique TV collecting) always seemed to me to be a fringe hobby that only weirdos did."
I think you were replying to my signature line. Yes, I am a proud "fringe weirdo" as well. :)

Here's my latest set - a GE 21C3461 from around 1960 with wireless RF remote. It's in great condition and works but unfortunately, I don't have the remote control :(
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3950/15590334301_ef331254f1_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/pKExeg)

Here's the RF receiver and giant coaxial speaker.
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5609/14964611964_a4659c51cd_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/oNnxM7)

Here's a portion of a 1960 GE TV ad that shows the remote.

-Steve D.

Cool. There have been a couple remotes on ebay over the last couple years but I missed out on both.

how is the sound on your ge. i have one of those large oval speakers but i have never hooked it up.

Lots of bass but a little odd since it's so close to the ground.

Heres my latest project. I picked it up from craigslist a few weeks ago. Recapped and installed new grill cloth, I couldn't find anything like the original but this looks okay, It plays excellent. http://i.imgur.com/GC4EOI1l.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/QskEv5hl.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/YVk2gG0l.jpg

Very Nice! And I think that cloth is an excellent approximation of the original.

I think that cloth looks very good!

I haven't been very actively repairing sets lately but I did manage to get this Admiral Bakelite Tabletop running recently, took several months off and on.

I noticed after I reinstalled it in the cabinet that it needs some new rubber bushings under the CRT to bring it in alignment with the mask.

http://videokarma.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=188977&stc=1&d=1448758998

Thanks Kevin and Eric, the cloth got a nod of approval from my wife also, so I'm happy with it. Sure looks better than the ratty torn faded stuff that was in there.
Eric, that little Admiral sure has a nice picture. Cool little set.http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/images/smilies/beerchug.gif

Here are a couple of my late '40's RCA sets: A Canadian 8T243 10" circa 1949(note the rounded picture tube mask used on Canadian sets) and a 1949 9TC275 using a 16AP4 CRT.

Terry