Thanks to Greg for going to save this for me, it was headed to the trash heap! :yikes:

Still a nice stereo out there for someone: http://stcloud.craigslist.org/zip/2232081199.html

:thmbsp:

Don't know a whole lot about it just yet, other than it works and probably has some vertical deflection issue. Check out the pics, I trust the forum sages will have more info on it. Anyone got a Sams on this thing?

2 more pics.

yep that same as mine, SS tuner and IF, the rest is tube.

Good thing I picked it up yesterday. When I drove up it was sitting outside. Anybody that has an extra leg, let Nick know. He's missing one. :D

Wow, that's pretty clean inside!

These are probably the most modern roundie ever built. I'm really happy to see this one saved. Regarding the leg, post a good photo and some dimensions. I have some, and others probably do as well.

Looks like someone stuck the chassis in backwards :D
Nice save!

The legs are 16" long from the top of the wood to the bottom of the feet and 1.75" diameter. They are painted grey.

Looks like someone stuck the chassis in backwards


Sure does, huh? Every other set I own has the HV cage on the right as you look at it, this thing must have a pretty long anode lead.

I believe that is a 1968 model. Acordng to the september 1967 popular science issue I have Philco brought back the round tube that year to have the cheapest set(screen size per dollar) on the market. Here is a photo from the magazine.
http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/ElectronicMemory/DSCN0543.jpg
I would imagine this was the last production roundy and likely quite collectable.

Tom C.

That looks to be it.

What a great find!. I love those leader models. Are those legs certainly the originals? They look too long to be strong enough for proper stability if someone fell against the set.

Chassis # 17MT80 makes it a '67 model.

I recall Wards had an Airline 21" color roundie on display at the front entrance to their store. It had a black hardboard cabinet and gray plastic trim & knobs. $299.00. Absolutely a price leader set. This must have been in the very late 60's

-Steve D.

What a great find!. I love those leader models. Are those legs certainly the originals? They look too long to be strong enough for proper stability if someone fell against the set.

Not sure. They do look to be unfinished underneath the lousy grey paint job.

What a great find!. I love those leader models. Are those legs certainly the originals? They look too long to be strong enough for proper stability if someone fell against the set.

My uncle bought one of those el-cheapo's. The Goodyear tire store was selling them at the time. He always favored Philco products, even though I told him to stay away. Bought it in fall of 1967.

Nice save!!

Does anybody know if that CRT is new or rebuilt? The label on it seems to indicate rebuilt - See the quote on it for Color CRT "New Gun assembly, used envelope".

Apparently the owner believed the "Use Only genuine Philco - Ford tubes and parts" or the set was under warranty when the CRT was replaced, if it indeed was replaced.

Walt Anderson

Seems to be a rebuild, I have a tube with that same sticker on it but a different manufacture is on it. Not Channel Master, but something similar.

Nice save!!

Does anybody know if that CRT is new or rebuilt? The label on it seems to indicate rebuilt - See the quote on it for Color CRT "New Gun assembly, used envelope".

Apparently the owner believed the "Use Only genuine Philco - Ford tubes and parts" or the set was under warranty when the CRT was replaced, if it indeed was replaced.

Walt Anderson
That CRT was probably replaced under warranty. It has a 68 code date. I was surprised to see that Philco made their own CRT's.

I have that sams if you need it.

I think Philco had just started color tube production about the time these sets came out. I have speculated that maybe they got all geared up to produce round tubes just in time for that market to fade, so they figured "what the heck?" and came out with those price leaders.

These were not the last roundies made...I think that honor goes to a series-string Magnavox that seems to have been in production into 1970.

There were a few companies that built "reverse" chassis, at least for some models. Admiral and Motorola come to mind.

We brought back some older all tube philco roundies from SC, I forget the chassis number but they are 64 65s

our first color set was a philco roundie.my dad bought it because the ford name was on it.the philco crt has a look all its own.very,very good picture.pretty good set overall.

I have that sams if you need it.



I do need it, can you email it or would it be snail mail?

Its a pdf send your email

Done.

Done.

Nick. Does that set have a gray painted cabinet? I had a set like that 30+ years ago. It was free for the hauling. The crt was weak on two guns and the flyback was bad. The painters in that house spilled paint all over it. Needless to say, I scrapped it. I noticed the tube had EIA260 on the label. Like I said before, I was surprised to see Philco still made their own CRT's.

Cabinet is painted grey. It's in my garage. Nick and I haven't quite figured out yet the easiest way to get it from St. Cloud, MN to Chicago.

Cabinet is painted grey. It's in my garage. Nick and I haven't quite figured out yet the easiest way to get it from St. Cloud, MN to Chicago.

That was the $299. special. The next model up was a walnut grained set for $329. Legs were extra.

Got the Sams, thanks Dan!

Gack! Looks like I'll be needing a bunch of 6U8's to replace the slew of GH8's in there, those things are the devil, so I hear.

Post it up on U-Ship with a picture, I got my CTC-4 home safely that way really cheap. It's worth a shot.

Got the Sams, thanks Dan!

Gack! Looks like I'll be needing a bunch of 6U8's to replace the slew of GH8's in there, those things are the devil, so I hear.

That model used a lot of 6BL8's as well.

Nick,
Your TV was picked up tonight. Show us pictures when you have her going.
Greg

Does anyone remember when Philco started to include the "Tuning Eye" on their color sets. We had one on ours (not a roundie) I always thought it was very cool.

Yep, he says he'll be here later tonight but I won't be there when he stops by due to work. :sigh:

The wife will have to handle it for now, then I'll post some pics in the AM. Pretty good deal on this one, I gotta say. Can't beat free 99, all thanks to Greg! And thanks a bunch for the heads up on U-Ship, Mark. The guy offered to truck it here for only $100! :thmbsp:

That is a pretty good deal considering gas prices. Maybe that U-Ship would also work for getting your roundie CRT delivered from MI?

Kevin

Dammit, see this is why I love you guys! :tresbon:


I'll get right on it, that thing completely slipped my mind! :smoke:

And now for the money shot...

This is why I like newer sets a lot: a fly so clean, I could eat off it. :banana:

As advertised, the set works when I plug it in. Bad news is there's a strange red flicker in the picture, vertical height is not what it should be, and something smells bad after being on a minute or so...

Yanked the chassis and started looking for what I assumed would be a cap with one lead in the grave, but everything looks brand new in this chassis. Cap search was inconclusive, so I used my nose to see if I could track down the source of the foul odor. It seemed to be coming from the PCB with all the demod and driver stuff on it, but at first I didn't see anything. That got my analytical aviation eyes in high gear and I stared and stared- then I saw it: carbon tracking from pin 6 to 7 of the X demod/R-Y tube! It's a 6BL8, pin 6 is the plate and 7 is the cathode/supressor of the demod section. Looks like I'll have to dig the burnt crud out, and see if I can push some epoxy in the space left over to try and clean it up. If you guys have a better idea on how to fix that, I'm all ears.

Hopefully after fixing the demod trace, this thing should produce a color picture!

Dug out the carbon with a razor, touched up vert height and centering, and she's a runner! :thmbsp:

Think I'll put this in as my daily runner, it's got a nice stong tube with plenty of life left.

Hey, you posted the solution just as I was typing a reply.

Did you fill the dug-out path with epoxy (I have used JB Weld), or just leave it open?

Phil Nelson

excellent picture!those philcos had a look all their own.love that set and happy for your good fortune

Did you fill the dug-out path with epoxy (I have used JB Weld), or just leave it open?

I just left it. After thinking about it, I figured I'd better not give it another path to track through. No idea if the stuff I would have put in there would have formed another path for current or not. If it does it again, I can just remove the small trace on the right, and sub in a wire.

Thanks sampson, it does feel good to get an easy one every now and then. I think the main fliter cap does need replaced though, the picture has a barely perceptible 60hz wave rolling through it. I'll leave that for the future though, for now it runs just fine.

Looks great! I see it isn't any warmer in Chicago than it is here. Where the heck is Spring.

Does anyone remember when Philco started to include the "Tuning Eye" on their color sets. We had one on ours (not a roundie) I always thought it was very cool.
I think the 67 & 68 model years used them, both round and rectangular. Of course, it was the higher priced models.

Does anyone remember when Philco started to include the "Tuning Eye" on their color sets. We had one on ours (not a roundie) I always thought it was very cool.



The Sams sheet (and sticker inside the set) list the tuning eye as a part, but they also note that they were not installed in all models. I suppose I could add one, but I'm not sure where it goes.

This stupid thing has the best convergence of any roundie I currently own, makes me want to go through the CTC-7 again. :scratch2:

when you get a chance would you check a few things and let me know

HOT current

CRT HV



after running for say 30 min just a ruff idea of how hot the fly is

as in warm to touch, pretty hot, stone cold etc... or if you have an IR temp gun, say the temp at the top of the doughnut.

I ask since mine seems to be running a bit too warm. I am going to double check the HOT and KV tomorrow.

for comparison, 25kv 200ma brighness turned down all the way. Horz bias set too near min. FYI, could not get the KV lower than 25kv with min brightness.

Normal viewing has it bouncing around 220-240, kv jumps around a little in scene changes, but not too bad. No blooming or other issues.

I still have a soft focus. coil is turned all the way in, but that maybe due to some early work I was doing to it when I played with different focus coils, I plan to reinstall the old one. Right now in never goes thru a focus point just gets close until it bottoms out. All the way out is not better.

Sounds like the VDR in yours has drifted or something, it's part of the feedback mechanism which regulates high voltage. Same principle as the circuit used in the Portapotty.

Sounds like the VDR in yours has drifted or something, it's part of the feedback mechanism which regulates high voltage. Same principle as the circuit used in the Portapotty.

Also Motorola's and some Admiral's. Did Philco use second anode voltage for the focus? If not, it might have a focus rectifier. No schematic handy!

The schematic I have shows a SS focus diode.

Edit: I can email you the schematic I have, a forum member sent it to me.

for comparison, 25kv 200ma brighness turned down all the way. Horz bias set too near min. FYI, could not get the KV lower than 25kv with min brightness. Normal viewing has it bouncing around 220-240, kv jumps around a little in scene changes, but not too bad. No blooming or other issues.


I'm not currently able to read HV because I gave the meter back to Mark, but I just checked HOT current and grid voltage. I have spot on -60 VDC on the HOT grid just like Sams says, and I get anything from 210-240ma depending on picture content. Seems pretty normal to me. :thmbsp:

thats about the same current I I am getting.

one thing odd about mine, if I set the setup switch to serv, and adj the screen G2 for just being able to see the lines, I end up with a pretty dim pic(not bad just not as bright as some of my other roundies). I have a feeling the bias is off, I need to check the voltages at the cathodes.

I can of course increase the cathode bias to get a decently bright pic, but I have always read that is not the correct way to set it up, and that the bias pot should be fully CCW unless a gun can not produce a line, in which case you max that drive and then turn up the bias until it can produce a line.

IIRC my CRT tested fine, so I am back to thinking I must have something off in the overall bias of the CRT, esp considering I am at 25kv (even when fully loaded, it only drops a bit).

Here's what Sams says:

"Tune is a B&W picture or a color one with the color control at minimum. Set CRT bias and all screens to minimum, and put the switch into the service position. Advance screen controls one at a time, until each produces a barely visible line.

If one or more screen control fails to produce a line, leave that screen at max and advance CRT bias until a dim line appears. Then adjust the remining screens to match the brightness of that line. Put the switch back into the normal position. Adjust blue and green drives to eliminate coloring in high and lowlight areas."


FWIW mine seems to track perfectly, but the pots in this cheap chassis are horrible. In particular, the AGC pot is really bad. It causes the screen to flicker randomly, and the front panel pots could use a cleaning as well. Have you tried cleaning your pots yet?

This stupid thing has the best convergence of any roundie I currently own, makes me want to go through the CTC-7 again. :scratch2:

Beautiful set! Is it acceptably safe for the fly that the horiz linearity is off a bit? Looks like the right side is very slightly more narrow. I have thought that imperfect horiz width and or linearity indicates a potential problem to make the fly temp hotter.

yea I think I am getting close to the issue on my setup, see my post in the noisey pic thread. pretty sure it is cathode voltage issue from the video out tube (plate V to high, look like the video out 12GN7 tube cathode bias resistor/pot drifted up, causeing the tube to not conduct enough, resulting in the high plate voltage).

Yes I did clean front panel control pots, but for the IF trim pot on the video board (missed that one), and yes I agree the pots on the back are cheap a$$ stuff.

I am pretty sure this last resistor (the R61 100 ohm on the bottom of the brightness control) is going to be the one that fixes my dim pic. I did check the cathode bypass cap, its ok, so that being ok and the resistance check of pin 1 of the 12GN7 (like 500 ohms was the MIN I could get, should have been 100 with the pot cranked fully towards ground) I think I got it.

Beautiful set! Is it acceptably safe for the fly that the horiz linearity is off a bit? Looks like the right side is very slightly more narrow.

I don't see anything wrong with the linearity on this set, it looks exactly the same on my HD set. It was slightly off-center in the pic though, I recentered it since then.

pretty sure it is cathode voltage issue from the video out tube. plate V is to high, looks like the video out 12GN7 tube cathode bias resistor/pot drifted up, causing the tube to not conduct enough, resulting in the high plate voltage.


That's a possibility, high plate voltage on the video tube (presumably from being more cut off than it should be) would also result in higher CRT cathode voltage, which would in turn cut the CRT off more. Worth looking into, IMO.

I agree the pots on the back are cheap a$$ stuff.


Sure are!

6GH8's will replase 6U8's in many applications. 6U8's replace 6GH8's in very few. :(
Doogie

I know, it's a shame.

Fortunately for me, this set's GH8's are all good (for now). They are Philco branded 'cool chassis' tubes,butif they start acting up I'll definitely buy a sack of 6U8's to replace them.

I know, it's a shame.

Fortunately for me, this set's GH8's are all good (for now). They are Philco branded 'cool chassis' tubes,butif they start acting up I'll definitely buy a sack of 6U8's to replace them.

Are 6GH8's that hard to get? I wouldn't sub the 6GH8's or the 6BL8's with 6U8's. Just not a good sub.

No they are easy to get, they just have a bad reputation for going failing.

No they are easy to get, they just have a bad reputation for going failing.

I think in the RCA's they were driven for all they good for. 6EA8 would be a better sub.

Update on this set.

It's been working pretty well for some time now, I gave all the pots a good cleaning and deoxit'ing so they aren't scratchy anymore. The pots up front are pretty cheap looking parts, it's easy to understand why these sets were 'price leaders'.

I got bored with it pretty fast though, and it had terrible 3.58 dot crawl in the Y line anyway. The dot crawl could probably be fixed with a few tweaks, but in the end I decided to go a different route- component video! Turns out the circuit is easy to change to accept component video, I repurposed the R-Y and B-Y demods so the pentode section acts to amplify the incoming signal. They don't provide enough voltage output though (or more accurately the incoming signal is far too weak), so an additional stage of gain will be required. Also the red info is getting to the pix tube too soon, so a short delay will be required to make everything line up. I'll probably unwind a Y delay from another set, till I end up with the right amount of delay.

So far I got it to display a color image with the mods I've made, so it's definitely possible to get working correctly. Only question at this point is to add a tube stage for R/B gain or use transistors? I figure varying the gain of the R/B signals will form a 'tint' control of sorts, and that would be easier to do with transistors.

Here's the testing situation.

Demods modded to act as voltage amplifiers, and the chassis sitting on the DVD player which provides test signals.