Here (http://rw6ase.narod.ru/000/tw.html) is a page with a lot of Soviet tv sets. You can see some early models, includig early experimental colour sets!!!
Note that some of the early sest are put at Комбинированные ч/б телеустановки (Black and white tv consoles with radio).
Like "Leningrad" T2 (which was in fact and East-German tv set), which was used for experimental tv brodacasting in Romania in 1955 and 1956?
http://rw6ase.narod.ru/000/tw/leningrad_t2.html
You can also find it on a Czech site: http://www.oldradio.cz/tvpa.htm
http://www.oldradio.cz/leningra.htm
(b.t.w., Czechoslovakian "Tesla" 4002A where also used for experimental tv brodacasting)
Here is a recent clip with one of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPGHOhyxG3Q
Beeing assambled: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDsZeNClx1U
One at the Lepzig Fair in 1950: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gks3_xRvlAE

"Temp" 2 (dind't knwo until today that "temp" means "air" in Russian)
http://rw6ase.narod.ru/000/tw/temp2.html
http://www.oldradio.cz/temp2.htm
and "Rekord"
http://rw6ase.narod.ru/000/tw/rekord_abtw.html
http://www.oldradio.cz/rekord.htm
where the 1sts tv sest to be saled in Romania. They are very hard to find today. I think in totally there where no more than 10.000-14.000 "Temp" 2 and "Rekord" tv sets imported. I gave to somebody a "Temp" 2 and a "Rekord", but I don't find any longer the channel carousel for the "Temp" 2 and at "Rekord" the electronic gun haves low emision :( Huh, I wish me one of this earyl models in working condition. "Temp" 2 was the only black and white (b & w) roundie saled in Romania.

Don't know how in Romania ended up some K.V.N.-49
http://rw6ase.narod.ru/000/tw/kwn49.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8_VgyiCqAk
A tv set like this can be found at Muzeul Ştiinţei şi Tehnicii "Ştefan Procopiu" ("Ştefan (Steven/Stephen) Procopiu" Museum of Science and Technics) form Iaşi (Jassy) and one in a private colection (it haves problem with the deflexion). I think some one smashed a set like this :tears: :whip:

But strictly from the way of the look, my early Soviet favorite is the Avangard-55:
http://rw6ase.narod.ru/000/tw/awangard55.html
I'm imagining mysfel (hope this is correctly in English) in the '50's with somebody watching a movie on a set like this.

Thanks for posting these fine links!:thmbsp:
I have some of these sets, T-2 Leningrad, KVN-49, Tesla (all from 1953 up
to ~1961, and the russian records and some later Temp.

The T-2 Leningrad is not an East-German TV, it is a russian construction.
This variy tale is now well around the world.
The production start was in 1949, I have eastern sources and a russian
shop manual covering all russian sets from 1946 up.
After these sets were getting out "style" the russians gave the machinery
to East Germany to build them on, just because there was a bill open because
of WW II.
The East Germans build them in 1952/53.
The hole construction was too expensive and not reliable (just the cabin)
The radio was also with this chassis!!!!! as a table set available, but only
in Russia.
The first serial-produced polish TV (Wisla-will add a picture on request) was
produced in Poland in 1957.
The same set in Russia was sold under another name in 1955! The construction
was a lemmon in relation to western TVs of this time.
The KVN-49, invented in 1948 (a RCA-copy:D) was a million seller, the Volkswagen or Volksempfänger for the public.
They were sold up to 1962 with the little screen. Later versions were available with a 30cm tube.
Just the russian rectangular tubes are lousy, so bad emissions on Rekord & Co. is standard.
Best regards,

TV-Collector:stupid:

Once again you have made my day with wonderful TV pix!
Thanks, my Czech ancestors would be amused as well.
I will buy a case of Chechvar tonight
:beer:Na zdravi and Noroc to you Telecor

The KVN-49 is a great looking set in my opinion. It has been on my want list for some time. I have tried to make arrangements to purchase one and have it shipped to the US but haven't been able to make it happen as of yet. From my limited google translated research of the set I've read that here isn't a single paper cap in the set! Some day I hope to have one sitting next to it's "Father", the 621ts, in my collection. Until then I'd love to see pictures and hear about them from other owners.

That might be true. I also could not see any paper capacitors on the backside of the chassis:

http://rw6ase.narod.ru/000/tw/kwn49_29.jpg

Has anybody seen or restored such a set in person? I remember one russian set offered at ebay a few years ago that looked like a piece of junk but still had high voltage :scratch2:

Greetings Josef

The K.V.N. (not K.W.N.)-49 was a set with old conception. That's why the guy who owns it haves trouble repairing the defelexion coil. He sayes that he wants to put an coil from an "Rubin" 102 tv set. I think that K.V.N.-49 is more likely inspiered by a German tv set.
"Temp" 2 was a very hard to repiar set, big, with high compustion (240 Watts on tv, 160 Watts on F.M. (U.S.W.) radio). In contrast, "Rekord" was smaller, lighter (23 k.gs. - the version witout the power transformer, 27 k.gs. - the version with power transformer) and easy to be reapired; and it consume less electricity - recatngular & smaller picture tube.
The 1st trully hit of the Soviet tv sets was the "Rubin" 102 from 1957. It was a more modern set. My maternal grandfather owned one, but he get it on the country side, I tried to get it back but I couldn't :tears:
http://rw6ase.narod.ru/000/tw/rubin102.html
Some one from Romania haves one in working condition: http://www.proradioantic.ro/index.php?x=item&id_p=224
There where bigger version of it, with loudspeakers that could reproduce a greater audio frequency range (50-15,000 Hz in stead of 80-8,000 Hz)
the 201 & 202: http://rw6ase.narod.ru/000/tw/rubin201.html

One of the good thing at Soviet tv sets was that most of them had power transformer. So:
1) You dind't risked to get electrocuted on the chassie;
2) The set was less sensitive on voltage or frequency variations - that stuff was a big problem in Romania untill recently (and sometimes still are problmes with that) *;
3) If one electronic tube (valve) went down, the rest would still work.
My small "Rekord" was the version without power transformer... and I got electrocuted once (my mistake). But it had the tubes mounted in paralel, like at the sets with power transforner

* today I thougt of that problems and guess what: accidently my paternal grandmother turned theryr set on T.C.M. where was a movie called "Where were you when the light turned out?" with Doris Day. :D

TV-collector: are you the guy with the Czech website?

I found on the street some old photographic films. Most of the images are taken around 1961-1964 (and, gush, I can see some houses demolished in the '60's and in the '80's). On one image was this family pic where a "Temp" 2 tv set appeares.

Is there a channel selector on this set? Thinking in the mode when I was told about evil godless communism, and "better dead than red" :) when I was growing up in the 60's, there might not be more than one channel to watch anyway... :scratch2:
http://rw6ase.narod.ru/000/tw/kwn49.html

RW6ASE looks like a ham amateur radio license callsign from Russia, similar to my American license WA2ISE.

:beerchug:

The early modesl I think could recive only channel 1 (acording to O.I.R.T. standards). Later model could recive chanels 1-5 (and probably even 1-12).
The knob was put on the right side of the set (or on the left, if you look from the rear to the front). A lot of Soviet sets had the knob mounted there and I've seen an early Romanian set * (made with Japanese components - the C.R.T. was German in most cases) that had the knob put on the right side.

* Naţional V.S. 43-614, in fact an National-Panasonic ("Matsushita") tv set. The Luchian V.S. 47-632 (an Naţional with 47 c.ms. = 18 or 19" screen) had also the knob on the right.

Ahh I had wondered what the controls on the right hand side of the KVN-49 were. I also noticed that some pictures I had seen of the set didn't have the controls on the side. Mystery solved, there was a 1 channel version. Any idea what year the multi-channel tuner was added? According to Wikipedia the KVN-49-1 (the first generation KVN) was produced from 1948-1950. Maybe that was the 1 channel version without the selector on the right side of the set?

Yes, probably that was the 1st version.
The motive for which they start to produce a multi-channel version was that the number of tv broadcasters started to extend in the U.S.S.R. and not all of them operated on channel one, so you needed to set the channel.

Hi,

well, I know quite well the KVN49-4 TV set, having restored both of the only 2 known to exist in Italy, one is mine, the other is in my friend's collection.

The circuit is a bit on the weird side, there is NO RF conversion and IF strips, simply this is a TRF receiver using the russian equivalent of the USA 6AC7 tubes. Also, there is no vertical output transformer, there is a choke loading a section of the 6N8S (6SN7GT) vertical oscillator and output. The Hor. section employs half of a 6N7S (6N7GT) as a blocking oscillator, a 807 as output tube and the other section of the 6N7S is used as a damper tube, but not recovering energy, instead short-circuiting it to ground thru 2 18Kohm resistors in parallel.

The capacitors used in these sets are of unusual high quality, paper in oil, I believe, housed in a ceramic tube with metallic caps soldered at both ends of the tube (there is a small metallisation of the tube at each end). Me being me not trusting old capacitors anyway, I replaced all of 'em.

The components are not soldered together with the usual tin-lead alloy, but instead are spot-welded, and this is quite a PITA when you have to change something

The controls on the right side of the chassis, hidden with a wooden panel are, IIRC, for hor and vert centering, vert linearity and amplitude, vert and hor sync. The slider control is the hor width that moves a laminated core in or out of an inductor wired in series to the scan coils

The KVN49-4 has only 3 channels, the selector is a lever mechanism on the back of the set.

These are interesting sets, the weak point is the CRT, that most of the times is either really gassy or completely with no emission. These sets, BTW, needs a strong CRT, the EHT only being 4,5KV

Best regards

Giulio Maiocco

The final output tube is G-807, not simply 807. That tube was at "Temp" 2 too.

How in the world those 2 K.V.N.-49 eneded up in Italy?

Yes, my friend, you are correct, the right hor output tube is a G-807, but a normal 807 from everywhere in the world works well too, as I experimented.

Sorry being a bit "thick", but what do you mean with "That tube was at "Temp" 2 too" ? Could you explain better, I'm curious!

The 2 KVN49-4 arrived in Italy in a very simple way, my friend bought one for him and gifted me with the other :D . The physical transportation to Italy was at least problematic and needed some redneck solutions, but nonetheless they arrived

I meant that the G-807 tube was also used as an final output tube for the "Temp" 2 tv set.

B.t.w., in those early days Soviet tv sets where extremly expensive for the Romanian buyer. "Rekord" had a price of. aprox. 4488 lei, in the days when a sallary (income) was around 300-500 lei. And in 1957 you had to have special aproval to buy a tv set. You had to be a Party member, member of the regular or secret police, foremost people in industry, Artist of the People.
In 1957 there where about 2,588 in Bucharest (and maybe some 200-300 more in areas of 60-100 k.m.s from Bucharest *), in 1958 13,831 and in 1959 in Regions of Bacău and Iaşi (Jassy) - a broadcater was put there in 1959 some 15,000 tv sest where salled. In 1960, in the are covered by television network (I think about 1/4-1/6 of the country) there where about 50,000 tv sets. In 1980 there where 4,000,000 tv sets in Romania and still not all people owned a tv set.

* the broadcasting station from Bucharest covered a range of about 100 k.m.s.

I would imagine vintage Soviet TVs could likely be in better shape than their American counterparts, since they were built more to "Mil-Spec" than ours were. The level of the components was likely better quality.

RW6ASE looks like a ham amateur radio license callsign from Russia, similar to my American license WA2ISE.

:beerchug:

According to qrz.com, RW6ASE is the ham call belonging to Kharchenko Valery, living in Vostochnaya Russia. I can't tell if this above is his web site or not. There is a web page there near the bottom with someone's picture, but the name is written in the Russian cerrilic(sp) symbols, which I don't know how to convert to the name QRZ.com reports. :scratch2: