I have this old TV, that's a TG&Y. I know nothing about it except that it's solid state, and usually has a temperament problem. It's black and white, cream colored chassis, and when very cold, it start up severely out of focus, but after 20 minutes, warms up to a fairly clear picture.

I have noticed however, that it's flyback has NO divider on it, so I have no idea how I'm supposed to focus it.. The only POT on the main board labeled is H-Hold, that's it.. Oh, it seems to be of a Sampo design, if that helps. I'll get a picture later of it.

This is what it looks like: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v395/Evilweredragon/tgy.jpg

The most likely problem is a weak picture tube.

Wow... TG&Y... there's a name I haven't heard in at least 20 years!

Wow... TG&Y... there's a name I haven't heard in at least 20 years!

Yeah....Me neither, Charlie...More like 25 or 30, I'd say. Here, they were a "Cut-Rate"-read-"CHEAP" kind of store, their electronics were by & large BPC Specials. That this TV has lasted this long is a feat, in & of itself, I'd think.

The tuner for the past 8 years hasn't worked well.. Channel 4, 8, and 10 do not work, just produce a grey screen.

Does TG&Y really make it? I've seen this exact TV by many other names, Sampo, and others..

Here's another thread I found, from this own forum, that has the same chassis design, and the internals are the same too! (showing the back POTs).

http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=248733

http://www.etsy.com/listing/84389047/atomic-style-retro-sampo-15-inch?ref=sr_gallery_35&ga_search_submit=&ga_search_query=retro+kitch&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_ship_to=US&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_page=2&ga_search_type=vintage&ga_facet=vintage

Many of these B&W do not have focus adjustments. Others have an option to connect the focus lead from the CRT to either ground, B+, or boost voltage and you use whatever tap gives the best results. From what you describe, it sounds like you have a weak CRT.

Jeez, every old TV I have, has a weak CRT. LOL!!

TG&Y. Wow. Thats a long time ago.

Are there any brand names on the printed circuit board?

If you take a shot of the interior of this set, some of us here may have a brain fart and remember who made your set!

Good luck with it. It doesent look half-bad in your picture. Is the brightness up full?

Its sampo made that I'm sure of. Brightness is at half.

That is a Sampo set - I have an identical one. If you decide to get rid of it because of the CRT let me know - I could use it for parts.

My parents used to take us to that store. Yes, a LONG time ago! Probably 35+ years! That may be the ONLY one left! LOL

That may be the ONLY one left! LOL

Nope: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Retro-1976-Black-White-TG-Y-Yellow-Cream-Television-TV-Works-/140777305214?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20c6fb347e

OK maybe 2. :)

So it looks like this TV is clearing up well..

I left it on for a while, and it came back! This honestly doesn't look like a CRT, now that I've seen it look like this..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v395/Evilweredragon/IMG_0716.jpg

I never heard of TG&Y. Was it a store like Woolworth's, or maybe K-mart? They were never in Chicago.

Edit: A quick Wikipedia check; yes, they were like Woolworth's or S.S. Kresge (the smaller stores that predated K-marts).

I had a T. G. & Y. lawnmower back in '78 when I first bought a house. A big enough variety store chain to have their own house brands. One replaced a Kresge's we had in the shopping center near the house I grew up in.

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=175025&stc=1&d=1340109758

Here's a video of this TV in operation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY60CpSXlog

We had a TG&Y in Barstow when I was a Teenager, they sold such quality name brands as Kraco & Soundesign. :yes:

I bought a couple Kraco 8-Track players from them and wound up returning them because the wow & flutter was so bad.

Yeah those were not exactly the best built stuff. Soundesign stuff was not designed for sound quality as the brand name suggests. Kraco did hang on a lot longer. Well into the 90's. They sold it at Pep Boys too

Yeah TG&Y wasn't exactly the best merchandise. Hell... I bet Walmart has better stuff today! I guess TG&Y was like a Dollar General... but much larger. Our TG&Y store in Port Arthur was pretty big... I'd guess about 30,000 sq ft.

TG&Y was a variety store like Woolworth, Roses, Maxway, Kmart or a 5 and dime store. Ours was here in North Carolina in the seventies.

The running joke when I was growing up was that TG&Y stood for Toys, Games, and Yo-yo's. Their merchandise was pretty junky, and you were taking your chances on buying anything more than toys!

We had a TG&Y in my town up until the early '90's. I've had several of these Sampo built B&W sets, as well as a Sampo built 13" color TV. I also had a 19" NEC built TG&Y color TV that used the same chassis as the much higher priced Curtis-Mathes TV's that were built by NEC.

I think the last TG&Y around here closed in the nineties. Not much different than a Family Dollar type store. Enjoyed it while they lasted.

TG & Y Stores were a 5 and 10 Cent outlet type store mainly found in rural areas. The upper end concept was TG & Y Family Centers which was more like a Woolworth or SS Kresge style store.

Grew up in an area where our nearest neighbor was about half a mile away. TG&Y advertised on TV, but there weren't any in the Asheville area, that I can recall.

We had a few around when I was a kid in Novato, CA (near San Francisco). The one in our town was a pretty good one, as I recall. At least the toy section!

I remember the one here had a distinctive "Cheap" SMELL to it..Hard to describe unless you've experienced it.

I bet that smell was passed on to Pic-N-Sav....which I think now is called "Big Lots". One of my guilty pleasures is hitting a Big Lots with absolutely NO plan and about three $20 bills in my pocket.....and then maybe a couple thrift stores. I tend to end up with the most USELESS stuff. Sometimes even a "score" for the micro TV collection.

When I was a sprout, TG&Y stood for "Turtles, Girdles, and Yo-Yos"

I have a small B&W TG&Y. Their headquarters was in Oklahoma, where I am originally from. The previous descriptions are pretty accurate. There was also a chain called OTASCO(Oklahoma Tire and Supply Company) there. As the name indicates, they did more hardware and automobile items. I do not have any of their stuff, but have seen one of their radios. As with TG&Y, OTASCO is long gone.

I have a small B&W TG&Y. Their headquarters was in Oklahoma, where I am originally from. The previous descriptions are pretty accurate. There was also a chain called OTASCO(Oklahoma Tire and Supply Company) there. As the name indicates, they did more hardware and automobile items. I do not have any of their stuff, but have seen one of their radios. As with TG&Y, OTASCO is long gone.

I used to wonder what an otasco was... :thmbsp:

How's this?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v395/Evilweredragon/tgyyoutube.jpg

I have it hooked up to my Mac now..

How's this?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v395/Evilweredragon/tgyyoutube.jpg

I have it hooked up to my Mac now..

Nice, though I think I may have one-uped you a few months back when I finally got my old trashpicked PC(that I stuffed into a VCR housing, and installed Ubuntu on) to output a color signal via S-video and an RF modulator to my old tube sets. :D

That's almost what I'm doing, with the signal.

I'm taking S-Video, but only using the luminance component, that way no chrominance distortion is present in the final modulated signal, since this TV an't use it anyway.

I was examining the signal coming from the computer, and noticed the frequency counter on my scope counted the vertical refresh at 61Hz. I would suspect that would be a problem on NTSC color sets, right? Shouldn't it be 59.9Hz?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v395/Evilweredragon/electricdesk.jpg

I seem to recall having to readjust the vert hold on my "VCR-computer" as I call it when using it with my color sets(never tried it on my monochrome ones). It displayed color just fine after I got the idea to unplug the VGA jack for the monitor I was using to test it and install the OS(BTW I've only gotten Ubuntu 11 to display color through the S-video jack...10 and 12 are useless for that).