Someone offered me a tube type G.E. Porta-Color and I accepted. It comes on and lights up, has sound, but the raster tells me it needs filters.. who knows what else. It's a 9" or 10", nice small set. Not the most popular set but I like it. Lots of Compactrons.

I recently got one of those. did not need any parts replaced, had a color demodulation issue, would not produce greens (but the B&W grey scale was fine), I used a vectorscope to align on of the color coils, and it works perfect now. its was the HC model IIRC from 1967. I would get another in a heart beat, very cool.

Porta-Potties take a lot of ribbing from some quarters, but, dammitt, they WERE the 1st portable color sets, they were one of the LAST Tube-type consumer electronic devices made in this country-Maybe up til 1980- and they have a LOT of heart. Its not unusual to find specimens STILL working after nearly 50 years now...No, they DON'T really have good pictures, but they WERE "Portable Color Television sets" when THAT in & of itself, was really something.

I have 3 of them an non of them needed any capacitors. All of them had whisker shorted pots, mainly agc and vert size.

They do have have a safety cap in the horz circuit that will cause no high voltage. Check that first, its the big tubular one in the back.

Its going to require some troubleshooting, I seriously doubt a cap replacement will get you anywhere.

They are a fun little set.

I'll have to get the scope after it and dig out the Sams. It's too old to have the little compartment with the schematic and it has been almost 20 years since I cracked one open. Maybe it will clean up nice.

The Porta-Pottie was also the first inexpensive Color TV most low incomes could afford. And easily the most reliable color TV General Electric ever made.

My 67 is going strong completely orig except for some tubes

What cost $250 in 1968 would cost $1589.08 in 2012.
Think a low income family could afford that today?

Every time is see stuff like this i get all depressed at how this country is fading faster than a weak crt....

Aint that the truth!

The later ones might be had free/cheap as 'dead' if they have the rivets. I don't remember if they had them or not. The rivets were a money maker in the shop days. some solder an a piece of wire to permanently fix.

The Porta-Pottie was also the first inexpensive Color TV most low incomes could afford. And easily the most reliable color TV General Electric ever made.

That set was out about a year when a lot of the Japanese imports were starting to hit the stores.
IIRC, Allied Radio started selling a Sharp-built Midland 14" color set for under $200 in late 1967. All three Milwaukee area stores sold out within six hours. The picture quality was a little better than the GE. :yes:

Next to the horizontal output tube there is a white ceramic tubular capacitor (probably Elmenco brand), replace it. When they go bad one end will blow out; I had one let loose while I was watching the set and it practically filled the inside of the cabinet with confetti (while the set kept right on playing, but with a poor raster).

Yes, this set was released about 1 year before the cheapie Japanese portables or table models got unleashed on our shores. The PortaColor was made up to 1980.

The Porta-Pottie was also the first inexpensive Color TV most low incomes could afford. And easily the most reliable color TV General Electric ever made.

Lets raise a collective toast to that statement. :yes:
GE owes alot to Earl"Madman" Muntz, who showed how to do TV with fewer parts. :D
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muntzing

While I could always troubleshoot and even get parts, my only beef with GE was that thier damned tuners really sucked in fringe areas. Sarkes-tarzan or something, I thing Mags used them too.

Yes, this set was released about 1 year before the cheapie Japanese portables or table models got unleashed on our shores. The PortaColor was made up to 1980.

You reminded me of this video with that statement. I like to find the little Japanese portables because they're fun, but what happened regarding them in the '60s really sucked.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Szd7bmwJVeI&feature=BFa&list=UUD9fbF2Ua7_TV9VKkH0MMpw

Lets raise a collective toast to that statement. :yes:
GE owes alot to Earl"Madman" Muntz, who showed how to do TV with fewer parts. :D
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muntzing

While I could always troubleshoot and even get parts, my only beef with GE was that thier damned tuners really sucked in fringe areas. Sarkes-tarzan or something, I thing Mags used them too.

I think that Muntzing thing is a well-worn urban tale. It's a well known fact that every TV manufacturer bought sets from competitors and reverse engineered them. Then they built up a prototype and jockeyed the design around enough as not to get into a patent war. They generally did that on their lower end products.
Regarding distant reception, the tuner is only part of the chain. A well designed IF strip and keyed AGC is equally important. Sarkes Tarzian tuners aren't one of my favourites, but the circuitry was simular to the rest of them.

Not too long ago, I had to explain what I meant by the term "Muntzing". Sad what our engineering colleges are now omitting...

Not too long ago, I had to explain what I meant by the term "Muntzing". Sad what our engineering colleges are now omitting...

"Muntzing" is pretty much the order of the day now for virtually EVERYTHING...

I grew up with a couple of GE portables-a 60s 19" portable that my aunt & uncle gave to my sisters and I, plus a Portacolor that I bought myself later on. I remember that both worked quite well but eventually the tuners got so weak that the sets were pretty much worthless. Of course, back then I didn't know about weak tubes or dirty tuners. I recall the 'KC' table model I had before the Portacolor had tuner troubles, too.

I grew up with a couple of GE portables-a 60s 19" portable that my aunt & uncle gave to my sisters and I, plus a Portacolor that I bought myself later on. I remember that both worked quite well but eventually the tuners got so weak that the sets were pretty much worthless. Of course, back then I didn't know about weak tubes or dirty tuners. I recall the 'KC' table model I had before the Portacolor had tuner troubles, too.

The tuners were the almost identical, except the tube heater configuration, and the shaft length.
Did your KC have the tuning meter?

Good question about the tuning meter. Such a rare item on any TV
I had a KD, one model year later and that did not have a tuning meter, though the control layout was identical to the KC.

I'm not 100% sure if the set in question was a KC or KD, I never had it apart. I sure wish I had it back! I'm almost positive that one didn't have the meter but later (in the early 90s) I had another one that did. It was a table model 23v in a wooden cabinet and a pretty weak performer. It was at a used furniture store, sitting atop a Philco-Ford console about the same age. I bought them both; the Philco had a beautiful picture. I kick myself on a regular basis for getting rid of both of those.

I'm not 100% sure if the set in question was a KC or KD, I never had it apart. I sure wish I had it back! I'm almost positive that one didn't have the meter but later (in the early 90s) I had another one that did. It was a table model 23v in a wooden cabinet and a pretty weak performer. It was at a used furniture store, sitting atop a Philco-Ford console about the same age. I bought them both; the Philco had a beautiful picture. I kick myself on a regular basis for getting rid of both of those.

We all did that! I had an RCA and an Admiral B&W table models, that I never was able to replace.
Did your Philco have the tuning eye?

Does anyone know how to determine the manufacture date of a GE Porta Color?

Is it by chassis number or serial number ? Where is the serial number located?

Is the date stamped somewhere on the chassis inside the set?

Fairly certain I found a 66, but want to be sure. Have not opened the cabinet yet. Thanks

Does anyone know how to determine the manufacture date of a GE Porta Color?

Is it by chassis number or serial number ? Where is the serial number located?

Is the date stamped somewhere on the chassis inside the set?

Fairly certain I found a 66, but want to be sure. Have not opened the cabinet yet. Thanks

If it's an HC model, it's one of the first production.
To get an idea on the age, you have to look at one of the major components, such as the CRT or tuner. There should be a code date on them.

I replaced the horizontal output tube on a Portacolor about 9 years ago for a friend. His set is one of the ones with the row of controls to the right of the channel selectors.

I didnt touch any alignments. The color was nice and normal looking. The tuner is sensitive, and as of this week, (December 2012,) it's still working. The color and grey scale still look good. It's seen very little service.

When I was a kid, after church my grandparents would take us to the Nihan & Martin Pharmacy in my hometown for a treat. They actually had an electronics aisle selling AM/FM's and toasters that we are all now buying for $2 and there it was. A Portacolor.

I had just built my second Knight Kit radio, my other grandparents (the rich ones) had a CTC-7 and I was hooked on television.

At home we had a 17" GE metal case B&W in the den and a 19" B&W Radio Craftsman in the living room. Dad was cheap but I saw the future and it was small and colorful. Portacolors deserve their own place in the tv history. Not great but a sign of things to come.

Currently watching TCM on a GE sorta Portacolor III 9" on top of the fridge...a Japanese (Sanyo ?) that I cannot kill. 1983 date code I remember. Sharp as ever.

What cost $250 in 1968 would cost $1589.08 in 2012.
Think a low income family could afford that today?

.

The PortaColor when introduced was not only the first truly portable color TV, but was also the least expensive. Color, of course was a premium product, as compared to black and white. I remember just a couple years before the PortaColor GE offered a very nice little 12" b/w set (available in several case colors) that also used very few tubes, as they were all (mostly) compactrons. I had one of these, and it produced a very nice picture. My dad made me sell this before he would get me a PortaColor which I still have.

So, while $250 was a lot of money, it was still the cheapest way to get a brand new color color set.

Why does "portable color TV" come up as a link to ebay? above? Not my doing.

Why does "portable color TV" come up as a link to ebay? above? Not my doing.
That is an automatic ad-link system used by the forum's owners to help keep this forum free (or donations-only) to use.

Does anyone know how to determine the manufacture date of a GE Porta Color?

Is it by chassis number or serial number ? Where is the serial number located?

Is the date stamped somewhere on the chassis inside the set?

Fairly certain I found a 66, but want to be sure. Have not opened the cabinet yet. Thanks

There were some minor changes to the sets through the years, that also can narrow down the year of manufacture.

Here's a cool Porta-Color site we may have posted before:
http://www.rwhirled.com/portacolor/

I used to work on tons of these sets, and must say if working right, they produced a really good picture, although it did sort of look like viewing the picture though a screen, due to the size of the pixels of the CRT.

A way to roughly date sets is with date codes. The filter can
seems to be the best ( if it hasnt been changed).
Look for 4 digit numbers, if it says 2368 it was made the
23rd week of 1968 add a few months to that. See if you can
find others marked that way. Unfortunately there are other
date schemes that are unreadable. Also look up the
MODEL number in Sams. They come out abt a year later.

73 Zeno