Hello everyone, late last year I had picked up a 1960s vintage Sylvania Color TV Console from someone on Facebook Marketplace, and its a hybrid set, and my first hybrid set I've ever worked on.

I've tested the picture tube's emissions and it tests on the lower end of the green area on the tube tester, and it does produce a nice bright picture still, but the TV has some deflection issues and I think it has to do with some of the electrolytic caps in the deflection circuitry as the deflection circuitry of the TV is both Tube and solid state and the electrolytics are in the solid state portion of the deflection circuitry.

The majority of the coupling/decoupling capacitors in the tube portion of the circuitry are orange and brown drop mylars but there are two of the older style tubular capacitors in the underside of the chassis, one of them is a black tubular cap with yelllow writing sprague tubular cap (which it seems like I had read somewhere that the black tubular caps with yellow writing on them from Sprague were usually mylar caps), and that cap is across the power plug and then there's a Bumblebee looking cap going across the plug for the speaker but I'm not sure if its a paper cap or if its a mylar type cap (as I didn't think they were still producing and using paper caps in the 1960s but I could be wrong.)

I checked the ESR on all of the Filter caps (the large metal can caps) and they all measured between 1/2 ohm to an ohm of ESR on them.

Is there any suggestions for how to go about repair/restoring this TV so that I could put it back to every day use again, since this is my first experience with a Hybrid set?

Pictures below.

First, is important to got rid of the unreliably caps, such as Bumblebees and paper ones. And make sure about the electros.

I've been told the yellow text Sprague's are paper and the red are Mylar.... I usually change both to be safe.

You given it a variac powerup yet?

Keep in mind Syllies were good sets BUT the PCB etch lifts
to easily especially at tube sockets. So go easy on it.

Once I had one that lifted badly. The set wound up at Syl service.
They told the customer I butchered it & he called the Mass board
of radio & TV techs. They investigated & even the head dude at
Syl FS admitted the set was dried up & they were prone to
etches lifting anyways. Not guilty on all charges !

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

I just recently replaced all of the electrolytics on all of the boards that tested bad according to my ESR Meter, and the ones that were still good I left alone, and as far as the non-polarized caps went I left them alone because they were all orange or red drops (mylars) and I still can't get the picture to fill out and lock in vertically, it either bounces, rolls vertically or has lines going across the screen horizontally, no matter what I do I can't get the picture to fill out vertically like it should and I can't get the vertical lock in in the center of the vertical hold control it will only lock in at the extreme left setting of the vertical hold control and even then it still has a bounce to it, I've checked the vertical oscillator and output tube (6LU8 tube) and it measures fine yet (I've tried 3 different tubes in it and all three tubes measured good on my tube tester yet, as they measure >90 on the emissions test.)

Also I checked the picture tube emissions and all three color guns measured well above the the middle marking on the tester gauge (yes I did finally get a hold of a picture tube tester.)

Any ideas as to what else I could check, as I'm starting to run out of ideas as to what else I could check to get the picture to work like it should, because other than getting the vertical to lock and fill out I've pretty much got this TV working as it should.

Check or replace all caps in the vertical section, especially in the feedback circuit. The orange drops are particularly bad about drifting up in value causing the vertical problems you are describing.

Check or replace all caps in the vertical section, especially in the feedback circuit. The orange drops are particularly bad about drifting up in value causing the vertical problems you are describing.

OK, thanks for the info, I just assumed the orange drops being a type of mylar cap was considered a fairly stable capacitor and that I didn't need to worry about replacing them, but I'm guessing that in the late 1960s they were still fairly new technology yet so they must not of perfected them yet hence the instability you spoke of.

Thankfully I didn't bolt the chassis down into the cabinet yet (because I feared there was still going to be some issues I was going to have to work out yet) so I'll just have to remove the chassis again and check the capacitors again (especially the orange drops) and replace the faulty ones.

I checked all of the Orange and Brown drop capacitors on the deflection circuitboard and out of the nearly 2 dozen orange and brown drop capacitors there were 6 capacitors that were leaky and or shorted 4 orange drops and 2 brown drops, the rest were still good yet.

So I just need to order the capacitors and replace the bad ones and I think it should be good to go.

I have a question one of the capacitors in the deflection circuitboard that is bad is a .56 µF 100VDC capacitor and I wonder if I could use either a .47 µF or a .68 µF Capacitor in its place since .56 µF is such an oddball value that doesn't exist anymore more than likely?

Since that .56 is a bypass cap, its value may not be that critical. Either the .47 or .68 should be fine. Or you could put a .22 and a .33 in parallel and end up with a .55.

Since that .56 is a bypass cap, its value may not be that critical. Either the .47 or .68 should be fine. Or you could put a .22 and a .33 in parallel and end up with a .55.


OK, thanks for the info. I was kind of surprised at how many of those Orange Drops were actually bad on this TVs Deflection Board, and they weren't your cheap run of the mill orange drops either they were Spragues, which are normally pretty high quality capacitors. and then there were some General Industries Brown Drops in there (there were about 4 of them in total) and two of them were bad, so I'm not sure what kind of failure rate we're talking here but it seems that out of about 30+ mylar caps on the deflection board and the majority of them being Sprague 716P Series Orange Drops and only 4 or so General Industries Brown Drops to have only 4 Orange drops fail and two Brown Drops fail over the course of about 57 years I think that seems like a pretty decent track record. What's interesting is that it was only the vertical section caps that failed and the horizontal section caps were still good (this TV's Horizontal is rock solid yet, it was the Vertial section that failed, and I find that seems to be the case with the majority of the TVs I've worked on so far is that the Horizontal section is fine but the vertical section is what fails.)

Dittos on damens advice.

Just one thing, are you lifting one end of the caps you test ?
I wouldnt think so many were leaking, especially Sprague OD's.
Same with resistors, especially high ohm ones.

Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

Dittos on damens advice.

Just one thing, are you lifting one end of the caps you test ?
I wouldnt think so many were leaking, especially Sprague OD's.
Same with resistors, especially high ohm ones.

Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

No, I checked all of those Capacitors in Circuit, because I figured that with my capacitor checker being of the old style tuning eye tube variety it would be able to test the capacitors in circuit as far as leakage and shorts go, also the instructions that came with my tube checker which is from 1938 doesn't say anything about needing to lift one leg of the capacitor to get a reading from it when it comes to leakage and or shorts.

Most of the eye type capacitor testers require lifting one leg for testing (and all do if testing DC leakage). There were a few that used RF to check capacitance that could do a capacitance (but not an accurate leakage test) in circuit.
Orange drops and their brown and maroon cousins can develop leakage but it's rare and typically only ones installed on boards next to hot tubes.
If you take one that tests bad in circuit lift a leg and retest you'll probably find it's ok with a leg lifted... Some testers are sensitive to which lead of the tester goes to the lifted terminal and will display false leakage even with one leg lifted....My Heathkit C3 will display leakage regardless of which lead is hooked to the lifted end of the cap if the TV/radio/whatever the cap is part of is connected to anything that's plugged in.

Most of the eye type capacitor testers require lifting one leg for testing (and all do if testing DC leakage). There were a few that used RF to check capacitance that could do a capacitance (but not an accurate leakage test) in circuit.
Orange drops and their brown and maroon cousins can develop leakage but it's rare and typically only ones installed on boards next to hot tubes.
If you take one that tests bad in circuit lift a leg and retest you'll probably find it's ok with a leg lifted... Some testers are sensitive to which lead of the tester goes to the lifted terminal and will display false leakage even with one leg lifted....My Heathkit C3 will display leakage regardless of which lead is hooked to the lifted end of the cap if the TV/radio/whatever the cap is part of is connected to anything that's plugged in.

OK, I wasn't sure because I don't have much experience using one of these capacitor checkers, and like I said the instruction sheet inside the box didn't say anything about needing to lift a leg of the capacitor being tested to get an accurate reading. I'll give it a try again, but if it isn't bad capacitors then what else would be causing my bad vertical deflection issues? I can't get the TV's Vertical Hold to lock in at the center of its range and it shows a doubled image in the center of the vertical hold range (it will "lock" but the image is doubled split down the center) and the vertical size/height adjustment won't fill out the screen and I'm feeding the TV a true 4:3 ratio image so the top and bottom of the screen shouldn't be "cropped" like it would be if it was being fed a 16:9 ratio image.

Frequency is usually determined by RC time constants.... Double check that none of your caps are off by a power of 10 (easy mistake to make) then check for off tolerance resistors.

My D-16 behaved similar and one or two of the higher resistance vertical resistors were testing around double their rated value. Also make sure the tubes are healthy and the vertical lytics are new as either can cause vertical shrinkage.

Frequency is usually determined by RC time constants.... Double check that none of your caps are off by a power of 10 (easy mistake to make) then check for off tolerance resistors.

My D-16 behaved similar and one or two of the higher resistance vertical resistors were testing around double their rated value. Also make sure the tubes are healthy and the vertical lytics are new as either can cause vertical shrinkage.

Thanks for the tips, I replaced all of the coupling/Decoupling caps (film/mylar caps) in the vertical section and the vertical deflection is now working as it should.

But now I'm having issues with the color, I have no green at all in the picture, and tons of blue and not much red, I jiggled the service switch a little to check if that was the issue or not, and sure enough it did affect the color quite a bit and I also heard some electrical popping/snapping noises when I did jiggle the service switch. I had tested the picture tube about 2 months ago and the picture tube tested fine yet so could a defective service switch cause a loss of color in the TV or perhaps a defective color demod circuit (bad tubes or transistors?) I think one of the tubes in the Color Demod Circuit is a 6GH8 (which is one of the tubes that is notorious for going bad prematurely.)

Best to fix the obvious thing first, so fix the intermittent service switch and then see if you get constant bad color.

Best to fix the obvious thing first, so fix the intermittent service switch and then see if you get constant bad color.

Is there a current part number for that switch that cross-references to something currently available at someplace like DigiKey or Mouser? The reason why I'm asking is because when I would "jiggle" the switch it felt like the switch might fall apart in my fingers at any time because it felt really loose in the housing.

The switch can be deleted for now. Then turn the color all the
way DOWN. Fix the set so its as good a B&W set as you can.Then turn it up & deal with any actual color poroblems
Zeno

The switch can be deleted for now. Then turn the color all the
way DOWN. Fix the set so its as good a B&W set as you can.Then turn it up & deal with any actual color poroblems
Zeno

OK, will do. :thmbsp:

OK, So I have a Question concerning picture tube checkers, I have a B & K Model 465 CRT Tester that was given to me for free more or less by someone locally that I bought a couple of old radios from on Facebook Marketplace, and when I tested the Picture tube on this TV on this CRT Tester the Green and Blue guns tested like brand new yet (the meter was pegged out at the top in the emissions test) but then the red gun didn't budge the needle at all (it was showing no cutoff and the red gun was registering all the way at the bottom of the meter) This CRT Tester I have uses a switch with 3 positions: Position one (If I'm understanding this correctly) is the B/W test setting and also the Red Gun test setting for when you're testing color picture tubes, then the second setting is Green, and the third Setting is Blue.

Now this is where I'm kind of confused in how this CRT Tester works and if maybe I'm doing something wrong and maybe why I came up with a "dead" red gun result in my test, the instructions for this tube tester makes it sound like there is actually supposed to be a 4th setting for the CRT emissions/Cutoff test but when I actually go to flip through the settings there's only 3 clearly discernable settings on the switch. The Instructions for the Cutoff/Emissions Test reads as saying that if you're testing a B/W Tube you leave the tester's test mode switch in the B/W setting but if you're testing a color tube you need to switch it to the Red setting and follow the directions for the test and repeat the directions for the Green and the Blue settings.

But there's clearly no separate settings for B/W and Red it acts like (and its marked as such too) that the B/W and Red test settings are one in the same setting on the CRT Tester.

Does anyone here have any experience with this particular CRT Tester or ones similar to this and if so how is it supposed to work, because the Instruction manual is leaving me with more questions than answers, and also how common is it for one single color gun to just randomly die on a TV when the rest of the color guns test super strong yet, and also is it possible that the picture tube is actually good yet on all three guns and I just wasn't testing the Red Gun Correctly?

Any help with this issue would be appreciated.

Now this is where I'm kind of confused in how this CRT Tester works and if maybe I'm doing something wrong and maybe why I came up with a "dead" red gun result in my test, the instructions for this tube tester makes it sound like there is actually supposed to be a 4th setting for the CRT emissions/Cutoff test but when I actually go to flip through the settings there's only 3 clearly discernable settings on the switch. The Instructions for the Cutoff/Emissions Test reads as saying that if you're testing a B/W Tube you leave the tester's test mode switch in the B/W setting but if you're testing a color tube you need to switch it to the Red setting and follow the directions for the test and repeat the directions for the Green and the Blue settings.

But there's clearly no separate settings for B/W and Red it acts like (and its marked as such too) that the B/W and Red test settings are one in the same setting on the CRT Tester.


You are correct. The 3 position switch simply selects which color gun you're testing. So you need to re-set the cutoff control for each gun when you move between the 3, because there's no memory of the 3 cutoff settings. Some fancier testers have 3 separate cutoff controls and 3 meters so you can compare all 3 color guns simultaneously.

You are correct. The 3 position switch simply selects which color gun you're testing. So you need to re-set the cutoff control for each gun when you move between the 3, because there's no memory of the 3 cutoff settings. Some fancier testers have 3 separate cutoff controls and 3 meters so you can compare all 3 color guns simultaneously.

That's what I thought but when I would go to adjust the red color gun settings and do an emissions test on the red color gun in my picture tube I get no needle deflection/movement from the meter but when I would test the green and blue color guns in my picture tube I get deflection/movement meter that shows that the picture tube is still good yet, but how is it possible for a picture tube to have really good testing green and blue color guns but a dead testing red gun?

but how is it possible for a picture tube to have really good testing green and blue color guns but a dead testing red gun? Because they are 3 independent guns so there could be a mechanical failure of one component, and they can even wear out differently depending on how the drive controls were set.

But if you know all the guns work in the set, I suppose there could be something wrong with the red circuitry in the tester, right? Did you get a decent black and white picture like Zeno suggested? You could test a known good black and white crt to verify if the b/w, red switch position is goofy.

Because they are 3 independent guns so there could be a mechanical failure of one component, and they can even wear out differently depending on how the drive controls were set.

It seems kind of weird though that only one of the color guns would of failed catasctrophically but not the other ones, especially if it was a mechanical failure.

I was attempting to do a black and white setup on the tv and all I would get was a bluish green tinted picture with a slight bit of red in it, I couldn't really get the color to really go completely away.

Another weird thing is that the Color and Tint controls and the brightness and contrast controls don't seem to do anything with the TV and also the color adjustment and AGC Height and Vertical Linearity pots are acting like they might have tin whiskers because they do some weird things to the screen when I adjust them.

I have another Sylvania Color TV that is from 1974 that the tuner has failed on it, but it uses the same size of tube, and the picture tube was basically brand new on it because it was never used by the previous owner of it, I wonder if I could try to do a picture tube swap and see if it makes a difference with the TV?

One dead or almost dead gun was very common when these types of sets were in daily use.

Do this. set the G-2 & drive controls to mid range.
Measure the CRT voltages & wright them down. Do NOT measure the
focus pin ! All 3 guns should be about the same. If one is way off
on the red find out why.
Another test. Turn the G & B G-2's all the way down. Bring up
the red & see if you get red. If you dont get red leave the set on
for 1/2 hr & see if it comes up with warm up at all.
Zeno:smoke:

I was also wondering if I could also attempt a pix tube swap between a 1974 Vintage Sylvania Color TV Console that has a bad tuner assembly but has a like new pix tube in it because the TV was never used by the original owners except as furniture. The parts TV has a 25" pix tube in it just like this one has.
I'll also try your suggestions as well Zeno, is there a specific voltage that should be present at the Red Green and Blue Pins on the Pix Tube? Is that info in the Sam's Folder for this set that I have?

I was also wondering if I could also attempt a pix tube swap between a 1974 Vintage Sylvania Color TV Console that has a bad tuner assembly but has a like new pix tube in it because the TV was never used by the original owners except as furniture. The parts TV has a 25" pix tube in it just like this one has.
I'll also try your suggestions as well Zeno, is there a specific voltage that should be present at the Red Green and Blue Pins on the Pix Tube? Is that info in the Sam's Folder for this set that I have?
Sams will give voltages & CRT pin ##"s. You are looking for something way off.
The volts wont be exact but in the ball park. EX is the G-2's can adjust
between 250 V & 800 V. if off by 20% thats OK. Looking for BIG diference.
The 1974 jug is probably a 25" viewable, the old one probably 23" viewable
so wont swap. Also about 1974 Sylvania CRT's only lasted a few yrs.
IIRC they were called "GT-Matics" & the main chassis was 3 large modules & the CRT was called "Dark Light".
Zeno:smoke:

Sams will give voltages & CRT pin ##"s. You are looking for something way off.
The volts wont be exact but in the ball park. EX is the G-2's can adjust
between 250 V & 800 V. if off by 20% thats OK. Looking for BIG diference.
The 1974 jug is probably a 25" viewable, the old one probably 23" viewable
so wont swap. Also about 1974 Sylvania CRT's only lasted a few yrs.
IIRC they were called "GT-Matics" & the main chassis was 3 large modules & the CRT was called "Dark Light".
Zeno:smoke:

OK Thanks for the info. So it sounds like the Sylvania Pix Tubes from the 1960s were actually better than the ones from the 1970s? Am I understanding correctly?

Also I'm hoping that the red gun testing dead on my tube tester is just a matter of a malfunction in the tube tester itself and that the picture tube is actually still good and that the poor pix performance is just a matter of some sort of malfunction in the color demod circuitry (like a bad capacitor or two and or a bad transistor or two) Because this TV is a really good performer otherwise and has a really good performing tuner section.

Like I mentioned before, if you test one of your known good bw crt's you'll verify if the bw/red gun switch position is working correctly.

UPDATE: I retested the pix tube on this TV and sure enough all three color guns tested in the Bad range on the tester and the cut-off test was around 250V til I got to the cut-off mark which I'm guessing means a bad pix tube?

Also I have the numbers off the pix tubes inside both of my Sylvania TVs (the one from 1974 and this one that this thread is about), The Pix Tube inside my 1967 Sylvania TV is a 25AJP22, and the one in my 1974 Sylvania GT Matic is a 25VDMP22 which my tube tester does not have listed in the setup chart for my Pix Tube tester which is a B & K Model 465 CRT Tester from 1966 according to the manual. I'm wondering if these tubes can swap out for each other? If so would there be any sort of modification I would need to do? the first and last 2 digits are the same (they are both 25" tubes and they are both 6.3V heaters, its just the middle 3 and 4 letters I'm not sure about, and why one picture tube has 3 letters in the middle and the other has 4 letters in the middle of the first and last 2 numbers.)

Any help would be appreciated.

P. S. I'm wondering when the 25VDMP22 tube would of came out because I have a tube substitution manual from 1971 and it doesn't list the 25VDMP22 picture tube in the manual but it does list the 25AJP22 tube in there and a list of 4 tubes that would sub out for it.

Unfortunately that sub is probably not going to work. Around 1968 a law was passed that changed tube size measurement from outside bulb diagonal to viewable phosphor area diagonal (which is around 2" smaller) and newer tubes that use viewable phosphor area have a V as the first letter and usually 4 letters. So a ~1966 tube like your 25AJP would become a 1969 23VAJP.
The 25VDMP you're looking at is going to be 2" bigger than the 25AJP so it's probably not going to fit.

Unfortunately that sub is probably not going to work. Around 1968 a law was passed that changed tube size measurement from outside bulb diagonal to viewable phosphor area diagonal (which is around 2" smaller) and newer tubes that use viewable phosphor area have a V as the first letter and usually 4 letters. So a ~1966 tube like your 25AJP would become a 1969 23VAJP.
The 25VDMP you're looking at is going to be 2" bigger than the 25AJP so it's probably not going to fit.

OK, so I wonder if it would be possible to find another 25AJP22 picture tube as NOS on some place like eBay or someone on here might have one and if it could be acquired for inexpensive? I paid $40 and I don't want to pay anymore than $100 to get this TV up and running (the last time i looked into trying to get a NOS picture tube from the Antique TV Society museum down in Cleveland, Ohio they wanted $400 for a 21" B & W Picture Tube for an old Zenith B & W TV that I was attempting to restore that the original picture tube got necked by accident, and I didn't think that $400 was worth it because I didn't have that kind of money on me (I don't even make that much in one paycheck.)

Try the ETF, they have a NOS one in stock.

I've never heard of them charging $400 for a tube. Last time I heard a price from someone it was $75.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQjtzrDhpSB2TajLkZRsjwxRI4p4ivLkhA1Zd6en73M8xj4AA kuvsSkco7H2JXAdBKSpIRTM095BrVY/pubhtml?gid=1261944761&single=true

.

Yes, $75 for a picture tube at the ETF in Hilliard but he mentioned the Antique TV Society museum down in Cleveland.

Yes, $75 for a picture tube at the ETF in Hilliard but he mentioned the Antique TV Society museum down in Cleveland.

Sorry I meant the ETF, which is in Ohio, but I couldn't remember the name of it, so I typed the first name that came to mind. and yes they quoted me $75 for a picture tube, but they quoted me over $300 for shipping, that's why i said the picture tube would of ended up being $400.

Not possible to pick it up yourself? Maybe someone going to the convention could get it for you?

Not possible to pick it up yourself? Maybe someone going to the convention could get it for you?

I don't have the money to pick it up in person, that would be about a 200+ mile round trip for me, and I also have to be able to have gas to go to work as well, and that gas has to last me two weeks because I get paid every 2 weeks, and I only get a little over $300 a pay check, and when I have to spend half of that money to pay my aunt back for the furnace in my house and my car, and then my phone and internet payments as well, besides my gas that leaves me with very little money to work with after all of that. If someone that lived not too far from me on here were going to the ETF Museum and could pick up the 25AJP22 picture tube for me and I could meet you somewhere nearby and pay you for the price of the tube and some gas money, or whatever I could do that, but It just isn't in my budget to buy 2 full tanks of gas in one week. Otherwise I would of just went there in person to pick it up.