http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c234/FujiFrontier/generic/tv10.jpg
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http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c234/FujiFrontier/generic/tv5.jpg
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http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c234/FujiFrontier/generic/TV1.jpg


ok, I lied. I forgot it wasn't a roundie. But it's still a vintage colour TV. Also, I see a "66" near the plug, so I assume it might be a 1966 model?

and by looking at "tv5" am I right in guessing that it's a metal on glass kind of tube? I now see that it probably has a cataract, as the glass neck looked intact.
Sorry I couldn't get a decent picture of the set from behind. The camera even at 1600 ISO was having some trouble.

I'll also admit to pulling off the "MOTOROLA Colour TV" badge from the front (along the bottom of the tube) when I was a young tyke. That TV has been sitting in the same place for at least 20 years.

THAT'S AWESOME!

I don't see motorolas often, but that one is cool. i have an old TV repair book --The practical guide to TV repair by Art Margolis. He has that exact set in the book used to show how to properly adjust colors and convergence.

I hope you're going to restore that set. I would love to see it working like it was when you were a kid.

nice :thmbsp:

Don't believe there were any glass/metal tubes of that vintage - probably looking at an all-glass tube with a metal magnetic shield around the front part. IIRC, weren't there also some glass tubes with the magnetic shield built inside?

There is much written here somewhere about it.
It is one of Motorola's first rectangular sets.
It is known for having a bad CRT but yours might be fine after you clean up the cataracs.
A rare set. There was one here not so long ago that was very clean and in a different basic cabinet that sold on ebay to some collector in Italy.

This thing scares me. You need to see the chassis.

The TV is in a house that is one step short of being condemned; it is full of junk, papers, trash and god knows what else. It has probably sat longer than I've been alive, in an unheated/uncooled environment. Great gram only believed in having fans in her room, nowhere else in the house. There is probably rat residue and other nasties in it; the chassis shows several spots of rust. An interesting note is that the back cover has a metal EMF-shield type of plastic on it. Some of it has flaked off in places.

Looking at my 21-T639 and it seems a lot more reassuring than this thing. It has a whole lot more boards, pots, and tubes. Forgive me for being a wimp but I'd much rather pull out the 639 chassis than this.

Think of it this way; you're giving a 5th grader a choice between a college algebra book (639) and then a doctoral calculus book (Motorola).... eithe way I don't know up from down.

A lot of folks would toss that thing in the dumpster faster than you could say "I wanna flat screen". But do all you can to save it! Even if you can't fix it up yourself anytime soon...this was a very early rectangular screen set & is unique. There are not too many of these out there hiding these days. Sure, it's rough around the edges, but it looks like it will clean up and the cataract isn't too big a deal. Someday you'll wish you had it.

The next time my mom and I go to the house to search for artifacts, I will drag it near a window and take pictures of the chassis. it looks almost on par with that CT-100 that was found near a transmitting tower or something, that rats had nested in and eaten.. this one http://www.pakratz.com/ct100pix_1.html


the parents aren't too happy about the T639 being on their porch, either. I haven't even pulled the chassis to get it out to someone because it's connected to the tuner box and picture tube, etc. I guess what I'm afraid of is either ruining the sets or getting zapped with an angry tube that's waited 20 years to shock someone...

and don't worry, the TV isn't going anywhere unless the roof at great-grandma's falls in.

...the TV isn't going anywhere unless the roof at great-grandma's falls in.Heck, show us an outside picture of the house. It sounds like a lot bigger challenge than the rare Moto!

I am guessing it's an early '60 roundie Motorola?

If it is... Please get it out of the weather! They are amoungst the rarest.

I hope the cabinets don't get further harmed by dragging them around.

If you are not interested in preserving those sets maybe you could be so generous as to allow a member here to help you. The guys here are very generous and you won't find a better class of people to became freinds with.

1. I am guessing it's an early '60 roundie Motorola?
2. If it is... Please get it out of the weather! They are amoungst the rarest.
3. I hope the cabinets don't get further harmed by dragging them around.
4. If you are not interested in preserving those sets
5. maybe you could be so generous as to allow a member here to help you.
6. The guys here are very generous and you won't find a better class of people to became freinds with.
1. no, after looking closer at the tube its not a roundie.
2. is not in the weather, it's inside. but it might as well be.... years of caked crap is on the case and inside
3. the legs are kinda strong, but just like my RCA i don't want to damage them by dragging it around to take pictures. i was actually thinking of turning it upside down on a blanket and dragging it around that way, you can always refinish the top vs a broken leg.
4. of COURSE i'm interested. I'm just not knowledgeable enough to attempt anything beyond popping in new tubes. If someone would want to fix it for me then I would be grateful and willing to pay.
5. why wouldn't I? and if someone wants the TV theyd have to talk with my mom. she's the one who has control of the house and everything in it after gram died. i don't think she'd just give it away. she has $$$$$$$$$$$$$ in house taxes to pay
6. Yes, from reading the forums I can see that. I just wish i had some sort of knowldege, etc to contribute


Heck, show us an outside picture of the house. It sounds like a lot bigger challenge than the rare Moto!

the outside of the house doesn't look toooo bad. It's the INSIDE. For example, in one room, there is newspaper and junk in a layer thick enough to put my head above the top of the door frame. You are literally walking on a foot of newspaper, wrappers, clothes and junk. The roof isn't going to fall in. I only said that to mean that the telly isn't going anywhere.

...

Speaking of Motorola Roundies - here is a 1964 doing a great job as a stand for the Sony. This is as I found it. It is still untested.

mine doesn't have the stupid model number, and it used to have that label under the tube


what would I use to clean the case? i have half a mind to turn a garden hose on it

Yup, an early Motorola rectangular tv, probably with the infamous 23EGP22 CRT, and weird color demodulator circuitry (single 6LE8?). But it seems to be complete, and I guess it would be considered very rare now. Someone somewhere might want to take a crack at restoration, or could use the good parts in another similar tv. In any case, it would be a shame if it were discarded.
Didn't Motorola beat RCA to the marketplace with the first rectangular tv offered to the public?
Kevin G.

it's not going to be thrown away. settle down and decide who's going to fix my RCA first, then we can chat about the motorola :cool:

rectangular to the public. So, That makes that Motorola extra special, especially if it becomes restored.


Tim's '64 is very neat looking also. It hurts to imagine the impression that heavy Sony will make in it. If you ever want to part with it please consider me. Thanks.

well, if any TV is restored, my RCA comes first

...

The knobs and control layout are identical to my roundie so it could be the same year or a year later. The one I have was probably made using up the last of the round tubes while this set was the first of the rectangular. Searching Sams will be easy as this narrows it down quite a bit. Also, the chassis number will enable finding the correct sams. My roundie chassis is TS-907 and is in Sams 739-3.

Your RCA is in SAMS 571 but is only a schematic, no other service data. I probably have it if you need it.

I'm presuming maybe the model # on mine was a sticker that a) got eaten by rats or b) flaked off looong ago


*sigh*

I worked on tons of those things in the '60s, and I have good advice. BURN IT! No, it's not worth the match. Get rid of it. It's not worth the trouble, believe me. They were a POS back then, and can only be worse now. Just wait till you find out you have to replace some of those tube sockets. Nothing personal.

lol, two widely differeing opinions on what i should do

I worked on tons of those things in the '60s, and I have good advice. BURN IT! No, it's not worth the match. Get rid of it. It's not worth the trouble, believe me. They were a POS back then, and can only be worse now. Just wait till you find out you have to replace some of those tube sockets. Nothing personal.

I have heard as much and that makes it even greater when working. Again, much has been written here, on other threads, on this series and the set is 100% worthy of preserving. So, if all the sockets need replacing... you just do it!
The things we do that are the most dificult are usually what we like the most in the end.
That '64 rectangular Motorola worked great when new but the reds were not as red as other brands, so I have heard. Nonetheless it is 100% repairable and is valuable if only for parts to fix another. The first thing to check is the condition of the CRT with a good tester. CRT's are available but it would be extra special if that 23EGP22 still produced a nice picture.

That reminds me... Has Swanson been around lately? He was super knowledgeable and I sensed he was bored of the jibber jabber some of us spew. He knew of technical engineering facts on this set. He also disliked it but would agree it's worth saving.

I've seen print ads from when these sets were introduced, and Motorola made a big deal of the fact that they would not build a color tv until they could build a modern, rectangular color tv. So ignore all the color sets they built in the fifties, and ignore that set Tim has! I think maybe they had discontinued production of the round sets for just awhile prior to the 23EGP models, and never looked back. Now, while on the subject, I think we have covered this before: was there something really wrong about that picture tube (phosphors?) or was it just the cut-rate chassis that really caused the poor color? I have a 21" (?) table model Motorola which I think is at the very tail end of this series of chassis. It uses a different crt, hand-wired chassis, not the worst color I've ever seen but in the same neighborhood. But don't let that scare you off. It's not so much that the picture is unwatchable, it's just not as nice as what an RCA or Zenith would produce. When using that set I find myself constantly fiddling with the color adjustments, trying to get it better but never quite satisfying myself. As has been pointed out before, some people actually prefer the color of an old Motorola.

about Motorola's advertising strategy. I suspect it worked very well for them.

I want to get a set like Tim's '64. Anybody got one for sale?

Bryan -

I have a 23EGP22 in my Admiral of recent posts. The tube is a little darker than modern sets, owing probably both to age and the tinted safety glass. But it still produces a decent (at least to my eyes) color picture. When I did the cataract removal on that set, I wasn't expecting much from what I'd read about that tube and from the way the picture looked through the cataract. But I was pleasantly surprised by the way it turned out.

Now if I ever get my '67 Admiral fixed (new damper tube to arrive today! :) ) I'd like to set them up side by side and make a comparison. Its tube is a 25SP22 - still tinted safety glass but the picture looked a lot better the last time I had the set running.

Jim

RCA first

I truly wish you the best of luck in your endeavor. The tube sockets on the rear of the chassis do cause a lot of of "dog" problems, so I would HIGHLY recommend replacing them first (they are the ones that can't be seen from the bottom of the chassis) as this will eliminate a lot of wasted hours finding they are the culprits. If you need to replace the CRT, you have about a 50/50 chance of shoe-horning a 25AP/XP in its place. Good luck.

Could this be another one?

http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=91814

John

i see no photos

I asked for a photo and said we would like to buy it or they should put it on ebay.

we?

We. That's you and me!

but i dont want to buy there tv

Ok?

meh

I see nothh..hingggg either

Sgt Schultz

Those Germans on Hogan's heroes!

Klink and Shultz were absolutely hilarious.

Bob Crane was very cool as well although I don't know how cool he was off-screen.(haha)

back on topic

The only thing I remeber good about that set was some of the cabinets were made by the Drexel furniture company. That was one of the worst color set ever!!!!!!

The only thing I remeber good about that set was some of the cabinets were made by the Drexel furniture company. That was one of the worst color set ever!!!!!!

It is interesting that Motorola, being of the highest technology then like today, would have come out with a TV with so many built in problems.

Could they have done that intentionally for some business strategy?

How could they not know it was crap when they look at the color and it is not as good as the compitition?

On top of that, they charged a higher price for it and people still bought them!

The engineers had to know the color circuit was not good enough at the very least.

The Motorola executives had eyes to see the lower picture quality.

They would not have had the profits they could have had with a better set they could have made as the consumers also had eyes to see the picture and buy the compitition.

Could they have wanted to loose money as the evidence strongly suggests?

The secret decisions of big business are extremely interesting.

---

worthwhile to learn.

Andy, I do trust that you know what you are talking about and I very much appreciate your input.


I had no idea that Moto products have so much negative about them.

I have always been impressed by the look of many of their products. I have always had the impression that the company is unbeleivably huge providing many products to the world since at least the 50's. They have impressive advertising and I have never heard the many consumers, I have been in the company of, complain. I have never heard or read any bad publicity about Motorola in general except here at this site from people who obviously know what they are talking about and have absolutely no reason to lie or exaggerate.


So, why has Motorola been such a successful company that must make a lot of money for a lot of people without having any signs of business problems? All things indicate they are strong as ever and expected to continue with their success.

Thanks

pens in 1966 and they still work great! He also uses a Motorola cell phone that is 2 years old and has never failed him once!

I am starting to wonder if the complaints here against Motorola products are for some personal reason.

I hope not as I would like us all to continue saying nice things or nothing at all!

My room mate's Motorola cell phone crashes most of the time when he plugs it into the charger. It often takes him 5 minutes to get it to start charging.
mine does too. it also is horribly slow when deleting text messages. You can be typing a message and if one comes in there's a 2-3 second delay while it "thinks"

FYI, Motorola does not make chips, transistors, etc any more. This was either sold to On Semiconductor or spun off into Freescale Semiconductor(which was just purchased by a private equity firm).

That said, I too have a simpler and older Motorola phone that gives me no trouble. However, as far as older TVs are concerned, it has been my experience that their TVs were never the quality of RCA, let alone Zenith, even back at the begining. They always seemed to take shortcuts, using Selenium rectifiers in transformerless sets with the cheaper, wafer type tuners. They never became as bad as GE with some of their sets, but they were not the highest quality.

Motorola began as company in 1928. One of the first products was an automotive radio dubbed a "Motorized Victrola", hence Motorola.

---

I wonder if Motorola radios were made under a different division...their console radio/phonos, car radios and even printed circuit board-based table radios of the 50's-60's seemed to be of pretty high quality.

I whole heartedly agree with oldtvman. Hey, all big companies have their cross to bear. Moto put out some good B&W products.

I can tell you how so many of these stinkers were sold in the St. Louis area. The discount retailer E.J Korvette (really) had literally a wall full of these things on the second floor at the top of the escalator. On Saturday night when "Flipper" was on, one's senses were overcome with a huge gigantic wall of Moto's with all that blue water. Since there are so many shades of blue water, and not many know the exact shade of a porpoise, a lot of poeple bought these. Oh, and don't forget Lawrence Welk color extravaganzas on Saturday night either.

Oh, the Flipper song included the line "no one you see ... is smarter than he". That's because Flipper never bought a Moto color set. But I'm sure he had the opportunity to see a few in Davey Jone's locker. :screwy:

Motorola did seem to be an "engineer's company" but somehow never built the highest quality products, at least not top to bottom in their product line. I want to be careful here, as I know we have a former Motorola TV engineer in our midst! There was owner loyalty built up over the years...not everyone cared about sloppy tuners on their '59 Moto nor did they care about less than perfect color, since they didn't have much to compare it to. They bought those sets from George, their friendly local Motorola dealer. You know George, he coaches little Billy's little league team, his store is right downtown between the corner grocery and the Sears catalog store. George wouldn't steer you wrong...

Another company that I consider an engineer's company is Sylvania...their sets could make a very good color picture but they had their problems, too. The last one I fooled with had circuit board traces that would lift if you looked at them funny.

i agree about motorola. a lot of their old stuff seems pretty solid and well built. now to get back on topic... i'll have those pictures soon