Look what the dog dragged home
 

Went to visit my mother yesterday, and we were talking and she said her cousin was cleaning out some old accumulated stuff at her house and she had an old tv I could have if I wanted it. Ma's cousin said it was the first tv her parents had and was working good when they took it out of service. (no tv untill late 60's)
They were old farmers and watched very little tv. This set has instant on and the switch on back was set to on. I thought for sure picture tube would be weak but it tests great. Came up into the good within 30 seconds.So here it is,
This is my first tube color set.
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Nice, my first (and only so far) tube color set was also an Admiral.

'69 is my guess for this one. Mine is a '71.

Looks like one of the rare small screen consoles. It may work if powered on a variac, my 67' model sure did.

Thanks, I think it was built in 1968.
Could I use a 300 watt halogen bulb as a dim bulb tester? Tv is rated at 250 watts. My variable power supply is only rated at 1.5 amp.

here is what I would do:

pull the horz out and the vert out tubes (I assume its not a string filament set).

use the variac you have and start out low like about 30vac for 10-20 min

feel the can caps for heat (should be none). If you can find the B+ and hook up a meter to it to make sure the power supply is working (will be low with the low 30vac).

if all good (b+ there and no heat from cans) then go to about 60vac, again leave it be and monitor the B+ and heat.

if everything is looking good, leave it there for an hour, this will help the filter reform if needed.

the current will be well within the range of the variac (no sweep tubes and low B+). after all the above replace the sweep tubes do put a meter in the horz out tube cathode lead (should be about 200ma max) and go for a full power no variac startup. watch for the current on that horz tube to not go to high. If you are not sure about how to do that, just put the tubes back in and watch the horz out for any red plating, while waiting to hear the crackle of the HV.

if it runs just let it go for a min or two. then turn off and check the heat from the tire of the flyback, but really you should go the cathode current check.

The breaker on mine is only rated for 2A, and I have ran 500W TVs on it several times. As long as you don't run a variac or isolation transformer too far above it's ratings you can often squeeze half an hour to 2 hours out of one without damage. Just watch that it don't overheat.

Thanks for the advise, I will follow your instructions and I do have an in circuit horizontal output tube current checker and no problem checking B+. I'm going to let it sit untill tomorrow. It sat in the bed of my truck overnight and had alot of condensation when I brought it in the house today after work.

One thing that I find helpful is to take a nice slow moving video of the insides with all the wires going to different points on the pcbs, tuner, pots, etc..

with the age of the set often you find the wires will break easy and its nice to have a clue where they go. you can freeze a video and see stuff easier than a bunch of pictures (but they are good too).

Good idea to let it dry out too.:thmbsp:

I've long had a soft spot for late 60s color Admirals. Interesting: the EIA on the crt comes back to Motorola.

Hopefully this one uses shunt type HV regulation (aka 6BK4 tube) and not the nefarious pulse-feedback setup that eats flybacks and H output tubes.

apart the green cataract, this tv looks like new. Congrats Paul. Indeed a farmer has no time to watch the tv..I Worked on Many Farms and After 12 hours I was too tired to watch tv..

I have a Motorola that has that CRT. The tube is totally wasted and was a rebuilt. It seems like a very high hours set.
I worked on a few GE, KE chassis sets, that used that CRT, as well.

Yeah, my admiral gets little run time because even with a brightener the CRT is so weak the chassis can barely drive it to make a recognizable picture....I've been thinking about buying one of Bob G's CRT but I'm having a hard time talking my self into shelling out that much cash.

Me Likey ! VERY much...(grin)

I followed Davewm instructions on the slow power up, no heat on filter caps and B+ came right up. Did full power power up after the 1.5 hour slow power up. Watched cathode current on 6kd6 as set came on. 200 ma. Tube is rated at 260ma. This is what I had at that point. Contrast control was terrible and picture bad.
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Swapped out 6af9videooutput burst amp tube and things improved to this. contrast works much better now also. Still have a ways to go yet but I think it will make a good picture eventually.
I havent tested any tubes yet . I'll do that next. Or does anyone have any suggestions that i should check next? Thanks all for the help and comments so far.
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