RCA Victor RR-359B
 

I've taken a long hiatus from collecting as other parts of my life have been extremely busy, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to pickup an RCA RR-359 field trial set. These things don't exactly come along every day, this being only the 12th known survivor. I remember the last 359 from Ed Reitan's estate being transported to ETF and having the CRT not make it in one piece. This combined with my distrust for a shipping company caring even the slightest bit about what they are carrying meant only one thing, hop on a plane and fly to Texas to pick it up in person. It's not the cleanest set you'll see, the finish is pretty tired and at some point the original tuner was removed and a replacement was put in :tears::sigh:. It does look like it has the original CRT though. I'm sure there are more stories to uncover. It will certainly get more love in its new home than its last.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/yI...BqvOIdoI=w2400

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ND...BK3fdSfg=w2400

Oh my :eek: That is quite the find! Congratulations. Can't wait to see more as you explore this rare set.

Wow. It always amazes me when a pre-War set gets discovered. If it isn't some kind of amazing luck, then I wish someone would teach me the skill of finding them.

Congratulations on your find of this rare set.

It would be nice if Fred Taylor out of Dallas, Texas could refinish the cabinet. His work is amazing. Coupled with a restored chassis, it will be quite a piece. Great find.
Tony

Here are a few shots of the tuner that was installed.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/oA...wakp04Zw=w2400

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/YE...HYfain4w=w2400

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/lC...DapnfA80=w2400

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/6M...6Rc0DUkI=w2400

Here is something else that I thought was interesting. There is no anode cable and connector like I am used to with every other non-electrostatic set I've ever seen. Instead the anode lead wire comes up through the bottom of the kinescope support and lands on a sort of tab inside the support. You have to rotate the kinescope so that the button makes contact with the tab.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/GI...HQZBpgUQ=w2400

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Eq...VVjLTDn0=w2400

Strange. I love seeing this early stuff when they hadn't quite worked it all out yet.

Spent a bit of time cleaning the set today. I sure have a thing for televisions that have the word "Television" printed on them. My favorite is the GE 901 projection set, but this logo is pretty close.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/4X...0j5dgkgg=w2400

Going to need to start looking for replacement grill cloth for the speaker cover. Does anyone recognize the cloth in this photo? I'm hoping it's a really commonly used cloth by RCA Victor from the time period. The cloth is black with horizontal rectangle decorative sections. The photo is zoomed in to a section that was behind the wood slats so it's not sun faded over the last 85 years. Anyone recognize this grill cloth from radios of the time period?

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Ky...0d3yygX0=w2400

Congratulations, you have found ( and saved ) something of high historical relevance!!!

What fabulous find! I look forward to your restoration story.

Peter

My goodness, that's one of the most notable finds in the hobby in years! A museum piece for the history of television in America. It deserves a top-dollar careful restoration. Congratulations on an impossible find!