Cool Capehart

[jstout66]

This one is on our local Craigslist.... Price isn't too bad.
My question... factory, or some type of custom job? It appears to be a console.

[WISCOJIM]

Originally Posted by jstout66

This one is on our local Craigslist.... Price isn't too bad.
My question... factory, or some type of custom job? It appears to be a console.

Looks factory to me.

[David Roper]

Yeah, I passed on one a few years ago that wasn't in as nice shape as this one.

[truetone36]

It's a '51 model. I wish I had that cabinet for mine. I have a complete chassis but my cabinet is in pieces and it's not all there.

[jstout66]

Well... I got an early birthday surprise. Came home, and the Capehart was sitting on my front porch!!! Haven't taken the back off or attempted to fire it up yet.

[TVTim]

I remember Monty Hall giving away many Capehart TVs. I even had a Capehart pocket radio way back when.

[jstout66]

Thanks to Walter Beers, the Capehart is up and running. The set still has a few odd quirks, but will run it off and on, and see.
The caps were all bad, and boy were there ALOT.
The Quirks:
1) When first powered up, the picture is great, it then goes slightly out of focus, but within 5 minutes, the focus is razor sharp and stays that way.
2) I have 2, barely visible, vertical bars that run up the left side of the screen. I used to know what caused that, but have forgotten, so if anybody knows, chime in. I tried to capture in a screen shot, but it's really hard to see/capture.
3) Retrace lines. They don't show up all the time, but I don't think much can be done due to the primitive vertical blanking. They don't show up all the time.
Observations:
1) The set has a Channel Master replacement picture tube, that tested like new
2) The set must have seen heavy use. Almost all tubes had been replaced, some even had the modern RCA logo, so it was still in operation after 1968
3) Set had a ton of Sams revisions. The Sams I bought was as close as we could get, and even it wasn't 100% accurate.
4) Through research, I found out Capehart was built by ITT (International Telephone & Telegraph)
5) User controls are kind of odd, and NOT user friendly. There is no separate brightness and contrast controls. Just one control labeled "Shading" All other controls one might use are behind the name-plate. Which you have to remove 2 screws to get to.

All in all, an interesting set, and glad it works.

[Rod Beauvex]

ITT built this? Interesting....

When was this TV made?

[jstout66]

1950