Orange GE Portable - Is it Worth It?

[jwharris]

This poor thing has no power cord, is very dirty and has some chips in the orange paint but its only $10. Is it worth trying to restore at least electronically?

[Tony V]

I like it. You rarely see the orange cabinet porta colors around. I say go for it!

[Eric H]

I'd get it just because it's orange.

It probably won't be worth more than $20 restored but who cares, it's ORANGE!

A good thing about these SS sets is you can clean then with a garden hose and soap and water, just let it dry thoroughly.

[Electronic M]

If that is a tube type Portacolor chassis set I'd pay you 30$ for it as it sits unrestored if the CRT tests good. A Portacolor has been on my watch for list for a few years now.

[jwharris]

I am planning on going back tomorrow to get it. I will report back here tomorrow afternoon. Thanks for the replies, I should have just grabbed it while I was there but I was shopping for business not pleasure at the time.

I don't think its going anywhere. Everyone in there was shopping for cheap clothes or everyday items. All the price stickers are written in black marker and they put the price sticker on the item and then wrote the price on it. On every item they went off the sticker and wrote on the product. Some items they just wrote the price right on them in black marker. Luckily this set has the price sticker on a piece of black trim.

[Eric H]

Good grief, I thought it was B&W, it is Color and it looks like a very late Portacolor?

[Dave A]

If you have to have orange, here you go. Looks like internal battery also.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VTG-RCA-1975...65034839940185

[Sandy G]

Go For It. What 10 bux gonna gitcha anyway, 3 lousy gallons of gas ? This thing will give you a LOT more pleasure, goin' thru it & making it whole again. Sure, its a Porta Potty, but it IS a Color set, give to a deserving kid, & maybe he/she'll catch The Fever, & we'll have another convert to The Cause...(grin)

[radiotvnut]

I'd go for it. That's one of the last run tube porta-color's from the late '70's.

[etype2]

I'd say yes. Nice piece of history. This one is a 1976 model. I have the identical set. It has a slot mask CRT not the triad holes. Picture quality is better then original but still not good. It has saw tooth jaggies on the screen edges. A few screen shots.


Portacolor 4 525 WP.jpg

portacolor 5 525 WP.jpg

Portacolor SS 4 525 WP.jpg

[etype2]

Whoa! Just noticed the on/vol, color and tint controls on this one are located differently from mine. Did you buy it?

GE changed up the cosmetics frequently from year to year but essentially left the insides the same. Mine is an all tube model 10 years after original introduction, while it's contemporaries went solid state in the 70's.

Photo to show change in control layout




Portacolor 2 525 WP.jpg

[andy]

...

[etype2]

Originally Posted by andy

Portacolors are always worth grabbing. They take up no space, and even if you don't want it, they're small enough to ship. It's amazing how many there still are considering their poor performance.

If you buy it, don't let the screen shots fool you into thinking your set is bad. While you can make them look good on a still picture, as soon as the picture changes you have to readjust the brightness, and color again.

I agree with that. Also, mine has a green cast that I can't get rid of despite the many service adjustments located outside the set in the rear. I also see trailing images (not ghosts). Screen shots were taken on the fly without aid of a tripod or freeze frame from a ATSC digital signal converted to NTSC.

I could have bought the original 1966 model back in the day, but dismissed it for it's picture quality. Now I have this one for the unique inline CRT and collection.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by etype2

I agree with that. Also, mine has a green cast that I can't get rid of despite the many service adjustments located outside the set in the rear. I also see trailing images (not ghosts). Screen shots were taken on the fly without aid of a tripod or freeze frame from a ATSC digital signal converted to NTSC.

I could have bought the original 1966 model back in the day, but dismissed it for it's picture quality. Now I have this one for the unique inline CRT and collection.

It sounds like the crt is gassy. Usually, You get trailing colors and can't get proper gray-scale. When those sets first came out, the imports started coming here. They were selling 14" color sets for under $200. They had a little better picture and a larger picture. Most weren't as reliable as the porta-color.

[kc8adu]

it would be nice to know the date on that one.the 79 model i had was red.
iirc the 80 that was reported to me was yellow.
$10 is a no brainer.grab it.
its definately a porta color.