My latest acquisition

[josephdaniel]

Today I picked up a small little ge hybrid for 20.00 it seems to work but haven't gotten to a rf source to be sure
There also was a philco princess for 130 with audio and a weak raster

[holmesuser01]

I had this GE in avocado. Ran about 10 years, before the plastic handle broke and it rolled down the steps.

[josephdaniel]

From what I have read it seems the little sets think theyr made better than they really are. I this set has all of its orginal tubes from 1974 except for one on the tuner

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by josephdaniel

From what I have read it seems the little sets think theyr made better than they really are. I this set has all of its orginal tubes from 1974 except for one on the tuner

It looks like someone hung in a large wire wound resistor toward the front.
The SF had some novel circuitry, to make it an interesting set.
I have one with the longer, horizontal cabinet, in beautiful walnut grain plastic. The CRT is slightly tired.

[josephdaniel]

The one on the left in the first pic? If so I noticed that one but didn't know if it was orgional.
Also if anyone has a spare VHF knob and a fine tuneing knob I would appreciate it!

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by josephdaniel

From what I have read it seems the little sets think theyr made better than they really are. I this set has all of its orginal tubes from 1974 except for one on the tuner

BTW, the tuner tubes are branded Sarkes Tarzian, the maker of the tuner.
Mine's an earlier model, 1973, without the click-stop UHF tuner.

[old_coot88]

Those little GEs were suprizingly durable considering the cheap-looking construction. But one frequent problem was the H. osc coil which would break at the lugs or pull out of the board.
And there was a quirk in the design (which may or may not apply to your set). The H. oscillator would refuse to start. Sometimes you could get it started by clicking the set on and off, or sometimes it wouldn't start at all. Come to find the oscillator runs on B Boost instead of the B+ supply.

The cure was to run a Si diode and a resistor (i forget the value) from the osc. to the B+ rail, so the osc. would start on B+. Then when the Boost came up, the diode became reverse-biased and the osc. switched seamlessly over and ran on Boost as designed. But it would start every time, on B+.

The H. output would not red-plate with the oscillator dead since the B+ was only 130V.

[josephdaniel]

Ok then that means all if the tubes are orgional to the set.
Also what year were the continuous UHF tuners banned? This one has the continuous tuner and all of the tubes are dated 1974

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by josephdaniel

Ok then that means all if the tubes are orgional to the set.
Also what year were the continuous UHF tuners banned? This one has the continuous tuner and all of the tubes are dated 1974

Possibly for the 1975 model year. Not sure when it was mandatory.

[RDusel]

Ahh, the venerable SF chassis. I have had 3 of the space age looking late models with the tuner knobs at the top and they all worked with original parts. On the last one I was using it extensively as an attic TV and it finally developed a bad section on the electrolytic and formed a buzz and hum bars.
Incidentally, there was only one 3 section electrolytic in mine and no wax caps. Replaced the electrolytic and it works great again.

[radiotvnut]

Does anyone know when the SF was discontinued? I'm sure they were still around in '76; but, don't know if they were offered later.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by old_coot88

Those little GEs were suprizingly durable considering the cheap-looking construction. But one frequent problem was the H. osc coil which would break at the lugs or pull out of the board.
And there was a quirk in the design (which may or may not apply to your set). The H. oscillator would refuse to start. Sometimes you could get it started by clicking the set on and off, or sometimes it wouldn't start at all. Come to find the oscillator runs on B Boost instead of the B+ supply.

The cure was to run a Si diode and a resistor (i forget the value) from the osc. to the B+ rail, so the osc. would start on B+. Then when the Boost came up, the diode became reverse-biased and the osc. switched seamlessly over and ran on Boost as designed. But it would start every time, on B+.

The H. output would not red-plate with the oscillator dead since the B+ was only 130V.

The SF chassis has a FET horizontal oscillator and a transistor horizontal driver.
Did they run that circuit from the boost?
I remember, I had that problem with the sets using the 8LT8.

[old_coot88]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

The SF chassis has a FET horizontal oscillator and a transistor horizontal driver.
Did they run that circuit from the boost?
I remember, I had that problem with the sets using the 8LT8.

Dang, i missed the statement that the set is a hybrid. Better learn to read better. The H osc problem was on the all-tube sets.
Mucho apologies for the goof.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by old_coot88

Dang, i missed the statement that the set is a hybrid. Better learn to read better. The H osc problem was on the all-tube sets.
Mucho apologies for the goof.

I goofed as well. I scrapped a few old GE's models because of the horizontal oscillator failure.
Admiral also made a clone of this set, that had the same problem.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by old_coot88

Dang, i missed the statement that the set is a hybrid. Better learn to read better. The H osc problem was on the all-tube sets.
Mucho apologies for the goof.

I goofed as well. I scrapped a few old GE's models because of the horizontal oscillator failure.
Admiral also made a clone of this set, that had the same problem.