Early 1970's RCA portable.

[zeno]

Originally Posted by Phil R

So maybe it's instant-on then! The image appeared immediately on my 1974 Sylvania Solid State. As soon as I pushed on the volume knob!

I think it's a weird idea to have that on a tube/hybrid chassis. It makes a room heater... I'm wondering if they had better durability on sets that were used daily because the tubes remain lit or if the idea was just to avoid having to wait for the tubes to warm up?

I dont think these sets were instant on. More likely it has a gang
on/off switch that is part bad. I dont have the exact manual but
if I got time I can look at similars before a trip to the Whites Thurs.

IIRC the first instant on was a B&W Westinghouse. It was a 19"
with a black sunscreen & quite impressive at the time.
I remember the commercial for it.
Eliminating the hot-cold cycle was sold as longer tube life BUT
the constant heat baked the PCB's & dried up the sets so much
it shortend the life of the set. Nothin worse than an all tube
instant on set with high miles.
Later solid state sets probably benefited from it, you never see
a bad CRT in a flat chassis Zenith. They also came out with
fast warm-up cathodes. And yes it can be defeated quite easily
most the time.

73 Zeno