1965 Motorola Black and white TV, curbside find - Videokarma.org TV - Video

MRX37 · #1 05-21-2015, 01:27 PM

Hello VK'ers. Man has it been 5 years? Glad to see membership here is free now. I really liked this forum but couldn't afford to renew... I still have the CC II that Strawman gave me.

Well I'm back with a curb find, a Motorola black and white tube TV, made in 1965. I found it curb side, not sure if it works, don't have a variac to plug it into.

I think the set might have low hours on it. I say that because I took the tubes out to clean them up one by one, and some of the tubes are Motorola tubes, maybe the original ones.

Trying to find out a bit more about this set, see if there's anything interesting about it.

rca2000 · #2 05-21-2015, 02:48 PM

Nice find !! All tube set--cold chassis too. Motorolas are NOT all that common after the 1950's..
A keeper for sure

Jon A. · #3 05-21-2015, 03:35 PM

"All 82 channels". Man, that's gold. Great save.

MRX37 · #4 05-21-2015, 04:08 PM

I'm debating whether to put in the time to restore it or find somebody to just give the set to. I don't have things like a tube tester or a variac, and I don't really have much use for a Black and White tube TV. Yeah it's a good conversation piece but I have enough of those.

If I went the restore route, would it be worth the time and besides the wax capacitors, what work would need to be done? I think the UHF dial hasn't been used in decades, it's difficult to turn and it takes several turns before the channel numbers move. VHF dial feels normal.

dieseljeep · #5 05-21-2015, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MRX37

I'm debating whether to put in the time to restore it or find somebody to just give the set to. I don't have things like a tube tester or a variac, and I don't really have much use for a Black and White tube TV. Yeah it's a good conversation piece but I have enough of those.

If I went the restore route, would it be worth the time and besides the wax capacitors, what work would need to be done? I think the UHF dial hasn't been used in decades, it's difficult to turn and it takes several turns before the channel numbers move. VHF dial feels normal.

The set's new enough to have Mylar capacitors, instead of wax and paper capacitors.
I would try the set and see if it needs further work. The sets were as good as the Zenith offerings of the time.

stromberg67 · #6 05-21-2015, 08:04 PM

I sure like the looks of that, inside and out! Great save.
Kevin

MRX37 · #7 05-21-2015, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

The set's new enough to have Mylar capacitors, instead of wax and paper capacitors.
I would try the set and see if it needs further work. The sets were as good as the Zenith offerings of the time.

All right... Say a prayer. I'm gonna plug it in and see what happens...

MRX37 · #8 05-21-2015, 08:36 PM

OMFG!! It's alive!!

(Apologies for crap picture. My phone died, so now I'm using a much cheaper phone with a much cheaper camera.)

So, turn it on, channel indicator lights up, about 30 seconds later sound comes on, another 30 seconds and I got a picture.

So does this mean I can run it for a bit? Maybe hook up a video source and see how it does?

Olorin67 · #9 05-21-2015, 08:38 PM

If nothing smells hot you should be Ok, just dont leave unattended.

old_coot88 · #10 05-21-2015, 08:47 PM

Amazing catch! It'd be a good idea to feel that big filter can in the upper right-hand corner to be sure it's not heating up.

MRX37 · #11 05-21-2015, 08:48 PM

Right. I'm going to run it for a few minutes. It's connected to my power strip so if it starts doing anything funny I can cut the power instantly.

Gonna go hook my DTV box to it.

Edit: Well, it works better then I expected a 50 year old TV that I found on a curb to work. Vertical hold knob is either missing or broken.

And the camera in this phone is so cheap that green horizontal lines randomly appear in some of the pictures it takes.

Knobs need deoxit badly. Sound is fine, except the audio gets randomly scratchy... again, probably due to dirty knobs, and I need to see what's going on with the vertical control. Other then that it works.

So yeah... 50 year old TV. Likely hasn't been used in at least 20 years. Sitting on a curb, and it's 90% working.

Edit 2: I'm an idiot. The vertical hold is on the front. the missing knob on the back, well I'm not sure if theres supposed to be a knob there or not.

I'm going to open it up, apply deoxit to the knobs, let it sit a bit, then I'll try it again.

MRX37 · #12 05-21-2015, 09:55 PM

Getting into this TV, I now believe it's been used recently. The VHF knob is fine, it rotates fine, like new even. However the UHF knob barely turns, and the fine tuning knob also barely turns. Both of those knobs haven't been touched in decades.

Also there's electrical tape wrapped around the twin lead wire that's connected to the VHF tuner. Somebody's kludge repair attempt. The tape looks new and is still sticky.

Edit: Cleaned the pots and switches, took apart the tuner and cleaned it. Fine tuning knob works good now. Sound is perfect. Can't seem to get the horizontal working. Adjusting the knob for it did nothing far as I can tell. The rest of the adjustments seem to work fine now.

Decided to test the camera on this cheap phone. Best video setting is 720p, which doesn't look that great but it's better then 640x480 I guess. Here's the video:
http://youtu.be/hmlqe0YwsPg

I'm not sure I want to put more work into this TV as I have no real use for it. I'd much rather give it to someone whose better acquainted with tube electronics.

zeno · #13 05-22-2015, 05:51 AM

Almost new camera barely works. No surprise.
50 yr old TV one easy step from working. No surprise.
Speaks volumes about todays quality.........

73 Zeno

Marco-nix · #14 05-22-2015, 07:22 AM

Great find !..

dieseljeep · #15 05-22-2015, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MRX37

Right. I'm going to run it for a few minutes. It's connected to my power strip so if it starts doing anything funny I can cut the power instantly.

Gonna go hook my DTV box to it.

Edit: Well, it works better then I expected a 50 year old TV that I found on a curb to work. Vertical hold knob is either missing or broken.

And the camera in this phone is so cheap that green horizontal lines randomly appear in some of the pictures it takes.

Knobs need deoxit badly. Sound is fine, except the audio gets randomly scratchy... again, probably due to dirty knobs, and I need to see what's going on with the vertical control. Other then that it works.

So yeah... 50 year old TV. Likely hasn't been used in at least 20 years. Sitting on a curb, and it's 90% working.

Edit 2: I'm an idiot. The vertical hold is on the front. the missing knob on the back, well I'm not sure if theres supposed to be a knob there or not.

I'm going to open it up, apply deoxit to the knobs, let it sit a bit, then I'll try it again.

The CRT looks really bright. Most of those sets needed a CRT, 40 years ago.
A lot of the Motorola sets used National Video CRTs and were rather short lived. That set might have a different sourced tube.
BTW, there was never a knob on the horiz hold shaft. You seldom had to reset them.