Saved a 60's Motorola today!

[Charlie]

Originally Posted by Eric H

Everything is covered in a thick layer of stinky yellow dirt, a smokers set for sure, the Fly looks solid but it's also filthy.

It's sometimes surprising how something as simple as cleaning out all the dust with a vacuum and small brush can make things work that did not work before. My CM roundie wouldn't tune in a thing until I cleaned out the layer of dryer lint from the chassis. Hopefully, this will bring your set back to life... and of course, replacing a cracked tube might help as well.

[Eric H]

I got the new 6DX8 today, plugged it in and got some color!
These pictures probably look a little better than what's actually on the screen, a Digital camera always seems to brighten things up a bit, the middle picture is probably the closest to correct.

Notice the little orange light below the UHF tuner, it's a Color indicator light that only comes on when the broadcast (or DVD in this case) is in color, it works properly too!

[Eric H]

Originally Posted by bgadow

Real encouraging that you found this at the SA. I try to stop in the nearest one when I get down that way...haven't seen a tube TV in there for a couple years now...but if they are still getting donated, well, a good sign.

Well I found it in the back area of a SA, it hadn't made it to the floor yet and I didn't know if it would so I took pre-emptive action.

Possibly since it worked somewhat they might have tried to sell it, I just don't know.

[zenith2134]

Think about it, in the sixties, everyone must have wanted a COLOR set. Plenty of em still out there, but IMO it takes a tv junkie like us to spot one and properly restore it. Otherwise it will be landfill, fishtank, or sledgehammered for fun.

Great score.

[bgadow]

I like the way Motorola always put those clear date codes on the chassis. They came up with some clever ideas but, in my experience, the sum adds up to less than its parts. I really like them, either way.

Everytime I go to the SA or GW I want to sneak a peak in the back. I've mailed flyers to these stores, letting them know what I am looking for, but never got a call. I have seen tube color sets end up on the sales floor in recent years, because they worked. I think if it were old enough they might look at it as a collectable and try to sell it, but a set like this Motorola might not neccesarily strike them as worthwhile.

[radiotvnut]

About the only way you can get anything from these stores is to stake them out everyday and talk to the workers. I tried to get the SA and another thrift store to save their older non-working TV's for me; but, they said they didn't have the time or space to keep them and any broken TV's would go to the dump unless I happened to be in the store just before they were getting ready to toss them.

[Charlie]

Pretty cool, Eric! The color indicator.... did it come on before you installed the new tube?

[Eric H]

Originally Posted by Charlie

Pretty cool, Eric! The color indicator.... did it come on before you installed the new tube?

No, it wasn't working with the bad tube, I noticed it came on today when I hooked up the DVD player.

The purity was a little off but I couldn't use the Degausser in a room full of VHS tapes!