Last model year for Motorola-designed Quasar sets?

[holmesuser01]

I had a 25" Quasar dated December 1975. It was the big single board chassis. I remember it because it had a shorted power supply diode. I fixed it, and let it run for awhile. It developed an intermittent heater-cathode short in the kine. The owner swore up and down that I had caused the short. This went around for a few days, when the owners kid told me in front of his dad, that the colors were funny for months before it went dead. Dad had nothing else to say about it, paid me, and left.

Thats why I remember the set so well.

I have a 17" Motorola built set in my garage. When I get it dug out, I will post it here so I can have a bit of help in getting it going again. I accidentally installed a bad 6CW5 tube in it, and fried something. It tripps the breaker. It had a really nice picture before I killed it.

[Whirled One]

Thanks for all the helpful responses, everyone!

Originally Posted by captainmoody

Oh, and by the way, it's easy to find the date a Motorola was made, as almost all of them had it stamped in black ink on the rear of the chassis.
It would look like this: 5M73 5 being the month and 73 being the year.
If that won't work, the yoke has the date code it was manufactured, and that will give you a ballpark idea. If you try to get codes off the modules and they have been replaced, it won't be accurate.
While you are in there, go to the +20v regulator module and replace the caps on it. (about 3)They are dried out by now and WILL be giving you trouble!

Thanks for the tips! I had already "offloaded" the set to storage for the time being, but I'll go retrieve it and check and see if the chassis has a date code on it. I'm pretty sure it's a "true" Motorola at least; I don't see any references to Matsushita anywhere on the cabinet or chassis labels, but the Motorola name is in numerous places. By the way, the bottom of the CRT bezel says "Quasar Portable / A Product of Motorola Inc." (along with the "M-in-a-circle" Motorola logo).

I've never actually seen that PBS Frontline documentary, but I know exactly which one you're talking about. Somewhere on a disk around here I've got a copy of a transcript of that show which I found posted on Usenet many many moons ago. In fact, that's exactly what I was thinking about when I found this set when trying to remember when Matsushita took over. I'll have to see if I can still dig that up; it's interesting reading. Er, waitaminnit-- since it was on Usenet, maybe I can find it using Google Groups. (search...search...) Ah, okay, here it is, though it's a post from a different group than the one I originally saw it on. http://groups.google.com/group/bit.l...ba745528a2c510

By the way, didn't the "Quasar" name (as Motorola used it) only get used on color TVs having plug-in modules? So, any B&W TV having the "Quasar" name on it can automatically be assumed to be a Matsushita product without further investigation, right?

[bgadow]

I read that transcript...wow, you really can find anything on the internet! I think I watched that show back when it first aired. Some very interesting information there. Really changes my opinion of the company.

I mentioned the 19" Motorola Quasar I had; at the same time I had an early 80s Panasonic. The resemblance between the 2 , as far as the cabinets, was uncanny. The Panasonic was assembled at Franklin Park, according to the lable, but had a Japanese CRT & chassis.

Up in the attic I have what I think is a full set of modules for a set and it is hand marked "Panasonic". There appeared plenty of American style Panasonic consoles (nothing but Quasars with a different name, I'm sure) after the buyout.

Hey Bryan:

What was the name of those Panasonic sets produced in the late 70's that used I believe 4 "pull-out" modules all lined up vertically on the chassis and used an SCR for a low volts regulator? I had one of these sets around 1983 and it had 3 piano keys in the front for power, AFT and something color. I remeber it was something like Quintracolor but cant be sure. Any ideas?

109

[Bobby Brady]

I tried to repair one from like '74 or so and I think it was a Quadracolor but I could be wrong.
It had no vertical and I did't try to hard to find the problem. It was a modern white plastic 19"

[Whirled One]

Okay, from what I think is the date code on the chassis, and codes found on a few components (including one on the damper tube which I didn't notice before), it looks like this set was made in March 1973. That sounds a bit early for a set with a click-stop UHF tuner, but, eh, perhaps Motorola was just a little bit ahead of the curve on that.