Scored a rare, huge, and HEAVY DuMont.....

[bigaudioal]

What a fantastic find! That is a rare, rare bird right there. Awesome set that should be restored to its original glory and end up in a museum!!

[rca2000]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

I have no intentions on working on this set, nor powering it up. This set scares me

Not NEAR as dangerous as a Microwave oven. Surely you have worked on those before. they have at LEAST 100 TIMES the current rate that this does !!

Wow, incredible! I bet that thing caused the 1965 blackout.

Definitely worthy of restoring. I thought only bakelite sets attracted white paint splatters, but I guess this one did too. Lucky it wasn't used as a prop because somebody might have taken the chassis out and dumped them to lighten it.

[Tim]

Great save Tim. There are relatively vert few of us who don't view these as "old junk". My Sherwood came from NY State as well about 4 years ago and is also an "A". There was one for sale in NJ several years ago but the guy wanted way too much money for it, don't know it's fate. My set also had the large schematics with it so I guess they were provided with the units. I see yours was upgraded at some point with a Garrard multi-speed changer as the original was a Webster-Chicago model 56 that only played 78's. My PS chassis has 203960 engraved in it.

[Kamakiri]

Did you ever manage to get yours working?

[Tim]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

Did you ever manage to get yours working?

I have not been able to make time to restore it. I recently retired so now I will have the time get to this and other sets that have been waiting.

Regarding the brute force HV supply, the engineers (or the lawyers )put a toggle switch on the chassis to turn it off during service.

I noticed in one of the photos that your set has a date written in pencil on the chassis. Mine does as well, 12/13/47.

[rca2000]

Originally Posted by Tim

I have not been able to make time to restore it. I recently retired so now I will have the time get to this and other sets that have been waiting.

Regarding the brute force HV supply, the engineers (or the lawyers )put a toggle switch on the chassis to turn it off during service.

I noticed in one of the photos that your set has a date written in pencil on the chassis. Mine does as well, 12/13/47.

BUT--did that switch simply remove power from the HV supply--and not discharge those big oil caps--because if there was no bleeder there--those caps could hold a HELL of a punch--all by themselves!!


I never really messed with mine. Like I said--I once tried to sell the amp, but it got stolen--along with most of my other amp and hi-fi stuff in the robbery. Mine DID use a pair of 6L6 tubes--of that I am sure. Seemed to be an AWFUL lot of "stuff" on that amp--for just an audio amp though, as I remember. WAY more tubes and iron than a normal amp would use. It (the rack of stuff--at LEAST 200 pounds of it) is in the new garage now--safe and sound again--minus that amp chassis.

[Tom Albrecht]

Fantastic! I think I wrote the text on Radiomuseum about it not being known if any RA-101's other than a few Westminsters have survived. I'll have to update the text now that I know a few Sherwood's have also survived. Is anyone aware of any other RA-101's out there other than Westminsters and these particular Sherwood's? I believe there are 3 or 4 Westminsters (one of which is mine).

These sets are so rare, unique, and technically elaborate that they deserve a level of notoriety higher than they seem to get.

The motorized tuning with wrap-around dial is quite something to behold!

I've got my Westminster up and running with a 19DP4 in place of the original 20BP4. The Sherwood used a 15AP4, as you have pointed out.

[Electronic M]

Given all the bands and that CBL push button how much ya wana bet it's 'cable ready' too.

Glad that is far away from me else I'd have a harder time resisting making an offer.

[Tom Albrecht]

I think the CBL button is simply for a Canadian AM station. The buttons on that particular chassis would only be for BC or SW.

This one does indeed have the 60 Hz HV supply. I had not seen a pic of that yet.

[Kamakiri]

Another thing that's interesting to note is that Buffalo didn't get television until mid-1948. Since the stations on the pushbuttons indicate that this set is native to the area, it must have been purchased long before there was anything to watch, and from out of the area (presumably).

[earlyfilm]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

Another thing that's interesting to note is that Buffalo didn't get television until mid-1948. Since the stations on the pushbuttons indicate that this set is native to the area, it must have been purchased long before there was anything to watch, and from out of the area (presumably).

Tim, In your initial post, you just answered your own question:

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

"....immense theater.....6th floor..."

For you youngsters who grew up in the cable TV age, in the early antenna TV era, the height matters and long feed wires sucked up the signal before it got to the TV, so you wanted the TV near the highest possible antenna! With almost no TV stations on the air DXing was not only possible, it was fun!

Back when your set was new, most interference came from pre-1930's light bulbs still in service and from any thing with motors that used brushes. When I was young, you could count the Fords driving by, just by watching the flickering thin black streaks on Howdy Doody, but at the same time from our hill 80 miles north of Memphis, we often could pickup Mexico City during the summer like it was a local channel!

I'll wager a plug nickel that the owner of this TV was whoever, in 1947, had an office on the top floor of that theater, most probably the manager of this theater or the building owner. This 1947 TV cost more than a new Chevrolet at the time, so he was well heeled!

Hmmm. I wonder which could pull in the weakest signal, this Du Mont or the same age RCA 630TS.

It'll be close, but my vote is for four video IF RCA on 300Ω twin-line over the five video IF Du Mont on 72/75Ω coax, but the coax will reduce a lot of the stray noise that plagued us back then. Now, if one had modern coax, it should beat the 1947 vintage stuff. It looks like your set owner used twin lead with a primitive matching transformer.

You wrote: "I also have what appear to be the engineering blueprints of the schematic of the set. Each foldout diagram is a couple feet in length, at least."

Are these actually blue prints (dark cyan, and not prone to fading, unless in the immediate presence of sulphur where they turn brown, as in contact with rubber bands) or Mimeographed (Dark blue-purple when new and fade to pink over the years)? If these differ from the copies on ETF, it might be nice to take good photographs of them.

I was surprised to find that the original uncrating instructions that came with my RA105 was Mimeographed instead of printed and it is now has almost completely faded out.

First, congratulations for saving the set, but am sorry that you had to sell it.

It will be a real fun toy for your potential buyer! With a pristine RA-105 Colony (newest tube is one 1956 5U4) sitting in my living room waiting for restoration, I'm completely out of the market for big antique TVs in the foreseeable future. I'm not allowed to touch it until I get my to do list done.

James.

[Kamakiri]

Originally Posted by earlyfilm

First, congratulations for saving the set, but am sorry that you had to sell it.

It wasn't a matter of "having" to sell it, it was a matter of recognizing that it needed an owner that's much more advanced in repair than I, and has a greater appreciation of what the set *is*. Here, it would be appreciated but not raised up, and would most likely never be restored.

I myself tend to gravitate to the reliable, workaday televisions of the late 1940s and early 1950s that I can get to the point where I'm able to watch them on a daily basis if I want.

The person that came to me and offered to buy it is the same that bought the recent RA-101 on eBay. His is missing the radio face and other cosmetics which would be otherwise unobtanium. His plans are to remove them off this set and have exact reproductions made, and have the rare sets next to each other in restored condition and celebrated for the unique and special things they are. Now to me, there's no better place for this set to be

The most important thing about a collection of any sort, I think, is recognizing when something is truly deserving of a different surrounding than you could ever give it.

[earlyfilm]

About the picture at:

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment...1&d=1403628344

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

. . . . . Since the stations on the pushbuttons indicate that this set is native to the area. . . . .

I've tried to get late 1940s information here, as call signs, frequency and power has changed over the years:

WGR 550KC Buffalo, NY
CBL 740KC 50,000 Watts Toronto, Ontario, Canada
WBEN 930KC 5,000 Watts Buffalo, NY
WEBR 970KC Buffalo, NY
WNYC 830KC 1,000 Watt NYC, NY
( button missing )
WBNY 1440KC Buffalo, NY
WKBW 1480KC 50,000 Watts Buffalo, NY

OK, something is very wrong here!

Six stations are correct for Buffalo.

There is no way that WNYC, at the time a puny 1,000 watt public daytime-only station with transmitter located in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, could be received in Buffalo, especially since in the late 1940's also on the same 830KC frequency was 50,000 watt clear channel WCCO located in Minneapolis, Minnesota! WNYC is one of, if not the oldest public owned radio station still using the same call letters.

Me thinks someone grabbed an AM button from another TV set that was from NYC.

James

[M3-SRT8]

I had an RA-101A Westminster. With the dual 807s. Nice cosmetic condition with good crt.

Sold it. I would not power it up or restore it. Too dangerous.