Little 9" AWA color set - Videokarma.org TV - Video

dr.ido · #1 03-05-2007, 04:45 AM

I picked this one up last Friday night (every Friday night at the end of the local junk auction I grab the dead sets that would otherwise be dumped). It's an AWA C2202 from the late 70s. I think these were the first portable color set sold in Australia that could be run from 12VDC.

Someone probably reversed the polarity when they attempted to hook it up to 12VDC with spectacular results. Two tracks on the PCB had vaporised, the fuse shattered and the line output transistor was shorted. After patching the tracks, replacing transistor (it took a while to find a TO-3 replacement, it's been that long since I've fitted one) and fuse it powers up with a reasonable picture. It looks a bit stretched vertcally, so I probably need to replace some caps. I'll try to take some better pics when I get it back together. I still need to work out what I am going to do about the missing power lead (it uses a weird connector, but I think an IEC connector will fit).

These sets are kind of odd (at least to me) in a number of ways. It has a 8 channel push button tuner that is VHF only. I can't think of any other set with a push button tuner that is VHF only, though many low end sets were sold with VHF only clickstop tuners. It has 2 RCA audio jacks on the back, but is obviously only a mono set. The CRT has quite a coarse pitch. The picture looks a little odd. I kind of think of these as the Australian portacolor even though they have nothing in common with the GE portacolor. You probably paid quite a premium over the price of a low end 14" set to get the portability.

This one has an old Apple computer sticker on the side, so it probably spent part of it's life as an Apple ][+ monitor. The video from a typical Apple ][+ PAL card was pretty bad even on a decent composite monitor, this would have been even worse. I wonder how long they squinted at this set before going out and buying an RGB card and monitor.

They were made in Japan (AWA was still manufacturing larger sets in Australia at the time) probably by Mitsubishi (there are Mitsubshi logos on the CRT, PCBs and ICs). There chroma decoder is on a sub board and there is space on the PCB for a tint control so there are probably NTSC versions of these with a different brand on them out there somewhere. Anyone seen one?

Sandy G · #2 03-05-2007, 06:16 AM

Neat lookin' li'l set, Doc...

jedo1507r · #3 03-05-2007, 08:54 AM

Nice set, has that computer look of the era.
Haven't seen small Mitsus here, but more Toshibas sold through Sears.

dr.ido · #4 03-05-2007, 11:16 PM

I googled it for the hell of it. I didn't find anything useful, but some of the results were a laugh. There is still a listing for it on an Australian spare parts dealer website, but the only part it lists is a lamp for AU$1200! (I guess Mitsubishi reused the model number for a projection set that somehow also got listed under AWA Thorn). Then there are the 2 remote control vendors that claim to have a remote for it (it's not a remote set).

These sets were common hospital sets up until at least the mid 80s. I remember watching one in hospital when I was 10 years old. For some reason hospitals here liked to use 12VDC sets in patients rooms. Such a small set looked strange rolling around on a cart with an external power supply bolted to the bottom, but I guess it made the harder to steal.