12" b&w Magnavox returns.....

[zenith2134]

This is a rather strange story. Last summer I picked up a late 70s Magnavox portable B&W set in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, thinking it was older. I got it home and it worked well but it was a POS Taiwanese set. I soon tossed it out since no one wanted to use it.

Fast forward to last night. I was cruising through my neighborhood in Queens and spotted an old knob-tuned TV near some boxes. Same exact set. Again I picked it up, simply for the slight nostalgia associated with it.

This set uses a totally different chassis....the T997, and while it is still built in Taiwan, it has quality metal knobs and a Sarkes Tarzian HRT tuning block. This (pos) comes from July 1978.

Upon powering up, the horizontal was out of sync, so I guess they thought it was just too old to be fixed. Simple adjustment did it well. I'll be damned if this set doesn't have the brightest CRT in a B&W portable I've seen in a while. The EIA code on this tube is 462, and its a type 12VBHP4.

So late last night I was just killing time and I decided to try some DXing with this set. It did quite well.... It's not really the season, but there were all kinds of weird logos and sounds trying to come through. This was only with the built-in antenna on VHF, 3 levels above sea level.

As it stands now, this TV is a symbol of good finds to come this summer, hopefully.

IMO, this was a transitional product for Maggie since it was built in Taiwan, by Phillips Video Corp of Taiwan, 'to the highest standards of the Magnavox Corporation, Fort Wayne, Indiana.'

Guess it was the beginning of the end for them. Either way, thought some of you Magnavox guys would get a kick out of this one.

[zenithfan1]

I did get a kick out of it, thanks for sharing! I like the Maggies!