Admiral PS17F22 restoration

[bandersen]

I recently spotted this set on eBay with a local pickup option at a reasonable price so decided to go for it (apologies to egrand).

It's an Admiral PS17F22 from 1959 and my first vintage remote control set. These are photos from the actual ebay listing run by one of those 'Sell It on Ebay' stores. When I went to pick it up I saw how they take their photos - a nice light box and big professional digital camera.


It's also apparently the world's first wireless portable remote control TV.


Here's how it looked in the back of my car. I hope that brown goo will clean off the screen.


Here's a look inside. The 17CWP4 CRT has good emissions but the needle wavers a bit near the good/bad zone when testing for G1 shorts.




Here's the ultrasonic receiver and relay driver. It uses a discriminator tuned between the two tuning fork frequencies. Normally, the output is 0 but when one frequency is received it goes negative and positive for the other frequency.


That either steps the volume/power switch or engages the channel motor.


Overall, the set is in very good condition, but the remote is not original and is missing one tuning fork.

I eventually found out the remote is supposed to fit into this magnetized pocket on the side. I posted an ad in the classifieds and hope to find one someday: http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=261474


I've never worked on a set like this and can't wait to see it actually work

[stromberg6]

WOW! That is a very interesting and RARE TV IMO. The layout of the chassis reminds me of the chassis layouts of the Admiral multi-band transistor portables of the early 60s. Seems like some thought beyond the norm of what to me seems like the "cram-it-in-and-hope-it-works" school of portable TV engineering was used to design that chassis, at least I hope so. Hope it's easy to restore. Happy that you got it and saved it.
Kevin

[Geist]

Hi All;
Nice set, I hope that You get it working.. And find that Tuning Fork..
I was hoping to see You Power it up, But, I know WHY You didn't..
Where is it on the To Do List ??

THANK YOU Marty

[bandersen]

Way, way down but who knows? My contract with my current employer is set to run out in a few weeks. Unless they choose to renew it, I'll be unemployed for the first time in many years and have lots of time for projects.

[Captain Video]

That is a really cool looking TV!!! Congratulations!

[Electronic M]

That's one sweet TV.

The last shot of that immaculate PCB with those capacitors labeled CHICAGO seems like it should be the cover art for a Chicago album...

[Eric H]

Originally Posted by bandersen

Way, way down but who knows?

So it'll be done next week then?

[Glenz75]

I watched your video on YouTube about this. It's a really great looking set I love the black with the gold trim really sets it off. I hope that the prospect of potentially being unemployed ain't gonna to leave you struggling financially... If it does hopefully you can sustain doing your projects and TV restorations for people. Oh to have spare time to work on my projects nowdays with kids and a family/running a repair business. .full time job! :-)
Cheers Glen

[bandersen]

I've been working under a 2-1/2 year contract and saved some money so I'll be OK. It's the best job I've ever had though and hope they can find a way to keep me on board.

[DavGoodlin]

That's a pretty interesting set. I saw that listing and wondered what it looked like inside.

There would be a non-remote version, right? But probably very different because it looks like that chassis was designed around having the remote receiver built-in instead of an add-on.

I mentioned in another post that Zenith sued Admiral over these remote sets claiming they infringed on Zenith's patents for the Space Command. Zenith ultimately won and forced Admiral to pay royalties on them.

Here is a copy of the judgment in the appeals court where Zenith won. Interesting reading as you can see how Admiral tried to fudge their way through it, and also redesigned their remote in 1960 to try to avoid it. http://www.leagle.com/decision/19611...%20CORPORATION

[Tim]

Bob:

I also have that set and here is a photo of the correct remote as shown in the ad you posted.

[bandersen]

Thanks for the photo. I have a lead on one but it's taking a long time to close the deal.

[bandersen]

My patience finally paid off and I scored the correct remote

Still haven't started working on the set but hope to get to it this fall.

[decojoe67]

A more modern style TV, yet with enough nice details to make it appealing as a collectors item. As a kid I grew up with B/W Admiral TV's and remember being impressed with how good the picture was even back then. I have three in the collection now and they are favorites.
Amazing that you located the original remote. I usually have poor luck with finding parts. Looking forward to seeing it play as good as your other sets!