Sears 4109 alignment

[andy]

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[zeno]

If you dont find a free one PM me.
Besides that what symptom do you have ? In 35+
years I only saw a hand full of sets needing IF alignment &
all had something "bad" happen to them. Only things were
the 41.25 & 4.5 traps IIRC. Sometimes they needed a tweak
but it was by eye.
Some day I will start a thread on the alignment subject, when
I want to get hate mail...........

73 Zeno

[andy]

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[zeno]

Portacolors & other low priced compactron sets I can see
needing it. I doubt they were dialed in as close when new then
add to that extreme age......
Reason I am negative on it is mostly practical, it wasnt a hobby
back then & had to make a profit while keeping cost down.
The first day on the job I was told NEVER touch the IF coils
see me first.
This set should be pretty hot, it has almost the same tube
compliment as a Zenith. One thing to do first IMHO is sub
the tuner & IF tubes one at a time with the aim of getting a
VERY strong off channel snow with nice flakes not streaky.
That can make a huge improvement. If I went on to an
alignment I would change the 3 IF's with known good new
ones also.

73 Zeno

[andy]

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[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by zeno

Portacolors & other low priced compactron sets I can see
needing it. I doubt they were dialed in as close when new then
add to that extreme age......
Reason I am negative on it is mostly practical, it wasnt a hobby
back then & had to make a profit while keeping cost down.
The first day on the job I was told NEVER touch the IF coils
see me first.
This set should be pretty hot, it has almost the same tube
compliment as a Zenith. One thing to do first IMHO is sub
the tuner & IF tubes one at a time with the aim of getting a
VERY strong off channel snow with nice flakes not streaky.
That can make a huge improvement. If I went on to an
alignment I would change the 3 IF's with known good new
ones also.

73 Zeno

I started hanging around a TV repair shop, at the age of 12. I'm 69 YO now!
One of the first things, I was told is never fool around with the IF alignment in a TV. It's not an AA5! It takes a lot of time and a lot of equipment to do a proper alignment.

[DavGoodlin]

Look for faulty PC board grounds, missing or loose shields, but use a short clip lead.

Joining the anti-diddle camp, I can muck up an AA5 radio without a signal generator.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by andy

It just has generally poor performance. You can't get good picture, sound, and color at the same time when adjusting the fine tuning. Most channels have extremely bad adjacent channel interference. It wouldn't surprise me if someone tried to adjust it by eye at some point.

I realigned several Portacolors over the weekend. I was surprised how far off they all were. Even the ones that looked pretty good were noticeably better after an alignment. I discovered an open resistor in the IF circuit on one that wouldn't align properly. Initially it had extremely poor resolution.

I am seriously considering doing a complete alignment on two of my Porto-colors. The just don't seem to track right. If I run them with a cable box, they seem to work a bit better. Our cable is still analog on the channels 2-13.

[andy]

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[andy]

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[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by andy

Would anyone be willing to scan the IF alignment instructions from Sam's folder 1015-2? This Toshiba/Sears set is in desperate need of an IF alignment, and as usual my Sam's skips over this folder.

I have a Sams field service guide, volume II, not the Sams. The set is Sanyo sourced, not Toshiba. It looks like all tube.
Be especially wary of the IF tubes. The frame-grid types are rather touchy and when they're weak or gassy, they make it look like an alignment issue.
Also, make sure the three IF tubes are in the right socket and no one substituted one, with a close type tube.

[zeno]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

I have a Sams field service guide, volume II, not the Sams. The set is Sanyo sourced, not Toshiba. It looks like all tube.
Be especially wary of the IF tubes. The frame-grid types are rather touchy and when they're weak or gassy, they make it look like an alignment issue.
Also, make sure the three IF tubes are in the right socket and no one substituted one, with a close type tube.

99% sure its Toshiba. Even has the chassis tag were the TAC number
would be. Also lots of round chassis holes.
IF are 4EH7-4EH7-4EJ7 ala Zenith. High parts count too. Didnt see
many of these but the next generation saw LOTS of. They were a
bitch to work on so sprung for jig cables & pulled the chassis on
most of them. A bit unreliable but would work quite good between
repairs.

73 Zeno