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-   -   Bryan's Philco TV-123 (http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=270776)

bgadow 08-12-2018 09:15 PM

Bryan's Philco TV-123
 
4 Attachment(s)
Well, I did it. I really can't recall the last time I handed over cold, hard cash for an old TV set & it would probably be a long time until I do it again but I'm now the proud owner of a Philco TV-123. It sure doesn't look like much as it sits today but I expect, in time, for it to become a cornerstone of my (shrinking) collection. This was one of the few models on my bucket list.

This was one that Nick Williams found; aside from disassembly & the addition of some rare tubes it's "as found". I was a little taken aback at first when I saw it in pieces but I quickly saw this as a blessing: this makes it worlds easier to move and will allow me to address things in stages. The cabinet is pretty scruffy. I had the pleasure of meeting up with both Al Hagovsky & Nick (et al) and Al spoke highly of Howard's Restor-A-Finish; I plan on picking up a can and giving it a whirl. The best news is that the crt is a strong testing RCA 21AXP22A with a '57 date code. While it would have been neat to me to have an original Sylvania-built crt this is sure nothing to sneeze at.

The chassis looks very clean (though it smells like a mouse house!) Philco seemed to be going for some kind of record judging by the number of caps in this thing. Somebody in engineering must have got a free trip to Vegas from Sprague for specifying all those black beauties! I probably had 2/3 of what I needed on hand but still put in a generous order to Just Radios for the rest. The chassis is marked "Run 1" so pretty early, I guess. I haven't dug around for date codes beyond the crt. I know there were some factory authorized mods installed on some of these but this one appears fairly stock.

I expect this to take quite a while; I'll update the thread as I move along.

PS: If someone smarter than me can knows how to rotate the images, go at it. They're correct on my computer but that's the way they uploaded.

etype2 08-12-2018 09:29 PM

Congratulations. We can see the images well enough, but if you want them rotated, I will do it.

Jeffhs 08-13-2018 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bgadow (Post 3202987)
Well, I did it. I really can't recall the last time I handed over cold, hard cash for an old TV set & it would probably be a long time until I do it again but I'm now the proud owner of a Philco TV-123. It sure doesn't look like much as it sits today but I expect, in time, for it to become a cornerstone of my (shrinking) collection. This was one of the few models on my bucket list.

This was one that Nick Williams found; aside from disassembly & the addition of some rare tubes it's "as found". I was a little taken aback at first when I saw it in pieces but I quickly saw this as a blessing: this makes it worlds easier to move and will allow me to address things in stages. The cabinet is pretty scruffy. I had the pleasure of meeting up with both Al Hagovsky & Nick (et al) and Al spoke highly of Howard's Restor-A-Finish; I plan on picking up a can and giving it a whirl. The best news is that the crt is a strong testing RCA 21AXP22A with a '57 date code. While it would have been neat to me to have an original Sylvania-built crt this is sure nothing to sneeze at.

The chassis looks very clean (though it smells like a mouse house!) Philco seemed to be going for some kind of record judging by the number of caps in this thing. Somebody in engineering must have got a free trip to Vegas from Sprague for specifying all those black beauties! I probably had 2/3 of what I needed on hand but still put in a generous order to Just Radios for the rest. The chassis is marked "Run 1" so pretty early, I guess. I haven't dug around for date codes beyond the crt. I know there were some factory authorized mods installed on some of these but this one appears fairly stock.

I expect this to take quite a while; I'll update the thread as I move along.

PS: If someone smarter than me can knows how to rotate the images, go at it. They're correct on my computer but that's the way they uploaded.

As others have said, congratulations on finding this TV, as it is probably fairly rare. I'm sure once you have the set fully restored to as close to original as possible, you will enjoy it, even though you will have to use a converter box ahead of the tuner--unless, of course, you plan to watch only DVDs or VHS videos. Bear in mind, however, that since these early TVs were made long before VCRs were even thought of, you may have horizontal sync problems, the most noticable and the most severe of which may be horizontal pulling at the top of the picture.

BTW, I don't know what the point was of having color TV in the 1950s, as there couldn't have been that many color shows on the air at the time; moreover, most TV stations of that era were not equipped for color telecasting (and would not be until at earliest the 1960s), except perhaps for the stations in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles which were operated by the three (at the time) major television networks. NBC was the first American television network to broadcast 100 percent color programming, but that milestone wasn't reached until the mid-1960s. NBC preceded every color program from 1954 until 1975 with a full-color peacock spreading its feathers on the TV screen, with an announcer proclaiming "The following program is brought to you in living color on NBC."

ABC and CBS used similar color logos when they began color telecasting, some years after NBC did so; CBS' logo had the three letters "CBS" dropping down to the viewing area of TV screens, with the network's "eye" logo to the right, and the announcer would say "CBS presents this program in color." ABC's color logo was composed of the lower-case letters "ABC", superimposed on a large black dot on your TV screen and shown, of course, in color on color TVs. The announcement was "This is an ABC color presentation." Since color TV was so new at the time, these logos were not seen all that much since, as I mentioned, most TV programming, including network shows, was b&w; in the beginning, I am sure only very special programs were telecast in color.

oldtvman 08-13-2018 03:05 PM

Money talks
 
Keep in mind that unless you fell into the ownership of one these early sets, you had to have been wealthy or have lots of cash you didn't know what to do with. The fact that there were few shows on made it even more impressive when you invited people over and see a show in color! After 1965 color tv become kind of ho-hum since the novelty and mystery was passed, then the floor gates opened and color tv became just another thing in your home.

Steve D. 08-14-2018 01:00 AM

From Jeffhs: " ABC and CBS used similar color logos when they began color telecasting, some years after NBC did so; CBS' logo had the three letters "CBS" dropping down to the viewing area of TV screens, with the network's "eye" logo to the right, and the announcer would say "CBS presents this program in color." ABC's color logo was composed of the lower-case letters "ABC", superimposed on a large black dot on your TV screen and shown, of course, in color on color TVs. The announcement was "This is an ABC color presentation." Since color TV was so new at the time, these logos were not seen all that much since, as I mentioned, most TV programming, including network shows, was b&w; in the beginning, I am sure only very special programs were telecast in color."

Jeffhs, You are correct as far as ABC color I.D.'s. NBC's 1st color logo 1954-56 was a color version of the NBC chimes. NBC's color peacock didn't arrive on scene until 1956. Started as a still slide, the animated peacock arrived just a bit later. CBS started w/there color logo for the field sequential system in 1951. In 1954 CBS used the CBS eye logo for their NTSC color & had several versions of that until the animated letters in the 60's.

NewVista 08-14-2018 03:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bgadow (Post 3202987)
would have been neat .. to have an original Sylvania-built crt

Were these Sylvania also designated 21AXP22A? Hard to believe they would/could duplicate RCA's mfg process?

Tom9589 08-14-2018 08:58 AM

I took a look at the schematic for this Philco and noticed something I had never seen previously. The filament windings for the two LV rectifiers (5V3 and 5U4) are center tapped and the B+ is taken from the center taps.

What is the purpose of taking the B+ from the center taps?

Electronic M 08-14-2018 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom9589 (Post 3203019)
I took a look at the schematic for this Philco and noticed something I had never seen previously. The filament windings for the two LV rectifiers (5V3 and 5U4) are center tapped and the B+ is taken from the center taps.

What is the purpose of taking the B+ from the center taps?

Most likely to reduce hum pickup from the filament winding.

dieseljeep 08-14-2018 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom9589 (Post 3203019)
I took a look at the schematic for this Philco and noticed something I had never seen previously. The filament windings for the two LV rectifiers (5V3 and 5U4) are center tapped and the B+ is taken from the center taps.

What is the purpose of taking the B+ from the center taps?

They always did it that way when the rectifier tube socket was part of the transformer. It was easier for the transformer manufacturer to do it that way.
The Admiral 20Y1 and the Muntz chassis did it that way.

DavGoodlin 08-14-2018 11:55 AM

Congratulations Bryan, I was expecting you made getting this one a priority. Dave A has a 123 and I promised Id help find the cause of no HV. I do have the factory schematic and try to scan at 600dpi and email later this week.

My plan is to take the file to a blueprint place and make a poster of it before I look at Dave set. My eyes are not so great anymore and bright bench lights are a must-have too. With an RCA, I can do from memory but not such a unique chassis - a great project.

Electronic M 08-14-2018 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavGoodlin (Post 3203030)
Congratulations Bryan, I was expecting you made getting this one a priority. Dave A has a 123 and I promised Id help find the cause of no HV. I do have the factory schematic and try to scan at 600dpi and email later this week.

My plan is to take the file to a blueprint place and make a poster of it before I look at Dave set. My eyes are not so great anymore and bright bench lights are a must-have too. With an RCA, I can do from memory but not such a unique chassis - a great project.

Please email a copy of the factory literature to the ETF. That type of documentation should be preserved/made available to the community.

bgadow 08-14-2018 10:26 PM

Dave, I have a feeling I'll be calling on you for advice before it's over. Worst case, you'll have another 123 chassis on your doorstep :)

Meanwhile: the yoke has the typical rotted plastic shell. I was thinking today of something that has the potential to be a great solution-if I could find a defective 21" color yoke from another model, maybe I could transfer the plastic? I've taken yokes apart to junk them and sometimes it just involves removing a screw or two. I haven't compared the two styles side by side; who knows, maybe I have some oddball yoke around here that I could look at. If somebody has a dud sitting around, let me know.

Electronic M 08-15-2018 12:32 PM

If a 60's light plastic roundy yoke would work for you I have 2-3 spares so I could let one go for something like $10 plus shipping.

bgadow 08-15-2018 09:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Electronic M (Post 3203082)
If a 60's light plastic roundy yoke would work for you I have 2-3 spares so I could let one go for something like $10 plus shipping.

Tom, I'm going to study it carefully and if I decide that option might work I'll send you a PM.

Radiotronman 08-16-2018 07:37 AM

Let’s see pictures of the front of the cabinet. This is one of the more stylish of the early color sets! Fantastic find!!


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