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Old 12-16-2017, 10:40 PM
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1963 Admiral

I bought the set from this thread. Many thanks to Kevin for posting the link in the curbside as I surely would not have seen it otherwise. I contacted the seller, Craig, back on December 1st and agreed to buy the set, but school prevented me from picking it up until today. It was about a 45 minute drive each way, but definitely worth it because I got to see some interesting items in his collection. He has a functional late-1940s Motorola VK-101M tv which he demonstrated. A set from this period is not a common sight around here, seeing as how it predates the first tv station to go on the air in the state by several years.

As far as the Admiral, he tested the CRT for me with his B&K and the results were ok but not great. The emissions for blue and red were midway into the good range, but green was down near the threshold between good and bad. It will be interesting to see what the Beltron has to say about this tube, but I suspect it still has some waking up to do. This one has the bonded safety glass so it will need to have the cataract removed. I did notice the CRT is an Admiral-branded 21FJP22 with a late-1963 date code, so it is very possibly original to this set. I haven't looked closely but at quick glance the chassis is also full of Admiral tubes so who knows, maybe this set didn't see much use. The cabinet is nothing special, basically just a veneered wooden box. The finish is in nice shape with minor signs of wear, nothing too serious. I do have the legs and back cover. Overall this thing needs to be thoroughly cleaned, inside and out.

It's also worth sharing the story Craig told me about how he got this set in the first place... He was on a road trip and spotted the tv on the side of I-70 in East St. Louis, Illinois. He was going highway speed when he passed it, but immediately knew what this thing was because of the CRT cataract. He told me these sets are too new to be of interest to him personally, but he thought someone might want it so he went back and saved it. And this only happened about three weeks ago. These things are still being thrown away in 2017. Unreal.

Pictures (sorry it's upside down and the lighting isn't great):

Fkl31 by mrh, on Flickr

KouIs by mrh, on Flickr

bJ7xO by mrh, on Flickr

y5fvu by mrh, on Flickr

0O7bd by mrh, on Flickr

Last edited by SpaceAge; 12-16-2017 at 10:46 PM.
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Old 12-16-2017, 10:42 PM
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More pictures:

w5kWb by mrh, on Flickr

v6Aio by mrh, on Flickr

QwaDE by mrh, on Flickr

IMG_0612 by mrh, on Flickr
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Old 12-16-2017, 11:44 PM
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Very, very nice score!!! I have the combo version of this, the TV is identical, and it makes an EXCELLENT picture. These Admirals are way underrated, IMO.
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Last edited by TUD1; 12-16-2017 at 11:48 PM.
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Old 12-17-2017, 12:01 AM
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Ah, it's one of them new-fangled upside-down sets.
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Old 12-17-2017, 02:12 PM
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Nice score. The chassis looks very clean. That pull down control door is usually missing. Keep us posted.

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Old 12-17-2017, 03:51 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MadMan View Post
Ah, it's one of them new-fangled upside-down sets.
Does the tuner cover Channel O?
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Old 12-17-2017, 04:31 PM
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My Admiral makes the best picture of any roundie I've ever had. The tube was replaced before I got it, and then replaced again with a tube out of a junk Warwick set.
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Old 12-17-2017, 05:47 PM
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Very cool that you got it. And you're absolutely right that these are still being discarded, sometimes by their original owners.
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Old 12-17-2017, 06:04 PM
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Quote:
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Ah, it's one of them new-fangled upside-down sets.
Well, all you have to do is reverse the yoke leads and the picture will be right side up!
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Old 12-18-2017, 06:04 PM
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Beltron Results

Results with the Beltron:



UPDATE: I reread the Beltron manual, something I should have done beforehand, and the "short light" is SUPPOSED to be lit the whole time. If it goes out, there is a problem. I had it backwards in my mind, I thought the light being on meant the tube had a short. My bad.

UPDATE #2: Still would like to know why a tiny drop in voltage brought the emissions down so unevenly. At this point, I'm going to assume the tube is good and just wait and see what kind of picture it will produce.


Last edited by SpaceAge; 12-19-2017 at 04:30 PM.
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Old 12-20-2017, 10:11 PM
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Great find! I have the el-Cheapo metal cabinet, table model version.
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Old 01-18-2018, 05:40 PM
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Today's project was to disassemble the Admiral, clean out as much of the dust as possible, and move it from the garage into the house. This was actually the first time I have gotten a good look at it in broad daylight, and the cabinet is a bit rougher than I thought. It looks like a full refinish is in order, which will definitely be a project for the summer. I took a peek at the FBT and it doesn't exactly have me dancing... a decent sized piece melted and fell off. Should have taken a picture to show you guys. The HV cage has a few tiny ventilation holes on the top but that's it, seems like a crappy design. Apparently there was a lawsuit over the flybacks in this chassis alleging they were a known fire hazard but Admiral negligently continued to sell them. Makes me wonder if there's some truth to that and the lack of ventilation was done intentionally as a fire suppression measure. Anyways, here are a few pictures of the chassis and the TV (no longer upside down).



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Old 01-18-2018, 08:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SpaceAge View Post
the TV (no longer upside down).
Noice.
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Old 01-18-2018, 09:15 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SpaceAge View Post
Today's project was to disassemble the Admiral, clean out as much of the dust as possible, and move it from the garage into the house. This was actually the first time I have gotten a good look at it in broad daylight, and the cabinet is a bit rougher than I thought. It looks like a full refinish is in order, which will definitely be a project for the summer. I took a peek at the FBT and it doesn't exactly have me dancing... a decent sized piece melted and fell off. Should have taken a picture to show you guys. The HV cage has a few tiny ventilation holes on the top but that's it, seems like a crappy design. Apparently there was a lawsuit over the flybacks in this chassis alleging they were a known fire hazard but Admiral negligently continued to sell them. Makes me wonder if there's some truth to that and the lack of ventilation was done intentionally as a fire suppression measure. Anyways, here are a few pictures of the chassis and the TV (no longer upside down).
It is an RCA clone chassis. RCA was not big on ventilation either....RCA also liked to push their flys hard...I don't think RCA engineers liked flybacks much.
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Old 01-18-2018, 09:17 PM
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I wouldn't worry about the flyback. My set is on its third CRT, and would I feel safe watching it for hours, but the flyback had to be "rejuvenated." That is to say, when you get it working, don't watch it for hours without letting it cool down. You need to slowly cook the moisture out of the flyback. If you start smelling it, shut it off immediately and wait a while before using it again.
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