I got "Dad's" Sony 303W going again

[AiboPet]

I found another Sony 303W on ebay that I got for $9.99...as parts. The description was "doesn't turn on" and it looked pretty rough, but I got it in the hopes it had a decent CRT since it looks like it sat a VERY long time.

My very first set in my collection was a Sony 303W my dad gave me around 15 or maybe even 20 years ago. I noticed last year that set was having an odd brightness problem...and then noticed the faces were a very odd "silvery" look like there was a weird contrast problem. Someone had mentioned on here that this was almost certainly the CRT...which I suspected because the pic was getting pretty dim as well.

Well...I LUCKED OUT!!

That parts set had alot of little hardware things that Dad's set was missing. I messed with the ebay set long enough to get power to it and I suddenly had a big bright raster on it, but no tuner. I really only wanted to see if it had a decent CRT...and looked fine so far since I have no CRT checker.

Spent the last three hours to tear Dad's set completely to bits and do a real nice detail to it's chassis....replaced a pot that kept making the vertical height change, and then R&R'd the CRT with the eBay set...and now...

SHE LIVES again!!!

I'm very attached to this little Sony...because my dad isn't around anymore...and he gave this to me. I'm very happy to see it with a complete antenna and good CRT again...and even found the little "stand" to put back underneath it. I have no idea why Dad gave me a set that was a bit incomplete...but it was neat nonetheless when he gave it to me...and now IS complete. I even got an unexpected extra Sony AC cord with the eBay set (Those are CRAZY hard to find by themselves!!)...and tucked in the little "suitcase"....a perfect instruction manual