Philco 50-T1403...good starting point?

[Tim R.]

Hey all,

I recently picked up a very nice Philco 50-T1403 at an auction. I'm not well-versed in the workings of antique TV's, and I think this would be a great set to cut my teeth on.

I know there's a wide range of opinions on powering these up unrestored, but I figured cautiously doing so would at least give me a baseline of the set's condition.

The set was connected to a dim bulb tester and Kill-a-Watt, and monitored closely as I gradually increased the wattage. Everything seemed to stabilize quickly and current draw was reasonable, so after an hour I switched over to a variac and Kill-a-Watt. I slowly ramped the voltage up, staying alert for anything unusual, and reached 120v uneventfully.

At full power, the set partially came to life. I have hum-free audio and was able to tune in a couple radio stations near channel 6. However, there is no picture and I can't hear the whine from the flyback. It looks like all tubes are present and lighting up, including the CRT.

So where would a good starting point be for this set? I don't have a lot of test equipment (yet) and am reluctant to tear into it until I can establish the CRT is good. At a minimum I'd like to try and get some sort of picture on the screen. I'll start by testing the tubes, but beyond that any guidance is appreciated!


Thanks,

Tim

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by Tim R.

Hey all,

I recently picked up a very nice Philco 50-T1403 at an auction. I'm not well-versed in the workings of antique TV's, and I think this would be a great set to cut my teeth on.

I know there's a wide range of opinions on powering these up unrestored, but I figured cautiously doing so would at least give me a baseline of the set's condition.

The set was connected to a dim bulb tester and Kill-a-Watt, and monitored closely as I gradually increased the wattage. Everything seemed to stabilize quickly and current draw was reasonable, so after an hour I switched over to a variac and Kill-a-Watt. I slowly ramped the voltage up, staying alert for anything unusual, and reached 120v uneventfully.

At full power, the set partially came to life. I have hum-free audio and was able to tune in a couple radio stations near channel 6. However, there is no picture and I can't hear the whine from the flyback. It looks like all tubes are present and lighting up, including the CRT.

So where would a good starting point be for this set? I don't have a lot of test equipment (yet) and am reluctant to tear into it until I can establish the CRT is good. At a minimum I'd like to try and get some sort of picture on the screen. I'll start by testing the tubes, but beyond that any guidance is appreciated!


Thanks,

Tim

If you have a CRT tester do that first. If you don't and plan to test the CRT in set start by recapping the horizontal system, power supply and any caps on the B+ boost line (which is derived from the flyback). To get screen light you need the horizontal and flyback system working, the gun bias working and a good CRT (and possibly a correctly setup ion trap if the CRT uses one).

You may have to do additional recapping to make the B+ close enough to spec for the horizontal to work....Philco TVs prior to the late 50s were designed by cap happy engineers and have such a plethora of caps that often they won't work at all before a full recap, but often work just fine after just the recap.

[Tim R.]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

If you have a CRT tester do that first. If you don't and plan to test the CRT in set start by recapping the horizontal system, power supply and any caps on the B+ boost line (which is derived from the flyback). To get screen light you need the horizontal and flyback system working, the gun bias working and a good CRT (and possibly a correctly setup ion trap if the CRT uses one).

Thanks. I don't have a CRT tester at the moment, so I'll start with recapping those stages. It looks like the CRT is Philco branded, so it might be original or possibly a rebuild. Fingers crossed emissions are good...

You may have to do additional recapping to make the B+ close enough to spec for the horizontal to work....Philco TVs prior to the late 50s were designed by cap happy engineers and have such a plethora of caps that often they won't work at all before a full recap, but often work just fine after just the recap.

Appreciate the tip! I don't really like the shotgun approach to cap replacement, especially in a TV, but in this case it may be the only way to go.

It sounds like these sets were well made. Aside from the usual stuff that needs replacing, do Philcos from this era have any quirks or failure-prone components I should be aware of?



Thanks again for the help,

Tim