Hi New to the Forum. Restoring a 1958 RCA Deluxe TV. Quick question..

[Victrolaman]

Hi all, im new to the forum and I wanted to hopefully get some help from you all. Im restoring a 1958 Rca tv Deluxe model. The tv does work.
First step i had a repairman test all the tubes for me, he said the High Voltage ones are good test strong, and there are 7 other weak tubes, the emissions are very low. So im in the process of getting new ones of those.
The tv now has sound and the tube lights up good and bright and i have a picture. But i have a thin light line going accross the screen horizontal and the picture is a bit wavy but you can see it.
So im assuming there must be a verticle and Horizontal tubes i just have not got to those yet to replace.
What else would cause that other than tubes. Im learning that the tubes in the tv control lots of things. Again im new to this

The repair guy said my tv is very clean and like new inside he said there isnt a real need to clean the tuner as i only need channel 3 or 4 now for HD or a dvd player.
When i removed the back i see some controls back there, one says Height and one says Star Sync?? what the heck is that for? lol??
I see a few others back there little black controls.
So the repair guy said first replace all the weak tubes because you can align and test the tv with bad ones, good to have them all new, whick makes sense to me.
Whats the next step. as i said the tv does work and doesnt get hot or smell or anything, i watched it a good hour the other day till i started getting my replacement tubes in and i have not had it plugged in since for obvious reasons.
I am hoping someone has a copy of a Sams Photo they can email me but i will get the model number for you and post it.
I really do appreciate anyones help and value your time and Knowledge

Thanks for helping a new guy out

[Eric H]

Hello and welcome to VK.

Have you done anything with the capacitors in the set?

Pretty much every set that age needs a complete recap, even if it's working to some degree it isn't going to be reliable unless this is done.

Leaky caps can also bias tubes incorrectly and wear them out prematurely or overheat your Flyback Transformer and fry it.

[Victrolaman]

Hi, No i have not got that far yet, i wanted to replace the weak or bad tubes forst with new strong ones and then go from there.
Any idea on what that star sync control does?

[Sandy G]

You might find yr TV does just fine even with supposedly "Bad" tubes... Tubes AREN'T as fragile as a lot of people think..But yeah, I'd be much more worried about the capacitors & resistors than I would about the tubes...

[Kevin Kuehn]

Hi,

I think the control you're referring to is the Sync Stabilizer(marked SYNC STAB on the chassis). It's also sometimes referred to as the noise limiter control. That control adjusts the signal to noise ratio of the sync pulse going to the vertical and horizontal sync circuits. Generally you adjust it until overloading is observed in the picture, then back it down until overloading disappears. Sort of works in conjunction with the AGC control.

Agree with Eric, all paper and electrolytic capacitors should be replaced. A bit of a chore on those sets because of the limited access to the back side of the printed circuit boards.

[radiotron]

Originally Posted by Victrolaman

Hi all, im new to the forum and I wanted to hopefully get some help from you all. Im restoring a 1958 Rca tv Deluxe model. The tv does work.
First step i had a repairman test all the tubes for me, he said the High Voltage ones are good test strong, and there are 7 other weak tubes, the emissions are very low. So im in the process of getting new ones of those.
The tv now has sound and the tube lights up good and bright and i have a picture. But i have a thin light line going accross the screen horizontal and the picture is a bit wavy but you can see it.
So im assuming there must be a verticle and Horizontal tubes i just have not got to those yet to replace.
What else would cause that other than tubes. Im learning that the tubes in the tv control lots of things. Again im new to this

The repair guy said my tv is very clean and like new inside he said there isnt a real need to clean the tuner as i only need channel 3 or 4 now for HD or a dvd player.
When i removed the back i see some controls back there, one says Height and one says Star Sync?? what the heck is that for? lol??
I see a few others back there little black controls.
So the repair guy said first replace all the weak tubes because you can align and test the tv with bad ones, good to have them all new, whick makes sense to me.
Whats the next step. as i said the tv does work and doesnt get hot or smell or anything, i watched it a good hour the other day till i started getting my replacement tubes in and i have not had it plugged in since for obvious reasons.
I am hoping someone has a copy of a Sams Photo they can email me but i will get the model number for you and post it.
I really do appreciate anyones help and value your time and Knowledge

Thanks for helping a new guy out

either bad caps or weak tubes

[Victrolaman]

Hi Yes thats it Sync Stab i thought that was a R sync star Great that makes sence then.
So what would cause the white line going across the screen?
what does noise look like on the screen? would it be wavy and a distorted picture? again im not a tech im just a guy who has a nice vintage TV that he wants to restore
Does anyone have a picture they can post of what a screen looks like, what does overloading look like? i ask because maybe someone tiouched that and thats what causing the wavyness and the thin light line going accros the middle, or i can post a ic and you can see it do it.

Originally Posted by Kevin Kuehn

Hi,

I think the control you're referring to is the Sync Stabilizer(marked SYNC STAB on the chassis). It's also sometimes referred to as the noise limiter control. That control adjusts the signal to noise ratio of the sync pulse going to the vertical and horizontal sync circuits. Generally you adjust it until overloading is observed in the picture, then back it down until overloading disappears. Sort of works in conjunction with the AGC control.

Agree with Eric, all paper and electrolytic capacitors should be replaced. A bit of a chore on those sets because of the limited access to the back side of the printed circuit boards.

[Kevin Kuehn]

Personally I wouldn't mess with those rear chassis controls until mentioned capacitors have been replaced. Left as-is it's an accident waiting to happen. Old capacitors can sort of work, but not reliably.
Some of the waviness you mention could be from power supply ripple caused by bad power supply filter caps.

[Kevin Kuehn]

Here you go. http://antiqueradio.org/recap.htm

Phil's site has lots of good info on what you're up against.

[Electronic M]

If the image looks overly contrasty to the point of being blacked out, and the synch starts to get shaky then you have the synch stab up too high.
If the image has diagonal white lines(retrace lines on the screen) and poor synch, very feeble contrast or a white screen with no image then the synch is too low.

Your horizontal line could be retrace or it could be a vertical issue(lines tend to be formed by deflection circuit issues in the axis perpendicular to the line.

[Sandy G]

Uhh, yeah, capacitors are basically dirt-cheap devices...but if they fail, they CAN kill something irreplaceable in yr set, or even remotely possbly, cause a fire. Usually, the tubes in a TV-Except for the CRT are pretty inexpensive items, too. They were made by the ZILLIONS up til the early Seventies, in some cases, so finding them should NOT be a problem.

[Kevin Kuehn]

Here's some AGC and Sync Stab adjustment info from the SAM's for a RCA KCS108 chassis, dated 3-58. Could actually be your chassis.

[Victrolaman]

Great Im in need of the Sams photo fact sheet for my tv as well Model is 21-D-8527. Id be greatfull if someone has a copy they can scan and email me of it