RCA T-120 for $50 BIN

[Eric H]

With a stand no less.

Big heavy set but a heck of a deal at that price.

http://cgi.ebay.com/RCA-Victor-T-120...item2c5d07cc1b

[Eric H]

Hard to believe but $50 wasn't cheap enough, someone placed a low bid, now it's up to $61 with an hour to go.

As clean as it is and with the stand I'd expect at least $100 for it even if it's not a terribly popular model.

[julianburke]

It's been a while since I've seen one this clean and nice!

[benman94]

Hey guys! I'm new to Videokarma. Interestingly enough, I was the winner of this set. I'll admit that I don't know a ton about TV sets, though I have repaired a number of tube radios and even built a couple. I thought this would be a decent set to learn with. Any thoughts? I ended up paying $75 bucks for it. Did I get a deal? How does one "get started" in TV restoration? Is it possible I may have bitten off more than I can chew with this set?
Anyway, advice or words of encouragement would be greatly encouraged.

Thanks,
Benny

[Electronic M]

I have a similar model (9-T-246), and they are not the easyest sets to get working(mine still has some bugs that boggle me a bit),though it can be done. If I had to recomend a first set I'd reccomend a early to mid 50's Philco split chassis set(mine came back to life with the doudler supply components, and paper capacitors replaced). I've also often heard others reccomend early 50's Admirals as a first TV restoration canidate.

That is my .02$

Tom C.

[Phil Nelson]

As with tube radios, recapping is standard, beginning with the electrolytics. Here's some basic info about that, if you need it.

http://antiqueradio.org/recap.htm

TVs have higher voltage than radios, and the vertical & horizontal sweep sections demand precise timing, so there's generally less "fudge room" than when restoring many old radios.

If you follow the schematic and take your time, it's not an impossible leap from radios to TVs, although there definitely is a learning curve if you want to understand how your TV works.

This article discusses restoring a model T-100, which I think has the same chassis as a T-120.

http://antiqueradio.org/RCAT-100Television.htm

Have fun!

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

[bandersen]

Hi Benny, Welcome to VK.
Considering the nice condition, I'd say you did alright - especially if the CRT is strong.

Do your homework ask questions and take your time. You've come to the right place

[vts1134]

Welcome Benny. I just started here not too long ago with my first TV project and have been blown away by how friendly and helpful every one is here. Can't speak for every one but my restoration (although not finished, or hopefully my last) has been fun, exciting, trying, frustrating, and totally rewarding. Good luck and have fun.

[newhallone]

Where are you from Benny? WElcome!

[benman94]

Thanks for the responses guys! I feel better about this already . . . I'm located about 85 kilometres north and slightly west of Detroit in a one-horse town called Lapeer. By the way, I also have a Zentih Space Command 400 from 1958 or '59 that I inherited and haven't even really looked at. (It works though, just needs to have the geometry of the picture changed a bit, there's also a bad blooming issue). I'm assuming that it's quite a bit more complex than the T-120. Am I right?

[Phil Nelson]

The late 1950s set might be simpler to fix, in some ways. My 1950 RCA T-100 has 24 tubes. My 1958 Philco F4626M has 18.

Phil Nelson

[Electronic M]

my first two (I was sort of working on them simultaneously) restorations were a 53 and a 59 Zenith. They are a lot simpler than that RCA ie use of intercarier IF, simpler deflection cricuits, etc. And space command is one of the coolest features that was ever put in a TV.

Just my opinion.

Tom C.

[old_coot88]

Hey Benny, welcome to the affli.. er, addiction.

To Phil Nelson, I dunno how I missed your build saga on your T-100. Just finished reading it. First one I serviced was about 1959 or '60. It had exactly the same horiz. linearity problem as yours shows. Battled it till the cows came home but to no avail. It seemed to be endemic to those sets. It'll be interesting to see if Benny's has the linearity bug. Bill(oc)

[Phil Nelson]

That article doesn't tell the whole story, either. I recently had the T-100 chassis out to practice using my Hickok 610A generator. It's a good test subject because it works very well and it's easy to manage on the workbench.

While it was out, I thought, "Dang, there must be something I can do about that horizontal linearity." After considerable fussing & fiddling, I concluded it was just born that way.

Phil Nelson

[Bill Cahill]

Hey, welcome to VK Benny!
Nice set. I agree. Go with some simpler sets first to get some experience. The older RCA's are more difficult, though they do work well. Except the tuner, that is.....
Bill Cahill