1980 Zenith System 3 portable with electronic tuning

[zeno]

Always a good idea to pull the 9-160 & resolder it.
Also do the 9-155-01 CRT board. The main cap does go
bad but it causes width then hum bars. If the
9-160 is bad ( 98%) beyond simple checks I would just
replace it. Gotta remember that design is in the top 3
for complexity along with RCA SCR & Sonys with 2 SG613's
which its the worse. In the end there are only 2 different
ones, 9-160-05 & 9-160-06. They replace all other numbers.

Didnt sell many of them. IIRC they were just a little more
than regular tuners. Maybe they were trying something to get
away with a cheap alternative to tuners but didnt get
a good response. Selectors were reliable. I only remember
changing one for a dial cord.

73 Zeno

[zeno]

BTW IIRC some of the 9-160's used a start transformers
& others used a multivibrator like 9-181 sets. If you upgrade
to an 05 or 06 one connector is left off. Thats from my
foggy memory

73 Zeno

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by zeno

Always a good idea to pull the 9-160 & resolder it.
Also do the 9-155-01 CRT board. The main cap does go
bad but it causes width then hum bars. If the
9-160 is bad ( 98%) beyond simple checks I would just
replace it. Gotta remember that design is in the top 3
for complexity along with RCA SCR & Sonys with 2 SG613's
which its the worse. In the end there are only 2 different
ones, 9-160-05 & 9-160-06. They replace all other numbers.

Didnt sell many of them. IIRC they were just a little more
than regular tuners. Maybe they were trying something to get
away with a cheap alternative to tuners but didnt get
a good response. Selectors were reliable. I only remember
changing one for a dial cord.

73 Zeno

It's been ages, but I remember that the 9-160-6 was for the 25" models, where the 9-160-9 and a few others were for the smaller screen sets. They must've changed the designation later on.
The only electronically tuned set, I have of that series is an 18 position selector type.
They must've built that set, with the same basic cabinet styling for about eight years.