RCA 170PO63 Portable (KCS126 chassis)

[RetroHacker]

I was given this black and white portable by someone that had heard I liked old TVs, and was about to throw it away. It's in so-so condition, a ding in the upper corner, and missing a knob (and are these even all the right knobs?), but not too terrible. Seems to be a fairly high quality set when new, a power transformer design as opposed to the cheaper series string models.

This was given to me as non-working, but, it's over 50 years old, I wouldn't expect it to work. Initial inspection shows that the internals are fairly intact, but quickly located a major red flag. The flyback insulation appears to have some small cracks in it, and evidence of dripping wax. The high voltage rectifier tube is also up to air - no doubt the whole thing ran really, really hot. The 17DKP4 CRT is a little weak - just to the bottom edge of the "Good" on the tester, but I've seen worse produce a usable picture. Might just need to cook a little longer, it showed as almost dead for the first minute, but after running for a bit, started to wake up.

I haven't done anything with it yet, I'd like to fix it, but that flyback is a big question for me. I've seen flybacks in similar condition function, but it bothers me that it got hot enough to crack the 1X2B.

Now, I do have a Heathkit IT-5235 yoke/flyback tester that I picked up at a hamfest recently, but I honestly don't know how to use it. I found the schematic easily online, but not the user's manual. I also don't yet have the schematic for the TV.

-Ian