IIRC, the 4ES8 was a Cascode type RF stage. The set had keyed AGC, so it was good for DX-ing.
Did yours use that odd horizontal output tube. A 12EG6? I don't remember if it was replaceable by a 12DQ6.

Mine had the 12GC6.. Got the plates hot a few times before i gave up on it..

Wished ide known better, ide still have it... That and the packard bell radio/tv/phono console i had.

High school days brought electronics class and access to lots of tubes and test equipment, not to mention piles of chassis for student hacking :D

SR

I guess I got the numbers slightly wrong. It's not that common of a tube.

Not that common of a tv im starting to think, Having one heck of a hard time finding one :D

SR

Thanks for the positive comments about the RCA. That set I basically had working two years ago, but for the contrast control, which first of all had too much resistance across a portion of it (I put a resistor across it in parallel with that portion of it), and was worn out in spots (cleaning was no help, so I put a resistor in series with the control to lock the good part of the control in where the contrast was at a good setting).

I like these RCAs too, basically for the reasons already stated, being one of the few portables from that era to use a power transformer, and they seem to be good performers. I have a few of these late 50s metal cabinet RCAs, a white 8" (also without the stand) that I fixed several years ago and have used quite a bit since then with little trouble. I also have the 14" version of this set, which I got working and had to do some bodywork on the cabinet three years ago, and still haven't gotten around to painting yet. And a cool looking 17", which needs much work (and I don't think uses a power transformer like the 8" and 14") but is a really neat looking set, two tone light and dark blue, with gold fins on the side. And a nice working black RCA from '59 in the flatter cabinet with the wider deflection angle 17" CRT.

As far as the Philco goes, I replaced that bad 9AU7 horiz osc tube and still have no HV. I did find that no B+ was getting to the anode of the 2nd triode in the 9AU7. There's a big one of those units that have several resistors and capacitors in one component, that I've narrowed down as the cause. Also the B+ seems to be about 100V low throughout the set, whether a short in that unit is the cause or if I'm looking at a 2nd unrelated problem, I don't know yet.

I had to look up the Sams on the set. The horizontal output tube has a different pinout. The cathode is on pin 5 and G1 is on 8. :scratch2:
The main PC board is made to slip out of the chassis frame by means of a card-edge connector.
It has to be around 40 years ago, since I repaired one.
The Sams is dated, June 1960.

LOL! thats as close to purchasing this tv that i have gotten so far.... I managed to buy the SAMS folder for that model :D

SR

I finally mostly got this set working. And it had several weird and hard to track down problems (I'll post more about it later). I still have to do a few things: I have a 5BR8 as the osc tube in the tuner where it takes a 6BR8, a few resistors where I just have something close clipped in there and still have to get the exact value, and it was buzzing badly, so I just did the audio IF alignment quickly by ear and should go back and do properly, and I still need to go and fix where the cabinet was cracked,...

This is my only philco tv right now. I haven't had too many philco tvs, I think this is my 4th. I've had many more philco radios, I just fixed up a nice hippo last week, the 49-900.

Looks good. The late 50s - early 60s Philcos had great support close to home. as well as RCA and GE, which needed more frequent service than Motorola, Zenith and Admiral sets IMAO.
I think Philcos were more popular in areas AWAY from the midwest, mostly because there were so many equally good manufacturers there.

I restored an RCA 8 inch portable a couple years ago which turned out really well except for an issue with jail bars on the left half of the screen which I never was able to resolve. It's possible to make them less visible but they're always there more or less. It's a nice TV but working on it is a challenge between the split chassis and the fact that it's built in three dimensions - RCA used every cubic inch of the chassis to make it as small as it was. Also, the fact that the horizontal output tube and damper are under the flyback seems like a bad design from a heat perspective, mine had a bit of wax dripping out of it but seems to work just fine.

Philco products had a large presence in Wisconsin.
It seems that most of the pre-war console radios, that still show up, today are Philcos.

The weird problem with this tv was the socket for the 9AU7 horiz osc tube. One of the pins for one of the filaments was not making contact, and all the current was flowing just through 1 of the 2 filaments in the tube, so after I started the set up a few times, that one side of the 9AU7 would burn out. I burned out 2 new 9AU7s before I figured this out. I bent the contacts in the socket back in a way that it worked (only after burning out another 9AU7 testing it out). But tonight I turned it on and the same problem reoccured and took out my 4th 9AU7. This time I kind of screwed up the socket worse trying to bend it again so it would make a tighter fit. I finally jammed a bit of wire in the socket along with the pin of the tube not making contact to make a tighter fit, and this seems to work. But I'd like to come up with a better solution? But for now I'm not moving that tube until I get more, it being my last 9AU7.

Pic shows my messy looking sweep board where I had to replace one of those "component combination" units.

I know it's a hassle, but I suggest replacing the tube socket. The metal in the sockets Philco used are fairly thin and a common point of failure.

Are the sockets that will fit in these philco circuit boards available? I would have replaced it already if I had one.

I got mine from Surplus Sales of Nebraska. They are a perfect fit for Predictas, but made from thicker metal. I was worried they might run out if word got around they work in Predictas, but I see they have 28,000 in stock ;)

They're on this page - (TUA) 751V504C06
http://www.surplussales.com/Tube-Soc...ubeSkts-2.html

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8316/7...f3c5bd8c_z.jpg