RCA 621TS Nearing Completion
 

Here's the current staus on my client's RCA 621TS that needed the new 7DP4 thanks to FedEx. It's almost completed, but there are still some issues to be resolved.

There's a known issue with RCA's KRK-2B 13-Channel tuners involving some solder joints deep inside the unit which I've got strong suspicions of being the root cause of a tricky Intermittent on this 621TS. When first powered up, it takes almost five minutes after the raster appears for the set to produce picture and sound. Since the change in performance manifests as a sudden "popping in" effect and the cycle only starts over if the set is powered down and subsequently powered again from a "cold start" as opposed to being briefly shut down for a "warm" restart, and the bias and B+ voltages remain within specifications both during and after the symptom period, these indications point to a solder joint inside the tuner itself. The prime suspects are the jumpers which join the wiper contacts for each of the pairs of wafer switches (RF/Mixer/Oscillator) and seems more likely to be the jumper in either Mixer or RF since very weak video is evident (out of sync due to simultaneously insufficient sync amplitude) while the symptom is occuring, thus suggesting that the Oscillator must indeed be running and somewhat near its correct frequency.

It's a shame that Louis Stangle of Quality Tuner Service no longer services 24 MHz IF tuners. He did a fantastic job with the 44 MHz Oak TT-166 wafer switch tuner from my Philco 16M91 and at a very reasonable price. We're sufficiently comfortable with servicing drum-type tuners of the 24 MHz IF variety, but have yet to acquire enough practice with "expendable" examples of wafer switch tuners of either IF band to achieve the necessary level of mastery for us to attempt the kind of delicate surgery that Hugo Holden performed on the tuner in his 621TS. Instead, we still prefer to send such work to expert Tuner Surgeons such as Louis.

At any rate, here's a pic of what we've got so far with Jeff's 621TS. We're definitely on the right track, but we still have a ways to go. Many thanks to Todd for the great Restoration work with the finish. Thanks also to Big Dave for the double-checking of everything where my being considerably nearsighted might have caused me to miss some tiny detail had I relied on my eyes alone.

Showing my TVs... on TV:
 

A local TV station went here into my house, and they showed part of my collection yesterday, September 18 ( birthday of Brazilian Television ):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2facGY5Svg

That was cool. Thank you for sharing this with us. Great tv's. What was cool was you got to do a lot of talking. I didn't understand a word you said but I could tell you were giving some good information that here in the states they wouldn't listen too. Someone posted a clip of a collector that was on tv this last week or so here in the states. In typical fashion they just covered what they thought was interesting. Lots of shots of the 7inch sets, and hardly any of the trk12. In the past you have shared some great info with us about your local history of Tv which has been very interesting and kind of gave me an idea on what you were saying. :)

Vanessa and Tayana were great too.:thmbsp:

Very nice! I liked that it let us see much of your collection-and almost meet you in person!

Well, the touchy intermittent in that 621TS is fixed. There were several cold solder joints deep inside the tuner and some tiny "tin whiskers" on some of the switch wafers. The set produces picture and sound of reasonably good quality, but tends to need tweaking of the Contrast and Horizontal Hold controls a little more often than other 1940s sets we've serviced. Further complicating things, I sprained my shoulder last weekend and haven't felt much like working since then. I haven't felt this crappy since I slipped and fell on some ice last winter while clearing snow. I expect to be laid up for a few weeks. For now, at least we've made considerable progress with this one since it arrived with the original 7DP4 necked. The controls never seem to need turned more than 1/16-turn either way to keep good contrast and sync, but even that much seems like too much if readjustment is needed again after the initial 10-minute warm-up.

Here are some more of my sets

Admiral 19A11: It's missing a 7JP4 - that's just a piece of paper ;)
http://www.bobandersen.com/images/co...al%2019a11.jpg

Admiral 30B1 chassis: I garbage picked this chassis out of a neighbors trash way back when i was 15.
He chopped up the cabinet with an axe so the garbage men would take it :tears:
http://www.bobandersen.com/images/co...%20chassis.jpg

Crosley 9-407M: Cool continuous tuner and eye tube indicator.
http://www.bobandersen.com/images/co...y%209-407m.jpg

Philco 49-1040: The dirtiest set I've ever worked on!
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3422/...c4f9d3bc60.jpg

Philco 50T-1402: Blonde cabinet with back-painted glass
http://www.bobandersen.com/images/co...2050t-1402.jpg

RCA 8T241: Finally, my latest set. Weighs a ton!
http://www.bobandersen.com/images/co...ca%208t241.jpg

Wow... the tops of the Admiral and Crosley sure are shiny! Is the Admiral a Bakelite set?

Yes, the Admiral is bakelite. Here's what it looked like when I got it. Novus polish #2 to the rescue :) The top front of that Crosley is a photo finish i.e. it's fake woodgrain. The rest is real mahogany veneer I think.

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Well, since I have been just getting back into the hobby after a long "break", I am slowly clearing out space in my "TV room" and trying the variac on some sets that have not been turned on in 15 years or so. This is the best B/W set so far (outside of a Philco Safari... they always work). It is an 12" Admiral from about 1949-50 stamped "20Z6" on the chassis.

jr

Philco 49-1002
 

I've been in the mood to rebuild some sets lately so I grabbed this Philco, I was hoping for something a little different but this one has essentially the same chassis as the 49-1280 I did earlier this year, oh well, it's still a neat set.

I'm waiting on the Electrolytics to arrive but I've done all the paper caps and It has a picture, the Sync is unstable but I expect that will go away after replacing the remaining Caps.

Eric, is that a 7" set? What kind of crt is it using?

Hi Charlie, it's a a model 49-1002, 10" set, 10BP4 tube, I forgot to include the model# in my post but edited it just now to fix that.

The picture makes it look small but it's actually 25 inches wide and 14 inches high.

That's a nice looking set, the gold trim looks mint, The door is almost always missing on those Admirals.

Here are the sets I've picked up since my last post in this thread.
The two Motorola cabinets are really in need of some TLC!

Admiral 30A16
Nice limed oak finish.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2638/...46813c16_b.jpg

GE 810
I've powered it up and it runs without any recapping!
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4064/...92a3927b_b.jpg

Hallicrafters T506
I've since gotten a replacement knob from a VK member :thmbsp:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2595/...9e9eaa7e_b.jpg

Motorola 9T1
The bakelite is cleaning up nicely, but how to repair that broken bezel :scratch2:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2610/...99f94736_b.jpg

Motorola 12K2
The cabinet is riddled with Powderpost beetle damage on the right side :tears:
It's in quarantine awaiting fumigation :eek:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2694/...5a8000cd_b.jpg

Here's my little Admiral collection so far :D
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2457/...3d886b4a_b.jpg

Impressive!!! :)

Beautiful!!!!

No sh*t ! Very neat and clean. It doesn't look as if they take up a tremendous amount of space. Thats cool! Would be for me anyhow! My sets seem to be spread around the house and taking WAY too much space. Still no home found for my 59 Zenith 24" Space Command! I find that almost unbelievable, but nobody wants a large screen, 50s model, REMOTE CONTROL set.

It's not that nobody wants it - I think the problem is that most of us are too far away from each other.

I've always thought those Admirals that have the "Sticks out" screen/top part are odd looking-But that being said, would I turn one down ? HELL, NO !!!....'Specially if I could latch on to one as purty as that...

Shes nothing special but she's mine.
Shes a 1953 Packard Bell 2723 Deluxe model.

http://i413.photobucket.com/albums/p...8/DSCF1030.jpg

Does that Packard Bell use the 21EP4?

here are 3 of mine that I own

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...ctvemersom.jpg

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...stemerson2.jpg

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...man56/mot1.jpg

Nice sets. That first one is an Emerson I think :scratch2:

Sure it's special - it looks great and it works :thmbsp: Very few of mine do so far.

That was just a photo op. I normally have them scattered around too.
Here's my main setup with this gear:

• Blonder Tongue AM-650 to broadcast to all my sets
• Phillips and Apex cheapy DVD players that can play just about any format
• Dell SC420 server (hidden behind) with wireless keyboard and mouse. I use it to surf the internet from my couch and stream video and audio to the other gear.
• HK Citation 21 Preamp + HK Citation 24 Amp
• NAD 420 tuner
• NHT 2.5i speakers

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4056/...f08b9838_b.jpg

Hey Charlie,
As of right now,I honestly don't know. I have the SAMS in the cabinet but can't go look at it because its in the bedroom with the wife passed out....Bad juejue if you wake her up.......I know, I've done it. Lol :D

Some cools sets there. Despite the dirt, I really like that crazy Philco 49-1040, if there were a record for the highest ratio of cabinet-to-tube size it'd sure be a winner ! That Admiral 30A16 is really sweet too - reminds me a bit of the British Bush TV1 and TV2 but the Admiral's light coloured cabinet looks much better.

TTFN,
Jon

Thanks Jon. The Philco 49-1040 is one of my favs too. The cabinet is huge and mostly empty air inside!
I've been slowly restoring the cabinet and it's a lot cleaner now :D

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4041/...31011293_o.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2638/...473650e15d.jpg

The light finish on that Admiral 30A16 is a 'limed' oak. Sort of a whitewash over red oak then yellowish shellac or lacquer.

That Philco does make me wonder, just how much more effort would it have taken to centralise the front controls ? Still, all that empty space in the back must have been good for keeping things cool and reliable. Shame about the cabinet but looks like you are progressing with it.

If that Admiral's cabinet finish is original then that is quite astonishing, it looks fantastic. I want one :D

I don't really have a favourite set in my collection. However, I've always had a soft spot for Etronic - a small manufacturer that invested heavily in TV production after the success of the London and Birmingham transmitters - only to be shafted by the Government who chose the same moment to implement a massive hike in purchase tax that effectively crippled the company. Sadly, this set has a duff LOPT.

Also attached a few pics of my Philips 563A - a mad set with an exposed glass tuning scale. It took me years to get this set, having first seen a picture in a 1947 Wireless World magazine not long after I got into the vintage radio/TV scene, but it was another seven or eight years 'til I saw one in the flesh. Check out the mains transformers - yes, this is one one darn heavy set !

TTFN,
Jon

Check our Eric's Philco set a bit earlier in this thread: http://www.videokarma.org/attachment...2&d=1254644947

That's actually the same chassis and picture tube as my set only placed side-by-side.

Yes, that's the Admiral's original finish - including two big bites out of the top.
You can see them in the thread from when I found that set: http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=246371


Wow! Those cabinets are beautiful :tresbon: I especially like that console in the first picture :yes:
Similar outline to a Dumont Clifton I think.

Yikes that is a big trafo. I've a different Philco set with one like that. I swear at least half of the sets weight is in it!

Ah, LOPT = HOT :o

I spotted a similiar Philco just the other day; this one includes a radio plus phono under a lid above the crt. It is in a local antique mall for just under $100. It will have to stay there if they are waiting on me to buy it.

I like all the British equipment I've seen. The dial on the Philips is a nice touch-is it lighted from the edge (from below?)

I had a cabinet similar to the Philco 49-1040, the only difference being the controls were all covered by a hefty wooden door. The cabinet was in great shape, but in the few years I had it, I never came across a chassis. I see them fairly frequently, but they always seem to be beat to hell, or painted an ugly color.

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Nice job and very nice sets :thmbsp: I should set up something like that too. Much nicer than stacking sets on top of each other.
I see you have a couple numechrons in there :D

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I posted about my number-muncher over on AK, but no one seemed interested. It is a later model, maybe that's why? :D

http://miniman82.4t.com/images/12-15-09_2355.jpg

From thread: http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/sho...resting+clocks

Grimer: what's the porthole-ish looking set at the top- I want it! :)

Wow! I have one and it works fine! What is the common failure mode? ... Motor, or do the digits get messed up and refuse to cycle properly? I have read that the front plastic on these clocks glows in the dark, but mine does not appear to, anybody observe "glow"?

jr

The one shaped like a television has a pilot light inside.

Phil

http://www.antiqueradio.org/art/Tele-VisionClock.jpg

The motors tend to seize up. A good oiling can sometimes revive them. Also the metal 'fingers' that ride on the digits can wear out.

Supposedly, some models had radium in the faceplate. Others would glow for a bit after being exposed to bright light.

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