Jim,

I have some pictures of it from right after it was delivered: http://www.myvintagetv.com/rca_berkshire_regency.htm


Chuck

A Truetone Anyone?
 

Thought I'd contribute to the B&W thread. Here's a shot of my roundscreen Truetone (trust me ;) ). I have the operating instructions which have a date of '51, although internally I'd say the design was dated then. It uses a continuous inductuner with a dial cord to a seperate tuner for the built-in AM radio. I'm not entirely satisfied with the results, I replaced the dud metal cone crt with a brand spankin' new all glass substitute and I don't think the horizontal circuits like the change. Also odd is the number of capacitors in this baby, and individual electrolytics. Of course I have no schematic for this set, bah! If anyone has any info, give a holler! :)

What's the Truetone set's Model or Chassis Number? Since I have a complete Sams library, perhaps I could locate the literature for it.

I believe it's model number 2D-1195A. Any info you can dig up would be appreciated (it's a factory jumble under there), but no rush! :)

"New" set
 

Here's a pic of my latest set.

Got this beauty off eBay for $20, it looked much worse than it was, just extremely dirty and some mouse rust on the gold trim.

I took it completely apart, washed and waxed the cabinet and repainted the gold screen trim. (the picture below is after repainting the trim but before the wash and wax)

The tubes wouldn't light, I traced it to a bad tube socket on one of the 6CU8's, a bear to change and to make matters worse I had to completely disassemble a parts set to get a replacement socket:mad:

It fires up now, has raster but no picture and some hum bars on the screen, time for a recap but I have other projects to finish first.

It's either the Walnut or Mahogany finish, not sure which, and is otherwise identical to this RCA:
http://www.vintagetvsets.com/rcaswiv.htm

RCA set
 

Eric,

I really like the design of that set; very sleek and functional looking. Is it hand wired, or does it use PC boards?

Re: RCA set
 

Well both actually, the main circuitry is on a PC board but the "Doughnut" that goes around the CRT has some hand wired parts on it.

The PC board is mounted vertically and has a metal shield soldered on the bottom hence the difficulty in recapping it and replacing tube sockets.

I'll take some pictures soon and post them.

Pictures
 

Here are the pictures, I linked to them rather than making four different posts.

This is the PC board

http://www.vintagetvsets.com/images/kcs109chas.jpg

The Back (as viewed from the back of the set)

http://www.vintagetvsets.com/images/kcs109chas2.jpg

The front

http://www.vintagetvsets.com/images/kcs109chas3.jpg

And the CRT, 17" 110 deg and very short neck, not quite as short as the predicta though.
The tube is tired, I have a NOS I will replace it with.

http://www.vintagetvsets.com/images/17cdp4.jpg

I'm guessing that slapping on a swivel base was RCA's answer to the predicta? This came out the same year AFAIK.

Eric

Looks like you have your work cut out for you with all those wax-dipped paper caps! It will be interesting to see a picture of the picture when it is completed.:)

More goodies!
 

Hey guys, lookie what I found!

OK,this one isn't anything to write home about but wait till the next post :D

OK, now get excited!
 

Here's the big prize :D

Nice Philco
 

A Philco! Nice! :) Where are you putting all these? You seem to buy two a month! Not that there's anything wrong with that. :)

:yippy:

Rob

Eric,

Kewl! Do either one of them play? Let me guess... the one that looks like it was "well used" plays great, and the one that looks almost new is shot?

Eric,

Nice Philco, hope you got a bargain! I think I bought one of these a couple of weeks ago, haven't seen it yet. A friend told me about it, and that it was in great shape and price was right, so I told him to pick it up for me.

I have 3 consoles and a table model I bought and haven't seen yet, don't know where I can put them when the sellers don't want to store them anymore and I have to bring them home.

I think I'm over the edge......


Chuck

I think I got a good deal on the Philco and the Hoffman was practically a giveaway at $20.

I had to go to West Covina today to pick up a CRT I won on eBay, well I was somewhat loath to drive all the way down just to get this CRT but when I checked my E-mail this morning there was a message from someone in Ontario (Calif) asking if I was interested in some sets.

Ontario is right on the way to W. Covina so I lucked out and got a dual purpose trip!

Neither set plays, the Hoffman will show a slight flicker on the screen the Philco just hums.
Gee, I wonder what it could be, maybe the caps could be bad? :p:

Both CRT's check like new though I don't know if they have ever been rejuved.

The Philco isn't perfect, there are a few chips and marks here and there but nothing I would refinish it for.

The Hoffman... well I suppose it COULD be restored, someday, after everything else has been fixed and I have nothing to do I might take that project on.

The Philco has an 8 channel tuner and an electromagnetic Ion trap, it also has a Polarized interlock connector, looks just like an interlock on a modern set but about twice as big! Cool set.

The back is missing along with the special cord needed to interface with this connector so I will have to make do.

Eric

:) GEE, what a nice cabinet on that Philco!

RCA revisited
 

Getting back to the 17" RCA portable mentioned a few posts back, here is a photo of it working.

The vertical is a little shrunken, there is still one Lytic to replace and I haven't tested any of the tubes yet. Don't know how the sound is, I didn't connect the speaker.

17" RCA portable
 

Looks good! Is that the CRT that came with it, or did you replace it?

Eric,

That CRT looks very bright. I wonder if there is a problem with the DC restoration. The backs don't try to stay black.

Rob

17" RCA portable
 

Rob,

Most b&w sets of that era didn't have DC restoration, and washed out blacks, especially on night scenes, are the norm.

DC restoration
 

wv,

I agree mostly with your statement. True, many early sets didn't have DC restoration. In my collecting experience this is true of many of the 40's sets with round CRT's, but it was my understanding that by the mid 50's, not early any more IMO, that TV's pretty much all had this very simple diode circuit installed. Expecting this to be the case with Eric's RCA here I thought there must be a prob with the circuit.

Eric,

Does this chassis have DC restoration or not? Inquiring minds want to know. :)

Rob

I had posted this info on dc restoration back in August.

The dc restoration is an interesting issue. I have not played with many pre 1950 sets, but from what I have seen, some of the early sets included the restorer diode, but once the larger-screen sets of the early 50s appeared, the dc restorer had been abandoned (for cost reasons I assume). I don't recall seeing a B&W set with dc restoration until I saw a Sylvania circa mid to late 60s perhaps. Some later sets, including color, had partial dc coupling. It wasn't until Consumer Reports Mag. made an issue out of dc restoration in about the early 70s that all of the manufacturers got on board and put the dc restoration back in the sets. The CR article was prompted by Sony (and perhaps Sylvania) being the only manufacturer having 100% dc restoration at the time. The picture quality of the Sony was rated the highest of the sets tested. I had just purchased a 1973 Zenith, and that or a similar Zenith was rated as having only 10% dc restoration. I bought the Zenith (hybrid) because I liked the way it was built, and would not have touched a Sony. Shortly after I read the CR article I set about eliminating all of the coupling capacitors in the video signal path and adding appropriate level-shifting transistors to achieve 100% dc coupling, which give the same result as restoration. I have done a similar operation to a number of other sets, including a vintage CBS Columbia that I used in my bedroom for many years.

D.C. Rest
 

I don't know if this set has D.C. restoration, don't think so.

It looks too bright mostly because I had it cranked up to take the picture but as wvsaz mentioned it is impossible to get a black level to stay put on these sets.
Also this set uses a tinted safety screen that's not in place here, that would help the contrast somewhat.

That is the original CRT, a 17" 110 deg tube.
It was really tired and I rejuvenated it.
It works good for now but I have a NOS tube that will be installed when I'm done.

I checked all the tubes, it had about 7 weak ones including the 6AQ5 vertical output, installing a good one filled out the vertical and the picture is looking really good, the sound seems to work good too, at least on channel 3.

One tube was really stuck and I busted the tube socket getting it out :( fortunantly I have an extra chassis for a parts donor.

Eric

More on DC restoration
 

:mad: This wasn't the first time Consumer Reports made an issue of the lack of DC restoration in TV sets. In the late fifties they complained about it, but at that time no manufacturer used it, except in the color sets. The excuse? According to the manufacturers, the TV broadcasters were not bothering to control the DC level at the transmitter, so why should the set manufacturer attempt to control it at the receiver? While this may have been true in a few isolated cases, most broadcasters did control the DC component correctly. In fact, FCC rules require correct control of black level at the TV transmitter. It was simply an excuse to cut the cost of the receivers.

Prior to 1953, most of the better quality receivers, such as RCA and DuMont, used DC restorer circuits in their designs. The DC restorer seems to have disappeared about the same time the 21" rectangular picture tube became standard, around 1953, as DBerning mentioned.:(

A confusing factor for the consumer is the use of the term "brightness control". In a set with DC restoration, this control is in reality the "black level" control, and should be used to set blacks at the correct level. The "contrast" control is in reality the "white level" control, and is adjusted to provide the desired picture brilliance, followed by setting the correct DC (black) level with the "brightness" control (in some early sets the contrast control was called the "brilliance" control).:confused:

In a set with 100% DC restoration, once black level is set, it will stay correctly set through all scene changes, including the difficult nighttime outdoor scenes.:)

Re: Stuck tubes
 

Eric,

I have done this too, but then I discovered that by squirting WD-40 around the pins, and rocking the tube slightly in a circular motion, the stuck tube will usually pop right out leaving the socket unharmed. This is especially true with old radios using loctal tubes and cheap wafer sockets. Also improves electrical contact with the pins.:)

Here's a shot of my 9T246 after the recap & realign. My photography doesn't do the TV picture justice. This is the first 40's set I've done that actually works well on a cable signal, no adjacent channel interference at all, maybe it was the IF realignment.

This is another chassis with the 5 ohm resistor in series with the 6AL5 discriminator which was open and I didn't catch it due to the tube shield.


Chuck

9T246
 

Chuck,

Great picture & good alignment job! I wonder if more of these '40's sets would work on cable signals with a proper IF alignment?

Great picture
 

Hi Chuck, great job, it looks like new!

Eric

Re: 9T246
 

If I was a glutton for punishment I'd try another set, but it's easier to use a cheap cable converter for the signal source and I get REMOTE CONTROL!

Chuck

Actually, most of the postwar sets work fine on cable, if properly aligned. Cable TV has been around since the late 40s. Cable systems operate the audio carrier about 15 db below the video carrier to minimize the interference from lower adjacent audio.

Steve,

I don't think the problem is just the adjacent audio, the early cable systems carried just 12 channels (maybe). Now we have 80+ analog video carriers and 40+ digital carriers being pushed into a tuner that was designed to "see" one channel at a time at its input terminal.
I've seen modern sets that can't handle all that power.


Chuck

The selectivity of the RF stage was almost always good enough to deal with lots of channels. Some sets would overload, but if input levels were kept within normal range, there wasn't usually a problem. Early transistorized sets did sometimes have difficulties with lots of channels, and were more of a problem than early tube type sets.

Many cable systems had difficulty keeping levels constant, and often had significant "slope", with lower channels much stronger than upper ones. This often caused problems.

Chuck, that's a great looking RCA you've got there! Wonder what it is with those 6AL5 filament resistors :p:

RCA back together
 

Here's a shot of the 17" RCA put back together. I'm waiting on a few small tubes and the picture is a little snowy because it's only running on rabbit ears.

This is the NOS grade A Sylvania rebuilt CRT with "Silver Treated Phosphors" it really has a brilliant picture.

17" RCA
 

Eric,

I like that swivel stand! No such luxury with today's sets.:)

9T246
 

Chuck:
Impressive looking 9T246 restoration! Your photo reminded me of one I saw in Alsip Il, outside Chicago, about 3 years ago. I had dropped in on a supplier I use to pick up an order I was in a hurry for (600 mile drive in one day - ouch!) and of course asked if they knew of anybody that might have old TV's. I was given directions to an OLD repair store nearby, ran over and discovered a 9T246 in the window. Turns out they have had it since it was NEW, always in the window, always kept working, and presently left on at night using a timer! Man, this thing looked terrible, all faded, cloth sun rotted and hanging, but it worked a treat! I'd like to see a modern set survive that long in that environment, even with TLC!
Marlin

58 Zenith
 

Haven't been any posts added to this particular thread in over a month, so, I will add one to get it cranked up again.

I got this '58 Zenith two-toned grey portable from a friend a while back. Uses chassis 15A26 (Sam's 407-3). Naturally, the sleeve that the photofact goes in was empty! Curses! The set is in nice condition, but looks like the flyback and deflection yoke bit the dust! This set has a three-position knob on top for the antenna... similar to the adjustment on a set of rabbit ears I suppose. Even if it doesn't get fixed soon, it will be a nice display piece.

I believe I saw a similar set in the background of someone's photo recently.

Charlie, i have a similar Zenith with a bad CRT and a rusty cabinet. If the Fly and yoke will fit your set you are welcome to them.

Eric

Charlie,

That is a nice Zenith. They made a number of those 50's boxes with that theme of the main controls in the top corners. One even had them in pods hanging off the sides. Very stylish.

I hope your C.T. problem is getting better!

Regards,
Rob

An oldtimer tv repairman once called these "bug eye Zeniths". Can't imagine why.;)
Marlin