A funny little 7" set crossed my path today
 

Automatic Radio model TV-709 :)

The inside's just as clean as the outside, and sitting on top of the chassis was the original owners manual! :D

The set was missing knobs, I just stuck on some Admiral ones that I picked up from my buddy Darryl at ETF for the time being.

The only one like it I've seen is the one at the ETF museum. I get the feeling that finding the correct knobs may be a logistical impossibility. But what a find! :yippy:

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment...1&d=1433555405

Nice set Tim! I have a 709 that was my first early TV find 40 years ago. The knobs are actually quite common and look similar to the VT71 knobs. The tuning knob is the most unique as it has a little brass dot for the indicator.

You can see what the knobs looked like in an original brochure I scanned:

http://www.tvhistory.tv/1946-49-AUTOMATIC.htm

That is a great find! It's is one of the rarest and most sought after of the 7" postwar sets, and one of the most attractive. The bowed front and the large mask makes it unique. The console version is even rarer. I personally know of only one blonde and one mahogany version existing.
Good luck getting the knobs. With the Internet it shouldn't be too difficult.

The Admiral knobs really look quite attractive on that. :thmbsp:

Really sharp little set, I like it!

Gregb

I've been looking for one of those sets. Very cool looking TV! Great find!!

Great find Tim! The owner's manual to boot.

I agree with all, thats a cool set, glad it fell into good hands.

Ahh HATE Yew... Seriously, VERY nice find !

Tim,

Very nice find. Looks like the ETF's TV-709 also has incorrect knobs.

-Steve D.

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment...3&d=1433614177

Well I'll be dipped....you're right. I know I've seen those knobs on something before but for the life of me I can't remember what.

Or something similar anyway.

The set is totally untouched underneath. Not one cap has been replaced. This is one of those ones I don't think I want to "break the seal" on. Not that I can't do it, more like I don't know if I should.

Tim,

Congratulations on a very nice find!

If that user's manual has a schematic in it, you might send ETF a copy.

The TV-709 schematic on their web site shows an apparently correct chassis layout with a 7JP4, but the schematic uses a 16AP4 !!!! Oops!

James

If there was some way to re-stuff those caps w/o removing them...

Those knobs on the ETF set all look like they are from a National NC-TV7.

Wow, that is a nice set.

Well, since I seem to be in the habit of getting sets without cabinets lately (this is my FOURTH this week, imagine that....), check this out.

Buddy of mine gave me a chassis for what appears to be an Automatic Radio TVX-313. What the devil IS that??

It looks identical to my TV-709 chassis at a cursory glance, except the picture tube is raised up much higher off the chassis. On another plus side, it had most of the knobs I needed for my 709 :)

Any thoughts on THIS chassis?

I've seen that chassis used on some odd-brand early post-war sets. Maybe that was the case with this chassis and they made that modification to the CRT mount.

They made console version of that set maybe it was for that.

Here is a not so great photo of the knobs from my Automatic.

Looking at the pix on the cover of Photofact #60-6 and #81-3 it appears that they mounted the CRT in 3 different positions .... very low for the portable (P-490), Higher for the table model and higher yet for the console (P-710). The very low appearance of the CRT in the P-490 may be just an optical illusion, as the CRT is shown in "porthole" configuration. :scratch2:

jr

Beautiful set. Id still recap it, a working set is better than one that just sits and looks good.

There's the chassis for your Zenith Radio conversion project!

A PM has informed me that this chassis is from an Air Master console.

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...Picture127.jpg


The chassis is needed to rejoin a set, so it'll be going to a new owner shortly :)

Not that I'm considering selling it, I wonder what the Automatic TV-709 is worth. I don't recall ever seeing one up for sale.

Funny, that is the particular set I was thinking of when I mentioned that the Automatic chassis' were put into other sets! You can obviously see the higher positioning of the CRT on that console, which, BTW, is awesome.