Predictas?
 

I was wondering how many of us have Predictas? It recently occurred to me that we rarely see them here on AK... which is a little surprising to me since there's a lot of Predicta trading on ebay. I have the 17" model, and I think I recall Tim having a 21" model. Who else here has them?

The one i have makes a good picture... when you hold the tubes in place. There are about 3 tube sockets needing changing. Being that this set is such a pain in the butt to take apart, I've just left it as is. I have considered sending it to someone that works on these sets because I simply don't feel like dealing with it.

Any others?

I have a 17" "motel" model. (the cheapest way to get into a Predicta!?) Works but has a vertical problem (short raster, gets shorter as it warms up) and I just don't feel like pulling it apart.

I don't feel alone anymore! :D

Was there a major difference with the motel models? Did they have an extra accessory or something?

I've had every model they made with the exception of the two piece deal and the one that looks like a rocketship. Beautiful to look at, but all else purely electronic junk :puke:

We have a couple of them at the shop that are in our collection but have not got to working on them yet. One has no drive to horizontal output tube and another has some kind of an HV or damper problem. Managed to get a raster on one of them and then HV quit.

I just sold a 17 inch version on eBay and have a blonde barberpole model. I will keep the barberpole set but I don't ever want another Predicta! Tim is correct about the electronics. Predictas are the most miserable sets to repair.

Steve

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Is the original finish on a Predicta kinda, well...,"cheesy" ? I found a rather sad specimen in a junque shoppe in Knoxville a year or 2 back that I thought was tacky,tacky, tacky. It was a hideous blue/green more towards turquoise, w/"old gold" knobs, & that horrid 1950s fabric that had little strips of metal in it. Of course, it didn't work,& I didn't see paying $200 for a smallish B/W TV that didn't work, and was quite fugly to boot.-Sandy G.

I've got a 21" "Holiday" in Mahogany. It's been recapped and works, sorta.
The CRT is wrong (but like new) and the neck is a little too long so you have to put spacers between the housing and rear cover.

I agree with everyone who says these are a PITA and don't really have much interest in fooling with it anymore.

I have the feeling these are more popular with the "Retro" designer crowd rather than the TV Collectors.

We have a total of 9 Philco Predictas and 2 Safaris (the portable, solid state Safari came out in 1960, the same year as the last Predictas). We actually have an example of every model they made. We find them to be enjoyable and fun to watch. They were made in 1959 "G" series (all 21") and 1960 "H series" (17" and one 21"). The 1959 sets (all with wood cabinets) are not as good as the 1960 models. The '59's have the tubes wired in series, thus no transformer and are slow to warm up. Almost all of the '59's have or had vertical problems. The '60's had a transformer power supply and just worked better. The biggest problem with the '59's was the 21" picture tube...Philco literally replaced 50% of the picture tubes under warranty. Most would go dim and burn out within the first 6 months. It was the first 110 degree deflection tube and had a 2.36v filament. The filament was weak and the cathode lost emission quickly. This severely damaged Philco's reputation for quality. The 17" and 21" tubes were much improved and last as long as any other make. The 17" 1960 sets all had metal cabinets. The "Rocket ship" set (their only 1960 wood cabinet, named "Continental") was the only 21" set in '60.

When a Predicta chassis is restored, they have a very good picture and nice sound. And are actually quite stable. And the wood cabinets are no worse, IMHO, than any other "painted finish" cabinet from the era. The swivel picture tube is neat and are always a conversation piece. It almost has an eerie look to the picture, 'floating" above the cabinet. For those of you looking for the "2 piece" unit (called "Tandem"), it is a 1959 model. One thing for sure....they have become the icon for '50's televisions.

It's ironic that Predictas are always sought after, but as far as the most of us here are concerned, they're not worth the trouble to work on. On ebay, they always bring a nice pocket of change... even if they don't work. I think Eric is right... probably folks looking for a classic design are the ones buying them. I also agree with Indian Head... restore a chassis and it will play quite well.

On my set, I had replaced many capacitors that made a hell of a difference in the way it played. I was indeed impressed. However, tube sockets not making good contact keep me from playing it. I turn it on once in a while, but not for long. The sound output and damper sockets need replacing. Seemed almost impossible to get to the sound socket. They're just too much of a pain in the ass to deal with. I'd rather pay someone else to fix it.

I've seen people advertising "send us your chassis for rebuild" on the internet. I've come very close to sending mine in. Seems I recall those folks were on the west coast.

Seems that they could have used something else other than a 6BQ5 for sound. That particular tube simply gets too damn hot to be sittin on a printed circuit board.

My favorite as far as looks go is the Continental. Always thought it was a sharp looking set.

For those of you that have had the 21" verticles (Continental, Pedastal, etc), are the chassis in those easier to get to?

Yeah, I read or heard somewhere-prolly here-that Philco lost so much money repairing Predictas & the attendant slide in sales, that was a major cause of them being sold to Ford. They nearly went under... Too bad the Predictas weren't color...now THAT would have been something-a Roundie Predicta !!!-Sandy G.

My model is a cheaper version that does not tilt up and down, just side to side. Where that cross bar would be attached on the sides of the crt shell there are just metal plugs. I have read that LOTS of these sort of sets were made for sale to motels, etc. I bought mine cheap, under $50 IIRC. To get it working I had only to replace the fusible resistor. I'm sure it just has a bad cap or resistor but its so hateful to fool with. Its a conversation piece, though. My wife loves it and is always telling people about it. Interesting that the next line of sets to come out of Philco was the "Cool Chassis" line, designed especially for airflow. Lesson learned? I really like Philco but they sure seemed to lose their way as the 50s went on.

Hi there guys, I am a vintage TV collector in the Netherlands and new to the forum.I have 6 different Predictas and I've restored about 20 of them in the last 10 years or so.Once you get used to the peculiarities of the chassis,they are no different to restore than "normal" TV's.You have to remove the PCB from the chassis to do a decent repair job.This takes about 10 to 15 minutes and from then on it becomes a standard recap and check all resistors job.The vertical couplets that can cause various vertical instability problems can be made from a few resistors and caps and a piece of perfboard.I have even succesfully rewound a flyback for a 17 inch Princess once, with a little help from a friend who has a transformer factory.
Cabinetwise, the photofinish can be problem, it's always best to try and find a good one , of course.I resprayed a Holiday once in a nice creamy ivory color which looked very nice, not very original, but it turned a hopelessly flakes and scratched cabinet into something that looked brand new.
Metal 17 inch cabinets are easily resprayed of course.I've also made some repro stands for the 17 inch models, they don't look complete without them.
Although my main interest is early round screen sets, the Predicta series remain one of the most interesting TV designs ever made and every TV collector should have at least one of them!

Hi Monochromeman:

Welcome to AudioKarma! I have restored several of the Predictas and you are correct that once you get it apart it's pretty much standard recapping and those vertical couplets are kind of fun to build but I still prefer a standard TV chassis! I recently finished recapping a friend's 17 inch Predicta and it turns out that the flyback was bad. I don't think that I would try to rewind it though as I'd probably end up with a bigger mess than which I started.

Steve

Monochromeman-Welcome aboard, pal !! Always glad to have "old TV nuts" here !! Netherlands, huh? Interesting-how hard is it to come by Predictas over there? Were they sold there originally? There was a Kuba Komet on Ebay a couple weeks ago that set our tongues a-wagging-You ever seen one of those? What other sets do you have-we'd LOVE pictures !! Again, welcome aboard !!-Sandy G.

Thanks for the warm welcome, yeah, I am a certified old TV nut!I have about 35 sets, a mix of US and European sets.I got most of my Predictas in the States.I've made about 10 trips in the last 15 years to various swapmeets like AWA Rochester and Elgin.I've seen Predictas in Holland though, restored quite a few of them for people.There are a few, mainly jukebox dealers, who bring in old TV's occasionally.
There some nice old sets to be found here,in Holland 95 % of all old sets are made by Philips.In Germany there are still plenty early DDR sets like the Rembrandt and Rubens.They are very pretty and have round 12 inch picture tubes.
Unlike in the US, TV in Europe only really took off after 1950 and only those really early sets have round tubes, 99 % of sets made after about 1952 allready have rectangular tubes.Some of them are still quite attractive though.
I followed the Kuba saga,amazing set! I've only seen pics of them, unfortunately.I am actually contemplating building one myself.

I have attached 2 pics with a few of my sets, enjoy!

Welcome Monochromeman!
A very nice collection!
What is the thing in the first pic with the Monkeys and Palm trees??

P.S. I sent you a Private Message.

Eric

Hi Eric, that is a very rare African monkey and palmtree TV set from Nigeria!
LOL! No, it's the insides of something called a Bimbobox.(Britney has nothing to do with it) It was made in Germany in the 50ties and features a coin operated animated monkey band.They actually move and play their instruments!You would insert a coin, a tune would play from a Tefifon player and the monkeys would move.Every department store had one, here in Holland.I remember them from my childhood.
The TV to the left of it is a French 819 line set from 1951, a "Voix de son Maitre"or His Masters Voice.The others are American and should all be familiar to you guys.
Cheers, Eric

Welcome to AK Monochromeman! Those are some nice sets you have!

Yes, I recall having to build one of those verticle couplets for my Predicta. I think I built one for my b&w Curtis Mathes, also. As Steve K mentioned, their kinda fun to put together. They sure work a hell of a lot better than the original component!

Hi Charlie,nice to hear from you.I actually found this forum through you!A few months ago, while Googling for some info for my Philco roundie(got one of those too!)your name popped up and this started the ball rolling.I am also from Nederland of course!Nederland is the dutch spelling of Netherlands.
Yeah,those couplets scare a lot of people, but they are actually pretty simple, you have to keep them small though as they a tight fit on the PCB.
There is also this weird 90K resistor and cap combination in the vertical integrator, I use 2 47K resistors in series with 2 caps to ground, this works perfectly.

Eric

Mono,

Kinda funny you found AK thru me, and that we both live in Nederland... but on opposite sides of the globe. This little city in SE Texas was started by Dutch settlers. A relative of mine (thru marriage) was born here, but her parents were some of the first Dutch to come here many decades ago.

I'm sure you'll enjoy it here on AK. Fine group of folks here with a very wide variety of vintage sets! We really do alot for each other in these forums.

I have worked on 2 different 1959 Pedastals and do find them much easier to service than the Holiday table models. Once the rear panel (which wraps around the sides) is removed, both sides (top and bottom) of the chassis is right there, exposed. It's the same chassis that is in the Holiday but is mounted vertically. If you don't mind sitting on the floor to work on it, you do not have to remove it from the cabinet. As far as the 1960 Continental goes, I have never had to work on ours. It has the same chassis as the 17" table models, mounted vertically, but I have never had the back off this set, so I don't know how it is placed and if both sides are acessable.

John

Predicta
 

Philco Predicta Television 1959 Barberpole,restored!!

Buy it now for EUR 2,000.00 or EUR 1,400.00 starting bid on German ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...158477766&rd=1

What are the normal prices for a Predicta like this?

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I think 1400 Euro for a restored blonde Barberpole is an excellent price!
But then again, I own the set...
Cheers, Eric

I meant to welcome Yagosaga when he showed up, but since this thread has some welcome posts for Monochromeman, I'll kill two birds with one stone.

Welcome top the both of ya. Yagosaga, I believe you live close to my in-laws who are in Emen (sp?).

I was on the look-out for interesting vintage electronics when I went to Germany in 2002. I had some luck in my grandfather-in-laws apartment, in Hann Meuden, which he had occupied since 1942. He was moving out after 60 years (Would you believe the landlord tired to charge him for cracked plaster from a bomb that fell nearby in WWII!?!?) Anyways his was liquidating his belongings, and since nobody wanted the old tube radios, I grabbed those. I have switched the smaller one over to 110v, but have yet to even remove the larger Grundig console from the shipping wrap. I played both of them (they still worked good) while I was over there and needed something to listen to in English (I got VOA, and BBC from London).

He also had what "might" have been a color 60's vintage Telefunken set, but that had sadly been gutted into a small bookcase! About the only thing worth saving was the the emblem, which I've attached to my cheapo computer monitor. I also had some pictures I took at the VW museum of 50s-era German sets, but because of bad lighting, they're not even worth posting. The video record of my trip, including all the last-chance video of the apartment, was wiped-out by security equipment at the airport. :cry:

Predictas
 

I have about 50 Predictas. Started collecting them in the 90's. Have all models except the blonde tandem. Thought I'd never have much of a market, except VRPS, until eBay came around. A side story is that these sets can be profitable to rent. Like when Dan Rather signed off on his last newscast last week..there he was on a 17" Predicta on the studio set. Spots like that seem to cause spikes in sales or rentals.

A properly restored Predicta does deliver a good picture. To work on them successfully, it helps to have drawers of parts just for Predictas-the tubes, the caps, resistors, tube sockets, solder wick, etc. Two different picture tube/yoke set ups for test jigs will help tremendously and will take care of most needs. Besides Sam's, the Philco service info helps. Most chassis's ,except for bad flybacks (rare for those to be bad), can be restored reasonably. That includes several tubes (if needed), many new caps & resistors, + preventative measures like coating the flyback with multiple coats of "corona dope", cleaning the chassis, cleaning/lubricating all controls & tuner, alignment, etc., etc.

Soon, I can post pictures of all the models I have.

Thank you for wellcome me. I do not know Emen. But in the Hanover region there is a village called Eimen. Do you mean it?
I didn't see a Telefunken color set with that emblem from the 60's. Are you shure that it was a color tv set? In the 60's, Telefunken had built two different chassis':
http://bs.cyty.com/menschen/e-etzold...alcolor708.htm
http://bs.cyty.com/menschen/e-etzold...alcolor740.htm
Yes, I know these sets. But they are not original. They have a new chassis inside an old cabinet.

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Predicta quartet
 

Well, I hafta agree about the electronics of these things, but also must admit they are real eye catchers! I have not tripped over myself for a Predicta, except the floor job (barber pole?), which I just got. My favorite is the one piece console on the pivot floor stand. And yes Martha, it is an official Predicta (see photo insert). This one worked until maybe a year ago when I let the smoke out of a power cap. I once had a "vintage TV night" with this one and an Admiral, where I ran old Sky King and such shows for friends. I have gotten the tuner knob for the hotel job after this photo was taken.
http://www.studio4-17.com/predfloor.JPG http://www.studio4-17.com/prsw.JPG http://www.studio4-17.com/predictah.jpg http://www.studio4-17.com/predt001.jpg

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Rewinding a Predicta flyback.
 

I have a 17" Predicta and a Motorola 19CT1 color set. I've been looking around for ways/people who can rewind vintage TV flybacks. I was lucky to locate a good used flyback for the 19CT1, but am still looking around for a way to finagle a way to rewind the bad one. Could you tell us more about how you rewound your Predicta flyback? Would your friend be interested/persuaded to do a few more flybacks?



Thanks,
Joe