East German TV
 

Here is a set that is a little different. It is a Rubens FE-855C that was made in East Germany in the mid 50s. It was given to me at this year's ETF by my friend Ingo Kubbe who was born and raised in East Germany. I finally got it shipped here to California. It took 5 tubes to get it working but that is it. I should probably replace all the caps but I will not be playing it much and I want to retain the original look.

In spite of it using a round CRT in 1956 it is a well built set with some unusual features. The focus is adjusted from the front with a mechanical linkage that moves the focus coil. The flyback can be removed without the need for a soldering gun. It has two little plastic wedges that when removed allow the transformer and rectifier tube to be taken out as one unit. The rectifier tube is one of those small tubes that is soldered in directly.

It actually works quite well. I am able to tune the sound and picture together which surprised me. I thought that the East German sound carrier was at 5.5 mc like in West Germany.


Steve

Few more pictures:

I love it! Any set whose design is sort of anachronistic appeals to me, but this one is really sharp...even if it doesn't use all octals. :)

Perhaps it is a split sound design? Was the picture quality optimum when the sound was optimum?

Intercarrier would have been new to Eastern Europe in the fifties.

West Germany restarted television on 625 lines in 1952. When did East Germany restart television?

I love the tag telling you to remove the speaker before pulling the chassis (I think it says, if my high school German is still intact, LOL).

Cool set! I've never seen an Iron Curtain set here... Only a few British and West German sets.

Charles

Nice to see that the Russians hadn't COMPLETELY "Sovietified" German technical prowess by '56...

David- I know what you mean about the octals but the CRT socket is octal!

Pent- East German started TV started in late 1952 although like the West they were experimenting as early as 1950. This set takes the sound off after the 1st IF.

Charles- Your German is still correct!

Steve

Steve, that is a very cool set! I did not get a chance to see it at the ETF, thanks for the photos.

Very interesting set Steve. It looks like it is really nicely built. I like the hold down clips on all the tubes.

Darryl

What a neat set indeed. The chassis looks to be nicely laid out and easy to work on.... Looks like an easy restore and plus with it actually working is also a bonus...:yes:

Steve,

How did you get a German set to display English? I though they were incompatable with English.

Das set must be Kahput :-)

Bob:

Mein Fernseher funktioniert sehr gut, es ist NICHT kaputt! Most Germans speak better English than I do so I guess the same goes for their TVs ;-)

Stefan

Wir werden glücklich sein, Ihren kleinen verlorenen Hund zurückzugeben, aber zuerst müssen wir Ihre PAPIERE BITTE! SCHNELL!

Ganz genau!

What a beautiful and interesting set. Any chance of seeing the schematic?

Phil Nelson