GE 805 worth a go ?
 

Hi im considering bidding on this tv and wondered what these sets suffered from. I know every set has its merits and pitfalls do these suffer from duff crts or fly,s as these will be imposible to source over here in the uk. eBay item number:221348871424
Hope the link works thanks Danny

That must be quite rare over there, not so much here but it's still a desirable set and hard to find with an undamaged cabinet and all the knobs.
The only thing I see missing is the small cover at the back of the cabinet, not a big deal and you may be able to locate one.

They don't seem to have any more problems than any other set of the era, chassis is rather cramped to work on, CRT condition is always a gamble.
England is a rather humid place so that might cause issues that we don't see here.

Parts shouldn't be too hard to find, though you may have to buy them here. The small tubes are all common.

That is a lot more (U.S.) money than I would expect to pay for one here in the States but then again if I wanted to buy a Bakelite Bush TV here I imagine it would be expensive.

One more thing, I wouldn't bid on it unless you can pick it up in person, the cabinet is unlikely to survive normal ground shipping methods.

Thats the double "D" version.
I restored a GE 805 a couple years ago - it was a fun project.
I found that they are great performers too with the 10BP4 CRT.

Some tips that were given to me was that you can wash that light green
rubber mask around the CRT and it will come out looking like new.
I also polished the solid brass pieces and then applied red paint in the
engraved lettering to bring out the appearance.

One more tip, when you get ready to work on the chassis, do put a
cardboard cover the speaker as it is in the perfect spot for your
finger to punch through the paper cone.

The cabinets do polish up nice and shiny.

The chassis contains daughter boards where you will have to
spend some time recapping. There are two Selenium rectifiers
that you will want to replace.

Good luck and have a lot of fun.

Carl

Carl, do you remember the value of the dropping resistor you used on the seleniums? My 14 year old son decided that he'd like to try recapping a set with me, and those are going to have to be done.

Surprisingly I did not need to put in a dropping resistor.
The voltage levels were spot on.
I did though use two 1N4007's in series instead of one.
My thinking was that if one diode shorted out, the other would
take over protecting my electrolytics. Cheap insurance:-)

Carl

Placing Si diodes in series causes the forward voltage drop of the diodes to sum which as you put more in series causes the forward voltage drop to more closely approximate that of the original Se diodes reducing the size of the series dropping resistor needed or eliminating the need for it.

Hi thanks for the input i dont know yet if i shall go for this as its 250 miles away and the starting price is already quite high . The restoration doesnt bother me if the major items are ok i will have to find a schematic for the set if i get it. I dont think in the uk there will be many bidders so i may let it end and make an offer. thanks Danny

I have a chassis (no cabinet) of one of these, when work slows down some I will make some videos of the check out and repairs (sure it will need some caps replaced). I like to have working chassis around just to show to folks that have never seen tubes before.

The Riders manual for GE 805 can be downloaded from the Early Television Foundation archive:

http://www.earlytelevision.org/tv_sc...s_postwar.html

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

I suppose you'll have a signal for it?

Hi thanks for the link i have visited the earlytelevision before but hadnt noticed there archive ive downloaded the schematic so shall drool over it before i make my mind up on this set its not so much the cost but the time driving to pick it up as im back at work now.I messaged the owner and asked him if he had any pictures of the insides he said no as he couldnt get one of the cover screws out so it will be a big gamble . Yes i do have a signal for american sets i bought a modulator from the us and us tvs dont seem to mind uk 625 line video i have a couple of us sets already . for bench work i use my good old BK tv analist although the rf output is a bit harsh .
Thanks Danny

Correction. I did use a dropping resistor in series with my GE 805.
I was running it for a while without a surge resistor but later
put in a 5 ohm surge resistor. This video I made reminded me of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=836MIymlD2A

Carl

The 805 is a good daily runner when restored.
Mine is sweeped to CCIR and works great with 625 lines.
I bought mine in Maryland on my last USA-trip, more than 20 years ago.
I can help with a free scan of the SAMS manual.
A personal local pick-up is a must when you are planning to buy it.

TV-collector:stupid:

Mine is the best playing vintage TV I've ever owned. Just a rock-steady clear picture. I hate to turn the set off when I watching it!