Quote:
Originally Posted by bgadow
I don't have a ton of experience on early Motorola sets but I wouldn't expect them to be too tough.
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I don't know if I would call them "tough" if compared to say a Dumont, or my personal favorite Sparton, BUT they are durable. I say this because I have had two similar models (same basic chassis design) and one was a plug and play with NO restoration at all, and the other played for an hour or so before the picture went out (picture not raster).
I still have one of the two, the one with no picture, and like some others I PLAN on giving it a go at restoration someday if/when times get more stable
. The other bakelite set that played was sold sight unseen to a fellow from Massachusetts who made me an offer that I could not refuse. That was crazy! There is a thread somewhere here where this fellow was searching the country for this certain Motorola set that happened to be seen on the set of a science fiction show called "The Room." To this day I have never seen this show. Anyway, it was my set and "Chucklebunny" I think it was, wanted to recreate the set of the show in his home bad enough to travel with a friend around 800 miles one way, in two days of shift driving, to pick up my set here in Boondocks,
VA. I'm not making fun of Chuckle, just telling the story. Actually, I was impressed by the determination, and knowing that the set was going to be cherished and taken care of. I think in the thread he said that it was somewhere being restored by a pro. Thanks again Chuck!!
Interesting story but back to the topic, NO the sets aren't tough but rather more cheaply made for profitable mass production to working class homes. By that I mean very basic with unfortunately a good, smelly, set of selenium rectifiers, and a series heater string. Actually, I think some models had a power transformer. That resistor, I think, is an 8 ohm, wire wound fusistor, if memory serves me correctly. They had handy banana plugs on the ends for easy replacement.
At any rate this is a good find and perhaps Mark will keep us filled in on its progress and motivate me to jump into mine.
Good luck Mark!!