Estate Sale Finds In 2008!

[radiotvnut]

Way to go, Doug! You done good this weekend! I'm anxious to see those sets up and running!

[eberts]

The RCA color trac was the top line model, the XL100 as the next down.
The set you got was very popular as a promotion give away then, since they were already made, but about to become obsolete very quickly.
Banks would give you the TV set if you got a CD for over 10 grand.
My Mom had hers on about 20 hours a day for 11 years.
It had quit twice, both times it was some little reed relay enclosed in a tube that fit inside a coil. The set would not come on when that relay wore out.
It had a great picture and nothing ever needed adjusting.
Sold that set, got her a 27" RCA with no moving mechanical parts which is now
20 years old and still used 20 hours a day.

[Adam]

I like those Zenith b/w sets with the three pointed tuning dial, have 2 of them. This is the first 60s Zenith b.w set I ever heard of with no HV, one of mine had been sitting out in a barn for decade, the cabinet was all dirty and beat up, but it still worked when I got it.

[Chad Hauris]

Yesterday I found a 1971 Curtis Mathes tube type color set at an estate sale for $10.00. This house looked like very little in it had changed since the 1960's...there was lots of interesting vintage lamps and decorative items I got too.
The set had a hack repair job done on it...the back was put on with one screw and the chassis was not mounted to the cabinet very well...maybe only with one screw. I used the ratchet strap and dolly to move it on end.

It uses an RCA CTC-25 type chassis with some improvements such as connecting plugs and sockets on the wiring to the tuner cluster, 8" speakers, cooling fins on power transformer and a 6BQ5 audio output tube.
2 of the power supply diodes look very crudely soldered onto the circuit board. There was no indication of power when I plugged itin. It has a 25V" picture tube without a bonded faceplate.

Here is a video of the set. I don't have a still camera that works very well so I usually just do videos plus the video lets you show and tell more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqsW7MwFcqI

Also does anyone know if there is a way to embed videos in AK posts?

[freakaftr8]

You lucky dogs! Sounds like a good weekend for finds!! Im in need of a 25AP22 CRT in that ctc-17 I picked up, but im going to use a variac and my 23egp22 CRT to test the chassis..

[zenithfan1]

Ya done good this time Doug!

[drh4683]

Thanks for the kind words everyone.
This evening (or should I say yesterday), I powered up the big 25" zenith for the first time. I pulled the HOT, and powered it up with the variac. The set was unplugged and appeared to have been untouched in years. From how the house was layed out, I believe this TV was the "basement" TV since day one. There was similar vintage furniture arrayed around the TV, and across from the seating area was the usual built in bar that everyone had. I don't think I've ever set foot in a 1950's/1960's home that didnt have a built in bar in the basement with wood paneling all around. Maybe thats a midwest thing, I don't know if its like that everywhere else in the US.

Back to the topic, after a slow power up, I had good sound. I plugged the 6LB6 back in and powered it up again. Had a picture with snow! Hooked up the antenna and as usual, a near perfect picture. I could'nt believe how crisp the picture was, and bright too. Its another lucky TV that survived, never had the back pulled off in 40 years until I came and saved it from its death at the end of the estate sale.

Its not 100% working perfect, the vertical is a bit short, not a tube either. So it will require some troubleshooting. A good chassis dedusting is also in order. My usual routine is to test ALL tubes in a recently aquired TV. Of the all original tubes, 3 were bad. Shorted 6U10 (rare), weak 6Z10 (the ususal), and a shorted 6GH8 (as expected).

I'll get into it tomorrow. Today was just the test out day to see what it was kind of shape its in. Its certianly a low hour set, for which I am pleased. The HV was running high at 28 KV when I first powered it up. Zenith with that ridculous "hollow shaft" HV pot makes it tricky to adjust the HV without the adjusting tool, which I never was able to find. A tapered flat head screwdriver always works though. The regulator is in good shape, brought it down to 25KV still within its adjustable range. The usual component drift. However, Im a bit concerned with the sweep transformer. That thing runs hotter than hell. I have an NOS one for this chassis should it be required. I've yet to check the cathode current. This is the same flyback used in the 20Y1C48/50 and 16Z7C50 chassis, and Ive had a couple of those crap out on me over the years.

Ha, as I sit here typing this, I'm monitoring the set. Now its intermittently flashing into a blank raster with the side pulled in. I know right off the bat thats an intermittent open vertical blanking transistor. Thats because one of my 16Z7C50 chassis sets had the same problem about 4 years ago. I went in circles trying to find it, little did I expect the vertical blanker to cause such a problem. Sure enough, replacment cured it for good. The original one had intermittent low gain which caused the problems. Im sure there will be more to come. A TV can't be flawless after almost 40 years of existance!

So that's where it stands for now. A few little things to work out, but thats where the fun is, in the repairs and getting it back up to par. Photos to come shortly....

[batterymaker]

Hey--how come you pulled the videos on troubleshooting the '61 Zenith? I enjoyed those. In fact, I watch both yours and Chad's videos on a regular basis.

Never had much courage with sticking my hands into TVs.
Portable radios, no problem--they only deal with 117v tops. Only TV I ever worked on was a 1948 Hallicrafters T54, and even then I was verrrry cautious.

Bill

[zenith2134]

Funny avatar, Batterymaker!

Good work on the Zenith; and I do agree that most things aren't perfect after 40 years .

About the bars....Seen that exact style around here a lot. My house had one but it was removed.

[andy]

...

[drh4683]

It is working much better now. I checked the HOT and it was running rather high at 210-220 mA. I adjusted the coil, this is the chassis where you shunt your meter over a 4.7 ohm resistor in series w/the control and just adjust for lowest voltage. I was able to bring it down a bit, and the fly is running much much cooler now.

This one was running hot to the point where you could smell the polyester from the HV cage if you were within a couple feet of the TV. That went away now as the fly is running cool. Just a slight adjustment to bring the current down makes the biggest difference. Just need to fix the vertical problem now, that will be this evening. Ive got some time now to fix it.

[andy]

...

[drh4683]

Today was a special estate sale that I attended. It was at 6953 W. 63rd St. in Chicago.
I came to find out that the people who lived at this home worked for Zenith. There were numerous Zenith products throughout the home. A neighbor was at the sale who told me all about them (Scully and Cecilia Santucci). They both worked for zenith on the production line after WWII. They apparently worked there until retirement sometime in the 1970's-early 80's.

As you would expect, some old Zenith TVs were found. Thats about all that was left too. I was told by others at the sale for the second time that there were tons of NOS zenith tubes, radios and transistor radios, all of which were bought up the first day of the sale. There was also zenith schmatics and other zenith related items that sold quickly. Supposedly, there was a yellow royal 500 that some collector found, and it was unknown to the collectors that a yellow 500 was ever produced. All we could think of is that it was some kind of prototype. This guy turned the house upside down trying to find the missing battery cover for it today! No luck though.

The TV's as usual were totally ignored. I was able to save all of the "old" sets. There were three of them. First set was in the back room, a 1965 Zenith rectangular color set, which is the first generation rectangular chassis (25MC36). Next two sets were downstairs, a 1973 4 tube hybrid w/cart, and a 1963 Zenith b/W console. The b/w console had the factory UHF tuner which is a rare find.

I looked all over the house to see if I could come up with anything related to zenith other than just some TV's. Well, I got extemely lucky and found a box of photograph that were for sale, just a few photos thats all.......I'll post the photos and other items later on.

[Carmine]

That B&W set is really nice... Can you be sure there were no other TVs bought the day before? Maybe there was a mashed spot on the carpet where a one-of-one porthole color set once stood?

Could you tell what there daily watcher set was? I'd hate to think these people were forced to watch some blurry $150 Wal-Fart Chinese crapbox in their final years.

Either way, great finds.

[joemama99]

That 1965 zenith really brings back memories.My best friends parents owned one of those,and I spent many hours in front of it.It must be a space command,as I remember that the tuner was motorized.Great find,doug!