1959 zenith space command 300

[old_coot88]

Originally Posted by radiotron

Thanks to tvtimeisfun I have a new space command 300! Works great with original remote control!

Does that set have the 90 degree CRT with the big neck? If so, I once had the non-remote version of it. That set was absolutely bulletproof. Used it for several years and gave it to a widow lady who used it until she passed away many years later. The set was never serviced or needed any work whatsoever.
(It also had the 3DG4 rectifier.)

[radiotron]

Originally Posted by tvtimeisfun

Hello it takes a very special person to get such a good set from me he deserves to own because he is a good kid besides he helped me get a late 50s telefunken console radio working he dives right in and produces progress on anything he does I am very proud to know him...Timothy

Thank you Tim, oh I forgot to make the telefunken radio thread I will make it later

[Jeffhs]

That Zenith TV looks great--good picture for a set from the late '50s or '60s. I've had several vintage Zenith TVs (two of which had a light-through projection channel knob like yours), but never one exactly like your SC300. I did have an SC300 portable Zenith in the late 1970s, but I never knew if the remote control worked since the hand unit was missing, as was the motor drive for the VHF tuner. I had to get rid of that set because the horizontal output tube went gassy and I couldn't find a replacement. I think the HO tube was gassy because one day I turned the set on, only to find the picture badly washed out on all three VHF channels in my area. This set uses keyed AGC, which depends on proper operation of the horizontal oscillator-output stages for its own correct operation, so when the HO tube became gassy it threw the whole thing out of whack. My set used, IIRC, an oddball (almost unobtanium by the late '70s) HO tube with a 22-volt filament; the local TV-electronics parts store didn't have it. Hated to do it, but I junked the set and bought a 12-inch Zenith b&w solid-state portable the next day.

The strange thing was, the Zenith SC300 lasted me all of one year before the HO tube went bad, while the new solid-state portable which replaced it lasted 22 years and was still working when I moved in 1999. I hated to get rid of it, but I had moved to a small apartment late that year and had no room for the small set; I already had two color sets (a 1995 Zenith SMS1917SG 19" color table model and a new [at the time] RCA CTC185), and the apartment is very small, so unfortunately, the 12-incher had to go.

I hope whomever picked it up from behind the apartment building where I live got a few more years of use out of it, as the set was still working quite well and the CRT was still very strong. Being a Zenith, I'll bet it did work for a few more years and may sitill be working today. Those sets were built to last, unlike today's BPC/SPC throwaways.

Good luck with your "new" (to you) Zenith TV.

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

That Zenith TV looks great--good picture for a set from the late '50s or '60s. I've had several vintage Zenith TVs (two of which had a light-through projection channel knob like yours), but never one exactly like your SC300. I did have an SC300 portable Zenith in the late 1970s, but I never knew if the remote control worked since the hand unit was missing, as was the motor drive for the VHF tuner.

My SC500 console came to me without a hand unit even though it was in the photo of the TV, but I was able to try all the functions with a 600X remote, the buttons just didn't work as labeled for the most part. Also, someone thought it was a good idea to take all the screws out of the tab wheel for stopping on or skipping channels, I'm lucky the wheel was still there.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Jon A.

Someone thought it was a good idea to take all the screws out of the tab wheel for stopping on or skipping channels, I'm lucky the wheel was still there.

I wonder why anyone would do such a thing, since the tuner will not stop or skip without the tabs on the wheel.

If, however, the screws holding the tabs to the wheel are what's missing, you may be able to find replacements for them; that or else you might look around for a junked set that has the wheel intact--tabs, screws and all.

I don't know if you still have analog TV in Canada (here in the US the analog NTSC channels were done away with over five years ago, so now all that's left are digital channels), but if your service is anything like what we have here, you will only need to set the VHF channel selector on your TV to channel 3 or 4 to receive the output from your cable box or OTA converter box. I seem to remember another Canadian VK member (Robb in Toronto, IIRC), however, who said in one of his recent posts that there are still analog TV channels in Canada; the country hasn't mandated that all TV stations switch to digital, as our government did. If you still have analog channels in your area, you can use your Zenith TV as is for OTA reception using an antenna. However, I would think the only analog channels you will receive are the Canadian ones from Halifax; the American stations, if you can get U.S. TV from where you are (I think you are within range of several East Coast cities), are now all digital (as I mentioned above) and cannot be received using unmodified televisions.

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

I wonder why anyone would do such a thing, since the tuner will not stop or skip without the tabs on the wheel.

If, however, the screws holding the tabs to the wheel are what's missing, you may be able to find replacements for them; that or else you might look around for a junked set that has the wheel intact--tabs, screws and all.

I don't know if you still have analog TV in Canada (here in the US the analog NTSC channels were done away with over five years ago, so now all that's left are digital channels), but if your service is anything like what we have here, you will only need to set the VHF channel selector on your TV to channel 3 or 4 to receive the output from your cable box or OTA converter box. I seem to remember another Canadian VK member (Robb in Toronto, IIRC), however, who said in one of his recent posts that there are still analog TV channels in Canada; the country hasn't mandated that all TV stations switch to digital, as our government did. If you still have analog channels in your area, you can use your Zenith TV as is for OTA reception using an antenna. However, I would think the only analog channels you will receive are the Canadian ones from Halifax; the American stations, if you can get U.S. TV from where you are (I think you are within range of several East Coast cities), are now all digital (as I mentioned above) and cannot be received using unmodified televisions.

Actually, the tuner motor will run continuously. Something has to finally catch with whatever friction is available and trip the rocker, or it has to be pushed down manually. A screw from my SC 600X remote kept the wheel in place long enough for testing. Then it slipped and started stopping between channels. I just have to find screws with the proper thread that are about 1/4" long and some lock washers.

The analog channels we get go into the low hundreds, with some gaps in between, as seen on my mother's 2006 20" Toshiba CRT TV. Naturally my TV tuners don't go up that far. We get, or used to get (may have been gone when I hooked up cable to mom's set) something called Peachtree TV, which I think was WTBS. The service came with my cable internet, but I don't use it. Even my mother got sick of the programming quickly and I disconnected it. Being the experimenter that I am, I would prefer to hook up modulators for various video sources and use the tuner that way. Come to think of it, my Philips Color Voice converter outputs on channel 2.

[rca2000]

I have one like this. It was a "shopping find" from some years ago. Cabinet not too good, had rust on top, may be worse now, as it is in the area of my old garage where water was leaking. It DID work somewhat, when I last had it on.

[john f]

I really like the channel indicator, gotta add that one to the shopping list, if anyone has one they'd part with..

[rca2000]

Mine::

Like I said--some rust on top, and back. ALL there, kinda worked in 2006 or so. Tube pretty good, at least useable

Does NOT seem to have had any water in it in this garage.

[john f]

Shipping to NJ would be a killer, but I'd take it off your hands if it's looking for a home.