Estate Sale Finds In 2008!

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by bgadow

. Oh, there is a basement! And sure enough, as soon as I rounded the corner there sat a TV. Well, no, nothing real exciting. It's an Admiral Nova II "suitcase" portable.

My other find, the next day, doesn't qualify as an estate sale find-got it at the Hillbilly Flea Market just north of Ashland, for another $3. This is the newest version of the Philco Seventeener that I've seen. Not sure offhand of the year; the model is P2710BR, which Sams only lists as being in 1156-SED (special equipment) and I know it is a little older than that.

That Admiral "Nova II" set reminded me of a small Admiral color portable TV my aunt and uncle had in the 1970s, after their 1960s-vintage 23" Sylvania console went belly-up. The tuner cluster on your Admiral is identical to the one on theirs, except your Nova II has a larger CRT and is b&w.

IIRC, the Philco "Seventeener" 17" b&w portable was a successor to or predecessor of the company's "Briefcase 19" nineteen-inch set. The latter was introduced in 1961, while the former must have appeared in Philco's line of b&w portables at least a year or two later.

I don't know much about the Seventeener, but the Briefcase 19 was a heavy set, even though it did not have a power transformer. (I had a Briefcase 19, a trash-day find, in the early 1970s until 1975 or so; worked very well all that time.) Blame most of the weight of the Briefcase 19 on the 19" CRT (the Seventeener was probably just as heavy with its 17" tube) and the fact that there was a fair amount of metal in the set, including the cabinet, which was all metal except for the CRT mask. This set also had a unique built-in rabbit-ear antenna; the dipoles were actually built into either end of the handle, which could be rotated 90 degrees in either direction (the dipoles retracted into the handle for carrying as well). Haven't seen a TV since with an antenna like that, and may never see the likes of it again.

[bgadow]

Over the winter I posted about a set I got from one of my extended relatives. It was a late 80s Magnavox console; nice cabinet but lots of chassis problems. Since I could find no interest I junked it.

This relative, a sweet little southern lady with lots of charm, passed away recently. Someone I will really miss around the table at Christmas. Well, the family has been cleaning the house and they asked if I wanted the other console TV. I didn't know about this one, and wasn't sure what to expect. Since the first one was the "daily watcher" I figured this one must be older. How old? What make? My imagination, as usual, ran wild. Well, no, it did not turn out to be a Motorola Quasar remote set in a Drexel cabinet...not quite But it isn't exactly junk. I got it tonight: Magnavox T989-14 chassis (shows up in Sams 1418-2 from '74) This must have been the most popular cabinet style they offered as I've seen quite a few over the years. This one appears very clean inside and out. At first I held out hope that it might be a tube chassis but, no, it is solid state. I haven't dug into this enough to see if the tuning is electronic or just electric; pushbutton, nonetheless. And, yes, it is remote, complete with the orginal transmitter. One oddity is the digital LED display, nevermind that it's hidden behind a door. Pretty early use of that technology.

I haven't tried the set yet-I have no place to put it so it has to ride in the back of the truck for a least another day. I didn't feel like running an extension cord down the driveway. My stepmother said it does work; it has the original Magnavox crt (EIA # 337, Westinghouse)

I guess I will put out my usual pitch: does anyone want to come down and get this set? It is almost gimmicky enough for me to keep it, but there really, really isn't any room.

While I was shuffling sets tonight I also got the GE CTC-146H that my father bought new in the spring of '90. Lots of hours on this one, but still going. Someday I may regret it, but I can't collect everything! It will go on freecycle.

[radiotvnut]

Originally Posted by bgadow

Over the winter I posted about a set I got from one of my extended relatives. It was a late 80s Magnavox console; nice cabinet but lots of chassis problems. Since I could find no interest I junked it.

This relative, a sweet little southern lady with lots of charm, passed away recently. Someone I will really miss around the table at Christmas. Well, the family has been cleaning the house and they asked if I wanted the other console TV. I didn't know about this one, and wasn't sure what to expect. Since the first one was the "daily watcher" I figured this one must be older. How old? What make? My imagination, as usual, ran wild. Well, no, it did not turn out to be a Motorola Quasar remote set in a Drexel cabinet...not quite But it isn't exactly junk. I got it tonight: Magnavox T989-14 chassis (shows up in Sams 1418-2 from '74) This must have been the most popular cabinet style they offered as I've seen quite a few over the years. This one appears very clean inside and out. At first I held out hope that it might be a tube chassis but, no, it is solid state. I haven't dug into this enough to see if the tuning is electronic or just electric; pushbutton, nonetheless. And, yes, it is remote, complete with the orginal transmitter. One oddity is the digital LED display, nevermind that it's hidden behind a door. Pretty early use of that technology.

I haven't tried the set yet-I have no place to put it so it has to ride in the back of the truck for a least another day. I didn't feel like running an extension cord down the driveway. My stepmother said it does work; it has the original Magnavox crt (EIA # 337, Westinghouse)

I guess I will put out my usual pitch: does anyone want to come down and get this set? It is almost gimmicky enough for me to keep it, but there really, really isn't any room.

While I was shuffling sets tonight I also got the GE CTC-146H that my father bought new in the spring of '90. Lots of hours on this one, but still going. Someday I may regret it, but I can't collect everything! It will go on freecycle.

I think the T989 was the second Magnavox SS chassis. The T979 was the first. The T995 was the third and was made throughout the middle to late '70's. The T989 had instant on; so, I hope the CRT is still good. Around here, the T995 was much more common than the 979 or 989 chassis. I think the T974 was the last hybrid chassis. I hope someone can save this set of yours as I don't think it's very common.

BTW, would anyone know what the last year was for a tube / hybrid Magnavox color set?

[Chad Hauris]

I actually got a tube-type color console TV at an estate sale! I haven't found a tube type console set in about 3 years so this is a rare find for me.

It's a Sylvania large console with folding doors over the screen. Has a 1975 RCA black matrix 23VALP22 replacement CRT in it...Has HV AC at the rectifier but no DC (likely problem in 6BK4 grid-cathode circuit). It looks like maybe from around 1968? The IF stages are transistorized and the rest is tube. Has a power tuning motor but no remote receiver.

I made a video showing the cabinet, chassis, testing and checking for HV with a neon lamp.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyvyHJKns-w

[bgadow]

An update on the Magnavox: I finally got enough junk cleared out of the way to bring the set inside. When I first plugged it in I was struck by the loud hum of the remote chassis. The set powered up but with a weak raster and no reception. I pulled the back and found the following: the tuner is a Rube Goldberg design. It uses a regular old click-stop tuner (with a knob hidden behind a secondary door) plus a limited number of UHF presets. The tuner is motor driven, as is the volume control. The tuner display isn't really LED-the segments are lit, apparently, by individual subminiature lamps. One is intermittent and one appears to be burnt out. The dust cover is missing from the tuner; I cleaned it but that had no effect on reception. The video module seems looser than it should be; I cleaned the contacts and put it back. The CRT is weak, but not dead. I ran it for an hour or so at 8v and that helped. Another more pressing problem is that there is arcing in the focus control circuit. One end of the pot goes to ground through a resistor and the wiper has a spark gap to ground. I'm getting a steady blue spark at the ground end, which I don't understand. Someone had unhooked the sparkgap, and hooking it back up basically killed the set, so I undid it again.

I don't know that I will put much more time into this. Maybe I'll give it until the end of the month and if nobody shows any interest I'll just junk it. The gimmicks are nice, but it is a largish set. One more thing: my stepmother kept commenting about how nice the cabinet is and how they just don't make things like that anymore. What she doesn't know: the cabinet is about 75% plastic, with most of the rest being particle board. As expensive as this set had to have been when new, I'm not sure it has any solid wood anywhere on it.

[drh4683]

Went to five sales today, one turned up a very nice 1969 Motorola Quasar works in a drawer. Found at a sale at 4501 Lee St. in Downers Grove, IL. I paid $10.00 for it. The TV was inside some unknown 50's era black and white TV cabinet. The TV appears to have been placed inside this cabinet from day one. The TV was already out of the cabinet by the time I got there (I saw previous pics of the TV on estatesales.net) The people running the sale figured the 50's cabinet was worth more than the TV so they figured the cabinet would have a better chance of selling if the old "POS" TV was out of it. Well they were wrong. The "POS" TV sold first. Ha! The Quasar's cabinet is clean, just dusty, but the inside is perfectly clean still. the legs were unscrewed and underneath the cabinet which was good to see. The original owner's name could not be missed anywhere on the set though. Edward Franta kind of went overboard with his name and address stamp. He stamped almost everything on this TV. back cover, inside of cabinet all over the place, on various parts of the chassis, convergence board, yoke, all the data and paperwork. I didnt count, but there are probably over 10 individual stampings throughout the cabinet. I must admit though, he or the service tech was very professional. Everything is intact, including hardware and the fact that the service literature was put back into the cabinet and pinned in place. The AC interlock for the first time was not messed with. Needless to say, I was pleased to see the original paperwork in there. I powered up the TV, sound but no HV. I pulled out the paperwork to check out the service data and out comes a few repair receipts from october of 1983. Apparently, the TV had a no HV condidion back in October of '83. Mr Franta had the Quasar service center, then still on Grand Ave in Franklin park come out to fix the set. The sweep transfomer was NLA as of 10-21-83 and he was refunded his $15.00. I find another receipt from the great and now long gone B-B+W electronics in Berwyn, with a a thordarson FLY-467 priced out a 36.66 from 10-26-83. It was bought by Miles TV and he most likely did the repair work. In fact, if Im not mistaken, Miles TV is still in business on Cermak Rd in Cicero. Im surprized he's still there as you'll get shot at in that neigborhood these days. I havn't pulled the chassis out yet to look, but he put all the wires back exactly into the wire ties which is rare to see on a serviced set.
As to why there is no HV today is yet to be determined. the original CRT tests 95% from cold start up, so I know thats not the problem. Lets hope the thordarson fly isn't the problem! Besides, I always thought quasar flybacks were considered to be of good quality and do not (often) fail?

[zenithfan1]

Another nice save! Congrats!

[drh4683]

This was a local find for me this past Thursday off of craigslist. It was in Des Plaines, IL which is a northwest suburb. Very close by to where I work, so I was able to stop by on my way home.
I called up the guy who was the son of the original owners to ask for a model number and some pictures. The pictures he sent made the set look really kind of bad. The top of the cabinet looked bad in his pics, but it turned out to be alot better when I saw it in person.
This is a 1967 model X4120 that uses the 24NC31Z chassis. This is the very last year zenith offered roundies, and the 24NC31 the last chassis designed for the 21FJP22. Its a lower end console, but Ive been wanting to find one of these late model zenith roundies with this control layout. I always liked the speaker grille with the color emblem in the center.
He goes on to tell me that the TV was not working and that a TV repair man back in the late 70's said the tube was shot and the TV was not worth repair. He tried it out before he listed it to confirm that the CRT was "bad". We got it upstairs in the living room and plugged it in. Sound but no picture. pulled the back off to check it out and I could hear high voltage, the CRT filaments were on. So I suspected a video output problem or a totally dead crt. I flipped the service switch over and got a nice bright horizontal line! I flipped it back and the picture came on bright! Just an intermittent service switch! The verticle is very short though, but it does have a good picure. The CRT was replaced in October of a year yet to be determined as the degaussing ring was covering that part of the label. I dont know what kind of rebuild it is either. It looks like maybe a channel master or so. Pulling off the ring will reveal the rest. They didnt remember when the new tube was put in. After about 1 minute, we smelled smoke. The thermistor was broken away and was arcing! So thats where it stands now until I have a chance to pull it apart and get it back to normal.
The reason they kept it is because their daughter won the TV on Bozo's flying circus back in 1966! It was a horse naming contest and you had to write in to WGN TV with what you would name the horse. The names were judged and the winner got the zenith TV and the horse! Well, their daughter won, with the name "Padapon". The horse went to the zoo where it lived a good life. The original owners son was there to help me with the TV, it was still in their house since day one. I commented that Padapon was an interesting name for a horse. He laughed and said that his sister remembered that name from some story book with a horse she liked. Ha, the judges didn't even know it was a plagerized name! She was only 6 years old when the TV was won as first prize. It was the familys first color TV set.

It was advertized as a best offer deal. Well, after they found out I was a collector and was familar with these, the family just wanted me to have it for free as part of my collection as they really wanted to see it go to a good home. I still gave them $20 for it and everyone was happy.

[newhallone]

Awesome! The more roundies I see the more I love em.

[radiotvnut]

Nice find & a good story! There does not appear to be any cataracts on the CRT, which is very rare; even if the tube was replaced somewhere along the way. Can't wait to see it running...

[sampson159]

i saw that on craigslist.channel master made a really nice rebuilt picture tube. i have had several in the past and they are great! nice save on that great set!

[Carmine]

Doug, that's the same set I want you to re-cap the chassis on for me... When do you think you be able to head out here? How does next weekend sound?

[bgadow]

That's a great story! I really think it's important to document things like that-I write down everything I know about everything in my collection. Maybe nobody will ever care, but who knows? I wonder if there were any newspaper ads for that contest?

Is this the crt that uses the seperate non-bonded faceplate? I know Zenith and others used it on their cheapest models.

[drh4683]

Spent some time on the zenith roundie today. Pulled the chassis, tested the tubes and esr on the filter lytics. Had a few shorted 6Kt8's which is typical as well as weak tuner tubes. The vertical was way to short caused by the 40uF@475 in the vertical circuit. The cap was basically open. One of the filter lytics got replaced too at one time, but the quality of soldering was pretty poor as well as melted wires. That got corrected. Had to install a new thermistor and varistor on the degaussing coil assembly too. Fine tuner nylon gear was cracked down the middle too which is so common on turret tuners. You find that you can adjust the fine tuning in one direction, and not in the other as the gear slips on the serrated shaft.
The chroma circuits were in good shape as was the rest of the set. It was more or less a simple tube change/clean up to bring the set back to life. The CRT is dated October, 1975 and is a General Electric rebuild. It tests 100% on all three guns, so the set must have been taken out of service shortly after the new CRT installation. The guy I got it from claims they stopped using it in the late 70's-early 80's when the tech said the CRT was shot......this was obviously not the case. The service outfit "Certified Television" used only GE tubes in this set.
Seeing the picture on a zenith with a strong tube is unbelievable. The picture quality is crisp and very pleasing to the eye. This is why I like analog! 42 year old TV with a picture that can rival most of todays newer sets. Another quality zenith product.

[radiotvnut]

Glad to see you got it going & that's one fine picture on that set!