FRANKY'S 1ST 50s TV

[jstout66]

I have a 1957 RCA B&W console. Got it free but I couldn't get the horizontal to lock, so I just used it for display. Anyway... One day I had an "old time" repair guy come to the house to fix my Quasar console. As a joke I told him "Here's the set I need fixed" as I took him over to the RCA. He was amazed to see one still and he took the back off and made a slight adjustment (I saw him stick a plastic tuning tool in a coil and did a slight adjustment and the horizontal locked right in) That's been 7 years ago and that set STILL works. I guess if you can figure out where your horizontal frequency coil is on that Magnavox, maybe an adjustment will work for you too! Good luck.

[RetroHacker]

Yeah - a horizontal that refuses to stay locked can sometimes be cured by adjusting the horizontal frequency a little bit. You should be able to tweak it just a little bit, and get the horizontal to lock into place and stay there, the Horiz. Hold control should not be overly touchy, and the horizontal should stay locked without drifting. If the problem gets worse as the set warms up, it could be a cap or resistor that's drifting. If twiddleing the horizontal frequency adjustment doesn't get it to snap back, there could be something more seroious, probably a failed/failing cap, or a weak horiz. oscillator tube. And, just to rule out the unbelievably simple, wiggle all tubes around a bit while the set is on, and make sure that there aren't any dirty contacts. You shouldn't see the picture change or flicker, and you shouldn't hear any clicks or static in the sound. Just don't go touching the HV rectifier tube while the set's running - you know, the big tube with the big, fat, scary looking red wire connected to the top of it, the other end connected to the side of the picture tube. If you wiggle that tube, it might wiggle you back... If you find dirty tube contacts, shut the set off, and clean the pins on the offending tube with some isopropyl alcohol, a pencil eraser, whatever. A scrap of computer paper wetted with alcohol works very well.

Actually, as long as you've got the back off, I'd suggest doing some cleaning - blowing/brushing dust off, cleaning tube contacts, removing spiders and the associated webs can cure a lot of problems, or at least make the set look nicer inside and make it smell less like burning when it's on and running. A note on cleaning tubes - as tempting as it is to spray 'em with Windex and scrub away, don't - you don't want to rub the numbers off, it'll make for one hell of a pain trying to put them back in the sockets, and it'll make you or whoever else works on the set go crazy trying to troubleshoot. Also, I'd make a chart of where the tubes go, unless the set already has one on the inside of the cabinet or on the back or something (most do). Just in case. Also be careful not to go playing with controls or dials inside the set, unless you know what you're doing, and know what the control does, if you get things too far out of whack, it will be a royal pain getting everything back right.

Hint - when working on a console, making adjustments from the back is much, much easier if you can see the screen while you're working. Prop a mirror up on a chair or something so you can see what you're doing.

Good luck, and don't electrocute yourself!

-Ian