Very early Motorola VT71 scored

[HadYourPhil]

The first one sold was the TS-4B. The first one with fine tuning was the TS-4H. The last chassis in that run was the TS-4J, with an "early" and "late" version.
This comes from my Wallace's Telaides book. My set is a TS-4D.

[bandersen]

Originally Posted by pugs5061

I noticed there aren't any "Do It Right" stickers on this one. You better be on the look out for factory mistakes!

Roger that. The seller claimed it worked fine, but had lost the power cord so couldn't demonstrate it

Originally Posted by Sandy G

That big orange doohickey is a selenium rectifier, ain't it ? They go out, too, usually makin' a very smelly mess when they do. Yeah, I'd say those caps have seen better days.

Yep, there are two of them forming a voltage doubler right of the AC line.
I learned the hard way how bad these suckers smell when they let go. It's something you never forget!

Originally Posted by Eric H

This just gets more interesting, have you found a date stamped on it anywhere?
Most of these do have one either on the back apron or on top somewhere.

Nope, no dates anywhere. Yeah, I know what you mean though. All the other VT71s I've seen have a month and year.

I started putting together a little database form the sets I have seen.
Here's all I have so far.

It sure makes it seem likely that this set fits in nicely at the top of the list.

Can anyone else supply some serial #s and dates ?

TS-4 serial # 2425 (manufacture date: ??? )
TS-4D serial # 23149 (manufacture date: ???, 1948)
TS-4H serial # 45354 (manufacture date: July 26, 1948)
TS-4J serial # 52186 (manufacture date: Oct ??, ????)
TS-4J serial # 61454 (manufacture date: January, 5 1949)
TS-4J serial # 67607 (manufacture date: January 10, 1949)
TS-4J serial # 86923 (manufacture date: April 23, 1949)

Originally Posted by HadYourPhil

The first one sold was the TS-4B. The first one with fine tuning was the TS-4H. The last chassis in that run was the TS-4J, with an "early" and "late" version.
This comes from my Wallace's Telaides book. My set is a TS-4D.

Do you know the serial number and date of your set ?
Yeah, I have that Telaides too. I found the TS-4 in Riders volume 1. There's an early and a late version. The late matches my chassis.

[pugs5061]

Interesting, I have a TS18A serial number 338581 built on 11/29/49. I wonder if Motorola made 250,000 sets between the last one Bob listed and my set or if they started a new numbering system for every chassis type?