1992 Zenith J0920X Portable Color TV

[dieseljeep]

The 14" Truetone was made by Sharp.
They always had a problem with heat related issues.
Sharp also made a Midland 14" set, that was sold in the late 60's for under $200.00. I also see them branded Wards Airline and even Motorola.

[radiotvnut]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

The 14" Truetone was made by Sharp.
They always had a problem with heat related issues.
Sharp also made a Midland 14" set, that was sold in the late 60's for under $200.00. I also see them branded Wards Airline and even Motorola.

From what I remember of that set, it had an MIC model number prefix. Once, after it started acting up, I slipped off the back just to look inside and I remember it being full of NEC branded tubes. The set was in a black metal cabinet with slide controls for color and tint, with the rest being rotary controls. When I was getting stuff from that closed TV shop several years ago, I picked up a '73 Teledyne/Packard-Bell 14" color portable that has a different control layout; but, the chassis looks just like what I remember the one in our Truetone looking like.

I actually remember when my Dad got the Truetone. He bought it used in the early '80's for $75 from an older lady that our family knew. Later, he said that he knew that he paid her too much for the TV; but, he knew that she needed the money. Of course, back then, most any color TV would still bring a high price on the used market. Now, one can't hardly give one away.

The same lady also had a 19" solid state Truetone Sharp-built color TV from around '76-'77. It lasted until around '92, when a cap failed in the vertical circuit. I fixed it and she got another year or two out of it before the flyback went belly up. At that point, she replaced it with a 19" RCA CTC175 and I eventually had to fix the tuner connections in that set.