Portholes on eBay

[Down Under]

That's very interesting! I wondered about being able to substitue flybacks. The flybacks in the two Predicas I've restored so far are in perfect working order, so no need to replace. I did follow Bob's tip and recoat them with RTV133, a high dielectric strength silicone. Great stuff, and easy to produce a tidy appearance if you wet your fingers with denatured alcohol before smoothing the coating over with your fingers before it dries.

A friend of mine in the UK is able to wind transformers since he is designing and planning to market high end tube amplifiers. He is not happy with the existing range of audio output transformers, so he is winding his own. He uses CNC control of his winder.

It's also interesting to see how the Porthole flybacks are disintegrating... almost as if they used the same Tenite plastic as used on the 21 inch Predictas! Thanks to all who posted pictures.

I have not bothered about converting the power transformers to the AU standard of 240 volts, I just use a separate stepdown isolation transformer. Although I may change my mind later, as my UK friend has offered to wind some for me.

Video signal is from a cheap DVD player, that is able to produce both PAL and NTSC. I put up a post about it a few weeks back. The picture would bounce slightly with the NTSC signal, so I thought I must have had a fault. It turns out that resetting the DVD player to produce a PAL signal and readjusting the vertical hold fixed my problem. US TVs are extremely forgiving in this regard!

The Australian STC set you have would be very nice indeed, and quite rare. Other AU sets that you might want to collect would include brands such as AWA, HMV, Astor and PYE. The PYE Pedigree is a great set, but it comes down to personal taste. I would love to have one, but limited floor space means that I probably will not. The later versions used transistors, so you may need to do your research very carefully if you buy one.

As to doing things when the wife is not home, I understand all too well. That is when I use the stove to heat up capacitor cans for restuffing

Cheers and happy collecting,

Adam