Picked up my first Color Tube set-for only $1!!!

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by zeno

Brian comes through again !
Do the grey scale first & see how it works.
Contrast could be AGC setting or a weak tube
anywheres from tuner-IF-video chain. Or something else.

Trouble with these & most compactron sets is when
they get miles on them tubes get "a little" weak.
You can often change the tubes one at a time & see
small improvements as you go. Trick is to find the ones that make
a big improvement otherwise you will go broke.
Even in the day they were patched up to run again.
Making an older one work perfect cost too much.
One easy test is running the set without a signal. It should
give a snowy pix with dots ( not streaks) for snow & good
contrast. Audio should have a loud waterfall sound to it.
That can tell a lot.

73 Zeno

Many of the Porta-color tubes are a buck a piece at the Florida tube place.
I bought a mess of them for my Porta-colors.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by zeno

I goe with older date for 2 reasons. Dont remember the switch overs but
they eliminated the 3 screws in the front & changed them
to 2 in the back. Newer ones had a HV focus & and looked
much different.
I remember the N chassis. Didnt see many but never saw one
that worked right even at a few yrs old. Probably the biggest POS
ever built. Makes the portacolor look like a Rolls.

73 Zeno

Isn't that the one with the 15MP22 CRT? I heard a lot about that jem.

[user181]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

Many of the Porta-color tubes are a buck a piece at the Florida tube place.

I bought a mess of them for my Porta-colors.

Rookie question I suppose, but which place is the Florida tube place?

Thank you!

[KentTeffeteller]

Other things and history. The GE Porta-Color was the first inexpensive sub $400 Color TV set in the day. It may be crude compared to higher end sets, but this set seems to have been one of the most reliable GE homegrown chassis made. And manufactured for many years, the last tube USA made color TV chassis manufactured. Overall this chassis for many families of modest means, their first Color TV they could afford to buy. I call the Porta-Color GE's finest TV innovation.

[zeno]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

Isn't that the one with the 15MP22 CRT? I heard a lot about that jem.

Dont remember the jug but it was an evil set. First thing
that went was gears in the tuner indicator. Real Rube Goldburg
stuff. Plastic was crap just like the tuner mounts on the 18/19
sets that would break up. So bad we wouldnt fix that. Dont
know why they didnt sell more, Zenith did well with its 16" sets.
Not a good memory but I would take a free one now.

73 Zeno

[andy]

...

[DaveWM]

http://www.esrcvacuumtubes.com/dollar_days.html

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by DaveWM

http://www.esrcvacuumtubes.com/dollar_days.html

Dats da one! Pure Milwaukeese. I recommend them wholeheartedly. Even their caps are allright.

[Electronic M]

I used to buy from them in person when I lived in FL.....The FAWG swapmeets would be held there....Good times!

[ZackN920]

Hey guy's. Thanks for the suggestion's and info.
I've got a new issue with it now though, and i'm not sure what it did?! I had it running on the bench, at full power now, while making color adjustment's and something let go. Just heard a pop, sort of like a cap blowing it's end off. Not very loud though. Never smelled anything odd though-opened it up right away and never found anything inside either, that appeared bad. Nothing was hot that shouldn't have been. I'm dumbfounded.
I powered it back up with reduced voltage, it's not obviously shorted, (according to the dim bulb tester-lol) but i've seem to have lost reception. No more snow, waterfall sound, just blank raster. Can a tube just pop like that? tube suicide?! idk. Like I said, everything looks fine inside and I didn't smell a traditional burning smell ya normally get after something pop's.

Well I got some good picture's of it, and one shot of it after adjustment before something blew.

[ZackN920]

more Picture's

[ZackN920]

Well, huh... It's working fine now... Weird. Anyway's, I checked over some parts with the multimeter, pulled some tubes and re-tested them and still couldn't find anything wrong. Decided to power up again and everything's normal! Could that have been an arc somewhere? Mabey even a tube base arc'ing?

Also, I've got more pics now but that'll have to wait untill I get on a pc.

[Arcanine]

Originally Posted by ZackN920

Well, huh... It's working fine now... Weird. Anyway's, I checked over some parts with the multimeter, pulled some tubes and re-tested them and still couldn't find anything wrong. Decided to power up again and everything's normal! Could that have been an arc somewhere? Mabey even a tube base arc'ing?

Also, I've got more pics now but that'll have to wait untill I get on a pc.

Could have been tin whiskers on something and it popped one of them off.

[Electronic M]

I had one where the AGC pot was DEAD SHORTED to ground from a whisker (before I got it)....It killed all video and sound reception and even static A/V noise. A couple of days chasing my tail led me to the pot....I unsoldered and cleaned the pot and it was back to working just fine after that.

The only good whiskers are on house cats!

[ZackN920]

Tin whisker's huh. hmm, Is there a "for sure" way to find out if a control has them, without dissasembly?

Well, i've got more pics. This time of the gut's I'm thinking that my set may be from 1972. Some of the "compactron's" have 72 on them and some other odd #'s. CRT's label also has 72 on it. Also have a pic of the white cap's, are those 2 the only one's? There the only ones i've seen.
Are there any other parts that should be swapped right away? or is it good for now?