Philco Seventeeners

[Don Lindsly]

The briefcase Seventeeners are fairly reliable. It has improved sound and a cooler chassis layout than earlier models. Troubleshooting is straightforward. Check out electrolytics and a couple of black caps in the vertical. Align the horizontal oscillator. Check tubes as usual.

The "box style" Seventeener 2 is a little more troublesome. It runs hotter and needs to have yoke wiring rerouted around the 15 watt filament resistor and damper to avoid fire. Virtually every original yoke (made by RCA-274 code) went bad. If it works at all, it must have been replaced. A 12K 2w resistor in the B+ power divider, caps in vertical, PC grounds, input electrolytic filter, AGC divider resistors, sound IF can and horizontal diode are all trouble spots. It will have some intercarrier buzz so don't spend a lot of time trying to get it perfect. The chassis was reworked for the first-year low end Predicta. That one can keep you busy.

[peverett]

What years were the box style made? I have a thicker Philco TV, but the styling indicates it was made in the late 1950s. It is similar to the Briefcase ones that I have. I have seen the earlier Philco portables that are thicker. I do not have these-are they the box style?

Any hints about replacing the RC networks used in the sync, vertical and horizontal sections of these sets? Sams shows the internals, so I had planned to use individual components if replacement is necessary. I did this on an Admiral metal Square Box TV made in 1955 and it worked ok.

I have noticed that the contrast control on the Philco Briefcase TVs is unusual. It controls the AGC instead of the video amplifier gain.

[peverett]

I took another look at the thicker Philco I have. It has different knobs than the briefcase models, but has the same built in antenna in the handle. The metal case is in two pieces with a plastic back. The horizontal hold, vertical hold, and brightness controls are in the same place as on the briefcase models, the top of the back.

I would try to get the model number, but it is kind of hard to get to at present.

I am presently working on my second briefcase model. So far, the bigest pain has been unsoldiering and unwiring(where necessary) the pc boards to change the capacitors, etc.

[peverett]

I just noticed you comment about intercarrier buzz. I got it pretty well out of the sound on the first one that restored. Not completely, just pretty good.

It seems that is one problem with all of these early sets-all brands), either with a ratio detector or the pentode detector. You could probably do better if you completly re-aligned the set, but I do not have time for that at present.

I have a couple early 1950s RCAs with the limiter, discriminator setup which I hope to get to soon. I want to see how this works. (That these sets used this circuit is supprising considiering the fighting at that time between Sarnoff and Armstrong).