Belated Xmas Gift - Raytheon Porthole M1101

[Username1]

Looks like you have a fine not so common porthole ! Looks great inside too !
I got a 9T240 from a guy where it had been in the family since new, and
it is also in great shape, and I enjoyed hearing of it's history !
You have a special set !
Awesome Christmas present you got yourself ! !
I guess you won't be headed to the returns line with it !

Good Find, & Good luck restoring it !

.

[Eric H]

I have a Truetone with that same chassis, that lever is the channel indicator, it has a continuous type tuner and the lever rotates around as you turn the center knob. The little lever on your is probably for rapidly tuning without having to crank the center knob a bunch of times.
If I remember right theres a switch in the tuner that flips from low to high band when you get to channel 7.

On mine it simply pulls off like any other knob, yours may just be stuck but don't overlook the possibility of a set screw, perhaps accessible from the bottom?

[Kevin Kuehn]

WD 40 finally did the trick.



But I'm confused about how the lever is a channel indicator. This is an inductor tuner, but it has a clunk indent type mechanism in the front, so as you turn the channel knob it clunks directly to each channel, it's not a continuously variable tuning. Also the channel selector knob has a pointer on it? And notice that the outer brass shaft is cam shaped, so when you rotate that lever arm, it rocks the front end of the clunk mechanism off center, which in turn moves the inductor cores in and out about an 1/8" per each rotation of the arm. So the arm seems to be functioning as a fine tuning mechanism. But it's possible Belmont had a few variations on their basic design? The screws on the front of the clunk mech are the channel presets.

[Eric H]

Your is different than mine, mine has a variable tuner with slugs and.coils, yours is the same tuner used in the 7 inch set and the 10DX24. Mine is a Truetone though and yours is an actual Raytheon

[decojoe67]

I was wondering if the set actually had the continuous tuner of the indent click type. I have seen examples with both types, more often the continuous type. Likely just early and late runs of the set. One thing that's great about yours too is that it has the VERY often missing front control door. They're usually busted-off and really ruin the look of the set. Not an easy part to find for sure.

[Kamakiri]

I was JUST going to say, you got the control door too! Last one I had like that many years ago was missing.....

[Kevin Kuehn]

Here's a few pictures of the chassis after being removed from the cabinet. It's dirtier than my first impressions, and it's not just a dry layer of dust. That dust is very well adhered to the surface. Possibly it's a very old nicotine residue,although it does not in the least smell like a smokers set, and the guys house didn't have any hint that he was a smoker, but his parents may have been.











That gunk comes off, but it's going to be a very slow process.

[IsthmusTV]

Great find, Kevin! It should be a fun resto. I love that swivel stand.

Have you checked the CRT yet?

[Sandy G]

Now, THAT is a Porthole... Me Likey... A LOT...(grin)

[Kevin Kuehn]

Originally Posted by IsthmusTV

Great find, Kevin! It should be a fun resto. I love that swivel stand.

Have you checked the CRT yet?

Hi Clark. The CRT is kind of tired, but it's at least into the good(green)on my B&K 466. But I do have a spare 12LP4. When I get a chance I'll pop the Raytheon CRT into my Admiral 20Z1 test chassis and see how it looks.

[Kevin Kuehn]

I decided to remove the tuner and mechanism for a more thorough cleaning. I noticed the tuner's solder connections were not factory, so I'm wondering if this tuner was a later upgrade to the fine tuning version.





You need to take care to not lose the 4 little band switch contacts when you separate the tuner from it's mechanism. They set loose on it's top surface, only held in place by the activation mechanism. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of them when I had them removed for cleaning.

[Eric H]

So what exactly does that lever do? All the sets I have with that tuner have a single knob and no fine tuning, the channel is set with those screws on the large rotating part. That tuner appears original to the chassis.

[Kevin Kuehn]

Originally Posted by Eric H

So what exactly does that lever do? All the sets I have with that tuner have a single knob and no fine tuning, the channel is set with those screws on the large rotating part. That tuner appears original to the chassis.

The outer shaft is bored off center. So when you rotate the fine tuning lever, it moves the inside shaft in an orbit around center. That in turn varies the pressure against the station preset screws(the screws on the large rotating part), which causes the tuner slugs to move up and down just enough to fine tune the frequency. Make sense?

[Eric H]

I see, yes it makes perfect sense. the sets I have with this tuner don't have fine tuning, if it's not dead on you have to remove the knob and adjust the screw, it almost never is dead on after changing channels so this must be a later improvement.

[Kevin Kuehn]

I still haven't found a reference to this fine tuning version in Riders.