Sonora 50s metal portable

[bandersen]

Well, flash forward about 6 years and I finally scored the Airline version!

Not the most eye catching color scheme, but it's in very good condition.

Now I finally know what the back and knobs look like. Seems that the back is identical to the front but without the center punched out.

The oddball 8.4VAC 10ADP4 CRT has a nice filament glow but 0 emissions. I'm guessing the cathode is open. I'll attempt to reweld it.







Looks like it's seen very little servicing. Some of the tubes appear to be the original Airline branded ones including the CRT.

[bandersen]

Here's the National Video datasheet for the 10ADP4


https://frank.pocnet.net/sheets/201/1/10ADP4.pdf

They claim "The low filament current reduces the amount of heat produced and lends itself to a compact TV design."

Umm
Filament = 8.4 VAC @ 0.45A = 3.78W

compare that to the standard

6.3 VAC @ 0.6A = 3.78W

Yes, big savings

[Kevin Kuehn]

That is a very nice example! I was surprised to see how far up in the North woods that one migrated. Probably some vacationer from IL dragged it up there. Now back in it's home town I believe.

[Electronic M]

That's a nice little portable.

Plenty of ad copy has technically wrong baloney that is laughable but when it makes it to a datasheet it becomes a strange combination of sad and hilarious...

[Kevin Kuehn]

There's no denying that a 450ma vs 600ma series string saves some power when connected across the AC line. Only when you compare those two CRT's individually does that idea seem wacky. So I think the power saving claim holds some merit, at least to me.

[bandersen]

Ah yes, good point. I hadn't thought about the whole string - just the CRT itself.

[Electronic M]

The 450 saves power, but only when comparing single heater string sets... I'm pretty sure I have seen lower current strings in parallel on higher tube count AC/DC sets.

[Kevin Kuehn]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

The 450 saves power, but only when comparing single heater string sets...

For which many of those odd ball heater types were intended, according to tube manual lore.

[bandersen]

I've been wondering about what appear to be burn marks on the carrying handle.

Just took another look at the original sale listing and I think they might be from the power cord!

Perhaps the nylon power cord plasticizer reacted with the handle ?

[Electronic M]

If they are not too deep and you can't find a chemical to safely clean it off one option would be to file it off with a fine file then get it down to some multiple of 1k grit sandpaper and finish with polish.

The first thing I thought seeing that picture was 'what kind of chain smoker carries a TV and a cig at the same time enough to make that burn pattern?' but the cord makes more sense.

[WISCOJIM]

Originally Posted by bandersen

Perhaps the nylon power cord plasticizer reacted with the handle ?

I've seen a lot of that over the years on small pocket transistor radios where they wrapped the earphone cord around the radio.

.

[cj_reha]

Originally Posted by WISCOJIM

I've seen a lot of that over the years on small pocket transistor radios where they wrapped the earphone cord around the radio.

.

I have a Magnavox transistor table radio which has a big gouge in the back...right where the power cord rests on the plastic. I've also got some joysticks for old home computers with the same problem, it's quite a fascinating phenomenon.

[Kevin Kuehn]

That antenna looks pretty good on your Sonora set. Maybe you can borrow it until a better one appears?

[Electronic M]

Another option since you have 2 to these would be to make one perfect keeper and another to pass along to someone else.
I did that with a trio of GE 14" portables among other things.