Tube radios and tuners with remote control

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

Years ago, I saw an ad for that model of Magnavox TV in National Geographic magazine for '64, and yes, the TV was top of the line (with a price tag to match) at the time. The remote operated just about all functions of the TV, stereo, and even, as you said, the record changer; in fact, I like to think this particular remote system (Magnavox referred to it as the "Phantom") was probably the first such system to offer complete control of the entire system.

Today's universal remote controls operate on the same principle, offering nearly total control of modern TVs, although today's universals, unlike the Magnavox Phantom system, are solid-state. That is, in the Magnavox system, the remote hand unit was battery-powered, but the remote receiver, IIRC, was either solid-state or one of the last tube-type systems; I'm not sure.

My best guess, however, is the Magnavox Phantom remote control receiver within the TV was tube-powered, as Maggie TVs with this system were made in the mid-to-late 1960s. The remote hand unit, though, was solid-state and was powered by batteries; it would not have been practical to design the remote with vacuum tubes, as the size of the batteries would have made the hand unit so large as to be impractical for home use.

Magnavox phantom remotes didn't contain any electronics (I own one) The buttons compressed bellows that blew into ultrasonic whistles.
It was a patent dodge of Zenith's tuning fork system the same way the transistor remotes RCA and Admiral used were.