1939 RCA TRK12 scored

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by Tube TV

Wow that's the nicest score I've heard of in a long time.

Originally Posted by Chris K

Just gorgeous. OMG what an incredible find! Respect it and cherish it!

Thanks. I feel really honored and lucky to have it.
It's been driving me nuts holding off on working on it. The last 2 weeks I've had to focus on my daily driver OTL tube amp (regular use stuff is top priority) that I designed and built back in college. After 9 years of service the power switch failed and when I opened it up to fix that I found it needed a bunch of other stuff redone. Basically where that amp has to live due to space constraints in my AV closet it bakes it's self into malfunction every few years. All the output heater wiring (a fair portion is buried behind transformers), and many of the caps were baked... I finally got it to a state where I could test it last night. I'm hoping I can get the output bias supply voltage issues sorted (may have a failed regulator) and get it back into service tonight, then get back to my regularly scheduled TV shenanigans tomorrow night.

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

Maybe, you can contact the buyer of that set and make him an offer he can't refuse! It depends on how bad the cabinet has been altered and the overall condition!

I tried that before picking up the TRK12 since the guy who got the other one is in that direction. He wants $1K for a cabinet that I'd have to replace the radio and TV control face plates boards on...That would involve removing the lid and the back top board that the lid hinge connects to...At that point the only difference in work making my cabinet as nice is making a new bottom chassis shelf (some drill and jigsaw action, glue, screw and paint) and some veneer patches. I just can't justify 1K that ought to go into the "buy a house already fund" on a cabinet that also needs work. I can probably make my cabinet nice myself for under a hundred dollars of materials, and a weekend worth of labor.

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

I seen a better picture of the CRT on the other website. It looks like a real skinny neck. As noted before, the CRT looks like a post-war replacement.

Hopefully there were some good advances in the technology in the post war ones.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

Thanks. I feel really honored and lucky to have it.
It's been driving me nuts holding off on working on it. The last 2 weeks I've had to focus on my daily driver OTL tube amp (regular use stuff is top priority) that I designed and built back in college. After 9 years of service the power switch failed and when I opened it up to fix that I found it needed a bunch of other stuff redone. Basically where that amp has to live due to space constraints in my AV closet it bakes it's self into malfunction every few years. All the output heater wiring (a fair portion is buried behind transformers), and many of the caps were baked... I finally got it to a state where I could test it last night. I'm hoping I can get the output bias supply voltage issues sorted (may have a failed regulator) and get it back into service tonight, then get back to my regularly scheduled TV shenanigans tomorrow night.



I tried that before picking up the TRK12 since the guy who got the other one is in that direction. He wants $1K for a cabinet that I'd have to replace the radio and TV control face plates boards on...That would involve removing the lid and the back top board that the lid hinge connects to...At that point the only difference in work making my cabinet as nice is making a new bottom chassis shelf (some drill and jigsaw action, glue, screw and paint) and some veneer patches. I just can't justify 1K that ought to go into the "buy a house already fund" on a cabinet that also needs work. I can probably make my cabinet nice myself for under a hundred dollars of materials, and a weekend worth of labor.



Hopefully there were some good advances in the technology in the post war ones.

I was looking through the old Allied catalogs and the CRT was available till 1950!

[Joe Connor]

Any news on this project? I'm fascinating by the restoration of these pre-war sets.

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by Joe Connor

Any news on this project? I'm fascinating by the restoration of these pre-war sets.

I variaced the radio half of it and got mild hum and volume pot crackle but no reception.

I'm hoping to start getting the cabinet shored up in the next couple of weeks.

Around the time I got this I ended up with a free hoard of tube/hybrid rectangular color (it was me or the dumpster so I had to take it) that's been eating all my TV time.

I've got about 1.5 months of good cabinet repair weather so I need to start my 2 urgent cabinet projects (the TRK12 and the GE forecaster) soon.

[Joe Connor]

Keep us posted, Tom. This is a fascinating project.