Show us your vintage B&W sets!

[Eric H]

Here's the big prize

[Rob]

A Philco! Nice! Where are you putting all these? You seem to buy two a month! Not that there's anything wrong with that.



Rob

[Charlie]

Eric,

Kewl! Do either one of them play? Let me guess... the one that looks like it was "well used" plays great, and the one that looks almost new is shot?

[ChuckA]

Eric,

Nice Philco, hope you got a bargain! I think I bought one of these a couple of weeks ago, haven't seen it yet. A friend told me about it, and that it was in great shape and price was right, so I told him to pick it up for me.

I have 3 consoles and a table model I bought and haven't seen yet, don't know where I can put them when the sellers don't want to store them anymore and I have to bring them home.

I think I'm over the edge......


Chuck

[Eric H]

I think I got a good deal on the Philco and the Hoffman was practically a giveaway at $20.

I had to go to West Covina today to pick up a CRT I won on eBay, well I was somewhat loath to drive all the way down just to get this CRT but when I checked my E-mail this morning there was a message from someone in Ontario (Calif) asking if I was interested in some sets.

Ontario is right on the way to W. Covina so I lucked out and got a dual purpose trip!

Neither set plays, the Hoffman will show a slight flicker on the screen the Philco just hums.
Gee, I wonder what it could be, maybe the caps could be bad?

Both CRT's check like new though I don't know if they have ever been rejuved.

The Philco isn't perfect, there are a few chips and marks here and there but nothing I would refinish it for.

The Hoffman... well I suppose it COULD be restored, someday, after everything else has been fixed and I have nothing to do I might take that project on.

The Philco has an 8 channel tuner and an electromagnetic Ion trap, it also has a Polarized interlock connector, looks just like an interlock on a modern set but about twice as big! Cool set.

The back is missing along with the special cord needed to interface with this connector so I will have to make do.

Eric

GEE, what a nice cabinet on that Philco!

[Eric H]

Getting back to the 17" RCA portable mentioned a few posts back, here is a photo of it working.

The vertical is a little shrunken, there is still one Lytic to replace and I haven't tested any of the tubes yet. Don't know how the sound is, I didn't connect the speaker.

Looks good! Is that the CRT that came with it, or did you replace it?

[Rob]

Eric,

That CRT looks very bright. I wonder if there is a problem with the DC restoration. The backs don't try to stay black.

Rob

Rob,

Most b&w sets of that era didn't have DC restoration, and washed out blacks, especially on night scenes, are the norm.

[Rob]

wv,

I agree mostly with your statement. True, many early sets didn't have DC restoration. In my collecting experience this is true of many of the 40's sets with round CRT's, but it was my understanding that by the mid 50's, not early any more IMO, that TV's pretty much all had this very simple diode circuit installed. Expecting this to be the case with Eric's RCA here I thought there must be a prob with the circuit.

Eric,

Does this chassis have DC restoration or not? Inquiring minds want to know.

Rob

I had posted this info on dc restoration back in August.

The dc restoration is an interesting issue. I have not played with many pre 1950 sets, but from what I have seen, some of the early sets included the restorer diode, but once the larger-screen sets of the early 50s appeared, the dc restorer had been abandoned (for cost reasons I assume). I don't recall seeing a B&W set with dc restoration until I saw a Sylvania circa mid to late 60s perhaps. Some later sets, including color, had partial dc coupling. It wasn't until Consumer Reports Mag. made an issue out of dc restoration in about the early 70s that all of the manufacturers got on board and put the dc restoration back in the sets. The CR article was prompted by Sony (and perhaps Sylvania) being the only manufacturer having 100% dc restoration at the time. The picture quality of the Sony was rated the highest of the sets tested. I had just purchased a 1973 Zenith, and that or a similar Zenith was rated as having only 10% dc restoration. I bought the Zenith (hybrid) because I liked the way it was built, and would not have touched a Sony. Shortly after I read the CR article I set about eliminating all of the coupling capacitors in the video signal path and adding appropriate level-shifting transistors to achieve 100% dc coupling, which give the same result as restoration. I have done a similar operation to a number of other sets, including a vintage CBS Columbia that I used in my bedroom for many years.

[Eric H]

I don't know if this set has D.C. restoration, don't think so.

It looks too bright mostly because I had it cranked up to take the picture but as wvsaz mentioned it is impossible to get a black level to stay put on these sets.
Also this set uses a tinted safety screen that's not in place here, that would help the contrast somewhat.

That is the original CRT, a 17" 110 deg tube.
It was really tired and I rejuvenated it.
It works good for now but I have a NOS tube that will be installed when I'm done.

I checked all the tubes, it had about 7 weak ones including the 6AQ5 vertical output, installing a good one filled out the vertical and the picture is looking really good, the sound seems to work good too, at least on channel 3.

One tube was really stuck and I busted the tube socket getting it out fortunantly I have an extra chassis for a parts donor.

Eric

Originally posted by DBerning
It wasn't until Consumer Reports Mag. made an issue out of dc restoration in about the early 70s that all of the manufacturers got on board and put the dc restoration back in the sets.

This wasn't the first time Consumer Reports made an issue of the lack of DC restoration in TV sets. In the late fifties they complained about it, but at that time no manufacturer used it, except in the color sets. The excuse? According to the manufacturers, the TV broadcasters were not bothering to control the DC level at the transmitter, so why should the set manufacturer attempt to control it at the receiver? While this may have been true in a few isolated cases, most broadcasters did control the DC component correctly. In fact, FCC rules require correct control of black level at the TV transmitter. It was simply an excuse to cut the cost of the receivers.

Prior to 1953, most of the better quality receivers, such as RCA and DuMont, used DC restorer circuits in their designs. The DC restorer seems to have disappeared about the same time the 21" rectangular picture tube became standard, around 1953, as DBerning mentioned.

A confusing factor for the consumer is the use of the term "brightness control". In a set with DC restoration, this control is in reality the "black level" control, and should be used to set blacks at the correct level. The "contrast" control is in reality the "white level" control, and is adjusted to provide the desired picture brilliance, followed by setting the correct DC (black) level with the "brightness" control (in some early sets the contrast control was called the "brilliance" control).

In a set with 100% DC restoration, once black level is set, it will stay correctly set through all scene changes, including the difficult nighttime outdoor scenes.

Originally posted by Eric H
One tube was really stuck and I busted the tube socket getting it out fortunantly I have an extra chassis for a parts donor.

Eric

Eric,

I have done this too, but then I discovered that by squirting WD-40 around the pins, and rocking the tube slightly in a circular motion, the stuck tube will usually pop right out leaving the socket unharmed. This is especially true with old radios using loctal tubes and cheap wafer sockets. Also improves electrical contact with the pins.