show us your early remote control sets!

[Jeffhs]

Doug (drh4683),

I saw the pic of your non-remote Zenith with power tuning. Very interesting. What did you mean when he said "...a remote set without the remote"? Also, I'm sure that wasn't the only power-tuning set Zenith made in the early '60s. Many high-end sets of that era had power tuning (VHF only, except the Maggie in your collection with the motorized UHF tuner).

BTW, there is a way to have "power remote" UHF tuning on any older TV with remote control and/or power tuning. When the VHF tuner is set to the UHF position, the set will bring in whatever channel to which the UHF tuner is set. Great if you live in an area with only one UHF station (try to find a city or town like that today--most have at least two), or if you have a favorite UHF station (the PBS affiliate or a favorite movie station, etc). I used to do that a lot with my sets that had separate VHF and UHF tuners.

How many UHF stations does the metropolitan Chicago area have? You said in one of your posts a few months back (an answer to one of mine) that your area has quite a few UHF stations. How does this compare to Cleveland (I live about 30 miles east of the city), which only has a half-dozen UHF channels (including the PBS station on channel 25)? I'd say the greater Chicago area alone must have at least a dozen UHF channels, and still more if you have a high-power antenna and can get stations from other cities, such as Milwaukee.

[Chad Hauris]

The Zenith power tuning sets included all of the motors to drive the power operated functions such as the channel selector, it just lacked the space command receiver. Some of these sets use a single-knob tuner system that uses a conventional VHF and UHF tuner but works like the later Zenith Varactor single knob tuners in that they allow you to pre-program desired UHF channels into the UHF positions on the knob.

One thing I have found is that on TV's with varactor tuners the UHF channels are not usually set up. The sets all came with channel numbers that you could replace the asterisks or the U1, U2, etc. with on the tuning display or dial but very few ever have these numbers installed, or are set up for UHF channels. I have observed this both in N.E. Ohio where I collected TV's as a kid and also in West Tx. where I live now.

[captainmoody]

My 1967 Zenith with power tuning is in the "show us your rectangular sets" thread.
That one is interesting as I have never seen another of that model like it.

[captainmoody]

Here it is, 1968 Space Command 600 combo. All finished with a working remote too!

[Jeffhs]

Originally posted by Chad Hauris
One thing I have found is that on TV's with varactor tuners the UHF channels are not usually set up. The sets all came with channel numbers that you could replace the asterisks or the U1, U2, etc. with on the tuning display or dial but very few ever have these numbers installed, or are set up for UHF channels. I have observed this both in N.E. Ohio where I collected TV's as a kid and also in West Tx. where I live now.

Chad,

Just out of my curiosity, where in northern Ohio did you live when you were growing up? Anywhere near Cleveland? I grew up in Wickliffe, a Cleveland suburb east of town about 15 miles. I live in Fairport Harbor today, which is a village about 30 miles east of Cleveland, very close to the south shore of Lake Erie. TV reception is so bad here everyone in town has cable; however, my FM radio reception is great. Can't figure that out for the life of me (the great FM reception, that is; I do know why the TV reception is so bad--the transmitters are about 45 miles southwest of here, and there is one channel [NBC channel 3] I do not get here at all with rabbit ears. Ironically, three of four of the Cleveland UHF stations, including channel 19 which is the CBS affiliate, do come in well enough to watch even using an indoor antenna. The only one that doesn't is channel 25, the PBS affiliate).

BTW, I remember seeing a lot of those TVs with the preset UHF positions (usually six) on a 12-position channel selector (I owned one of those sets, a Zenith, in the early '80s). You're right about most of those sets never having had the UHF channel tabs installed on the dial. Many if not most of the newer sets I have seen in the past and still see every now and then on curbs here have not had these tabs installed, so the UHF positions still show U1, U2, U3 (or even nothing at all) where the numbers should be. I guess people just didn't want to be bothered with setting up the tab positions, or didn't want to pay a service person to do it for them. They may have figured they know where their favorite stations are (U1, for example, is channel 14, U2 is 29, U3 is 47 . . . etc.), so why bother with the tabs?

Of course, in this day and age of cable, there is no need to have these UHF positions set up at all--almost. If you use a cable box, as I do, your TV's channel selector stays on channel 3 or 4 all the time, with the channel selection done at the box or by remote. The only time you'd have to have the UHF positions set up, with or without the number tabs on the channel selector drum, is if you are still getting your TV reception over an antenna (as you and at least one other AK member, Carmine I think, still do).

The days of 18-position varactor tuners are behind us, though. Today's sets all have quartz-synthesized cable-ready tuners, so the need for channel setup has been eliminated. Just find the auto channel search option on the set's main menu, press a button to start it, and a minute or two later you're all set. The preset varactor tuner has gone the way of the clunk-clunk drum detent tuner in most sets, all but those cheap under-$50 5-inch portables with AM/FM radios you can get at any drug or discount store. Who knows--some day even those cheap portables may have quartz tuners as well, although I personally don't see the sense in having a 181-channel cable-ready tuner in a battery-operated portable, as these sets are not ordinarily used on cable (though I suppose they could be--IIRC, these sets have 75-ohm antenna inputs).

[Jeffhs]

Originally posted by captainmoody
Here it is, 1968 Space Command 600 combo. All finished with a working remote too!

Captainmoody,

Congratulations on getting that set working. You now have a Zenith TV which should serve you well for many years. (The cabinet looks great too.) I know the feeling. In the early '70s I restored a 1963 Zenith b&w 23" console in a dark wood cabinet (trash day find) from the ground up (new tubes, etc.), and was very pleased with the results. That set had an excellent picture, even using rabbit ears as an antenna, and the sound quality was excellent (6BN6 gated-beam detector, 6BQ5 output, and a huge speaker--6x9 oval, IIRC, like the one in a Zenith radio I have here--in the base of the cabinet). Hated to have to give it up when I moved (the first time) 32 years ago, but I was moving to a house with no room for a big console.

BTW, I've been looking in the rectangular sets thread for the pic of your 1967 Zenith with power tuning, but haven't found it yet. Is it still there?

[captainmoody]

Here is a new picture of it, The one on the bottom with the dark Mediterranian cabinet.
When I trash picked it in 1987 I thought I had a remote set, Not so! Just had power tuning.

[drh4683]

way to go on that 600 dwight! Im so glad someone else has a space command 600. So far, I think you and me are the only ones with a 600 set.
I dont watch my 600 too much, as I am always distracted with the remote changing the hue and channels etc

[Chad Hauris]

Jeff, I grew up in Aurora, where my parents still live. I do remember that TV reception was not too great, especially UHF.
I have noticed that most of the cheapo portables today usually use a varactor tuner with a potentiometer and slide rule dial rather than an actual mechanical tuner. Even the cheapest color sets now have all of the special features such as autoprogram, cable ready, closed captions, electronic control of color, tint, brightness, etc. I think the R&D has been paid off on these electronic chips and now the technology is cost-effective even for the cheapest sets.

[bgadow]

Here is a Zenith Chromacolor SC (tube) that has been waiting out in the shed for me for a few years. I really don't know too much about this one, except that I lent it out onetime & got a call-the channel selector motor was stuck on! It was working pretty good. Not sure if I'll find room to keep it.

[bgadow]

Here is my late 50s "Space Command 400"; I fired it up for this picture, the first time its been on in years. I don't know that I've ever had the back off this set. The tuner motor is stuck but the mute & on-off work fine. Set is being fed by a cheap UHF convertor & an old settop UHF antenna.

[bgadow]

Here is the CTC31 from the other thread. This was the best shot I could get without moving a bunch of stuff around. Only about half the remote functions work right now, the least of my problems!

[bgadow]

Believe it or not, this old Philco is remote! Wired remote, and it worked, at least it did the last time I tried this set, back in the 80s! The remote just controls the tuner & is just an on-off switch on a wire. ( I don' t have the original)

[drh4683]

20X1C38, 1967. All fixed up and running great now. An original factory wiring error caused the HOT to run way to high. This would explain a new hot installed 4 years after the set was made, yet the rest of the tubes original and good. Even the 6HA5!

After comparison to the schematic, and then the other 20X1C38 sets I had, definitly a wiring error. A 470K resistor was supposed to be wired from 250 B+ to the convergence panel, instead it was hooked to the 200V plate of the horizontal discharge to the convergence panel. Because this resistor was soldered to the plate of the H. discharge, a load was across it lowering the plate to 140 volts. The screen of the 6JS6 is to be running at -60V, but with the lowered plate voltage, the screen voltage went to -45 causing the js6 to run 260-280ma, when its to be running at 220ma!!!
Whats an important note, the 200V plate voltage, and the 250V B+ were next to each other on the Pin boards, so the error was appeared to simply an accident, the resistor was just one pin out of place! I guess thats why RCA ads always bragged about the elimination of "hand wiring errors" in their "new" printed circuit boards! I would have never expected zenith to let this one slip by! 37 years later the problem was solved. Im glad zenith screwed up, it saved this TV because the owners were paranoid to use it!!!!

[drh4683]

This set is from 72, and came from the same home as the 600. What I find interesting is that the HOT on the space command 600 set was dated 41-71, I would assume it was replaced in 71 or 72, and this set I have pictured was bought new then. After speaking with captianmoody we tried to figure out how the space command 600 set survived with its extreme cathode current problem. With the problem as bad as it was, this tv should have been junk LONG ago if it got used enough. Here is what we came up with:

a tek who replaced this tube noted the extreme current problem and suggested that the owners purchase a new set, however the current one (the 600) would still work but for not long as he suspected the flyback was bad, and it would not be worth the repair. He probably suggested that the set has only a limited life in it, so they bought a 1972 zenith space command set to replace their 67 600 set. Most likely, the owners were reluctant to use their 600 set because of its problem, but still kept it because it did infact work. Both sets have the exact same TV dealer sticker on them. the 600 was in the bedroom never touched, and the 500 was in the living room as the daily driver, however the 500 must have had very little use as its all original yet, tubes and all. The 500 had an open filter cap in the space command chassis making the entire set inoperative unless the switch on the remote chassis was flipped to the MAN posision. That cap must have opened up years ago and the set inoperative, it hardly has any hours on it either. Thank god those folks never threw these sets out! They will live on now!