road side Sylvania Hybrid set

[Electronic M]

Elvis might have been alive today if he only had someone to smack him up side the head when he was doing stupid stuff like the above pic is evidence of.

That pic sort of reminds me of my first cataract removal attempt....It devolved from normal procedure to chipping off the safety glass to putting a sun HEATED CRT into a COLD vat of water then realizing as I put it in that I had just done the equivalent to pulling the pin on a grenade. If the heat hadn't messed with my judgement I most likely would have put 2 and 2 together before loosing a good CRT...At least it was only a the CRT that was harmed.

[wa2ise]

"Elvis, that's not the remote!" ....

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by wa2ise

"Elvis, that's not the remote!" ....

Oh yes it is, but only for the off function!

The recent direction in this discussion has Zappa's "Help I'm a Rock" playing in my head.

[Eric H]

The remote in the picture really isn't the remote, it's for a Zenith, how did that get in there?

[Electronic M]

Back on topic.
I cleaned the VHF tuner(with a pencil eraser) and restrung the UHF tuner. The restring was simple enough to figure out without a diagram or sams(worst thing I could have done is make something move in reverse relative to something else). I also cleaned the tuner/control sub chassis pots and switches with WD-40(I lubed some other stuff too while I was at it).
I'm going to hold off on messing with the power switch since, judging by the number of contacts, this set has instant on which would make replacing it or removing it from circuit complicated without the sams.

I think I'll check all the caps, the deflection resistors, and the scary looking resistors then give it a go on the variac and see if there is life when I get the chance.

[old_coot88]

It might be a good idea to check those 2-watt carbon comp resistors in the chroma/demod area. If the set has a lot of hours on it, some of those are almost guaranteed to be low in value from charring on the inside.

[zeno]

Um RCA tv CTC38 ? seems non remote but has a Zenith
remote ? Digital clock ? Elvis with a low end TV ????

Actually had an Admiral shot by a 45ACP by an unstable customer.
He was pissed at a Bruins game. Round went down the neck, didnt hit yoke
& exited wound in the cup. Lots of shrapnel in the wall, metal, glass, plastic etc.
Great marksmanship. Oh to go back to those days..........

73 Zeno

[jstout66]

Set is probably a CTC-31. And yep.. wherever the display is, they used the wrong remote. The RCA remote would have been better. ( Everything motorized, and not step-up, like Zenith) That set was not that old when he shot it. Elvis had in the basement rec-room, 3 sets mounted in the wall, each tuned to a different network.
In his bedroom he had the $2000.00 RCA Console. I'm pretty sure his sets, up to a point, were all freebies from RCA. I also read nothing got pitched, which is why a CTC-5 is on display at Graceland. When Elvis died, Graceland was up to date with the utmost tacky 70's decor. After he died "Cilla" put it all back to the way it was in the 60's when Graceland was opened for tours. I also read Elvis was fond of Sony's when they came out, and am sure one is on the "Lisa Marie"
Sorry to go off-topic.... as for the Sylvania.. poor set looks beyond repair. Talk about rode hard and put away wet.......

[bgadow]

I had a CTC-31 remote set just like that one, should have kept it, another Vk'er got it. The remote sensor is that hole between the channel selectors.

I won't knock anybody for trying to resurrect something like this Sylvania; I've done it before. Never really worth getting all the cosmetics back to new, especially on the chassis end, but they can be brought back to life. Amazing sometimes how a set can be revived despite a chassis caked with rust/dirt/leaves. I've never seen many tube Sylvanias in the wild, though I have drug home a few. I still have a project 23v metal table top model myself, late 60s, that I would all but give away to somebody willing to come get it.

[andy]

...

[Eric H]

It's certainly fun to try and resurrect something in this shape, nothing to lose but a little time and effort. I've done some in about the same condition, just older.

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by old_coot88

It might be a good idea to check those 2-watt carbon comp resistors in the chroma/demod area. If the set has a lot of hours on it, some of those are almost guaranteed to be low in value from charring on the inside.

There are no 2 watt resistors by the 'X' and 'Z' color demod transistors unless those rectangular resistor coded pieces of brown ceramic that I always thought were chokes are actually resistors.

[old_coot88]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

There are no 2 watt resistors by the 'X' and 'Z' color demod transistors...

Yes that's apparent in the photos that were posted subsequently. It is a different chassis than what I was referring to, possibly with factory mods to eliminate the charring resistor problem.

[Electronic M]

Well I replaced some caps and brought it up on a variac. Aside from pretty bad HOT redplating that went unnoticed for a minute or two it seems to be doing okay. I'll try it with a signal source tomorrow, but I'm already pretty sure I'll get sound as the white noise from the speaker was definitely affected by changing channels on the VHF tuner.
Once that is done I'll try to figure out what is the deal in the horizontal section(maybe that roached VDR is the issue).
I should probably look into getting the sam's for it as I can only fly blind for so long.

[BigDavesTV]

Hi Tom, I applaud your efforts, and in my opinion, this classic older "Sylvie" is worth saving! :-) If you can PM me the model and or chassis number(s), I may be able to help you with a Sams! Thanks for keeping us posted on your progress, Dave, Bigdavestv.