show us your early remote control sets!

[SX-980]

Hey guys, I have a question for ya....what happens when you find a set and turns out the picture tube is shot, can you still replace it? I remember some years ago of used picture tubes where the neck would be dewelded and replace with new gun assembly and welded back into place, does this still hold true today?
SX-980

Originally posted by 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!

[captainmoody]

Yes, Most tubes can be rebuilt as long as the gun assy is still avail.
I have a collection of nos tubes for spares and have only used one lately.
All my sets have good tubes and with the little use I give them the life expectency is way up there!

[SX-980]

Thanks captainmoody for the reply. Do you
yourself rebuild the tubes, if so what do you use to create the vacuum.
SX-980

Originally posted by captainmoody
Yes, Most tubes can be rebuilt as long as the gun assy is still avail.
I have a collection of nos tubes for spares and have only used one lately.
All my sets have good tubes and with the little use I give them the life expectency is way up there!

[captainmoody]

No, I don't have all the equipment, Parts or training needed to rebuild picture tubes.
It was always easier to purchase them wholesale from my electronics supplier in the past.
Now and then I occasionally find one on ebay or at an old tv shop for next to nothing.

[drh4683]

This is the set that was on ebay not too long ago in which the seller ended his listing. I made the seller an offer that was not too much above the current bid at the time. I was surprised he accepted it, but anyway here it is and it arrived in once peice through parcel post last thrusday. All cleaned up and tuned up working perfect in every way. Has the typical razor sharp clarity in the picture. This set is like brand new, didnt even need to replace any tubes! What is even more rare is that all the original caps are good. CRT is original and bright. This must have been a bedroom set that never got used. Only thing it needed was minor work to the space command drive motor, (grease dried out, was stiff).
This set is a 16D25Q chassis, in which the "Q" in 1960 models indicates that the set is equipped with remote control (sc300).

[drh4683]

the inside view. Set looks like it just came off the line.

[drh4683]

Another ebay grab is this 1963 zenith. Space command 300, newer generation of course and a solid state remote chassis. I got lucky again, this set is like brand new inside and out. A blown B+ fuse made it non functional and leaky electrolytics in the space command chassis caused very poor performance of the remote. Changed all 4 lytics and aligned it. I can chance channels from upstairs with it now! This set was built in 40th week of 1962 as its the latest date and thats the crt. Being a K chassis, its for 1963. This chassis has a 3DG4 LV rectifier.

Access to the controls (fine tuning and volume) are behind the top metal door that flips down. The space command 300 remote is a different arrangement on this set. The left button controls channel selection, the "UHF" posistion will turn the set off. The left button controls the volume stepper and then mutes it continously. Never knew zenith had a space command 300 like this. I have tons of the 300 remotes but none say "channel/on/off, and volume/mute" like the buttons like this does, so Im glad the original remote was still with it. Most space command 300's are arranged as channel only, then volume on/off as the remote functions.

[Jeffhs]

Originally posted by drh4683
Another ebay grab is this 1963 zenith. Space command 300, newer generation of course and a solid state remote chassis. I got lucky again, this set is like brand new inside and out. A blown B+ fuse made it non functional and leaky electrolytics in the space command chassis caused very poor performance of the remote. Changed all 4 lytics and aligned it. I can chance channels from upstairs with it now! This set was built in 40th week of 1962 as its the latest date and thats the crt. Being a K chassis, its for 1963. This chassis has a 3DG4 LV rectifier.

Access to the controls (fine tuning and volume) are behind the top metal door that flips down. The space command 300 remote is a different arrangement on this set. The left button controls channel selection, the "UHF" posistion will turn the set off. The left button controls the volume stepper and then mutes it continously. Never knew zenith had a space command 300 like this. I have tons of the 300 remotes but none say "channel/on/off, and volume/mute" like the buttons like this does, so Im glad the original remote was still with it. Most space command 300's are arranged as channel only, then volume on/off as the remote functions.

Doug, I had a Zenith 19" set with SC300 in the late '70s. Portable, 19", b&w, and it worked as soon as I got it home (it was a trash day find in my hometown). Couldn't tell if the SC receiver worked, though, as the hand unit was missing. I couldn't figure out how the power tuning was supposed to work, either. Couldn't find a power tuning button or bar anywhere on the front panel; besides, I could turn the channel selector freely by hand, so I'm almost convinced the gear train between it and the drive motor had either been removed by the previous owner or was defective some way (stripped gears, etc).

I thought this was rather unusual (a TV with remote power tuning, but no front-panel control of the function); further, the set didn't have a manual channel selector knob to allow operation of the tuner in case the power tuning went bad for any reason. Perhaps that was why it was still possible to turn the front panel channel selector knob manually.

BTW, I had a K-series Zenith 23" console TV in the late '60s until 1972. The model number was K2739. No remote, b&w, VHF only. The set also had a 3DG4 LV rectifier, like yours (never could understand or never really knew why they couldn't have used a 5U4 or some other more common tube in this position) and the largest power transformer I ever saw before or since in black-and-white or color sets; the only one I ever saw with cooling fins as well.

I have often wondered why other manufacturers didn't pick up on the idea and use fin-cooled transformers in their sets. What was so special about Zenith's finned transformer? Was the idea patented so the other manufacturers couldn't touch it?

Also, my Zenith 19" SC300 portable was probably set up to use a three-button remote (the 3 in "three hundred"). Channel up/down, volume/mute and power on/off, I think.

I might have had that 19" SC300 set for years if the horizontal output tube hadn't gone gassy after a year. The tube wound up messing up the keyed AGC circuit, which overbiased the IF strip, as I eventually had a picture so weak and washed out I couldn't watch it (contrast control or AGC control had no effect). I was not in a position to get a new tube at that time, so I put it in my basement when it started acting up and bought a new Zenith 12" b&w solid-state portable the next day. That set lasted 22 years without one bit of trouble (except when the detent mechanism of the UHF tuner broke some time in the '80s).

[peverett]

In addition to the Zenith sets, both B&W and Color, I have seen a few Curtis Mathis sets with the finned power transformer. I am not sure if the chassis was made by CM or purchased by them

These chassis were from Curtis Mathis Color roundie sets in the 1960s.

[bgadow]

I'm working right now on a 1960 Motorola bw console that has a finned transformer-nothing real fancy, though, just 2 simple fins.

First time post- I found this site by accident. I was wondering if there are any pictures available of the Zenith Commander ( early 1960's) with the remote control; when broken, you could press one of the switches on it and it would keep on flipping through the channels as if it had a mind of its own. Also, any pictures of the 19 inch portable ( a heavy portable) from around 1968. Boy, did we ever love our T.V.'s back then. I can remember going to the drugstore with my dad to test the tubes from our sets to see if they were still good or needed to be replaced. I did find a site which shows some of the old sets from the 50's and 60's. We had at one time a Natalie Kalmus that I climbed on when I was a tot and the doors to the unit flipped open when it fell over on top of me; the doors broke the fall and saved me from any injury. The site with the pictures is www.tvhistory.tv

[nasadowsk]

Ahh, one of these days I'll get a pic of my RTC color roundie with remote.

It's a CTC-7

[bgadow]

Welcome, Bill! In this thread

http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=38539

look at the second picture, the set at the top of that pile is a '68 Zenith bw portable I just brought home. Minus the knobs so it might look a little funny. This one is actually listed as a 20". Not a remote set, of course!

[captainmoody]

Here's the CTC 31 remote set that I just got from bgadow. It will need some work but I will do that in the winter months.

[drh4683]

looks nice! You probably know this, but the remote chassis has a green pilot bulb between the two channel indicators. The pilot indicates that the remote chassis is on.
Good luck with the rest of the restoration.