Sonora brand?

[Eric H]

One of the four sets I picked up last weekend was a 12" Sonora model 302, I was just curious if anyone had any history on this company?

It has one unique feature, a continious tuner, or at least a non-detent tuner with a weird, oddly numbered knob.

It uses a multi gang tuning cap with a mechanical switch that clicks over when you go from channel 6 to channel 13 to accomodate the frequency jump.

Here's a pic of the knob, kinda cool

Eric,

That tuner sounds identical to one in a Raytheon chassis I had many years ago. The knob looks identical as well.

The Raytheon was from the early 50's and had a 17" rectangular all glass tube, which was mounted on the chassis. Both the tuner and the set worked very well.

I'm wondering if Raytheon could have built the set you have for Sonora? I seem to remember dimly that Sonora might have been a store brand, like Silvertone, but I'm not certain about that. If you can't find any information on it in Sams, try looking at Raytheon models of that era to see if you can come up with a match.

Bill

[Steve McVoy]

That set is in Sams 97A-13

[Eric H]

I got the Sams from Vintage Electronics today.
It is a "Preliminary Data" schematic, only a single sheet with nothing except the schematic. Guess Howard S. never got around to making a final folder for it.

Anyhoo, it's quite a different layout than most, it uses a 6AU5 for a horiz output, or "Driver" as they call it and two 1V2's in a doubler circuit provide the HV.

I replaced a bad damper tube and one of the 1V2's that was shorted and powered it up but got no HV.
It's missing a 12AU7 that I now see is a d.c. restorer but also a sync sep so maybe I need to install that to get it fired up.

This set has a lot of newer caps installed underneath, including some late 70's dated Orange Drops so it must have been operating at least till then?

Eric

[Eric H]

Well I did a little more investigating on this set and found out the Flyback is bad Green corrosion has eaten away at a couple of the fine wires including the one that carries the boost voltage.

I'm not sure if I can repair it or not but it doesn't look good.

Eric

[Eric H]

I was able to splice some new leads onto the hair fine wire stubs coming out of the donut, siliconed them up so they won't break off and got high voltage and a raster, sound works too, I was able to tune in some of the local FM Radio stations on the continious tuner, but no recognizable picture, just lines.

Had to sub a different CRT because the original is so dead you can't see anything on it.

Well that's enough for now, I didn't want to start another project, I just wanted to see if I could get this running at all, I did, it's a mess, back of the heap for now

Eric

Congratulations, Eric!

That's real heroics when you can get a rare set going by repairing something as critical as a flyback. Good luck with the rest of the project. Will look forward to seeing a photo of a picture on its screen when finished.

[Eric H]

Would you believe that Moyer Electronics found me a flyback for this thing!

Even tho I got the original working it was pretty Mickey Mouse so I wanted a new one.

The data sheet says if fits "Kaye Halbert" sets so maybe they made Sonoras?

Now it just need a picture tube, a recap, a back and a cabinet refinish

Eric

[Eric H]

I got the Flyback from Moyer.
It was basically the same except it was a mirror image of the original.

Sooo, I had the scary and unpleasant chore of unsoldering the tire and tube sockets (one of the old sockets had been arcing) and remounting them on my old Phenolic board.

Everything came out fine, the Fly works and the set has a raster.

Someone had plugged a 6AU6 in a 6AL5 socket in the I.F. section, and a 6CB6 in place of a 6AG5 in the tuner, after I replaced those I was able to tune in some stations but now I have a horizontal problem, I can't quite get it to lock in on frequency.

I can adjust the frequency slug to get multiple side by side images but I cant get it to go down enough to lock in on a single image.
Maybe after I finish recapping the set it will work.

Eric

[G.B.]

Looking for any info on Kaye Halbert TV's 1955 27 inch .

[ekimetsok]

Eric H: Sonora's been around a long time. They began manufacturing wind-up phonos and phonograph records in the years following WWI. As I recall, Sonora also had a business connection with Jenson and the other guy who started Magnavox. The early Sonora record players were famous for esquite cabinetry and are highly prized by collectors. By the 1920's, they'd expanded their product line to include horn speakers and radios. You can probably gain some valuable insight if you can track down a copy of Alan Douglas' excellent trilogy, "Radio Manufacturers of the 1920's"

Mike Koste
Gobs of Knobs
Ambler, PA

[nasadowsk]

My Sparton uses that funky tunner too. Really weird huh?

[bgadow]

I have one or two Sonora radios-one is a bedlamp radio. Also recall having some old 78's with the Sonora label. "Clear as a Bell" was there slogan.

[Celt]

Remember the brand well from my youth. There were still many of their record players, records and radios still around even in the mid-sixties.

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by CELT

Remember the brand well from my youth. There were still many of their record players, records and radios still around even in the mid-sixties.

My brother had a Sonora reel to reel machine he had my father buy in 1961 for him. Saw heavy use taping rock and roll off the radio. 4 track, mono record only but stereo playback or mono playback depending on a selector switch.

Back then I thought that the Sonora bell on the logo was an acorn! I was about 8 years old then.