My new porthole

[Charlie]

For some time, I've wanted to have one of the popular Zenith "porthole" or "circle sets" of 1950. I haven't really seen them within my reach here in Southeast Texas... and if one did pop up in my general area, I was usually gone at sea and unable to go after it. Typical.

Thanks to Jody (peverett), it seems I've finally got one... sort of I suppose. It's not a Zenith... it's even better... a Raytheon from 1950! Model C-1602 (Sams 99-14). The set was just a little ways outside of Houston, so, it wasn't very far for me to go after it.

The set uses the 16AP4, and it checks well into the green on my B&K 470. It does take a little longer than most tubes to get there... a little over a minute... but it gets there and stays. Not bad for a CRT that's over 50 years old and is of the metal/glass type. The previous owner said he believed the CRT had been replaced, and it seems so since the CRT in the set is an RCA with a 1952 date code on it. I'm sure Raytheon would have used their own brand of tubes in the set.

All of the main components look to be in order inside the set. There was plenty of dust, and so far, all I've done is clean it out. I haven't even pulled the chassis to look underneath. I suspect changing all the capacitors will likely be all that's needed since it doesn't appear there were any major failures.

The cabinet is in decent shape. There are some scratches... nothing too serious. Also, it appears that someone painted the room this set sat in... without covering it up first. There's white specs of paint all over the top of it. The wood has a pretty color to it, so I suspect I'll strip and refinish the cabinet later.

I kinda thought the set should have displayed the "Maytag" brand. Unlike the Zeniths, this set tilts the screen up just slightly... and kinda makes it resemble a front-loader washing machine! A friend of mine saw it the other day... and gave him the creeps! He though it looked freaky. Some people simply have no taste.