A few caps later . . . .

http://antiqueradio.org/art/temp/Phi...FirstImage.jpg

Even with a brightener, this CRT's about as weak as you can get and still make any sort of picture. The rest of the project should be straightforward. This chassis is a snap to work on compared to the behemoth DuMont I've been rassling around recently. And unlike a Predicta, the boards are easily accessible from underneath!

Can't spend any more time on it this morning. Gotta pick up my wife at the airport this afternoon. It will be fun to show it as a sorta-working set, not a pretty (but lifeless) decoration.

Phil Nelson

P.S. Ignore all the glare. If I want to take nice screen photos, I'll have to hang a big black dropcloth behind the camera, as well as cover the floor.

Love it!!

So....how did the reception go? Did she like it?

She likes it a lot. I've finished recapping except for one .15mfd/1KV cap (who has that sort of thing lying around?).

I found three of these black guys on the video board. Yet another flavor of molded paper cap with plastic skin, I guess. The video really perked up after I replaced 'em, anyhow.

http://antiqueradio.org/art/temp/Mol...PCBoardCap.jpg

Phil Nelson

Miss America's almost ready to be seen in public, except for a faint vertical drive line in the place where those usually appear. (Look just to the right of Mickey Rourke's forehead).

http://antiqueradio.org/art/PhilcoF4626MDriveLine.jpg

From older sets, I'm used to having a drive adjuster (or something) you can tweak, but this TV has few adjusters.

Ideas? Horizontal stability is great, so there is no other reason to mess with horizontal circuits.

The schematic is at:

http://antiqueradio.org/art/temp/Phi...MSchematic.jpg

Regards,

Phil Nelson

In my marriage, I'm afraid my wife would see right through it, and be VERY upset. But it's a cool idea!

Charles

My wife's a bigger collector than I am, and crazy about 1950s stuff. This is a welcome change from stodgy old DuMonts. I don't think I could use the trick more than once, though. And I have already identified a less interesting TV to sell to make room for this one.

Phil Nelson

I added a drive control to my CTC-9, using hints from the CTC-7 schematic. It worked fine, maybe you coul add the components from the 7's schematic? It's on the ETF site, page 13 of the manual.

Phil, happy she likes it! Handsome TV with a great picture. Need to get my wife in that kind of mode :yes:
Kevin

That's an idea. After working on it a little more, I'm not sure that's really a drive line. It floats back and forth as you turn the horizontal hold, and basically disappears if you set contrast & brightness so that the upper and lower bars are true black when you're watching a letterboxed movie.

I think I'll touch up the cabinet and just play it for a few hours. Sometimes you look so hard that you see problems that aren't really problems.

Phil Nelson

Phil,

Very nice. I am so glad that there are the few of us that see the value in restoring these pieces of our American Heritage...

Phil,
That's a beautiful Philco!
Glad to know your wife loved it...who couldn't?
You sure got it working quick too! Do you think it will be hard to find a good picture tube for this model?

Me likey VEDDY, VEDDY much !

After working on it a little more, I'm not sure that's really a drive line. It floats back and forth as you turn the horizontal hold, and basically disappears if you set contrast & brightness so that the upper and lower bars are true black when you're watching a letterboxed movie.

I suspect the line is due to either a sync overshoot or the color burst which is not being blanked on horizontal retrace. You can prove this by adjusting the Horizontal Hold while still in sync, so as the picture moves slightly to the right you will see the bar shift to the left. You may also be able to minimize it by adjusting the fine tuning so that the high video frequencies (picture detail) diminishes and the line will disappear.

Are you receiving the TV signal via cable or a DTV set top box? Do you see it on all channels?

Yes, if I move the horizontal hold left while retaining sync, the picture moves left very slightly, and so does the line. The line is also minimized when I adjust the fine tuning for less sharp detail.

When that photo was taken, I was receiving a broadcast from my in-house transmitter (Blonder-Tongue agile modulator) on rabbit ears. Haven't looked for the phantom line using another source yet, but I'll do so tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I'm glad I decided to pull the safety glass and do some cleaning. The inside of the glass was almost as grubby as the CRT face. I have never seen a screen & glass quite this dirty.

Phil Nelson

http://antiqueradio.org/art/PhilcoF4626MDirtyCRT.jpg