63 Zenith Roundie
 

I purchased another Zenith roundie 25mc33, it has a strong CRT but has tuner problems it will recieve UHF fine but no VHF input from DVD/vcr/Direct tv
has a snowy picture, the picture fluctuates but no images/ program sound.
Where do I start on this?

Zenith Tuner Failures
 

Try replacing the 6HA5 first in the tuner then the 6GJ7. See if that works. I used to see failures of the 6HA5's that would cause this problem.

Ok thanks I have a twin to it so I will switch tubes

Great set. I have the same chassis in a slightly different cabinet and no UHF.

The 6GJ7 is the mixer oscillator in the tuner. Whenever I find an old zenith, most of the time both 6HA5 and 6GJ7 are toast. That TV is actually a 1965 model.

OK thanks for that year clarification I was only going by a repair tag I found under the cover probably from another nearby Zenith

Both tubes check good, any other ideas for this problem??

There are instances in which the 6GJ7 may check fine, but its characteristics changed enough to the point where it won't oscillate on any frequency, or sometimes it will only oscillate on the high or low end of the VHF section. Try subbing the tube out. How is that tuner? Dirty contacts? Also, very very common for the fine tuning gear that turns the slug on the VHF tuner strip develops a crack split down the middle, where it just spins on the shaft. 9 times out of 10 they are cracked making fine tuning impossible. I take it apart, and drop a touch of super glue on the shaft and spin the gear around really quick to distribute the glue before it sets up. It works perfect and the trouble won't come back.

I subbed the tube and same problem, I will remove the tuner and see is there anything to worry about during removal?

Should be nothing to it. Zenith tuners are the easiest to remove and service because all the wires are plugged in, so the tuner can be removed independently of the chassis. Only four wires to unhook. Brown is the 6.3V for the filaments and dial light, Red is the B+ (I think its 250V on that chassis) and yellow is the AGC and the last being the IF lead in. You might have an AGC problem in that tuner. The green B+ dropping resistor may be suspect.

If worse comes to worse, hunt down one of those cheap plastic "cable TV convetors" from the early 1980's, that upconvert VHF channels to UHF.


p.s.: I'm in MI, let me know if you want rid of it :-)

If you can't fix it I'll drive up from South Bend and buy it from you. I need a Zenith for my collection.

I will get it fixed, I am working on a 3rd Zenith and an RCA purchase also you might be intersted in that one

tuner problem
 

Something doesnt look uniform inside the tuner connections, it appears solder is broken and the white wire near the brown antenna lead, how should this really look? there is one soldered and one hanging loose.

Those are great sets. I have had mine for two years now and I love it. I took the tuner apart on mine to clean the contacts. It is not that complicated, just be careful where everything goes.

I noticed you are missing the arched wooden piece that is supposed to go between the two front legs.

I like these sets alot also, this one never came with the arched leg peice there is no place eveident it was removed/missing.

This winding is causing my tuner issue, if I knew points where it was originally soldered, I could easily resolder it back on, any tips or know hows? this is at the IF connection

If it ever did have the arch, there will be two holes on the bottom center of the cabinet in line with the two front legs. This is the only attachment point for this piece as it is strictly cosmetic and not required to support any weight.

You might need a schematic to determine where that coil is soldered.

I have an appointment to get the tuner coil resoldered on Friday.The arch apparently must have been an option? This does have drilled holes but no traces of thread marks and original stain is still inside them. The zenith in my avatar did not have the arch either, do you have a cabinet design number I can go by? My other has square legs and it too has 2 holes in that same spot but an arch could not fit well under it, it's much lower to the floor.Curious

This tuner had taken a lightning hit, so it needed a replacement tuner so I picked one up today and plan to put it in tomorrow and this set should be a smooth operator once that is in there.

That's the risk of using an outside aerial, lightning strikes. That set is definitely worth a tuner. I had the cabinet refinished and the picture tube rebuilt in mine. That's how worthy of restoration these are to me at least.

I would have to agree, they seem very durable and dependable. I plan to seek a few more in the future. I found 2 rectangular versions I am getting some parts off to keep these alive and well.

I would like to score a parts chassis for mine so I don't have to worry about parts availability in the future. The roundies have always been my favorite of all color televisions.

Again I agree, they may not be high dollar collectors but they are very appealing to me, and they are from my very early childhood era and I remember them like my kids will remember flatscreen plasma. my poor kids tsk tsk! They will look back and say wow a plasma I havent seen one in 30 years! Nice thing is, they will say remember that ole roundie dad had from when he was a kid! ahhhhhh yes

Not only will they say remember it, you could show them a working roundie then, I doubt a plasma will do anything in 30 years....

I venture to guess that most will be dead within 5 years. I have offers all the time for free lcd and plasma sets. if only someone would make a reasonably priced replacement lcd or plasma tube, then you may see some classic flat panels.

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment...1&d=1259818740
I see you used a Camera Model = SCP-8400, and you're located on a farm. How do I know that? There's meta data (EXIF) attached to your picture files, and I have a Firefox plug in that shows me that data. :D Just a heads up.

So how does the camera know where it is? During set up do you input this info?

Yeah, how the hell would the camera know where it is???

I love Big Brother!
I love Big Brother!
You are sitting too far away from that camera! You must be reported!:nono:

His cameraphone has a GPS unit inside of it. It should be a menu item in the phone's setup.

I am aware of it already and that is off by about 7 miles on that location you have posted but fair enough. Pretty interesting but that is not as accurate as "GPS Enhanced Mobile 911"

and for my sake I had someone trash my yard and fence and then run, I called 911 from this Sanyo phone before I jumped in my car I called one time in between for just a few seconds then I followed the vehicle to their home 5 miles away where they became armed and dangerous and without the phone connected to 911 suddenly Three GPS equipped police cars arrived at my exact location via sanyo GPS and made an arrest of two drunken armed subjects. I leave it on at all times after I learned the 911 folks and GPS equipped police cars (all ours are in this area) can even download live video from my camera if I activate GPS and upload a video feed of a suspect car or crime. Something to think about next time ya have a beer and jump in the car and go trashing lawns! They thought they were still drunk when they were informed by the court they were captured by GPS signal.
If I was up to no good I wouldn't carry this phone or allow it to give my locations away in here
but if I wanted to outrun Smokey I would throw it as far as I could from my car and hit the gas!