Starting on a 56 Philco Transitone

[Eric H]

I've been getting the itch to work on something again, kind of tired of 40's sets so I decided to get back to what I originally set out to collect, 1950's Portables.

Here is a 1956 or 57 Philco Transitone in Brown and Cream color.

It shares some of the Philco's worst traits with the Predicta, like the PC boards with no access to the Foil side, oh and that Foil, it lifts right up if you breath on it wrong.

I wasn't quite sure how the chassis came out of this set, on some portables (notably GE) the CRT stays in the cabinet and the chassis comes out the back, on this one the whole thing slides out the front as a unit, much more convenient that way!

I thought this set had a Raster when I first got it but now I just get a very loud squeal from the speaker, a little bit of HV but no light on the screen.

I recapped the Horizontal Osc board (only 3 caps) it was a pain because I could only pull the board out a little ways without disconnecting some wires, I got it done though but I don't know if it's working.
The Flyback looks very good, shiny black and no cracks or drips.

For the main board I am going to disconnect enough wires to turn it where I can work on it flat, this will make it much easier to de-solder parts and avoid damaging the Foil.

The 14QP4 CRT (dated mid 56) is tired, it'll go well into the good range after a long warm up and maybe a little heater boost but the Cutoff and Life Test are terrible, fortunately I have a good 14QP4 out of a GE (despite the dire warning to ONLY replace it with a Philco tube!) to put in it.

After replacing the three caps I sprayed out the controls and tuner then called it a day.

More later.