Valentine's gift (or is it a shameless trick?)

[Phil Nelson]

Originally Posted by John Folsom

Also crosses to Merit HVO-217. If I were you, Phil, I would look for a NOS replacement

Moyer had one in stock, so I ordered it.

Meanwhile, to satisfy my curiosity, I fixed the broken wire from the coil and gave the set a brief trial.

No sparks, and the picture had the same brightness as before. With a listening tube, however, I could hear faint ticking or sizzling noises seeming to come from the coil. Looking closely at the picture, I also saw very short, fleeting dashes (one scan line high) zipping horizontally across the screen. I suspect that the transformer does have internal shorts, as was suggested.

Earlier, the coil had taken several minutes to get hot enough to really misbehave. I didn't let it go that far tonight. While I wait for the new part, I'll power up the set just long enough to measure the HV level and the output tube's cathode current. If those are out of whack, I'd rather find out before I've installed a new flyback.

Phil Nelson