Working on First GE Color

[NewVista]

My recent project was with a GE 15CL100 chassis which I was able to restore to operation with the Wallace Manual available thanks to ETF & J. Folsom.

This set came from fringe suburban Milwaukee WI where according to owners it was one of 70 in an initial production run mainly intended as demo sets for favored GE dealers/locations. Since there was a pioneering color station here in '54, WTMJ NBC, this area got this one (or more?) demo set(s).

There are two schematics in the Wallace, "First Production" & "Second Production". The 2nd production has about a half-dozen minor circuit changes. I have not seen evidence of a 2nd production TV; I suspect production was halted in the anticipation of the coming RCA 21" kine to better complement this set's refrigerator-like cabinet.

As you might guess, the chassis is big and heavy (60 lbs) and consumes the best part of 500 watts. With a high tube count, there is high component density and many capacitors to change. However when paper caps are eliminated, it turns out to be a stable, reliable performer with a conservative, cool-running flyback transformer in a large well-designed HV cage.

There was some horiz AFC foldover on the right side that only upgrading to 2nd Production changes could correct.

Being from the days of pioneering experimentation, there are some peculiarities like the "Hue"(Tint) control being almost hidden (from customer tampering) on the chassis back panel.

Its 15GP22 RCA kine has good guns but too much accumulated atmospheric ingression for effective operation (needs to be re-vacuumed one day)