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Old 12-27-2025, 04:21 PM
Aperna1985 Aperna1985 is offline
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Question about using Tiny SA ultra for a few things including trick from Shango video

I watch Shango066 a lot, he's actually the one that got me to even try working on old TVs and radios. Before that I thought they were practically Witchcraft and only certain people could ever get them to work. My wife gifted me a Tiny SA Ultra for Christmas, and one of the things I'd like to be able to do with it is measure my IF frequencies. In a lot of his videos he has some kind of a connector with a loop of wire on the end that he sticks either right next to the IF Transformer or Wraps around it and using the Tiny SA he actually reads what frequency it's running at. He says that he made it. Would anybody know how to make one?

Next from what I understand you can use it as a sweep generator also. I would like to align my zenith set because the reception is incredibly weak, and I have an RCA set that if you turn the fine-tuning to where the audio is perfect the picture looks like hell then you turn it so the video looks good and the audio starts to get a hum. Is there any special tools I need to perform that? Any adapters or anything like that that I need for the Tiny SA?
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Old 12-28-2025, 06:30 PM
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Electronic M Electronic M is offline
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It's probably a capacitive/inductive antenna gimmick. Those are often efforts in creative guestimation.

I don't remember Shango using one of those as a TV sweep marker generator, and I wouldn't use it to align video IF on a set you care about. You might be able to use it to align the audio if you need.

What I would do on that RCA you mention (and I have done on late 40s RCA and Dumont TVs) that the sound and picture don't line up. It's called walking the sound alignment and you don't need a signal generator....Late 40s sets usually have 2 alignment procedures one with a sweep generator and one with a normal AM signal generator (Do not do video IF alignment without a sweep generator unless things are severely out to lunch, you've checked all components and are desperate). You can align the sound IF by ear on a normal TV signal following the tuned first circuit adjustment order in the service literature. I fine tune for best sound, then walk the fine tuning as close to best picture as I can without loosing the sound from the video source, then I peak the sound alignment, then I readjust the fine tuning as close to best picture, align sound again and repeat until I don't have to move fine tuning.
You could use your new generator to try and generate a precise split carrier audio IF alignment signal, but I've found that the video IF frequency has often drifted enough that frequency precise audio alignment often places the sound farther from the video carrier on the fine tuning. If you get good video without smearing, and a multi burst test pattern shows good bandwidth and no excessive flavoring of some video frequency it's best not to consider messing with the video IF.
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