RCA XL100 Console TV Philco Clock Radio 1930s Radios Hallicrafters 506 GE 50 Zenith More

Vintage console TV that was used up till recently several radios And vintage Televisions I acquired for repairs and resurrections on this channel.

[@bigsky1970]

I prefer these kind of unboxing videos. Never know what'll be in the box, and Shango's commentary just makes it worth the while.

[@THE_DOC_RAD]

That GE model 50 Clock-Radio is an important piece of history. That model line was the first mass-produced "bedside" clock-radios that were fully automatic (wake to music all in one package). GE Started building those in late 1945 as the war was coming to an end (aluminum was still quite scarce for non-military applications, so no traditional tuning capacitor)....so to keep things cheap and simple, they designed the chassis to be a permeability tuned TRF set using available parts. With returning GI's and the fact civilian radio production stopped in 1942, the market was ready for something "modern". This was the beginning of GE's manufacturing "might" that put them out there as the most prolific builder of consumer clock-radios from the 1950s thru the 1980s.

[@brianbower6519]

That XL100 TV is Circa 1973 or 1974. I had a 1971 and a 1975 in the 70s Great TV. Very Bright clear picture. The 1975 model I had was bought from universal studios Calif and had video feed jacks In the back. The modules are easy to replace. Miss that TV. Used to watch the TV shows Emergency and Adam-12 on it as a kid. Worth saving.

[@Suddenlyits1960]

Before Shango even said it was a smokers set I knew it had to be! Welcome to flavor country!

[@danielknepper6884]

I love smoker sets, I can spend a whole week cleaning them. Doesn't matter if they work or not it matters how clean they are.😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅

[@nyki7fykxtjxyi]

It’s the same way with vintage furniture & nicotine glaze

[@BigRobChicagoPL]

it adds character

[@pcno2832]

No need to clean them, just polish the resin. The patina is what makes them irreplaceable.

[@vwestlife]

Radium in a bag! Sealed for extra freshness!

[@shango066]

The GE?

[@minty_Joe]

I'm surprised the Philco's clock didn't have Radium luminescent paint on the face and hands, though.

[@cuoops]

I like how all of us nerds watch the the same channels

[@VintageAudioTech]

Even though the cabinets are particle boards I still love it!

[@geneo317]

We had the exact television growing up. Lasted 25yrs. Has removable circuit boards for service. Has a slate top.

[@jimmyday9536]

That RCAXL100 color TV was once the focal point of their living room. Along with chair side ashtrays and cartons of Pall Mall cigarettes. 😁

[@martinclemesha4794]

Thanks Shango, always enjoy your quality videos. Others may do uploads of AA5,repairs but they are not you.

[@sonnyfontes558]

That bell is actually an inductor in the horizontal section that forms the series resonant circuit used to commutate the SCRs. Presumably the metal part is a shield to prevent it from screwing with the CRT

[@RPike-bq3xm]

No one troubleshoots like you do. Your approach is entertaining and somehow lets me get something out of it.

[@NoPegs]

Not a bad haul. Excellent work!

[@orgelkraft]

As a kid I would raid the dump for radios and TVs. I would pull all the tubes I could find. In the smokers sets they were furry. I avoided those sets like the plague. From 5th grade on I always had a working TV in my room. I had a Zenith like the one you had in the video. I had it all the way through high school. It was awesome for album orientated stations. The clock radio is very interesting. I hate to say it, but I would go to klockit and upgrade the clock face.

[@davepike6170]

I did the same thing! We had a dump less than 1/2 mile away, I looked for radios and TV's and stereo equipment. Harvested tubes and knobs from sets too far gone to bring home. I was successful repairing a few tvs and radios, as an 11-12-13-14 year old! Had my own TV early, and was never without a radio either! ❤😂

[@uxwbill]

For what little TV I'd care to watch, my "daily driver" living room TV is a 2001 Zenith 27" console. My grandfather bought it new when their mid-90s Zenith console suffered a spectacular power supply meltdown. By that point, both were well and truly just table TV chassis in a cabinet full of air. I'm told it was built in a Magnavox plant in Tennessee. It uses a Thomson picture tube. Zenith actually kept making console sets until 2004. I think they were the last TV maker still doing so.

[@radiotvphononut]

The later Zenith sets with either a Philips or Thomson jug are decent. The ones from the '90s with Zenith jugs were junk. I suspect what happened to yours is the jug shorted and blew up the power supply.

[@user-vj7dp2ps9r]

I worked servicing TVs for many years in the 1980s and 90s. Yes I remember the 90s zenith TVs when the company struggled to stay afloat as the last TV manufacturer that at least assembled in the USA. Typically boards and chassis made in Mexico and CRT/ some cabinets in USA. Their quality plummeted during that era late 80s early 90s.. People would still buy them though, because the previous Zenith they owned was built in the 1970s and went years or even decades without any problems. And those sets were indeed built well. The 90s TVs would last a year or two then self destruct with chassis going up in smoke. I was told at the time that the blown chassis were due to bad CRTs acring over internally. ( i refer to that as the white screen of death and witnessed many a zenith with that symptom) I will say a good thing about their TVs even at the end (which was 1994 or so before the LG buyout) was that they had very good lightning protection, often just blowing an easily replaced standard fuse, where other TVs would go up in smoke beyond repair.

[@marka1986]

I figured you didn't have the Goldstar tube in there, otherwise it would have flashed green and zapped the power supply in a year or two.

[@uxwbill]

Replying to multiple comments here...my understanding is that the 1995 Zenith console died in the night when "off". Right up to the very end, it had a great picture and never gave a moment's trouble. Certainly, Zenith's larger picture tubes of the 1990s were bad news. I can't explain how it lasted as well as it did. It was the first TV I'd ever seen with MTS stereo capability, something only one or two stations around here used as recently as the early 2000s. Unbeknownst to me, my grandmother bought something called a "Fireplug" some years before this failure. It was basically a fused inline power plug billed as something that would keep your TV from catching fire in the night. She dutifully plugged it inline with the TV's power cord. I thought it very silly at the time. Whatever went wrong, it popped the fuses inside the Fireplug _and_ the TV. Both had blown violently. When the new TV was delivered, the Fireplug with a new fuse went right back into use. Maybe it didn't do much. It certainly didn't seem as though it could hurt anything. (In the years since I inherited the 2001 Zenith console TV, the Fireplug has wandered off to points unknown.)

[@1marcelfilms]

Nothing to see on tv. Its just part of the decor

[@paulzehner9419]

I remember the Xl-100 and how RCA bragged over how bright they were. I did home services when they were popular, and people would have them cranked so high, i felt like i was looking at the sun.

[@edwardskoda2409]

This is when RCA finally passed Zenith in reliability from the tube days and the biggest problem on these sets was you had to resolder the connections on the pincushion transformer when it would get a vertical line top to bottom with no horizontal sweep.

[@BG101UK]

I guess the CRT life would be pretty decent with it turned down a bit.

[@mattm8641]

just found a hallicrafters s-40b at estate sale for $20..I immediately thought of this channel. No signs of life I brought it up 60volts and chickened out.

[@crooner2007]

I added a kill--a-watt to measure current draw/power consumption on my Variac. This allows me to quickly determine if a radio has a short.

[@user-vj7dp2ps9r]

I love this old crustacular stuff. Really liked the Barnaltasticular radio at 15:55. Dont have room to collect it so its fun to have these videos available. Thank you for taking the time to do these.

[@JCWise-sf9ww]

The Zenith AM-FM radio has two freaking FM bands, from the late '40s when the new 88-108 mhz came out! I know, have just restored the same basic Zenith chassis for my nephew. Really great sensitive radio.

[@bigcatauna]

Finally some flavor country ,I can almost smell it heating up in the sun

[@garp32]

That coin op radio is a trip. That was a good haul. Funny you mention how the AA5 repairs are relaxing. I feel the same way. Usually easy and rewarding. I crank up the Bert Kaumpfert and and go into chill mode while sniffing solder fumes. - Thanks for sharing!

[@bobbyk6585]

Shango's turn of phrase never fails to catch me off guard and get me laughing out loud. Never change, my friend.

[@jasonsadventures64]

My grandparents had a CTC48 like that but in a different cabinet. Very good picture. My parents bought a later model CTC68 (or something like that). Picture tube got bad early on that one. We wound up getting the older TV and it ran until the late 80s. I inherited that CTC68 and teenage me played video games on it and ran it into the ground. I can't wait to see this one resurrected. Will bring back memories.

[@1978garfield]

If there is a record for most number of products sharing a model number RCA must have it for the XL- 100. To me that brings to mind their 13" color set with that number, they must have made ten million of those and my and my brother must have fixed ten thousand of them. Seeing those Technician's Notebooks makes me nostalgic for an era when companies supported their service people.

[@vhfgamer]

"Mold has no effect on me." Lucky you. I grew up in a house full of black mold, and it utterly destroyed my health as a child. To this day I'm hyper sensitive to it. It's sort of like having an asthma attack every time I smell it.

[@miker6695]

Can't wait to see these being brought back to life :) Valve technology is so much more interesting than modern stuff

[@zundfolge1432]

you said it you have enough to put out resurection videos for the next 10 years cool will watch them all!!!

[@richardwoolnough4081]

Nice haul, Dan, it would be great to see you bring some of these back to life. Thanks for all your great content, cheers, from Richard in the UK 🇬🇧 👍

[@craignehring]

Wonderful... bring it on

[@groovy1937]

That RCA console is very nice. I still use my RCA Colortrak 1980 console daily. It is the "Limited Edition Cherbourg" GD936R. It has a nice big beautiful cabinet with stereo simulated sound. Everyone always says the sound is excellent and better than today's flat screens. The picture is excellent after all these years. It was bought brand new December 1979 and I still have all the paperwork and brochure, etc. I was able to source a NOS remote control about 10 years ago, so the remote is like new and works perfect. My set is really nicer than any flat screen and I will never stop using it. We (America) really made nice things year ago, sorry, but todays America is really crap, cars are another example.

[@KennethScharf]

There were two versions of the Philco model 50 chassis. The early one was a TRF with two 24 RF stages, a 24 detector and a 47 output tube with the usual #80 rectifier. The later chassis was a superhet. It had a double tuned front end, but no RF stage. A #24 was an autodyne converter, followed by a #35 IF amp at 175khz, a #24 detector and $47 output tube, with a #80 rectifier. Rare to see a three gang tuning cap with no RF stage. GE model 50 is a TRF, some of them had a 35Z5 instead of 35W4 before GE ran out of some Octal tube types and sub'ed miniatures by resocketing. You need this like Custer needed more Indians.

[@leadlike]

The Philco clock radio uses a “spin to start” movement common on early electric clocks. It has been a long while since I have seen one in the wild that wasn’t “restored” with some crappy modern movement. If your buddy is having the clock worked on by some expert, tell him to run away if they try to dispose of it. These clocks are very easy to restore and rebush, if need be. But most horologists don’t like to deal with them.

[@MikeDeJager-ex4wm]

Thanks Shango, your the only reason I watch KZbin!

[@gregsmith7428]

Another Marlboro Man special! You need to really dive into this. Kaff! kaff!

[@albear972]

5:14 *Extra big ass tuning capacitor!* And holy crap! About that console TV still being in use until 2024.

[@clemsonbloke]

Those particular RCA 25 inch XL-100 sets were good and reliable. I never cared that much for RCA's, I prefer Magnavox or Zenith. RCA's never had good Reds, they were washed out. I had a neighbor who had one of those looks that one. That is a 1970 or 1971 set, they were pretty reliable though. The neighbor still had his 1970 XL-100 until he bought a brand new RCA ColorTrak 2000 25 inch set with onscreen remote, etc. That was a great set and had a great picture. The ColorTrack 2000's for some reason had better color and sharpness. All in all both his RCA's were very reliable.

[@douglashoff95]

The CTC48 came from the early 70"s. I worked at an RCA dealer when these were new.

[@gregoryclemen1870]

I have two of those "G.E." slug tuned radios, and they perform like a "T.R.F." set, also I have a floor model "CROSLEY" clock/ radio that stands 6 feet tall,( 2 feet wide" and the cabinet is very ornate. I like CROSLEY stuff being that I am from CINCINNATI OHIO!!!!!. the factory is still standing at ARLINGTON STREET( empty), there is talk of turning the building into a museum, just like the old "KING" recording company.

[@CP200S]

Rust barnacles: new term learned.

[@Srinathji_Das]

Awesome set!

[@Foxonian]

If I am not mistaken, Hallicrafters TV's & radios were sold as "do it yourself" kits that you assembled from supplied parts. Usually for a cheaper price than buying an assembled product.

[@jayster.k.wiseguy]

rock and roll~

[@danielconant749]

I had an XL100 with sightly different console. We used it daily for 30 years until the picture tube got so dim. Never had a repair. I always thought the instant on is what kept it repair free but at the same time consumed a lot of electricity over its 30 year life.

[@jonathanhughes380]

very cool Shango thank you.

[@petrosbadalyan326]

Thanks for this good memories 😊

[@volvo09]

2:07 what wild looking speaker baskets.

[@caseyrevoir]

Those are swish-tastic!

[@frankowalker4662]

That Philco clock radio looks really nice.

[@benrose7534]

Oh man got some cool stuff I really like the old radios just in the conversation.. although the radios don't have much cash value the feeling of bringing it back to life is priceless...

[@chrisingle5839]

I did a Zenith 3 band like that . Just finished about a month ago. Biggest challenge was getting the 3 alignments for the 3 bands. Took 4 days. But it does sound incredible now!

[@Indiskret1]

What an interesting bunch of apparatuses you found. Really looking forward to any videos resurrecting these ones! Very nice.

[@arizonaalchemy7572]

A few things there look interesting.

[@MrDoneboy]

I expect the Marlboro Man to appear any second!

[@airplaneengine]

A good preview for the next season of shango066. Looking forward to it all.

[@Sys-Edit0r-1995]

I have one of those GE model 50s, it can only hear local stations and they kinda run into each other. I took the chassis out and recapped it so it doesnt have an electrolytic sticking out of it now. I think it looks cooler out of its cabinet! I use it to monitor my AM transmitter! I use my Yaesu FT-767gx ham transciever as the transmitter. It (without the TX unlock switched on,) will transmit down to 1.5MHz. I run it less than 5 watts, more like 100mW-1W just enough so the squirrel fan doesnt ramp up. I built a base loaded 9ft verical with 4 15' radials. Connected with my MFJ-941ek with the lid off. I can get it to tune SWR down to 1.2:1! I have to take the tuner lid off or it wont go under 2:1 swr!

[@bradunruh5910]

I have the same model rca tv and i use it on a converter it still works great!

[@Tall_Order]

I still have one CRT in my house. I use it for my Sega Genesis. But I also have a Roku that connects to it via RCA/Composite. The text is a little hard to read on that Roku, but overall it works. Especially if you play a movie, it comes through really crisp.

[@angrydove4067]

Clock radio bonanza. Can't wait for the resurrections.

[@wendellporter4875]

its very similar to the rca chassis in my 1975 Canadian Westinghouse set

[@davepike6170]

Interesting haul there! Those GE "permeability tuned" radios are cool, I have a couple of them, they like a long wire, 6 to 10 foot antenna, are not very selective, I'll be difficult to separate all the stations in your area! You may do better with a shorter antenna wire. These are TRF instead of superheterodyne radios I believe, but fascinating nonetheless. Bought my first one for 50 cents at a garage sale in 1970, at age 10! 😊

[@walterbatman7949]

Great stuff Welcome to flavor country

[@LanceHall]

It's Shango Saturday... wait, no Shango Sunday for me. By the way, that last was miner video was awesome.

[@a1wireless1964]

That's a beautiful philo mantle set well worth restoring it

[@MiamiMillionaire]

The radio that looks like it was underwater probably makes an interesting and long video (Titanic Special) 📻👍

[@chrisbosley7095]

RCA Console - Welcome to Flavor Country...

[@simuler]

I like the the Philco clock radio, it will be very interesting video making it work again

[@user-cm4ym3ei3u]

تحياتي لكم من العراق صديقي مهندس تلفزيونات توفى في امريكا في ولاية مشكان

[@jonathanthomas4722]

"Black mold doesn't affect me. I could do lines of the stuff and wouldn't even feel it." LOL.

[@Bushougoma]

I've been able remove the tobacco smell from equipment by placing it in a garbage bag with a cup of white vinegar for about a week has always worked for me. I guess the vinegar evaporates in the enclosed space and does whatever it does. When you remove it the device will smell like vinegar for a few days but when that dissipates the tobacco smell is gone.

[@peterbondmusic]

Some cool stuff here. That white clock chassis radio is trippy...

[@alexandermigel2272]

Awesome finds! Looking forward to seeing all of them resurrected!

[@dontknowbrian]

GREAT SHOW! Five tube all American AND Getting to see your junk!

[@audibell]

Nice video Shango 066

[@Suddenlyits1960]

I think the coin op radio is pretty cool. Hope you do a video on it. The case would be valuable to someone with a broken one. Looks like it's entirely bakelite

[@interactii]

A lot of interesting stuff there. Look forward to seeing them in the future.

[@johnfritz8675]

Horizontal output trace and retrace SCR. I worked on lot's of them.

[@tomtke7351]

Not only cigarette smoke caked up on all surfaces but back then all the commercials coming out of the picture tube were of smoking. Many featured the cowboy "Marlboro Man." I was a two-pack-a-day guy and at 2024 prices that's a cost of $16/day. Back then most EVERYBODY smoked... all the time...

[@FlatBroke612]

In Canuckistan a pack is around 25 maple syrups. $16 seems like freedom prices. Probably delivered by bald eagles too.

[@dimitrimotor2861]

o m ... oooo 1930 cool old staf ...... cool in s max

[@justsumguy2u]

So much to take in, so much cool stuff. The white GE clock radio is definitely worthy of restoration. It's a 4 tube TRF set, and the cabinet is Plaskon. The Zenith at the end is way cool as well with both FM bands. With minor modifications, Zenith actually used that same chassis for almost 20 years (minus the prewar FM band). They were good performers

[@eeengineer8851]

Was going to comment that one looked like it had 2 FM bands on it. I have similar slightly newer one of those that only has 1 band. I went through it some years ago (came out of one grandpas workshop) and it works OK but the FM drifts until it warms up for a while.

[@justsumguy2u]

@@eeengineer8851 Zenith only offered the 2 bands for a couple of years; they were hedging their bets, waiting to see which band would take off. Early FM sets didn't have AFC, so they drifted quite a bit

[@eefjuh5533]

That's some nice things you've got there, Shango.

[@thatguywill066]

I have 2 of them ge clock radios pretty neat

[@rubusroo68]

That Philco is gorgeous

[@stirlingschmidt6325]

Definitely looking forward to the faves! Great stuff!

[@FlatBroke612]

Marlborolicious

[@TheDevice9]

barnacle madness and the banana slicer

[@mjg263]

I can’t make heads or tails out of that little GE radio. At first I thought it was an early 60’s Japanese 5 tube AM radio that happened to have a GE clock in it, but when you flipped it around nothing about it made any sense - not the era it’s from, not the tube compliment, not the construction, nothing. Looking forward to that and all this stuff!

[@caseyrevoir]

Surely the unfiltered Pal Mals sealed all the components in a glorious shellac further extending the sets years.

[@spankyharland9845]

I use to repair VCR machines and I could tell the ones that came out of smokers homes....that tar and nicotine really get inside the machine.

[@JerryEricsson]

Looks like fun in a box.

[@v8vrooooom]

Love the big ass smokers' choice consoles you end up getting on your channel!!!

[@RPike-bq3xm]

Its got the GLASE. They had a really cool remote. I found one at a yard sale that was built in 1976 with the speaker phone built in.

[@nickn6130]

I had an RCA don't remember the model but it had the CTC48 chassis that my parents purchased in 1974 they used it until 1981 when they got a new RCA tv with the CTC107 chassis. I used the CTC48 until 2011 when it was struck by lightning. Surprising it had a great picture to the day it was struck by lightning and never had any service done to it. The tube was donated to my brother who had the same set that is still in use. The CTC107 is still in use today but the tube is getting weak.

[@onefootinthegroove39]

There is a quick and dirty technique to get the Telechron clock motor in the GE to work if it’s seized up. Get the rotor nice and hot with a heat gun- that’ll liquify the old oil inside and force the heated air out. As it cools, add sewing machine oil to the cup around the output pinion and it’ll be drawn in. Usually it’ll wake them up, sometimes they’ll still be pretty noisy afterward though.

[@nickb.8876]

That L.A. branded Bakelite Coin-Op set is super badass. You ought to do a repair video on it. Never seen one like it, might be worth a couple bucks. I find those L.A. made sets are pretty fun as there's a bit of a mystery to them.

[@Seiskid]

Interested in the GE clock radio. You can see on the label at 16:39 it says TRF. It looks modern(ish) so idea why they did that but it does make it super interesting.

[@vincemajestyk9497]

Haven't seen one of those in ages. That was when TV's were another piece of furniture! Back in the '70's my old man got a new set, a Zenith I think, and it was a huge 'Mediterranean Console'. He made a big deal out of it. Back in '96 I think it was, I went to an estate sale in the Virginia horse country, Middleburg, when I lived in DC. The guy was some big wig muckety muck in the govt, probably CIA. The house was totally frozen in time from the '70's like the Brady Bunch. Bought a ton of stuff, furniture and things. Needed to rent a UHaul to get it all back. It was run by one of these companies that HAVE to clear the house and get rid of the things the family doesn't want. So I come back Sunday and they tell me 'Take ANYTHING in the kitchen and garage you want.' 'Take ANYHING in this room.' Then it's like 'Oh Mr. Smith, help yourself to this or that.' One of the items they gave me was a console TV like the one you got. I didn't want it, but took it because they were so generous. It was working. One thing I DID want which they freely gave me was a Fisher Executive credenza type stereo system from the '60's with turntable, reel to reel, 8 track and receiver/amp. It was the old class A tube system. And it sounded f***ng FANTASTIC! Had a post-it that said 'free' on it. So 8 years later I was moving and basically wanted the 'equipment' out of the Fisher but not the cabinet. I hired a couple of hombres from the local 7-11 to do some heavy lifting, a father and son. I had to take the amp out of the cabinet and a one point needed to resort to extreme measures to get the amp out destroying part of the cabinet. This kid was busting a gut looking at me like some crazy gringo for salvaging this amp and equipment that he thought was 'old junk' and should just go to the local land fill. I still have that system and use it in my basement rec room. I think it's a 'Studio Standard' or something. I even got the all the original paperwork. It was called 'The Fisher' back then.

[@Chems7308]

Real quick cool vedio ,no editing few cuts with the pause,yehh that's Shango006

[@Alabaster335]

I think that TV is "high-hour" over 40+ years, i.e. not really used every day, the phosphor isn't dark and doesn't have letterbox burn-in from using a digital set top box. I've seen modern CRT's still in daily use with bad letterbox burn-in, mainly in old people's homes.

[@n2n8sda]

Those old 4 tubes are interesting, usually about as good as discerning stations as Hellen Keller, should at least get KNX. That barnacle thing looks interesting though, I was hoping you'd stick some power into it and see if it lets out the ultra rare marine smoke.

[@oldradiotvsc9836]

The white 4-tube clock radio is a TRF, not superheterodyne, so no IF as you said. The Zenith AM/FM interestingly has the old (prewar) and current FM bands, note the dial.

[@radiotvphononut]

CTC40 was the first solid-state RCA color (with the exception of the HV rectifier tube), followed by short-lived CTC44 that is similar to the 40, except it uses a solid-state quadrupler for the HV. Then, came the CTC46, which is an upright modular chassis similar to this one. The CTC46-CTC78 were all an upright modular chassis.

[@SocieteRoyale]

get that RCA telly plugged in asap!