I recently lost my father, and he had a small collection of what I would I guess call "micro TV sets"

Nobody in the family wanted these "bunch of old TVs", and I was always FASCINATED by them. He would always have one on or open on a workbench when I'd come over. I also got his little kit transmitter he had connected to the RF out of the cable box. Looks like an old Ramsey kit....and leaves quite a bit to be desired. It did allow you to play the old sets by tuning them all to "somewhere around channel 6". Deciding I wanted ALL the sets, running or not was really a no-brainer, so I collected them all up and took them with me to San Diego.

The BEST part......I found what I would best describe as a "wish list" that amounted to not much more than a bunch of makes and models. Dad had given me several years ago a running Sony 303 'Tummy" TV in it's little blue case...and it has run relatively trouble free since he cleaned it up and likely recapped it (I've never had to open it yet in like ten years). I would take it out, turn it on...maybe connect an old Nintendo NES to it since it's not the 307 with the UHF. Also.....you pretty much have to speak Spanish to enjoy any analog stations in San Diego. I'd take the old 303 out, see that it worked...and then put it away nice on the shelf.

Now ME. As a kid...I did take a couple elective classes in the '80s for playing with old TVs (They really were just "old" or "common" in the '80s). I would look for and revive a few old sets just for fun.....fix them for friends, but was not really a collector like dad had become. I had one of those "briefcase" style TV sets with the radio/TV/cassette player I carried around.....but at THAT time, these were expensivem, but not collectable in any way. I have managed to fix that thing's vertical and some other minor problems over the years...and do still have that 'ol thing (NOW.....it's "old"). I'm 46 now...and can be coaxed to remember how to use a CRT checker, rejuvenator....and do vaguely remember testing tubes, doing purity, degaussing, etc.

NOW for the good part...and why I'm here.

I started getting back into it....since I lost my dad, but found his wishlist, I started running across some of the stuff he was apparently wanting but never had. I'm also keen on VERY "micro" TV sets that this forum would likely not see as interesting at all. The little TINY things that came from Panasonic and such. I've sort have melded Dad's collection of odd little Sony TV sets with some '80's era sets. I've even gotten a BUNCH of the little "throw away" Coby, Curtis, etc little 5" sets. They are CHEAP on ebay...and easy to find at swap meets. I get them because they are cute.....easy to open up and "practice" on, and make fun little projects.

I now have two new "wish list" sets. I have a Sony 700U that was cute and about the "biggest" micro TV I now have. It has some pretty severe horizontal tearing, and will likely be a futile effort on my part to get her going again.

But YESTERDAY.....I found a Sony 301W

There was no AC cord....and does not have the battery pack I saw described here in a thread. It does use the EXACT same AC power cord as the Sony 303 Dad gave me (the top two closer pins are the AC). I brought it up SLOWLY on an isolation transformer...and it came up, such as it is. I found THIS forum by looking for info on this set (Thanks "Nelson" I think it is)

I'm curious if anyone out there has some decent paperwork on servicing such a set. She DOES come on......spends a LONG time with horizontal sync and linearity trouble that slowly clears up after like ten minutes on it's own. This has a very odd "GAIN" control that KINDA acts like a contrast or AGC. Was able to get audio and some better control after shooting the three "vertical" pots on that board with some tuner cleaner (and of course the volume pot on the board behind it).

I now have a MUCH nicer "house transmitter" setup than the Ramsey setup Dad had going. I got some digital TV transmitter off ebay called a HLLY TVX-50M "Villa". Works REAL nice with it's output connected to a set of table rabbit ears from Tandy. GOOD clean signal for like 300 feet around my little apartment. I keep it at 213mhz to not bother anyone around me who MIGHT still be playing with an old TV set.

Sorry for the BIG long post, but it's my first on here

That sounds very much like bad electrolytic capacitors. When electrolytic capacitors are starting to go bad, they work better after they warm up.

And in general the parts most likely to fail in solid state sets will be the electrolytic caps.

It looks like you will have to sharpen your soldering skills and start replacing parts.

Welcome to the forum.

This article has some restoration notes on that model:

http://antiqueradio.org/Sony8-301WTelevision.htm

My 8-301W had many, many bad electrolytic capacitors:



The Sams service manual is Set 588, Folder 2, and you can order from https://www.samswebsite.com/ , or your local library might even have Sams literature.

If you like micro TVs and handhelds, this is a bonanza time, as most people have no use for them and they are plentiful & cheap.

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

Welcome to the forum!

I too have a collection of 3"-5" portable B&W sets, some 9"/12" B&W portables, and many color sets from the '60's on up. I guess my most interesting portable is the '59 Philco Safari that I bought at the flea market. The seller didn't even know it was a TV!

I started picking up TV's, mainly old tube-type B&W portables, in the late '80's; but, I didn't care anything about collecting TV's. Back then, my only motivation for bringing them home was to fix and sell them so that I could buy old radios and repair parts. Back then, people would pay decent money for most any kind of working TV.

It wasn't long before I started getting tube color sets from the '60's and '70's, along with some of the more common '70's solid state color sets like Zenith chromacolor II's and RCA XL100's.

As the years passed, people got so they were not interested in anything unless it was the "latest craze in TV's"; but, in recent years, I've developed an interest in collecting those TV's that got me started.

BTW, I remember that just before the DTV transition, one of the dollar stores had a pile of those cheap off brand Chinese B&W TV's for something like $14.99. I started to buy one just so I could say that I bought a new TV in my life; but, I didn't. Up to this point, every TV that I've owned was a broekn one that I picked up and repaired. Once, someone asked me to repair two of those cheap B&W sets that were dead out of the box. One of them had a disconnected CRT socket and the other one had a deflection yoke that was loose on the CRT neck.

Yes.....I seem to have landed SMACK in the middle of "plentiful and cheap". I lost Dad like three months ago, acquired several of the 2"-5" sets that were popular back then. Looks like he got a few somewhere (He was NOT on the internet, ebay or anything)...and was having fun just cleaning them up and had a little shelf of like 15 sets.

Since I DO like to play around on ebay...and love swap meets, I have acquired MANY more sets. I spent like a month finding "quirky" and weird sets that required maybe a LITTLE attention. I had not played with any TV set since I was like twenty...so wanted to find some with very minor issues. They are CHEAP....and people ebay them as BROKEN or PARTS simply because they turned it on and were not able to watch their silly reality shows on 'em. Or they describe them as nice old sets.....and then NOBODY bids on 'em!

Now have color "briefcase" sets (JVC-500), SEVERAL of those little Coby style "throwaway" chinese sets in different cabinet colors (becoming it's OWN collection on it's own!)....A few REALLY small 2" sets. One is even a little clock/radio/TV that a PC board was completely cracked (GOT my soldering "merit badge" back with THAT one). And I have recapped one old Sony 900U now...but it's still giving me some linearity drama.

I do suspect the 301W is gonna be a recap. It does do okay after it's been on a little while. It also has an odd intermittant audio static that SOUNDS like someone is messing with the volume.....but touching the volume doesn't make that sound since I cleaned that pot with some Radio Shack "electronics cleaner". There is also some VERY light and very wide "hum bars" going slowly up the screen. She is by FAR quite watchable though.....just you sorta have to "tend" to it a little.

I did manage to find the article earlier where "Nelson" took one to bits.....and got the cover off, took the three boards out, but NOT to the point where I had the CRT out (so of course the front board still has the four yoke wires connected). I got in there to JUST clean it up...and hit the edge card connections with the "electronics cleaner". No real change....but was just happy to get it back together and see I didn't DESTROY it at this point.

It looks like you have to attack each of the three boards as it's own little project as far as the recapping goes. No real way of changing out one or two caps and then seeing how it went unless you were fairly SURE what you were repairing.

I now have nearly 50 sets between the few Dad had...and the ones I been playing with.

Do have some neat small color sets now. I remember not being able to get the color JVC briefcase as a kid....the thing was like $600 then, and now I have one. I found a 3.5" GE set that has a little removeable microcassette unit...all there and working. Found a Sanyo 5" color combo radio/cassette, and I have NEVER seen that set before or since, so maybe that "MTC40" is actually somewhat rare.

The one I hope to NEVER have to open up, was also by far the most expensive one. I do have all the little Panasonic micros, inluding the little CT101...a ONE INCH color set! THAT one was a bidding war on ebay, and I ended up handing over like $200 for it. (Saw one TODAY go for over $400 though).

The little Sony 303 my dad gave me. I don't ever wanna open that one up...but will when I need to. My dad GAVE that to me, so for some reason I keep it seperate from the "hobby". Don't be surprised when you guys one day see "OMG HELP!"....when that thing one day has lost it's vertical and is "flatlined"

The 301 is now the oldest set in my collection now though.....and is also the most quirky looking. That Sony 700U (that STILL is giving me drama) had that title before. It appears to be DIFFICULT to work on Sony sets for some reason, and when they are acting out, they appear to STAY acting out.

Thanks Phil!

Thanks for the URL to the Sams for this set. Was only $15 for the PDF download....and likely MORE than enough info on getting this set back in good nic.

I remember in the 80s when you could go to a local TV repair place and thumb through HUNDREDS of these Sam's Photofacts and buy 'em. Had no idea they were really still around to "buy" new. I don't even own a scope yet, so at some point I'll hafta get ahold of one at least decent enough to poke around these old sets. I don't really have the means to buy those $3000 scopes I see at Fry's (and they would be overkill for these frequencies anyway)....nor do I have the ROOM in my little 2 bedroom flat to have any "ridiculous" sized scope in the front room. I'm likely gonna have to go find one though at some point. I may also have to invest in a little ESR tester like you have pictured in your 301 thread. So far...a couple good Fluke meters, but they are just DMM units, not scopes, and PLENTY of the little hand tools and diddle sticks (do they still call them that?) for adjusting coils and whatnot.

I was afraid to attack the tuner of this little 301 with the Radio Shack "electronics cleaner" spray. I seemed to remember a thread somewhere (probly yours) that said NOT to do this. It worked great for the pots though...and gained me some more control with the three sweep controls (One was hidden until I saw how you took the cover apart). I found I think two DIFFERENT controls for horizontal on either side besides the regular user "h-hold" control. Now I'll see just WHAT I'm playing with when tweaking those with the Sam's.

The user v-hold seemed to also mess with vertical SIZE just a bit on this set....and also have noticed scanlines at any real brightness, but some fiddling with the GAIN and BRIGHT appear to be able to kill these.

There is a very odd (never seen this before) sort of vertical "ghost" line that appears across the screen as I mess with horizontal. I want to say it looks like maybe a reflection from one side or the other of the CRT coming back into the picture.

I could not really find any sort of horizontal size to test that theory. The focus on this set also appears to be a bit soft when I get a good stable picture. It sharpens up when you tune it off a little, but to the point I get some tearing.

Sorry if I sound "small potatoes" when it comes to actually diving in to these sets. I've built and played with electronics pretty much ALL my life, but it's been mostly motherboards, amplifiers and other "modern" stuff you sorta look at briefly...and then TOSS because it's not worth the trouble to recap something like an ASUS motherboard with all those stupid puffy green caps on it.

I did do a complete recap on the Sanyo monitor of my Nintendo Donkey Kong arcade machine though....so I'm still sorta proud of that even though I did that like 15 years ago

Keeping that old Donkey Kong machine running JUST about counts as antique right??....RIIIIGHT????