Motorola model 12T1

A friend from church gave me this TV -- he'd found it in the attic of their house! It's in quite good shape, with all its parts intact except the rear cover panel and line cord. The model number isn't on it anywhere, but the chassis is stamped "TS-53." The schematic is in Rider's TV Volume 6, along with photos of all the models for that chassis, clearly identifying it as a 12T1. The ad shown above provided further corroboration.

It's a 20-tube set, with a hot chassis -- there's a filament transformer, but the high voltage comes straight from the AC line. The circuit is of the intercarrier type, with an IF centered on 24.6 MHz. The tuner uses "high-side injection" on the lower channels (2-6), and low-side injection on the upper channels. Typical of early Motorola sets, the tuner is integral to the chassis, rather than being a separate unit or sub-chassis. (I think this was the last model built this way.)

I've stripped and begun refinishing the cabinet, but electrically thus far, this set has only been cleaned a bit and looked over. I haven't even tested the tubes yet. This set uses the same 12LP4 picture tube as my GE 12C107, and I found a junker Philharmonic TV at an antique radio club swapmeet (for $1!) which will provide (among other things) another spare kine if needed. ("Kine," pronounced "kinny," is the old RCA term for the kinescope tube, the CRT, the picture tube.)