Early Television
  • What's New
  • About Us
  • Classifieds
  • Parts for Sale
  • Resources
  • Index
  • Search
  • Contact Us
 
 
  • Mechanical TV
    • Gallery
    • Database Summary
    • Sets at the Museum
    • Restoration
    • Broadcasting
    • Advertising
    • Roger DuPouy's Site
    • Peter Yanczer's Site
    • Gerolf Poetschke's Site
    • Eckhard Etzold's Site
  • Early Electronic TV
    • Gallery
    • Database Summary
    • American Sets at the Museum
    • British Sets at the Museum
    • Restoration
    • Broadcasting
    • Technical Information
    • Other Equipment
      • Antennas
      • CRTs
      • Test Equipment
      • VHF Boosters
    • Advertising
    • Gerolf Poetschke's Site
    • Eckhard Etzold's Site
  • Postwar TV
    • American Postwar TV
    • British/European Postwar TV
    • Postwar TV in the Rest of the World
    • Restoration
    • Postwar Broadcasting
    • Technical Information
    • Other Equipment
      • Accessories
      • Antennas
      • CRTs
      • Test Equipment
    • Advertising
    • Eckhard Etzold's Site
  • Early Color TV
    • Gallery
    • Database Summary
    • Color TV Systems
    • Sets at the Museum
    • Restoration
    • Broadcasting
    • Technical Information
    • CRTs
    • Advertising
    • Pete Deksnis's Site
    • Ed Reitan's Color Television History
    • Eckhard Etzold's Site
  • CRT Rebuilding
    • Rebuilding Tubes at the Museum
    • Donations
  • The Foundation and Museum
    • Early Television Foundation
    • About the Museum
    • Directions to the Museum
    • Friends of the Museum
    • Equipment Donations
 
Early Television
Early Television
Early Television
Early Television
Early Television Early Television

Early Electronic Television

RCA 1931 Field Test Receiver

Early Television

Pictures and commentary courtesy of Darryl Hock

Technical information

This set was made in late 1931 for reception of 120 line mechanical broadcasts. The camera was a flying spot scanner. The iconoscope was providing extremely poor performance at this time, and they didn't want to evaluate this set using it until it was ready. In 1932 RCA ran tests with up to 180 lines with this set and an iconoscope, but they admitted that 180 lines was at the limit this receiver could realistically provide. In 1933 RCA started another full field test with the iconoscope camera and a new receiver using 240 line/ 24fps. This was the first receiver for RCA that utilized a single tuner for both the picture and sound with a fixed spacing of the carriers. So by 1933, this 1931 set was all but obsolete. Here is an article by Jeff Lendaro about discovering the set (courtesy of Darryl Hock).

Early Television

Early Television

Drawing from a 1937 book

For more information, see these articles from RCA: Experimental Television System, Experimental Television Receiver, Experimental Television Transmitter, and Experimental TV and Kinescope.
 

 Early Television

Top inside view, showing the picture chassis, CRT face, and sound chassis

Early Television

The picture chassis

Early Television

The sound chassis

Early Television

The CRT

Early Television

A photo off the screen

Invisible text to format smartphones. xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


 
Advertisement
 
Early Television Museum
5396 Franklin St., Hilliard, OH 43026
(614) 771-0510
info@earlytelevision.org