The Kriesler PT1 (Portable Television no. 1?) was an unexpected model, coming from this conservative, mid-size manufacturer with Philips connections. Kriesler was better known for high-end radiograms and valve TVs. It was the first all solid state TV made in Australia and was first seen in 1966.
As can be seen they were very proud of it!
This one is a 1970 build with MSP deflection components in lieu of Philips. The PT1 was popular and continued in production into the early 70's
Unusually for the time the PCB was hand soldered. This was somewhat of a Kriesler thing, and continued into the early days of colour TV production.
My example came in its original packing carton, but if I thought I'd be getting a pristine example I was soon disappointed. Exposure to salt air and nicotine had left their marks.
Bringing it up, it wasn't too hard to see what was wrong and I didn't even need a meter to tell which diode it was! (it was the one that wasn't getting warm).
Fixed that, then found the AGC was drifting around and generally misbehaving. Sure enough, it was a bad S&H cap C53 - a common fault in many similar designs this one, if it's an electrolytic it dries out due to the current it has to handle.
Now to the cosmetics.
I removed the plastic back and handle from the Marviplate wrap and left them to soak in a strong solution of calcium hypochlorite (pool chlorine) to remove the nicotine. Hard to imagine there was a time not so long ago when people would intentionally breathe this brown muck in!
I found some gold iron-on vinyl film at Spotlight. I heated the diecasting in the oven and applied the film while still hot. A trim with a scalpel and you can hardly tell! A grey paint pen was used to help cover the blisters in the plating on the painted parts.
When taking the pics of the chassis I noticed a wax paper cap! VERY unusual for 1970, they must have needed to use some old stock. C99, a bypass on the 390 volt supply to the CRT, sure enough it was leaky. A period correct Mustard took its place.
But then the set didn't work! Just a white screen and retrace lines! Voltages around the video all over the place! I eventually found a shield had come loose from the frame end, it was just tacked on, so I used a bigger iron to sweat it on properly.
And so far, that seems to be it for this cute little telly!
Here is my collection of working portables as at May 2025
See anything that interests you?
A tidy bit of hand soldering, Kriesler were good at hand assembly. I have watched Dave Tipton and Donno308 repairing their radios too.
Re Kriesler radios, their 11-99 mantle radio was the last valve radio in regular production anywhere in the world! With point to point wiring, they had a long production run (they keep selling so we'll keep making them!) they are very common, go into just about any 2nd hand shop in Australia and you'll find one. And it will still work too!
They were introduced initially to use up stock of 6GV8s (ECL85) that were rejected from the 79-23 TV chassis line and which Philips refused to replace. Not a valve you normally see used for audio.
@irob2345 I believe a valve radio was made in China until the mid 1970s, due to them not having easy access to transistors, at least for something as mundane as a domestic radio.
Yes well the model run of the Kriesler 11-99 only ended in 1974 or 1975 and that was because they needed the space to expand the colour TV assembly line. So it would have been pretty close.
