Compared to many attempts on portables, even after the 50s and well into the 70s and 80s.... this is truly amazing. What a product, especially to still be working.
You got yourself a really cool score, Bob! That little set held up really well for the past 54 years; certainly better than I did. It would still be a good idea to replace all the electrolytics in the chassis.
Hi Bob - What a great piece! I've never seen one of these, and I can also see they didn't get much use similar as my Sony Watchman didn't in the day. But, it's all part of TV electronic history, and a great unit for your collection! See ya -- Atco
Great little TV, clever how the optics work. like you I collect late forties B&W sets, but quite fancy getting what would have been the UK's first transistor TV, the Perdio portarama. That uses a 8" CRT and dates to 1962.
I was wondering when you were gonna pick one of these up. :) I've only seen these on eBay. It's actually quite a bit bigger than I assumed it was. It looks like a little Philco branded dehumidifier!
Very cool. Nice seeing something different, once in a while and it certainly is that. I'm sure you are right, those must have been, for the most part, low hour sets. You have a knack, for picking winners on eBay. $8, or $80, it was a good find. Really enjoyed it, Bob.
Funny but it looks like a 70's style trash receptacle open on 2 sides especially at 27:40. Very surprised this was available in '59 with transistors, that was cutting edge at 7 watts only because of transistors were invented, the CRT filament probably used 3 watts. Philco was cutting edge developing the communication ground stations for the Mercury project prior to TDRS and the consoles for ground control. Today at about 15-50 watts with LED backlighting thru LCD 60" paper thin 4k.
Way cool find!! I'm surprised there was no provision for a hookup to an external antenna as the single rod would probably be useable up to about 35 miles from the transmitting station.
I have. A small Standard TV with rod antenna, great candidates for the Drake or Blonder Tongue. Mine is buried in my hoard stack of "junk". I have a couple of Sony watchman, two sizes, that use a reflector type display. If my Blonder Tongue transmits to my backyard bar, battery portables will be nice again. I have one 10" flat screen ATSC battery portable, but it only gets a couple stations on its rod antenna.
Thanks for posting this! Do you still restore Philco Safaris? I have one that turns on but doesn’t seem to change channels and I’d love to send it to you.
here is a commercial posted on RUclips: Philco Safari First Portable Battery Operated Television 1958 I'm sure watching it on a plane or train is exaggerated.
You got that for 23.00 dollars total? Man, that's amazing considering the condition it's actually in. That is one sweet little tv! Maybe with a little more luck, you can find a non-working model with the dowels and springs. Looking forward to see what you do with restoring it! Great find sir!
You're going to have lots of fun with that thing. It probably doesn't have many hours on it; too small to use at home and that battery was expensive and didn't last very long. Early germanium transistor sets are - well, you'll find out. It's not surprising that the battery isn't there; the set didn't come with one and it cost about $100 to get one for it. They were attractive but almost totally impractical; when you get it working try watching it outdoors. Even that use case wasn't valid.
The original ad says $250 for the TV and $5.25 for the battery: i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg632/electricalengineer1958/Philcosafaritvad-lifemagazinedec141959.jpg
Hmmm. I remember those being sold new and the price being $299 for the TV and $99 for the optional rechargeable battery. Maybe it wasn't this exact model...
nice!! got mine for about the same $ but is missing the plastic cover. It was working perfect. The semi-silver mirror coating is very fragile, i almost ruin it when try to clean with a soft towel
bandersentv Yeah, it's kind of like how you get burn-in on an ATM or something else that displays a stationary image a lot, but in this case the whole screen area is affected evenly.
I did not get a chance to fully analyse the video, but for magnetic that is very good to say the least, from the video it is set square straight. Best of luck with the restoration.
Helios Haul Perhaps. An image that small can be deceiving. I'll need to use a crosshatch pattern generator to see if the linearity is really correct. The raster being straight and square really doesn't mean much. The only way that would be off is if there was something wrong with the yoke (AKA keystoning).
How about that screw on the right side of the metal bracket there that seems to retain the whole center section? I'm just guessing because Ive never seen one of these sets before. Thanks for sharing...
that 7.5v is awfully close to the 7.4v of lithiums. You should hit up hobbyking and pick up a nice chunky lithium pack and charger to run this thing. Would lighten it up a bit, wouldnt change the function or appearance in any way, and would give it an abnormally long battery life compared to the original battery.
I could, but I'm not really going to be using it on battery power. Inside my place I can use my own transmitter, but if I take it anywhere there won't be anything to receive.
OK..., Now I'm really, really, getting jealous. I've had my eye on one of those for years! Lucky dog. I think I'll start howling now. LOL Wait a minute... I don't even like dogs. "Buy it now for only $80?" OK, even though, I don't like dogs, I'm still going to start howling again! Again, again, "lucky dog." You've must have got up on the right side of bed this morning, is all I can say. All kidding aside Bob; I have to admit, I've never seen one in person, but it is much larger than I expected for some reason. That being said, it is all that much impressive as well. Again... Wow, after dis-assembly, you only had to tighten the handle's mounting screw and nothing was busted at all? Are you sure you're not pulling our leg here? Was this "seller" perhaps someone in you family? This is all too good to be true! I'm sitting here watching the progress of your video here, thinking..., NO, this is TOO GOOD to be true.
As amazing as $80 was, a few days later this one popped up in Ontario for only $69 OBO and he accepted a $50 offer! r.ebay.com/yf6FGJ I swear I really did buy this on eBay and it traveled all the way from San Diego. Here's the original listing: www.ebay.com/itm/310956915014 I think this is the first time I've seen one of these go for less than $200.
The same guy has old 8mm movie projectors listed for $200 and $400 respectively, you can't even give those things away, the thrift stores are full of them!
O Bob, It's always a bright sun shinny day with you. No broken handle, all it need was screw tighten. It's almost like things fix there selves by you just looking at it. If battery is only 7 bolts, hows does the TV get 4000 bolts out of it?
![Eminem - Fuel (Shady Edition) feat. Westside Boogie & GRIP [Official Audio]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/k1OquBida9s/mqdefault.jpg)
ok, that's cool. I've never seen an old tv like this. I might have to find myself one XD
Compared to many attempts on portables, even after the 50s and well into the 70s and 80s.... this is truly amazing. What a product, especially to still be working.
Yes indeed. Turns out that Philco had some advanced semiconductor R&D back then. I had't realized until I did some research while working on this set.
@@bandersentv They were a defense contractor as well as a manufacturer of consumer products, so that gave them a leg up on the competition.
Nice find Bob Thanks for sharing.
I've never seen one in good condition or that is fully functional. Congratulations!
You got yourself a really cool score, Bob! That little set held up really well for the past 54 years; certainly better than I did. It would still be a good idea to replace all the electrolytics in the chassis.
I never heard of the Philco Safari until now.
Awesome video, much better than unboxing videos of anything from this millennium. Smokin' deal on a nice little piece of history there.
Very nice, Bob!
I've only ever seen one of those and have wanted one ever since.
Hi Bob - What a great piece! I've never seen one of these, and I can also see they didn't get much use similar as my Sony Watchman didn't in the day. But, it's all part of TV electronic history, and a great unit for your collection! See ya -- Atco
Very interesting video and a good price on a nice set. I'll be interested in a restoration on the Philco. Chassis looks a bit cramped !
Excellent find! What a neat little TV. Got to wonder if that set will outlast anything built today. I bet it will!
Great little TV, clever how the optics work. like you I collect late forties B&W sets, but quite fancy getting what would have been the UK's first transistor TV, the Perdio portarama. That uses a 8" CRT and dates to 1962.
What an interesting little set.
I was wondering when you were gonna pick one of these up. :)
I've only seen these on eBay. It's actually quite a bit bigger than I assumed it was.
It looks like a little Philco branded dehumidifier!
I got my set the picture came on, not too portable though pretty heavy , I thought it would be lighter.
That's a cool little tv. I'm amazed that it still works with the germanium transistors, as they have a fairly high failure rate nowadays.
Very cool. Nice seeing something different, once in a while and it certainly is that. I'm sure you are right, those must have been, for the most part, low hour sets. You have a knack, for picking winners on eBay. $8, or $80, it was a good find. Really enjoyed it, Bob.
Funny but it looks like a 70's style trash receptacle open on 2 sides especially at 27:40. Very surprised this was available in '59 with transistors, that was cutting edge at 7 watts only because of transistors were invented, the CRT filament probably used 3 watts. Philco was cutting edge developing the communication ground stations for the Mercury project prior to TDRS and the consoles for ground control. Today at about 15-50 watts with LED backlighting thru LCD 60" paper thin 4k.
Never saw one, kewl, thanx!
Way cool find!! I'm surprised there was no provision for a hookup to an external antenna as the single rod would probably be useable up to about 35 miles from the transmitting station.
VERY COOL!!
I have. A small Standard TV with rod antenna, great candidates for the Drake or Blonder Tongue. Mine is buried in my hoard stack of "junk". I have a couple of Sony watchman, two sizes, that use a reflector type display. If my Blonder Tongue transmits to my backyard bar, battery portables will be nice again. I have one 10" flat screen ATSC battery portable, but it only gets a couple stations on its rod antenna.
Thanks for posting this! Do you still restore Philco Safaris? I have one that turns on but doesn’t seem to change channels and I’d love to send it to you.
Sorry, I have about a 3 year backlog. How are you feeding a signal into it? There are no more analog TV broadcasts so you need to provide your own.
Now you need one of those baby Sony TVs to go with it, or maybe get the Barbie sized combo unit going.
here is a commercial posted on RUclips:
Philco Safari First Portable Battery Operated Television 1958
I'm sure watching it on a plane or train is exaggerated.
A train maybe, but I can't imagine you'd get reception up in a plane.
You got that for 23.00 dollars total? Man, that's amazing considering the condition it's actually in. That is one sweet little tv! Maybe with a little more luck, you can find a non-working model with the dowels and springs. Looking forward to see what you do with restoring it! Great find sir!
No, $95. I meant to say $80 not $8 ;) I'm sure I can find some suitable springs without buying another Safari.
You're going to have lots of fun with that thing. It probably doesn't have many hours on it; too small to use at home and that battery was expensive and didn't last very long. Early germanium transistor sets are - well, you'll find out.
It's not surprising that the battery isn't there; the set didn't come with one and it cost about $100 to get one for it. They were attractive but almost totally impractical; when you get it working try watching it outdoors. Even that use case wasn't valid.
The original ad says $250 for the TV and $5.25 for the battery: i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg632/electricalengineer1958/Philcosafaritvad-lifemagazinedec141959.jpg
Hmmm. I remember those being sold new and the price being $299 for the TV and $99 for the optional rechargeable battery. Maybe it wasn't this exact model...
That's an awesome little TV. Would you be kind and tell what's the name of the show with those army guys? Thank You :)
The Phil Silvers Show
bandersentv Thank you very much Bob. You are an nice guy. Keep up the good work :)
nice!! got mine for about the same $ but is missing the plastic cover. It was working perfect. The semi-silver mirror coating is very fragile, i almost ruin it when try to clean with a soft towel
You can see there is a little bit of browning where the picture is projected onto the phosphor.
Yes, projection type CRTs gradual turn brown with use. The Safari I picked up more recently has no browning so must not have seen much use.
bandersentv Yeah, it's kind of like how you get burn-in on an ATM or something else that displays a stationary image a lot, but in this case the whole screen area is affected evenly.
Where can I get parts? Need visor and knobs? Any ideas?
I need a visor too. 3d printing maybe?
Did you say $8 or $80? I keep hearing $8 lol. Either way a sweet deal for a very nice tv.
It may have sounded like $8, but I definitely meant to say $80 plus another $15 shipping.
Use mechanical Pen springs for those dowels. they look like they would be just the right size.
Good idea. I'll give it a try.
The linearity is fantastic, what method of deflection does it use.
Fantastic find.
Magnetic. You can see the yoke when I take the cover off.
I did not get a chance to fully analyse the video, but for magnetic that is very good to say the least, from the video it is set square straight. Best of luck with the restoration.
Helios Haul
Perhaps. An image that small can be deceiving. I'll need to use a crosshatch pattern generator to see if the linearity is really correct. The raster being straight and square really doesn't mean much. The only way that would be off is if there was something wrong with the yoke (AKA keystoning).
How about that screw on the right side of the metal bracket there that seems to retain the whole center section? I'm just guessing because Ive never seen one of these sets before. Thanks for sharing...
Darryl Landry Check out my never videos on the Philco Safari to see one taken all apart :)
I really like the optics on that viewfinder. its kind of neat.
I just realized the lines above the CRT on the schematic show how the optics work.
that 7.5v is awfully close to the 7.4v of lithiums. You should hit up hobbyking and pick up a nice chunky lithium pack and charger to run this thing. Would lighten it up a bit, wouldnt change the function or appearance in any way, and would give it an abnormally long battery life compared to the original battery.
I could, but I'm not really going to be using it on battery power. Inside my place I can use my own transmitter, but if I take it anywhere there won't be anything to receive.
Spock used that to find out whether Edith Keeler should live or d!e, so that the current time line wouldn't be changed.
OK..., Now I'm really, really, getting jealous. I've had my eye on one of those for years! Lucky dog. I think I'll start howling now. LOL Wait a minute... I don't even like dogs.
"Buy it now for only $80?" OK, even though, I don't like dogs, I'm still going to start howling again! Again, again, "lucky dog." You've must have got up on the right side of bed this morning, is all I can say.
All kidding aside Bob; I have to admit, I've never seen one in person, but it is much larger than I expected for some reason. That being said, it is all that much impressive as well.
Again... Wow, after dis-assembly, you only had to tighten the handle's mounting screw and nothing was busted at all? Are you sure you're not pulling our leg here? Was this "seller" perhaps someone in you family? This is all too good to be true! I'm sitting here watching the progress of your video here, thinking..., NO, this is TOO GOOD to be true.
As amazing as $80 was, a few days later this one popped up in Ontario for only $69 OBO and he accepted a $50 offer! r.ebay.com/yf6FGJ
I swear I really did buy this on eBay and it traveled all the way from San Diego. Here's the original listing: www.ebay.com/itm/310956915014
I think this is the first time I've seen one of these go for less than $200.
bandersentv
Of course I believe you my friend. It was all tongue and cheek. What a great find!
The same guy has old 8mm movie projectors listed for $200 and $400 respectively, you can't even give those things away, the thrift stores are full of them!
I just bought one for 120.00
Congrats - that's a good price
wow 4000 volts .... from 7 1/2 volt battery
Actually closer to 7,000 volts :)
Steven King
Sure. Most of the CRTs shown in my videos run on 6kv to 16kV.
Quit stalling and power up the dam television pal.
O Bob, It's always a bright sun shinny day with you. No broken handle, all it need was screw tighten. It's almost like things fix there selves by you just looking at it. If battery is only 7 bolts, hows does the TV get 4000 bolts out of it?
It uses a flyback transformer just like a conventional TV.