Restoration of the Iberia T-2161 TV, Part 1

Estado de la válvula EF183

Continuing with the restoration of the television, the first step I take is to check some of its valves using the μTracer3+:

EF183 valve:

Estado de la válvula EF183

As can be seen in the image, the EF183 is completely worn out, showing 0% emission, making it totally useless. Out of curiosity, I also checked the curves of this valve:

Curvas de la válvula EF183

After seeing these curves, I threw it straight in the trash as expected 😊.

Next tubes to be tested: the EF80s:

The Miniwatt EF80 can be considered in good shape, with 70% emission. One of the Tungsram EF80s is at 55%, which is acceptable, although it should be kept under observation. Lastly, the other Tungsram EF80 is quite worn out with only 33% emission, so it’s a good candidate for replacement.

We continue with the PCF80s:

This is bad 😞 — all the PCF80s are dead. I should mention that I only tested the pentode section, since there’s no point in checking the triode if they’re going to need replacing anyway.

Now I’m checking the pentode section of the PCL8X tubes:

These ones are a bit better 😉. The PCL84, for instance, measures at 115% emission — which makes me suspect it might be running a bit hot, so I’ll keep an eye on it.

Lastly, although I’m leaving a few tubes unchecked for now (PY88, DY802, PL300, and the CRT), here are the results for the two VHF tuner tubes:

It seems bad luck is following me with this TV 😢. The PCC88 has both triodes running way too hot, which raises suspicion that it might be faulty — a real shame, because thanks to our dear audiophile friends, buying a new PCC88 now comes at a ridiculous price 😡.

On the other hand, the PCF86 (it says PCC88 in the screenshot — that was my mistake when labeling it) shows 50% emission on the pentode section, so it goes on the watchlist too.

It’s clear that there’s a lot of work ahead with this TV. It’s not just about replacing worn-out components anymore — I’ll likely need to replace nearly all the tubes. That’s a clear sign the TV saw heavy use during its lifetime, which increases the chances that many components are tired and close to failure… which only makes the restoration project even more fun 😂.

By EF184

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