Hallicrafters Model 514 (T-54) Television (1948)

The Hallicrafters 514 is the same television as my Model 505 and T-54, in a leatherette-clad wooden cabinet with a cover and carrying handle.

With its cover closed, the 514 is nondescript, resembling a small suitcase. It's more accurate to call it a "luggable" than a portable. The TV is too heavy to casually carry around the house and many of these old handles have broken by now, anyway.

Inside the cover are straps where a "rabbit ear" antenna should be stowed. My antenna has been lost; the previous owner stuck a few spare tubes in the straps.

Here's the 514 next to my T-54 and 505 for comparison. Its pushbuttons are not really colored white. That's a type of oxidization common to certain old plastics. I'll clean off when I restore the TV.

These TVs are electronically identical, so I'll refer you to my 505 article for technical details and restoration advice.

Since I already owned two of these TVs and had only restored one, I wasn't too interested in this model. However, I was contacted by a fellow who offered to give me this one free. The alternative would be to throw it away, so I paid a small shipping charge to save it from the landfill. Perhaps someday I'll fix it up. If its 7JP4 picture tube is still good, that alone is worth more than what I paid to ship it.