I was doing some 'tiqueing over the weekend and found a few TV sets at a United Way thrift store. I took of picture of it with my cell phone but I have yet to figure out how to email them to my computer.

Anyway, here's what I found.

1. Late 80s Zenith Space Command Console. Digital tuning. Sound worked, pic came on but had color problems and retrace lines.

2. 70s Zenith 19" B&W. Sound but no pic.

3. 70s? 12" Sampo B&W. Worked like a charm but could've had the vertical size tweaked.

4. 1979 or 80 RCA Playmate B&W. Worked perfectly.

5. early 80s 5" B&W TV/Radio. Worked perfectly.

Kinda weird how the small B&W sets are the ones still going without needing much repairs while the bigger sets need help. I didn't take any of them home because they weren't what I want.

If they had a roundie or a CTC-48 that would be a different story.

For the most part I think the smaller black and white sets were usually used less frequently...like in the kitchen while cooking dinner, or in the bedroom before falling asleep, etc and suffered less heat-related damage and less CRT use than the larger table or console sets in the living room or dining room, which usually got turned on early in the morning for before-school weather and got kept on through afternoon soaps and prime time before being turned off at bedtime.

Thrift stores are usually not so hot for really old console sets...most of the stuff people bring in is usually just out of recent service. Sets like the round color sets and CTC-48 are usually found at estate sales where everything in the house is being sold, as much of the time these old sets have been retired for years and are stored away in the back of the garage, the basement, etc.