Recently, we have seen the results of two long term projects, to recapture memories of the family TV watched during childhood. Good job, John (Sylvania 1-128) and Bill (RCA Victor 6T74) on your sets! :banana::banana::banana:

Got to thinking that "childhood memory" sets might make for an interesting thread... how many of us have performed Herculean tasks to capture memories of sets watched in childhood? Post them up here!
I will start with two actual sets preserved from childhood... my first TV, an RCA 8PT7032*, which IIRC was pretty heavy for a kid to lug around, and a '53 Philco that my wife watched as a child. The third set is another 53 Philco similar to the one that I watched the Saturday cartoon shows on, but not likely the same set** Please pardon the ghosts and snow from our remaining analog low-power VHF station.

*Horiz frequency was way off today so I was unable to get a pix of the set operating.:no:
**But possibly... the set was found in a thrift store in a small town that my brother had moved to... the sets' history is really unknown.:scratch2:

These sets are all un-restored... so for now, I have no great saga of restoration tasks to share.

jr

My site has a short article about the first TV I can remember.

http://antiqueradio.org/MyFirstTV.htm

I'm the cowpoke with the straw hat and cowboy pattern shirt.

http://antiqueradio.org/art/RCAOriginalTV.jpg

Haven't restored one yet because . . . who needs another unremarkable 1950s B/W set?

Phil Nelson

I remember a big ole 24" or so Zenith, when I was curled up on my mama's lap...It had the uber-kewl Little White Dot that stayed on for 30 seconds or so after you turned it off...I ALWAYS ran up to the set & tried to see if I could see what was still goin' on in TeeVee Land, by eyeballin' that dot...I remember the old Zenith also gave off that warm, homey "Toob" smell, that & curled up on my mama's lap w/a pacifier & a blankie, life just didn't no better...Wish I could go back there again....Ain't THAT silly ?!?

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t303/ISXX/ge21t050.jpg


GE 21T050


I waited and searched for what seemed like a very long time before a set like my dad's first (which I recall as the basement set) turned up. I know now I was lucky to find it considering some guys here still seek certain sets after many years.

I will someday do a proper restoration so that I can use it, but it works remarkably well as found...
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t303/ISXX/img_3211_250x184.jpg

It had the uber-kewl Little White Dot that stayed on for 30 seconds or so after you turned it off...I ALWAYS ran up to the set & tried to see if I could see what was still goin' on in TeeVee Land, by eyeballin' that dot...
"They're Here! Go to the light Carol Anne..."

Too bad newer sets don't do that... no more good inspiration for bad dreams! OK, fess up... anybody scared of the dot when you were a kid?:D
jr

Actually, early on I was frightenned of the dot.
Then, it quit showing the dot, and, I go go missing it....
Bill Cahill

I always felt sorry for whoever was on when The Dot happened...Thought they might be hurt or killed...

I connected an electrolytic cap from the brightness line (connected to the grid of the CRT) to the B+ of the power supply of the TV set. That way, when the set is turned off, the B+ collapses, and the charge on the cap pushes the CRT grid way negative to cut it off while the heater cools down. This cap eventually discharges, but slower than the heater cooling down. This avoids the spot on the tube after shut down.

Recently, we have seen the results of two long term projects, to recapture memories of the family TV watched during childhood. Good job, John (Sylvania 1-076) and Bill (RCA Victor 6T74) on your sets! :banana::banana::banana:...

jr

Thanks. It's actually a 1-128. The 1-076 is the one that I took the chassis from to use in the 1-128 console cabinet. I still have to finish the record changer side. I'll do that before I post a complete photo and comparison with the Sam's photo.

John

We had a Magnavox floor model 21" or so, VHF only. Tan to deep brown knobs and a finger fitting tuner knob with a little light at the top to show the station you were on. Gold ring around the tuner for fine tuning, 4 little knobs at the bottom below the speaker. The on-off knob on the left was pull on push off and really sweet feeling well made confident knob. Next to it was the contrast. My mom had all kinds of things to say about the dot including the usual "you'll go blind from it" kinda like Ralphie's mom and the BB gun. I would always run up to turn the tv off and sit there staring into the dot until it was completely gone. Late at night after all the tv stations would sign off (I was the only one still up) I would switch the set on and off and get glimpses of a tiny picture growing or shrinking as the tubes were conducting at less than 100%. The good old days..... Our later 19" B&W sets from Sears, plastic cabinet tube sets also with neato lite-up station indicators also had the "dot" when the set was turned off, but it was short lived. But those sets did have the perfect shrinking picture just before the dot. One was instant on, and you could faintly see the increasing size of the picture as the tube lit up. I guess I always thought the picture shrinked down to the little dot and then fadded away. I use to go back and forth between the orange glow of the tubes and the dot, and saw how the dot faded almost to the second that the tubes light wnet out. My first tv myself was a '59 Emerson Orange metal cabinet VHF only, 16" screen. I picked it up off someones lawn. Stuff was put out for pick up by the town weekly back then, and with care. The worst I ever got back then was some crank would cut the power cord off. Most stuff was set out as if for a garage sale, nothing ever piled up or broken.
Unfortunately mom also had no warm spot for all my tvs when I was a kid. If I had all those sets today! Oh-Boy! If I could have the sets at our BOCES tv repair school Double Oh-Boy! I would be happy till long after I died.

My Orange Emerson shows up on the ebay now and then, the last one I wrote to the seller and he did not fill me with confidence that he knew how to pack the set so it would get here in 4 or less pieces so I passed on it. This tv also had the magic "dot" and it was cool!

The on-off knob on the left was pull on push off and really sweet feeling well made confident knob. ... I would switch the set on and off and get glimpses of a tiny picture growing or shrinking as the tubes were conducting at less than 100%. ... I guess I always thought the picture shrinked down to the little dot and then faded away.

Back in the mid 60's when I was a kid, we had an Admiral bakelite B&W set very similar to this one
http://www.wa2ise.com/radios/admtvbb8.jpg
The volume control and on/off control made a springy sound when switching it on or off (the power transformer buzzed a little upon power on to add to the effect). And when turning it off, the picture would shrink, but the aspect ratio would vary as the vertical and horizontal collapsing at differing and varying rates. As a kid at 10 years old, I thought the springy sound of the on/off switch was caused by or caused directly this collapse. (Well it did, but I though the springy sound had a direct connection vs an incidental effect). But one night the power company had a power failure while we were watching this TV and the picture collapsed the same way even though there was no springy sound. :scratch2:

That's ANOTHER thing about them old TVs..They had REAL knobs that you could turn..And it felt good doing so...None of these teency-tinecy, itty-bitty pushbuttons that give you no feedback to tell you if you did it right or not...Big, meaty, positive CONTROLS to use...Of course, back then, my hands were smaller, & ol' Unca Arthur hadn't come to visit yet, either...

Are you talking about Arthur Itis?
I know him well, alng with his twin Burse Idis!
It's still easier to twist knobs than to push buttons....
Bill Cahill

Are you talking about Arthur Itis?
I know him well, alng with his twin Burse Idis!
It's still easier to twist knobs than to push buttons....
Bill Cahill

Ooooooh, yeah...Good ol' Unca Arthur 'n' Aunty Bersie...Yr favorite relatives who come for a visit, an' then NEVER leave...That's one more thing about them ol' big shortwave boatanchors...THEY all had big, beefy, man-sized knobs...In the case of the EK-07, it has a nice flywheel action to it...And the boatanchors generally used either cast aluminum, or a high grade of buttery-smooth plastic. And they are mounted SECURELY to what ever shaft they're on, feels like you'd have to get a tractor to wring one of 'em off...I honestly think that w/newer el-cheapo consumer grade stuff, you could torque one of the few remaining knobs off easy as pie.

Earliest set I can remember was a Motorola console...16"? It had doors that covered the screen with cool ornate handles. Watched many an episode of Bozo, Howdy Doody and Hoppy on that one. Of course, I still remember that wonderful smell of hot dusty tubes and wax caps. "Bergie" the TV guy had to stop by periodically and keep the Moto running...he had no problem with me shadowing him while he had the back off. "Keep your fingers outta there!" Not long after that my uncle became our TV supplier/repairman. He started a repair shop in Gram & Gramp's basement...paid his way thru the U of MN fixing TVs & radios. He always made sure we had a Hallicrafters 21" table model to watch...my Mom called 'em "beer joint TVs" due to similarly-sized sets residing high up in the corner of most bars. Unc said the Hallis were the best-built sets & easiest to work on.

Some sets had a separate section on the power switch to kill the dot on the
screen when powering down. Of course, if this section failed, the dot would
return. The set in my avatar has that setup and probably failed in that way
at some point, as there is a small burn in the center of the screen.