View Full Version : WooHoo!


veg-o-matic
06-06-2005, 09:13 PM
Well. I'm just pleased as punch. :banana:
Many of you know that I've been having trouble with Laura, my Zenith roundie. I took all your suggestions and replaced caps and diodes. Unfortunately, I went from a horrible picture to no picture. Nothing. Nada.
Dang.
Dunno what made me think of it, but I checked the circuit breaker, even though the light in the channel selector came on. There isn't one (breaker), but a previous owner had wired in a fuse. Which was blown. Jumpered across it, fired 'er up and was treated to a nice puff of smoke from my new diodes. Turns out I don't know my anode from a hole in the ground :D
Went back and installed some new ones, the right way this time.
Okay, I had a picture again, but it wasn't an improvement. Long story short, it turned out to be a cap that I thought I had replaced but didn't. Duh.
Anyway, here's a picture of Laura restored to her full Zenith glory. Now, please; let this be the last time for a while!
Oh, and P.S. when I sat down to enjoy some fine TV viewing (haven't seen anything in over a month) I discovered there's nothing on!
Figures.
veg

Steve Hoffman
06-06-2005, 10:29 PM
Congrats! Nice set.

I name my TV's as well; it's a sickness... :)

bgadow
06-06-2005, 10:48 PM
I don't want to jinx things, but I bet now you will have a long trouble free period with this set. Congratulations!

Tony V
06-06-2005, 11:47 PM
Congrats Veg!
See...we told you that you could do it. It might be the bumpy way around the way you fix things but you always come out ok. Thats how we learn and it definately sounds like your trouble shooting skills are getting better going that route. Of course you will always have us here as a back-up. I'm happy as you are with seeing Laura playing in all her glory again. You say theres nothing on but at least you get to watch nothing in that gorgeous "lollypop" color! :nutz: Have you tried to tinker with Troy (the Olympic) again lately? Its a sharp looking tv and havent heard about it in awhile. Good job bud!
-Tony

blue_lateral
06-07-2005, 12:41 AM
congrats veg-o-matic! Great to see that she's alive again. What a beautiful set.

jc

veg-o-matic
06-07-2005, 08:18 AM
Thanks for the comments, guys! I know this is all old hat to most of you, but it's a big huge deal to me. Just the fact that I haven't electrocuted myself is cause for celebration! :banana:

Congrats! Nice set.

I name my TV's as well; it's a sickness... :)

Not a sickness. It's a sign of a creative mind (I keep telling myself...)

My personal "creativity" goes way beyond TVs, though. Yeah, there's Troy the Olympic and Anthony the Heathkit (not to mention Allen the Dumont), but I also have Thor (my car), Cory the percolator, Connie my washer, Mitzi the cellphone, George the dishwasher, Marilyn the stereo...

If I were any more creative, I'd be in a rubber room.

Tony--no, haven't messed with Troy, though after my success with Laura I'm half tempted. I'm not sure if I'm on a roll or if I've used up all my TV luck!

veg

Jeffhs
06-07-2005, 02:32 PM
Thanks for the comments, guys! I know this is all old hat to most of you, but it's a big huge deal to me. Just the fact that I haven't electrocuted myself is cause for celebration! :banana:



Not a sickness. It's a sign of a creative mind (I keep telling myself...)

My personal "creativity" goes way beyond TVs, though. Yeah, there's Troy the Olympic and Anthony the Heathkit (not to mention Allen the Dumont), but I also have Thor (my car), Cory the percolator, Connie my washer, Mitzi the cellphone, George the dishwasher, Marilyn the stereo...

If I were any more creative, I'd be in a rubber room.

Tony--no, haven't messed with Troy, though after my success with Laura I'm half tempted. I'm not sure if I'm on a roll or if I've used up all my TV luck!

veg


Congratulations, veg! It's a great feeling to get one of those old sets working, especially after someone else has given it up for dead. In the late '60s I had an old Zenith b&w 23" console TV I rescued from a neighbor's trash. Someone had filched every tube but the CRT and HV rectifier from it, but I retubed the set--and had a beautiful picture on all three VHF network stations in Cleveland the minute I turned it on after installing the last tube. The set's audio section and speaker (6BN6/6BQ5 audio stage and 6x9 oval speaker with a very heavy magnet) were so good I patched an old FM mono tuner into it--and it sounded great. Unfortunately, I moved about three years later, so this set had to go, along with half a basement full of other old cast-off TVs and radios, many of which I was able to get to work again. I wish I could have held on to the Zenith, especially after all the work I put into it, but...oh, well. I have several old Zenith radios where I live now, one of which is a table model in a wood cabinet, so I guess I'm making up for having to throw out all those TVs 30+ years ago--on a much smaller scale, of course, since I live in an apartment and have no room for any more TVs than I have now (an RCA in the living room and a Zenith in the bedroom). I had a Zenith 12" solid-state portable I bought new in 1978 which I had to give up when I moved here, for just that reason. Had the set 22 years; it was still working when I got rid of it. I saw a small Zenith TV/AM/FM radio (5-inch CRT) on ebay last night and was tempted to bid on it, but I passed it up. It's enough that I have five Zenith radios and several others (transistor portables) of various makes as it is; I can't afford to get hooked on collecting TVs again. Just don't have the room anymore. I suppose I could rent a storage locker somewhere if I decided to take up the hobby again, but now that I think of it, I'll stick to small radios for the time being. I had my fun with collecting old TV sets already, thirty-plus years ago.


BTW, on naming your TVs, appliances, etc. I don't think you'll be put in a rubber room if you keep it up. As long as you keep it to yourself (and us here at AK; believe me, we understand--at least I do) you'll be in the clear. I think the ability to come up with names for your equipment, appliances and such is great. I have an imagination like that myself, only I use it to come up with names for characters (and the cities/towns in which they "live" and in which the story takes place) in a story I'm presently writing.

dewickt
06-07-2005, 02:55 PM
I suppose it's Toothy the tooth brush --- SICK, Demented .......

veg-o-matic
06-07-2005, 03:26 PM
I suppose it's Toothy the tooth brush --- SICK, Demented .......

Hah. That's what you think, Mr. Smartypants.

It's Ed.

:D

dewickt
06-07-2005, 03:37 PM
But I thought Mr. Ed was a horse, of course....

veg-o-matic
06-07-2005, 03:41 PM
Not Mr. Ed. Just Ed. Short for Edwaldo Thuringhill-Buffington.

Why would I brush my teeth with a horse? Sheesh, some people...

:D

Jeffhs
06-07-2005, 11:55 PM
Why would I brush my teeth with a horse? Sheesh, some people...

:D

Man, you have some wild sense of humor! Just what AK needs, and I mean that sincerely. Too many people today are walking the face of this earth with no sense of humor at all, or hardly any. These days, you have to have a sense of humor or else you may well go crazy. I laughed my head off (figuratively speaking, of course) when I read your reply (quoted above) to the other person's response. And why not? The idea of brushing one's teeth with a horse is ridiculous, of course, but in this instance that's what makes the darn thing so funny. Keep 'em coming.

bgadow
06-08-2005, 09:55 AM
Is Ed a vintage tooth brush, maybe a Dr. West's? :)

Never took to naming things, did set up my own little world in a way, with different areas of the yard, neighboring farm & woods being different towns, etc. Mostly it was a state known as "Mardel" with the ditch in front being the Mardel River, Pennsylvania was on the other side, the old tree with a hole in the side, near the driveway ("highway 54") was the entrance to a tunnel under the river...there was Coglysburg, named after William G. Coglys; across the Coglys river was the one-time state capitol, Capitol City; The current capitol is the small town of Templeton City (the garden in front of the house) and on and on. That kept me busy as a kid! Of course, there were radio stations & TV shops...Mom sold that house so I guess I'll never return to that state! Never really set up anything like that here at my house!

Charlie
06-08-2005, 12:34 PM
Veg,

Congrats on getting Laura thru a successful surgery! It's a good feeling knowing that you were able to bring her back to life! Your set makes a really nice picture!

I've got many half-finished tv projects around here... and I haven't touched them since March... seems too many other things going on lately. I need to get my butt out there and finish them, but, I am only going to be home for two more weeks before returning to the ship, and I'm afraid I won't be getting to them till next time I come home. Oh well... they aren't going anywhere!

ceebee23
06-10-2005, 12:25 AM
Mr Veg and Laura ...congratulations....

and as for the anthropomorphism of giving your appliances names ...well the genius locii must be well pleased ...I am sure if Laura was not so well loved she would still be sitting in a corner, dark and lonely!

and betty beta and larry laserdisc say g'day from australia!

drh4683
06-13-2005, 07:41 PM
Veg,

congrats on fixing up old "24MC32"! Now with all caps replaced, that set should last many many hours of trouble free operation.

think how boaring it would be if the sets were to never break down again after a repair!

Just remember: Half the fun of owning old TVs is having an excuse to pull the back cover off to fix it:D

roundscreen
06-13-2005, 07:54 PM
I think you did a wonderful job on the zenith. Nice clean looking set with a bright clear picture. There is nothing like watching a roundie. Have fun!!!

yagosaga
06-14-2005, 01:04 AM
There is nothing like watching a roundie. Have fun!!!
You are alright, I think so too. I have some old tv shows now, Bonanza for example or the first Star Trek films. Watching them on a color roundie is an exciting adventure. And the colors are more beautiful than in the PAL versions we had in the past. Because with an U.S. tv set I can tune the tint control when the color conversion results in greenish freshtones which are fixed with PAL.