What do you really do with your sets?
 

I mean of course we use them, but as I collect more and more TVs it seems too often they just sit there. Its not what I want to happen, just that I don't watch much tv, and one is sufficient at a time.

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Nothing is easily accessible at my house, unfortunately. But I always seem to be using TV's in my collection for projects of one type or another. I've been using an old Zenith portable (about 1963ish) for a monitor lately for my hard drive recorder. Its B&W, but its fine for a confidence monitor for such a device, and the on screen text the recorder generates is easily readable. You just have to wait for the tubes to warm up. :thmbsp:

David

Thats the biggest issue with this hobby. Ive heard the line over and over again "why so many you can only watch one, besides they wont be any good in 2009".

I try to display my sets in a nice presentable way, but like any large collection with space limitations, you cant make everything perfect. Some sets end up getting buried in the back. You know its back there, but nobody will ever know what it is. Most of my sets just get "displayed" after they get repaired. I have three designated TVs that are set up for every day use in different rooms of the house. One day I might decide Id like to use a different set as the "main" TV and they get traded out. I'll use whatever set I decide for a few months then go to something else. I can't say every TV gets that kind of treatment though.

Ive got a nice open spot in the basement where I can move a TV into and be able to use it without altering the "main TV area". I guess its like the "featured TV" viewing area.
Yeah, I know it sounds strange but thats the way it goes with a strange hobby.

Hey Doug I don't think its a strange hobby-- just a little 'unconventional'. :D

I try and rotate through a few different tv's too.... even tried using my portacolor in the kitchen but that didnt last long since direct afternoon sunlight washes it out too much.

Right now I'm using my ctc97 as my daily watcher (which I know is sacrilege considering I'm zenith2134) and its all the TV I need at this point. However we both know that it'll get traded out when a bigger or better vintage set passes through. Thats the fun of it for me.

I guess I am one of the fortunate few with lots of space. I work for my brother and he has given me a very nice room with natural maple wood floors that is about 22 by 40 feet. All of my sets are displayed and those that have already been restored are connected and can be watched. I have procured some used closed circuit master antenna components and I will be building an analog antenna feed system on 5 modulated VHS chanels. The system will be fed by 4, D to A converter boxes and a DVD player. The system will be operating on chanels 3,6,8,10,12

The collection is approaching 40 sets now. With the exception of 3 sets (the Halli in my avitar, a 1955 RCA 21", and a SC Chineese) all are Roundies, 6 are color roundies.

Current restoration project is a 1950 Stromberg Carlson TC125 12" porthole.



So much to restore and so little time.

I used to be TV collector, for historical reasons. I preferred rare and unique TV's in excellant condtion.
Every one would say they wanted a certain TV, when I would obtain one, the green that they said they were willing to pay seemed to dematerialize.
There seemed to be an overabundance of hot air in the hobby.
My psychologist told me that TV men sounded like a bunch of weirdos.
My priest and rabbi told me that TV men sounded like weirdos.
My accountant asked me if I was crazy and a weirdo.
I changed my ways after that, I got my collection down to 2 TV's, stopped associating with some of the most experianced electronic minds in the USA.
I no longer go on treasure hunts or flea markets.
My new life consists of healthy habits like gambling, and procurring married women for pleasure.
Who needs to rot in a basement restoring old TV's.

Eberts, I think almost every post i have seen of yours, has been negative towards TV's. I am wondering why you are even here. If i am mistaken, please feel free to correct me in the error of my ways. Logan

Moderators need to watch this one. Read his previous post. We dont need any trouble getting started.

Well I don't know if I am a weirdo or not (sure seems to be a lot of us out there):scratch2:

I don't know if I should get out more or what the heck it is about this hobby that lights the 6LQ6 in my mind but I am glad it is there.

These old sets are many things to those of us who collect them. To me they are history. They are windows into a time when a human being actually put things together with their hands. A time when people took pride in the product they built; often pushing the envelope of technology to do something miraculous like beam a moving image into our homes and our lives.

Not to wax too nostalgic here but while I was just a tyke in 1969, sitting in front of my beautiful CTC-21 seeing man land on the moon...it is something I hardly, if at all really remember but that moment in time came through that set and through those speakers and was a magnet for my family that we all shared together.

I also think of the older 40's and 50's tv's and radios that were parts of so many different people's lives. Some of these radios heard Roosevelt on December 7, 1941. They living history beamed into their very living rooms. They heard and saw incredible moments in time from the Korean war to Uncle Milty to Jack Benny and back again. These wonderful old machines carry the ghosts of those who cherished them and they are very special.

For me, I have many sets in my collection. I have set up my garage to be more like a tv sales showroom and run electricity and antenna to all the sets so I can turn any of them on I wish to view them in all their glory. As they get restored, I hope to be able to turn on more of them.:D

So let em call us weirdos or whatever. They can think (albeit ignorant or misguided minds) Our good old RCA's, Zeniths, Philcos, Crosleys, GEs, Admirals, Hoffmans and all the rest of our so called junk tvs and radios will be playing and bringing history and entertainment into our lives long after this "modern" stuff has made its trip to the landfill.

Just my 2 cents on the subject of this thread and other comments within it.

Roy

I'll have to admit that my daily watcher isn't all that vintage. It's a 1993 GE 25" AV monitor being fed by a DigitalStream 3150plus ATSC receiver. However, I have a sun-room at the front of my house that I keep a vintage TV displayed in and I rotate TVs every so often. Currently my RCA 9-T-246 is in there. Also I keep my RCA G2000 permanently displayed in a corner of my dining room. The rest of the sets reside in my basement in my "shop" area. I'm currently working on a Predicta and am looking forward to finishing it and putting it on display.

Tv collecting is not a detrimental hobby by any means. In fact it is a supreme hobby, since it A) Makes you smarter and B) Means you are a unique and individualistic person who could care less what the masses say, and draw their own conclusions.

More people should find themselves a healthy outlet for their creativity, IMO.

And eberts, just so you know: Tv collectors are not rotting away in some basement. They are simply people who are passionate about pieces of history just how original Constitutionalists and others are. Why must people always pass judgement here? Just get the hell out if you want to stir up trouble...

Matt, bet that G2000 turns a lot of heads in the dining room :thmbsp:

Digital TV isn't as bad as it's cracked up to be for me. I enjoy terrestrial digital via my Zenith DTT900 box on a 1975 GE and digital (QAM) cable into my old RCA.

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With all vintage TVs and radios, it's a good idea to power them up and use all of the controls every month or so. Let everything get up to normal operating temperature and drive out moisture, distribute lubricant on moving parts, etc.

Phil Nelson