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-   -   Show us your vintage color sets! (http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=181)

Rob 06-24-2002 12:33 PM

Show us your vintage color sets!
 
I didn't start collecting vintage color when I first started collecting vintage TV's with round CRT's but the idea popped into my head one day (hey, these have round CRT's too) and I've been collecting them now for about 3 years. I think it is really cool to hear a 40 year old vintage TV crackle back to life and the B&W ones just don't do that unless something is very wrong. :)

The other neat thing I think about the vintage color sets is that much moreso than the B&W's, these are sets that after you restore' em you can actually watch 'em! :D

I just scored a metal cabinet tabletop 1962 RCA CTC-11E yesterday with a practically mint fake wood finish and the untrasonic remote option (rare). Today I'm refinishing a set of screw-in legs salvaged from a coffee table at the dump (local recycling center) and I'm going to have this set standing up, cleaned up and hopefully plugged in today. I'll post a pic later.

I'm sure I and the lurkers out there would love to see what round screen color TV's are in people's collections so how 'bout sharing pics and stories guy's!

Rob

Kamakiri 06-24-2002 03:38 PM

Well, Rob, I have to post pics of my CT-100 color set now. I trash picked a TV with the front "pencil box" cover I needed, and now she's FINALLY looking right! I was excited as hell! The two year plus journey for the cosmetics, at least, is over :)

Rob 06-24-2002 04:50 PM

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Well I just finished doing a quick wash job with the safety glass and bezel out and put the new legs on the CTC-11E. This set's in nice shape. It looks pretty good!

If anyone runs across an ultrasonic remote for a '62 RCA color set please let me know. I need one for this set.

There's a diffraction grating in the color symbol below the picture toob that changes color with the viewing angle. C O O L ! :cool:

Rob

Rob 06-24-2002 04:53 PM

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Well it seems what I thought was a CTC-11 is actually a CTC-10 set, even though mine has a CTC-11 chassis in it. Check this image from the RCA Color Service Handbook. This certainly is my set, just in a different cabinet. This one shown here also has my remote option.

Cool! :cool:

Rob

Rob 06-24-2002 05:10 PM

Tim,

Take a glamour photo of your pride and joy CT-100 for us!

Folk's, this CT-100 of Tim's was never assembled at the Bloomington RCA plant, in fact it didn't exist until Tim assembled it recently in Buffalo, NY. It has been lovingly assembled from many separate parts obtained from far and wide. I'm sure Tim will share the interesting story with us.

Rob

Marlin Mackley 06-24-2002 05:35 PM

Vintage color TV photos
 
Hello folks:
I registered just today after seeing this mentioned in the Antique Radio Forum, and thought why not? I am sorry I do not have a CT-100 to show you, but I do have a Westinghouse H-840CK15. It was a find of a lifetime for me, and proved without a doubt the value of networking. I had always talked about the value of networking, but I had not realized the full potential until last Fall, as a disconnected series of events lead to the find of a lifetime. It started at a 2001 swapfest in St. Charles where I met Peter Yanczer, who was starting a club that focused on early mechanical televisions. I thought, what the hell, and joined, even though I am a CRT tv man. Fast forward to August, at the Experimental Television Society first annual convention. There were about a dozen folks there, and I had an interesting time watching demos of different types of mechanical televisions and cameras. Later some of them came by my place to have a look at my stuff, and even though it was not their field exactly I think they had fun. We talked a good deal on the subject. One guy told me he had seen an old Westinghouse 15” color tv near his home in Virginia. We exchanged e-mail addresses, and about a week later I received an e-mail and photo of the set. It was indeed the 1954 H-840CK15 After an enjoyable week-long trip around the South I came home and set up my 200 plus pound 43 tube (plus the crt) pride of my collection, where I show it to anybody I can drag kicking and screaming into my studio. I have now started networking with several folks who collect the early color sets, and through them now know that mine is one of six known to survive as of this date. Just goes to show ya that it never hurts to get the word out about your hobbies!

To see this monster try http://home.earthlink.net/~marlinmackley and click the link.

By the way, I have a mint pencil box for a CT-100 and I am willing to trade for some knobs I need.

Respectfully submitted by Marlin Mackley

Rob 06-24-2002 07:56 PM

Re: Vintage color TV photos
 
Quote:

Originally posted by Marlin Mackley
Hello folks:
I registered just today after seeing this mentioned in the Antique Radio Forum, and thought why not? I am sorry I do not have a CT-100 to show you, but I do have a Westinghouse H-840CK15...
Respectfully submitted by Marlin Mackley

Marlin,

Welcome aboard our new Vintage TV Forum! Congrat's on finding a copy of the first all electronic color TV to be offered for sale to the public in March of 1954, a full month before RCA was able to launch their better known CT-100. I guess you know that you are now a member of a pretty exclusive club. I also was fortunate to stumble across the requirements of a membership in this tiny fraternity and I am trying to keep an account of how many of these Westinghouses turn up. The number of known survivors is probably closer to 8 now. I'd be interested in knowing the chassis s/n of your set and whether it contains a 15GP22 CRT or a C-73599. The chassis number is on a white rectangular tag at the right rear of the main chassis. It starts with ME 000XXX, the X's being the three digits which mean something. The CRT should have a tag up on the neck somewhere, possibly under the purity coil (the coil closest to small end of the tube). Your grille cloth seemes to have the same weave as the original but is the only one I've seen in a different brown color to the normal grey. This makes me think yours has been stained by a previous owner. Is there any evidence of this you can see?

As for my story, I was searching through one of those free picture ads bargain finder type tabloid newspapers one Sunday morning about 3 years ago and my eyes passed a dark, poorly lit photo of a cabinet that looked like a portable dishwasher. I don't to this day know what made me stop long enough to read the text underneath. I still have the ad, saved for posterity. It read "1954 Westinghouse color TV, G.C. w/service manual. $price. Location. Ph.#."

I knew about the CT-100 but I was not familiar with this set at the time and what I was looking at was a cabinet with closed doors, it didn't look anything at all like a color TV, precious or otherwise. I called the seller immediately and when I asked what CRT it had in it was told 15GP22. That was all the verification I needed to hear! I was so excited by this point I couldn't stop shaking as I quickly had a shower and got in my Safari minivan to drive the merely four hours round trip (this thing was close!) needed to fetch this great piece of treasure.

It was filthy and the entire chassis was coated with a 1/2 inch layer of spider webbing which actually turns out helped preserve the copper plated finish. In my cleaning operation I removed the mumetal shield around the CRT neck to reveal the CRT tag and discovered that I had the developmental precursor to the 15GP22 in my set, the C-73599....Bonus! :cool:

I tried to soft start mine and everything looked great as the speaker started to crackle and the horizontal output stage started to whistle until the gun end of the CRT lit up with a bright pink inside and at that point I knew I was snookered. The CRT was gassy. That is as far as I have taken my electronic restoration. If I can resist temptation and leave the darned thing original, no recapping, nothing I think it will be more valuable way down the road. Pictures of the back and chassis' in my set may be seen here.

http://www.tvhistory.tv/advertising3.htm

I have come to a theory that Westinghouse labs had a stock of the C-73599 CRT's and decided to use them in the first sets out the door. This enabled them to beat RCA which was having trouble getting production capability for 15GP22's on-line. I heard that an attempt to tool up for production of these tubes in the RCA plant in I believe Argentina ended in total failure.


Who would'a figured the first reply post would be from an H840CK15 owner? Is this a high quality forum or what!? :smlove:

Great stories are out there! We'd love to hear them.

Rob

Marlin Mackley 06-25-2002 09:12 AM

westi 15
 
Hi Rob:
Great to hear from you, and glad a few more of these "washing machines" are turning up! My serial number is 5994, which seems awfully high for the limited quantity of these that were made. The one time I had the back off I did not find the CRT number, but when I can break away from a heavy work load I will look again, and put the tester on the tube.
Marlin

Kamakiri 06-25-2002 11:45 AM

That is one beautiful CT!!!!

Is that the original finish? Mine's a lot lighter in color. Wow. Just WOW! :zoom:

Rob 06-25-2002 12:13 PM

Terry,

Welcome to the forum! Thanx for posting those fine pictures of your CT-100. I personally did not believe that the convergence on that set could look as good as that which you have most skillfully obtained. Be sure to put this accomplishment on your professional resume. :)

If you'd like to describe in a few words about your actual chassis restoration I'm sure there would be interest.

Wow, another early poster has shown us the best 15GP22 images we are likely to see. Is this a quality forum or what?! :smlove:

Rob

Don 06-25-2002 06:56 PM

I just sold a 1954 Westinghouse H838KU21B on ebay. That's the extent of vintage tv's for me so far.
Some good pics here ///
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=2108209860

Rob 06-25-2002 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Don
I just sold a 1954 Westinghouse H838KU21B on ebay. That's the extent of vintage tv's for me so far.
Some good pics here ///
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=2108209860

Hi Don,

Thanx for the post. Too bad you had to sell that beauty to someone else. :( Anyhow, seeing your high level of enthusiasm I guess I should start a new thread for monochrome sets, just in case the interest is contageous. :smsex:

Rob

Rob 06-27-2002 01:20 AM

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I just plugged in my 1962 GE after it has sat untouched since I rebuilt the undercarriage for it when I brought it home 2 years ago. This is a real looker I think. A bit of tweaking and it will have a sharp picture. It still has the original 21FBP22. Needs vertical caps though. Great sound. The purity is off too, these sets needed to be manually degaussed once set to rest in their final viewing position.

Rob

Rob 06-27-2002 10:39 AM

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Here's another cabinet view to give you a better idea of the unique styling of this 62' GE.

Rob

Steve Hoffman 06-30-2002 10:34 PM

Just found this place. Neat!

Click on this link and scroll down. You'll see my '64 and '66 RCA sets as posted on my website Forum a while back.

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/sh...&threadid=4274

I love 21" Color sets! You guys have some great ones!


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