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Old 09-28-2015, 12:17 PM
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DavGoodlin DavGoodlin is offline
Motorola Minion
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: near Strasburg PA
Posts: 3,400
I'm 52 and by age 8, was plugging in stuff found in farmhouse attics, basements and barns of many family members. I often recall waiting until I got sound on a TV, then chickening out before anything scary happened. Pretty soon I had a reputation for getting stuff to work, leading to many gifts of appliances, radios and by age 12, TV sets. After learning that a few new capacitors would KEEP stuff working (more than 5 minutes), it was downhill from there.

Fortunately, we had a house with a huge daylight basement and my parents understood a need for a hobby for a kid who was lousy at sports, with no other talent but accident-free tinkering. It was cold in the winter, often I pulled chassis out and slid many a color console set up two flights of carpeted stairs to my room, never breaking a CRT in the process. Its funny how much care can be taken and brute strength you can muster saving old technology. I also was on the roof often trying to get the perfect array of aluminum to work in an awful location surrounded by densely-wooded hills. Digital has renewed this interest in antennas and Dx'ing with a vengeance.

As a high schooler in Electronics Vo-Tech, I learned to tackle early color set issues using B&K 1077B television analyst, then I was VERY fortunate to work under some senior techs who learned electronics in the service, came home and then made TV repair their business. As they retired, I became a curator of test equipment and parts, mostly tubes

If I ever meet anyone in my area who likes old radios and TV and is younger, they can have plenty of my stuff - free, to pass it along as was done years ago. We do our best work here by matching spare parts with sets in need, and sets in need of homes with new owners
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"When resistors increase in value, they're worthless"
-Dave G

Last edited by DavGoodlin; 09-28-2015 at 12:25 PM.
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