Hello from NC

[BelowZero]

Great forum here!

I've been a long time lurker, I think I first found the forum back in '08 and I've really enjoyed the wealth of information here.

I first got interested in old TVs when I was a kid back around 1980, any set full of tubes was for me. I collected a few rather common nonworking sets and I was very interested in learning how they worked but other than changing tubes and replacing fuses I didn't know how to fix them. I got absolutely no support from friends or family, it was always "Your going to electrocute your self kid!" or "Those TVs aren't worth fixing" or "Those old vacuum tube TVs weren't any good when they were new, save your money and buy a nice modern set." Discouraged with the old TVs I got into tube radios and I've really enjoyed working on and listing to them over the years, I have a few 1920's and early 30's radios and a National NC200 and Hammarlund HQ 129X communications receivers, but the love of early TVs has never left.

I would like to have a DuMont or Stromburg-Carlson or a early RCA, but what I have is a 1955 21" Bendix and a pair of '58 and '59 14" RCA portables that I'm working on now. The Bendix is a typical boring 21" set but it's been a great training ground, straight forward and easy to work on, it's the first nonworking TV I was able to fix, yeah it has a few bugs I need to go back and fix but I've put it in my bedroom and I'm enjoying the heck out of it watching 50's TV shows and movies every night!

I've got to give out a big thanks to this forum for getting me interested in vintage TV again!
Mark H