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  #61  
Old 07-05-2018, 02:59 PM
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Electronic M Electronic M is offline
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If you're talking about a 1955 moto 21CT2 like mine that will be an interesting undertaking. They have almost as many bad peaking coils as an RCA CT-100/21CT55 (and nobody has came up with/tried out good subs yet) and at least one is in the chroma osc. (which I suspect may have relation to my color sync issues).

I need to get back to mine. A flu and life kinda stopped me a few months ago...I've been messing with it in the last day or so through the remnants of another flu (what is with all the flus going round here this year?), but currently, I'm more using it to check my round glass CRTs to make sure the one I'm giving up in trade for a 21AXP22 for this set is good, and my other glass tubes are good enough for the sets that need them.
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  #62  
Old 07-05-2018, 08:23 PM
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irext irext is offline
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I like repairing and restoring old TV's for pretty much all the reasons given in this thread. When I was 14 (in the early seventies) I started tinkering with old TV's from the late fifties and early sixties. Most were gifts deemed not worth fixing. I felt a great deal of satisfaction bringing them back from the dead. I didn't really make any money doing this. I just enjoyed the process. I was lucky to have a local retail/repair shop nearby where I bought most of the needed parts ie caps, resistors and valves from. I owe the tech there a debt of gratitude as he guided me on the right track many times and enabled me to hone my diagnostic skills. I ended up doing an apprenticeship in that very shop where I worked installing and repairing color TV's as well as many other electronic consumer items. I also installed antennas and even car radio's. I worked there for 6 years whilst doing an associate diploma of electronics during the evenings. I guess I always knew this would only be a stepping stone for me and I could see the writing on the wall for the servicing industry as sets became cheaper and more reliable in the early eighties. I then started working for the Australian Broadcasting Corp initially as a radio tradesman but quickly advanced to an engineering officer once my course was completed. I worked initially in the TV studio maintenance dept repairing broadcast television equipment. I enjoyed that greatly and worked there for about 5 years until an opportunity to move to the Outside Broadcast section came my way. Thats when the doors really opened. Working on live broadcasts and repairing equipment in the field suited me down to the ground. I worked there for about 26 years and advanced through the system. I now work as a freelance broadcast engineer which now gives me some free time to work on vintage electronics. I love the simplicity of the old gear and the ingenious ways they overcame hurdles to make a device work with the technology of the day. It's very gratifying when you track down a fault and bring life back to an old TV/Radio etc. Also the cabinets were a piece of furniture back then. restoring the cabinet is also part of the fun. People are amazed when they see a 1956 TV working and looking as well as it did 60 years ago. Unfortunately restoreable prospects are nowhere as plentiful in Aus as they appear to be in the States. TV only dates back to 1957 here and color from 1975 so finding worthwhile resto's require a lot of searching and luck. Ebay hasn't helped either as people now want silly money for old TV's and Radio's whereas before they were give aways. I greatly enjoy reading these Forums even though I'm not familiar with the brands the basics are still the same. Pictures of the repair processes really tell a story and the lengths some go to for authenticity is amazing. My hats off to you all.
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  #63  
Old 08-04-2018, 11:03 PM
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KentTeffeteller KentTeffeteller is offline
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I like vintage TV sets and electronics for many reasons. They are reminders of what the USA could manufacture once upon a time, when people paid a lot of their income for them, and when major purchases were expected to last many years, and be repairable when needed. And when quality mattered in what Americans purchased. When we were saner, more rational people, and our economy was best, and when people had decent paying jobs. A time I want to return (and eventually will do so)
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  #64  
Old 08-05-2018, 05:36 PM
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Bill Cahill Bill Cahill is offline
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Smile

I'm still restoring my TV's, radios, record players, and, my Edison phonographs. I love it all. I'm still working on a Symphonic portable rp right now. It's from the fifties....
My favorite is everything I own.

I'm 67 years old.........
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  #65  
Old 08-11-2018, 06:00 PM
Dude111 Dude111 is offline
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God bless you Billy
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  #66  
Old 08-14-2018, 09:30 PM
kramden66 kramden66 is offline
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Like for reasons already stated but here's a good mention , if you have a DVD that's not remastered or not newly remastered it will look fine on an old set , no smear or wax paper over the screen look however if it is remastered some of the old beasts will show lots of detail in the image
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  #67  
Old 08-16-2018, 04:11 AM
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decojoe67 decojoe67 is offline
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I originally was impressed with the look of old radios and the idea that you could actually play and enjoy using them. Later I saw some photos of early TV's was even more impressed. I had no idea TV went so far back. I liked how the early ones had that transitional look from a deco radio cabinet to a deco TV cabinet. Once again, I thought it would be even more fun to be able to use and enjoy one. One, led to two, three, etc. I love the 1946-1950 sets the best. Whatever I watch on them is all the better just for the experience of seeing it playing on an early set. All these years later I still get a kick out of it!
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  #68  
Old 08-21-2018, 10:44 AM
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DavGoodlin DavGoodlin is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by irext View Post
I like repairing and restoring old TV's for pretty much all the reasons given in this thread. When I was 14 (in the early seventies) I started tinkering with old TV's from the late fifties and early sixties. Most were gifts deemed not worth fixing. I felt a great deal of satisfaction bringing them back from the dead. I didn't really make any money doing this. I just enjoyed the process. I was lucky to have a local retail/repair shop nearby where I bought most of the needed parts ie caps, resistors and valves from. I owe the tech there a debt of gratitude as he guided me on the right track many times and enabled me to hone my diagnostic skills. I ended up doing an apprenticeship in that very shop where I worked installing and repairing color TV's as well as many other electronic consumer items. I also installed antennas and even car radio's. I worked there for 6 years whilst doing an associate diploma of electronics during the evenings. I guess I always knew this would only be a stepping stone for me and I could see the writing on the wall for the servicing industry as sets became cheaper and more reliable in the early eighties. I then started working for the Australian Broadcasting Corp initially as a radio tradesman but quickly advanced to an engineering officer once my course was completed. I worked initially in the TV studio maintenance dept repairing broadcast television equipment. I enjoyed that greatly and worked there for about 5 years until an opportunity to move to the Outside Broadcast section came my way. Thats when the doors really opened. Working on live broadcasts and repairing equipment in the field suited me down to the ground. I worked there for about 26 years and advanced through the system. I now work as a freelance broadcast engineer which now gives me some free time to work on vintage electronics. I love the simplicity of the old gear and the ingenious ways they overcame hurdles to make a device work with the technology of the day. It's very gratifying when you track down a fault and bring life back to an old TV/Radio etc. Also the cabinets were a piece of furniture back then. restoring the cabinet is also part of the fun. People are amazed when they see a 1956 TV working and looking as well as it did 60 years ago. Unfortunately restoreable prospects are nowhere as plentiful in Aus as they appear to be in the States. TV only dates back to 1957 here and color from 1975 so finding worthwhile resto's require a lot of searching and luck. Ebay hasn't helped either as people now want silly money for old TV's and Radio's whereas before they were give aways. I greatly enjoy reading these Forums even though I'm not familiar with the brands the basics are still the same. Pictures of the repair processes really tell a story and the lengths some go to for authenticity is amazing. My hats off to you all.
Your story sounds so familiar! I owe my debt of gratitude collectively to the Veterans who learned in the military then much later, patiently taught us what they knew, hoping we would go on to electronic greatnessyet we were happy with restoring the equipment we already had.
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  #69  
Old 08-26-2018, 10:17 AM
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AlanInSitges AlanInSitges is offline
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For me it's a combination of nostalgia for my innocent youth when I worked in a TV repair shop, and an appreciation for the aesthetics and design effort that went into TV's golden age (like 1955-1962). I would love to have one of those Predicta Full Dress consoles, a Miss America, one of the GE Coaxials, or anything similar. Not just to fix and turn on once in a while, but to put in my living room like God intended, preferably right next to a Motorola Three-Channel Stereo console, and use on an occasional basis.

I'm glad to see so many people on this forum. It's a little distressing to think this hobby/interest/expertise might some day fade away, especially looking at the photos of the ETF meeting, swapmeets, etc., and realizing that most of us are not spring chickens. I know we have a couple of young people here, and think we need to do more to encourage them and help the hobby grow.

I ran across a video the other day on YouTube of a kid who got his hands on a Predicta and "restored" it (it was pretty butchered by the time he was finished) but it made me so happy to know that he had the interest and made the effort.
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  #70  
Old 08-26-2018, 07:16 PM
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Jon A. Jon A. is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AlanInSitges View Post
I'm glad to see so many people on this forum. It's a little distressing to think this hobby/interest/expertise might some day fade away, especially looking at the photos of the ETF meeting, swapmeets, etc., and realizing that most of us are not spring chickens. I know we have a couple of young people here, and think we need to do more to encourage them and help the hobby grow.

I ran across a video the other day on YouTube of a kid who got his hands on a Predicta and "restored" it (it was pretty butchered by the time he was finished) but it made me so happy to know that he had the interest and made the effort.
Hopefully that won't be the case. I have seen a few younger people get on board in recent times. As for me, while I'm not exactly young the TV I use everyday is older than I am, and it's an early solid state set.

I'd say that kid in the video got a better start than I did. At least one of my sets didn't survive an early restoration attempt.
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  #71  
Old 08-31-2018, 06:27 PM
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ISawItOnTV ISawItOnTV is offline
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Not really sure. Maybe because of an elderly black neighbor, c. 1961/62.

My little brother and I were caught in a severe summer thunderstorm while we were out roaming the neighborhood (I was around 8, he was 6). During the downpour, "Mr. Webster" (Webster Forbes) yelled to us to get in from the rain storm. As we went in, he was sitting near his TV, which was not on. I asked him if we could watch TV, and he said it didn't work. He said he couldn't afford to get it fixed, and that it didn't matter if it worked or not, he just liked having a TV because most everybody had one.

As I got into "old tvs" years later, I often thought of him and that old non-working TV of his (don't recall what kind it was). I named the Predicta I restored a few years ago after him.
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  #72  
Old 09-19-2018, 10:11 PM
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reeferman reeferman is offline
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They have character.
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  #73  
Old 09-26-2018, 07:33 PM
mbates14 mbates14 is offline
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1. They are part of our legacy, and 2, I want something that LASTS. :-)
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  #74  
Old 10-02-2018, 07:00 PM
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init4fun init4fun is offline
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"Why do you like old TV sets ?"

Cause they're much more fun to play with than old ladies ....
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  #75  
Old 10-03-2018, 01:28 PM
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mr_rye89 mr_rye89 is offline
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I like old TVs because I'm LARPing as a 1960s TV repairman........

Also watching The Andy Griffith Show on a modern TV is dumb

And old color TVs (when fixed up) look like Kodachrome.
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