Just found this while poking around, looking at abandoned stuff...

http://www.abandonedbutnotforgotten.com/tv_house.htm

The TV looks like a 70s SS RCA set? Anybody care to chime in with a year/model? Somebody walked away from the house and left the TV playing... Weird!

http://www.abandonedbutnotforgotten.com/TV%20House/DSCF6031.JPG

Suppose you left that set on and just walked away...suppose you left it for, say, 20 years. Those were decent sets. The crt would have to be dead, right? Might the rest of the set just keep trucking along?

Goes well with my thread in bw about my great-grandparents house. Abandoned since 1971, roughly. There is still a mailbox in front of the house with their name on it. When they started cleaning it out they had the power turned on. Very surprising that the power company went ahead and did it. Light hadn't been on in perhaps decades, now lit again. The fifties International Harvester refrigerator started cooling. Bottles of Heinz ketchup in a box upstairs, unopened, turned black inside, something apparently ate the labels. In that same village sits a mill, dating to the 1800s. One day in the mid-70s the 90-something miller went home and didn't come back. His hat and his pipe tobacco still sit by the door where he left them. All interesting stuff.

One more: my first "real" job (where they were taking taxes out and all that stuff) was back in 1991. I was told to box up all the merchandise in this little variety store. The place had been closed for, I'd estimate, 10-15 years. Shelves were full of made in Hong Kong stuff. This place was right in a premium spot on the highway. We loaded it on a truck and carried it to an old garage out in, really, the middle of nowhere. They said they were going to reopen the store out there. Their main business was plumbing fixtures, and the whole back of that place on the highway was fully stocked with toilets, showers, etc. I only worked there a week.

Fast forward. They never opened the middle-of-nowhere store, nor did they ever do anything with the place we cleared out. One day a couple years ago I needed a toilet and shower so I visited the old showroom. I don't think anything has moved in or out since 1991. The little old lady who runs the place had all the lights turned off when we got there. It smelled like a locker room in there. In the center of the showroom, with pride, sat a beautiful top-of-the-line Kohler toilet along with a chart showing all the latest 1980 colors. Weird.

Where I work we have some sets/monitors that are never turned off some of them are getting close to 20 years old the key is not driving the CRT hard. It is possible for them to last that long.

I know of some B/W monitors at airports that have been in use mostly 24 hours per day since maybe 1979 or even earlier. One Conrac SNA23 I know has a quite good CRT, even. As 3gun said, keep the contrast and brightness moderate and they last much longer.

Looks cabinet wise like my parent's old 1973 XL-100 but without the pullout control drawer.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=17383&d=1149468230

Regards,

Bart

This looks like a CTC-68, the auxiliary controls are slide controls behind a door next to the channel knobs. I lightened up the photo so you can see it better.

Fast forward. They never opened the middle-of-nowhere store, nor did they ever do anything with the place we cleared out. One day a couple years ago I needed a toilet and shower so I visited the old showroom. I don't think anything has moved in or out since 1991. The little old lady who runs the place had all the lights turned off when we got there.

Life: you don't get out alive...

If the set was solid state, I would bet a fair amount that at least the sound would still be working. Amazing really. They claimed it was playing white noise, so maybe the tuner eventually gave out (unlikely unless it was tubed though). Or maybe it is haunted.

As far as the on-all-the-time mentality, I too feel that if you keep the luminance settings mid-range it will last and last. After all, thats the way it was designed. I have seen a few early-80s computers that were never turned off, still working. Also, I gave away a 1981 Quasar (matsushita) 19" set to my friend when they moved once. I trash-picked two of the same exact sets. One was really burned-in, I mean totally lifeless CRT but still working. I gave them the other one, pretty heavily used, but decent. Well, they left that thing running all day and all night for like 2 years. On when they left for vacation even. (Don't ask why??). Sadly, they threw it away and didn't tell me.

Almost forgot! Tonight I was in a bowling alley in Long Island, NY and they had a row of video arcade machines. Among them was Pac-man, an original as far as I could tell. It was not lit up, and I went to see why. The whole CRT was completely burnt-in, a perfect phosphor burnt rendition of the game. Hope someone could do a tube-swap around there, would be a shame to toss it.

Just found this while poking around, looking at abandoned stuff...

http://www.abandonedbutnotforgotten.com/tv_house.htm

The TV looks like a 70s SS RCA set? Anybody care to chime in with a year/model? Somebody walked away from the house and left the TV playing... Weird!

http://www.abandonedbutnotforgotten.com/TV%20House/DSCF6031.JPG

I guess im not the only AK'er that browses Urban exploration sites. The old state mental hospitals are the creepiest, especially if they left all the equipment in the place.. This hospital even had TV sets in the wall, behind thick glass, that were unaccessible to the patients. In fact, they are nothing but a bare chassis. Can anyone identify it?
http://www.northville-tunnels.com/nrph/h/images/tv.jpg
http://www.northville-tunnels.com/nrph/h/images/P1080005.jpg

I'd have been more concerned about that big blue barrel with the corrosive liquid warning label sitting on top of the set. Great stuff for "dissolving" various things you don't want found...

i have quite a collection of urban exploration sites in my favourites folder.

But i haven't yet seen that hospital with TVs embedded in the walls, can you post a link to this gallery?

Francesco

i have quite a collection of urban exploration sites in my favourites folder.

But i haven't yet seen that hospital with TVs embedded in the walls, can you post a link to this gallery?

Francesco

The hospital was called Northville Regional Psychiactric hospital. Here are a couple of different sites that have galleries on it.

http://www.chiprjones.com/nrph/nrph.htm

http://www.nrph.net/

Also check out the Studebaker plant in Indiana. Very sad.

Very interesting pictures. I've always been curious about what was inside abandoned buildings, but I've never had the guts (or is that too much sense) to go inside.

Now that I live in a place where even a house like that would be worth $500k (or more) it's hard to imagine abandoned houses an more. Has anyone considered the possibility that the TV was turned on recently by another visitor to the house?

That TV chassis is pretty bare. I'm guessing a specially built monitor for use with a closed circuit system. It is spooky!

That TV chassis is pretty bare. I'm guessing a specially built monitor for use with a closed circuit system. It is spooky!
There must have been a main antenna array connected to a VHF tuner and a distribution amplifier that piped the selected program to all of the monitors. That set is in a dayroom of one of the dorms the patients lived in, so im pretty sure it was used for entertainment purposes. I'm guessing that the staff chose the programming, and tuned the channel via a VHF tuner that was placed before the distribution amplifiers?

Someone who lives in michigan should go and try to recover those old sets. They're just going to be destroyed when the place is demolished. It would be great to save a system like that for ETF or another museum, if most of it is still intact. From the looks of the chassis they appear to be custom jobs.
http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/2338/83411052yg4.jpg

There is an abandoned settlement near here, Pressmen's Home. It was the home office of the Pressmen's Union from 1924-69. I've been "urban exploring" thru part of it, & it was spooky & exhilarating-and more than a slight bit dangerous, as I was alone, no-one knew where I was. Any of the rest of you who've ever done this, did you too get the feeling you were being watched the whole time ? Or is that part of the fun ?

No visible power lines, and the power meter cut, but the power was on. That's interesting.

Bill R

The power coming in was probably patched around the disconnected meter by the last person living (squatting?) in the house.

I've been in a few abandoned buildings, but not recently. I don't think there's anything left around here that hasn't been destroyed by developers. I've found some odd stuff in some places.

At the old Melbourne power station the tube PA amps were still intact, but there was no way to get them out of there so I had to leave them behind. The ancient lifts were appeared to be running still, but there was no way I was getting in one.

At a Nubrik brick factory there were many Sanyo 12" B&W portables that had been modified for use as monitors as part of some process control system. Originally they had been mounted in a large control panel, but someone had removed them and scattered them throughout the factory. At the time parts of the site still had power so perhaps someone was watching them. I went back for a later visit when more of the site was accessable. By that time they had all been smashed, vandals love to break CRTs. They'd also destroyed some interesting old computers including a HP-150 touchscreen, a Panasonic JB-300 and a Honeywell Minicomputer.

At a Rocla pipe factory the PABX was tubed, along with some of the process control gear. Once again the vandals has beaten me to it.

At a Vline freight depot one section was full of boxes of clothing marked for some disaster relief effort that were never delivered. In one room someone had spent countless hours weaving packing material into a large mattress and then built a "fort" of printers around it. Whoever did this must have had some way to keep it secure as their area was untouched while the rest of the place was throroughly trashed.

At the VLF park football stadium there was a 3 rack PDP-11 based system that ran the big scoreboard. The terminals had been smashed, but the rest was intact. I removed it over the several days. Carrying down from the fifth floor in pieces wasn't exactly easy. I left a note behind, but no-one ever contacted me so it wasn't missed. I got part of it running again before giving to another collector. There was a single 14" late 70s Rank Arena portable in one room that had been converted into an NTSC monitor for reasons unknown. I was preoccupied with the computer and left it behind. I should have grabbed that one.

The power coming in was probably patched around the disconnected meter by the last person living (squatting?) in the house.

I've been in a few abandoned buildings, but not recently. I don't think there's anything left around here that hasn't been destroyed by developers. I've found some odd stuff in some places.

At the old Melbourne power station the tube PA amps were still intact, but there was no way to get them out of there so I had to leave them behind. The ancient lifts were appeared to be running still, but there was no way I was getting in one.

At a Nubrik brick factory there were many Sanyo 12" B&W portables that had been modified for use as monitors as part of some process control system. Originally they had been mounted in a large control panel, but someone had removed them and scattered them throughout the factory. At the time parts of the site still had power so perhaps someone was watching them. I went back for a later visit when more of the site was accessable. By that time they had all been smashed, vandals love to break CRTs. They'd also destroyed some interesting old computers including a HP-150 touchscreen, a Panasonic JB-300 and a Honeywell Minicomputer.

At a Rocla pipe factory the PABX was tubed, along with some of the process control gear. Once again the vandals has beaten me to it.

At a Vline freight depot one section was full of boxes of clothing marked for some disaster relief effort that were never delivered. In one room someone had spent countless hours weaving packing material into a large mattress and then built a "fort" of printers around it. Whoever did this must have had some way to keep it secure as their area was untouched while the rest of the place was throroughly trashed.

At the VLF park football stadium there was a 3 rack PDP-11 based system that ran the big scoreboard. The terminals had been smashed, but the rest was intact. I removed it over the several days. Carrying down from the fifth floor in pieces wasn't exactly easy. I left a note behind, but no-one ever contacted me so it wasn't missed. I got part of it running again before giving to another collector. There was a single 14" late 70s Rank Arena portable in one room that had been converted into an NTSC monitor for reasons unknown. I was preoccupied with the computer and left it behind. I should have grabbed that one.
Ive seen Altec VOT's in many abandoned theaters on urbex sites. They probably got plowed over like everything else, or destroyed by vandals.

Looks like a Conrac Fleetwood chassis.

Charles

At the Delaware State Fairgrounds, under the clubhouse seating where they have exhibitors, there is a 21" bw tv high on a shelf. At least, the last time I was in there a few years ago it still was. Maybe used in a closed circuit to show the horse races? I would ask about it, but who needs another mid-50s bw set? The fair ends Sat, and I'll be in there-will have to take a look.

http://www.abandonedbutnotforgotten.com/tv_house.htm




Well, I've never been much for housekeeping.... :D

We once had an abandoned fairground here, it closed in the late 80s and in 1996 the fencing was torn down by vandals so i had the opportunity to explore it...

I did the first trip in there on my horse to be able to run away quickly from possible unwelcoming squatters, but there was nobody in there... the place was really a shadow of its former self... i remember being there as a kid when it was still open, there was music, people and life everywhere, and seeing the same place silent, overgrown and dilapidated was sad and spooky at the same time

Vandals had already covered everything with graffitis and everything made of glass was smashed, including the CRTs of the arcade games and a jukebox, the haunted house had been burned down and someone even took the time to mangle the decorative fiberglass plates of some rides...

Anyway, there was still some interesting stuff that had been overlooked by vandals... there were 8-track players and speakers in some kiddie rides, the guts of the Seeburg jukebox, some old PA equipment, and even a rare mid 70s Ansafone reel to reel answering machine in the office building,

The ansafone had a real close call with the vandals, they pulled out the reels and strew the tape all over the place but luckily the machine itself was not damaged.

I decided that it wouldn't have been so unfair to take away stuff that was going to be destroyed anyway... so i came back with my dad and we loaded our car... the ansafone was still working!

What was left of the fairground was torn down in 2002 to make place for a caravan park

Francesco

Looks like a Conrac Fleetwood chassis.

Charles

Youre right about that, right down the wooden CRT supports on the chassis.
http://www.northville-tunnels.com/nrph/h/images/P1080005.jpg
http://www.vintagetvsets.com/images/conrac.jpg