I am one of the very few folks who collects portable TV's. After the analog shut down will they become paper weights, should I do what this gentleman is doing?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=120174932756&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=002
It's a nos Panasonic CT-101 still in the box. Are you other collectors going to try to sell before the cutoff, after the cutoff or ust keep them anyway. That is probably what I will do, keep the best of each model I have and auction the rest. I ust don't know if to sell now or wait. Any ideas?
Many Thank's
Richard

What percentage of small TVs have been actually used while walking or other true in-motion activity? I still suspect the great majority of portable TV use has been on kitchen counters or other stationary locations. For those locations, it will be easy enough to add a small digital-TV converter box; yes, it will take some more space than the TV alone, but probably not a deal-breaker in most cases. If space or mobility truly is a problem, there will be inexpensive digital portables soon enough. (There are already some for under US$200.)

I have several small portable TVs now, but I learned long ago that life is too short to attempt to watch TV with anything other than a real TV antenna. Yes, I connect my portables to my house antenna. When I am not at home, there are plenty of things to do other than to watch TV... :)

I too collect small screen portables, 5" and under. When I found out that the analog cutoff was really happening, I sold off most of my handheld sets. I kept the 5" portables as many of the ones I have include radios thereby making them still useful in a portable applicaton. Also, 5" sets make good desktop sets when connected to a converter box. The new converters will be about the size of a small paperback book. I wish this were not happening as I like to grab a small set off the shelf and use it outside or anywhere in the house. I have stopped buying collectible sets in this category as they cannot be fully portable except for the radio function. I will lekely keep the sets I have and maybe acquire spare parts units for ones that go into regular service but that's it. From now on, analog only sets will have to be 12" or larger.

It is sad to speculate how many mini and micro TVs will get thrown away when they are no longer "portable".

I agree that folks don't walk around watching their portable TV's but it is neat to hand my CT-101 color CRT TV with no wires to someone who has never seen one before. The usual response is wow! no cable?
I recently bought an Insignia 7.5 inch portable analog/digital portable for $160.00 and the sensitivity is so poor that analog is barely watchable 5 miles from the NBC transmitter site and in digital mode it shows a nice blue screen with a flash of picture and stuttering audio for a few seconds. When hooked up to cable or rabbit ears picture is ok. I want my money back.

I'm not going to get rid of any of mine...No way, Jose !

I have a '78 Panasonic TR-3000P. Mine is a TV/AM/FM combination and has a snap on magnifier. Mine was given to me by my neighbor years ago and all that was wrong with it was a broken connection where the wall wart plug is soldered to the PC board. Mine has a nice picture and it really came in handy during Ivan & Katrina. The build quality of that set is much better than the current $14.95 dollar store specials. I really hate that I wan't be able to just pick it up and watch TV when analog cuts off. It would be nice if they made a converter that was the size of a credit card and ran on two AAA batteries; but, I know that will never happen. The only kind of portable TV's most people want now are the one's that will play DVD's. And, it must be color, of course! I do plan to hang on to mine even after analog goes away. At least I'll be able to use the radio portion.

We collectors need to figure out how to set up low-power VHF TV signals that radiate through our homes, for purposes like this.

Remember VCR Rabbits ? Wonder what ever happened to them ? I turned up my nose at those things back when, boy, I sure do wish I had a few now...

The video quality from the "rabbit" was very poor. I would try a VHF modulator running into a cablevision trunk amplifier to transmit a signal around the house.

Well, there's GOTTA be a way around this nonsense...But like I said, I'm NOT about to dump my TV collection...The Gummint be damned. I have one of them TR-3000Ps, too-One of the 1st sets I bought offa Ebay. Very neat little set.

I imagine that someone will make quasi-legal modulators, like R***** electronics who make small FM stereo transmitters. If it doesn't interfere with a commercial station the FCC isn't too concerned.

I already have a converter. As mentioned, it is the size of a hardback book. For older TVs without video inputs, you also need a RF converter, readily available at Wal Mart, that is also the size of a short hardback book. For non-cable ready TVs you also need the cable-300 ohm transformers. Supprisingly, as of now, these transformers are readily available at Radio Shack, Wal-Mart and Lowes. I say supprisingly as TVs have been cable ready for about 20 years-I keep thinking that these transformers will be hard to come by shortly.

I have this connected to several TVs through splitters with no issues. This includes small portable ones. The big issue is the loss of portablity (as mentioned.)

We collectors need to figure out how to set up low-power VHF TV signals that radiate through our homes, for purposes like this.

A plain old RF modulator attached to a cheap pair of rabbitears covers my entire house and yard.

In another thread, werent there pictures of prototype OTA converters being demonstrated to the FCC? If I recall correctly, they were only about as large as a cable modem and powered by a walwart. If the production models are similar, couldnt they be modified to run off of batteries, and maybe be modified to make them smaller and more portable?

http://65c02.org/images/ak/minidvb.jpg

This is a Telefunken TDR986 DVB set top box. It's the smallest one I have seen (sitting next to a cigarette packet for scale). It's small enough to be mounted inside some portable sets, but you'd still need a modulator for sets without AV inputs. Do they make an ATSC version?

There are no ATSC converters nearly that small yet, but in a year or two I hope to see some. There are ATSC tuners with USB connectors, made for computers, that are smaller than a candy bar.

I have a unit I bought last weekend at a garage sale called a "Princess Walkabout". Its a colour CRT and cassette and radio. If anyone knows anything about her please tell me.........

I have a unit I bought last weekend at a garage sale called a "Princess Walkabout". Its a colour CRT and cassette and radio. If anyone knows anything about her please tell me.........

You may be getting bored with signatures but your Avatar is way cool. Reminds me of my first real bike (had a Honda 50 when I was 15 because of restricted drivers license) In 1973 when I could not buy enough gas to get to and from work, radio station was 24 miles from home (plus I drove a new1973 Camaro LT) I bought a Honda 750. The thing was built like a Swiss watch and I sold it in 1976 for more than I paid for it. I know, off topic, sorry.
Richard.

I have seen the exact set that you have, but I don't have any information on it.

B&W TV/radio/cassette combos are reasonable common around here, I see one at least every couple of weeks. The color ones are a lot rarer. I actually picked up an NEC color TV/radio/cassette combo on Friday. Strangely it's yet another Japanese market set that is completely useless in this country.

I've seen some stranger combo units that I now wish I had grabbed. One was an AIKO 5" Color TV/radio/dual cassette/turntable combo. It was by no means portable so 5" CRT was a bit too small to be practical. The other was a Japanese Sharp 21" TV/Laser disc/8 track cartridge karaoke combo system.

Radio Shack sold (and may still sell) room to room TV transmitters. I have a couple of these and they work ok. They take a composite video and sound input. As with any transmitter, you are locked into the station being transmitted and must go back to the source to change channels.

I will have to try the rabbit ear trick mentioned by fsjonsey.

We collectors need to figure out how to set up low-power VHF TV signals that radiate through our homes, for purposes like this.



This is what I bought, but it looks like UHF only......500 feet ain't bad for $27.99. (although haven't tested it yet.....may wait until 2/17/09!)

http://stores.ebay.com/2FastTodd_UHF-Video-Transmitter-Sender_W0QQcolZ2QQdirZQ2d1QQfsubZ2QQftidZ2QQtZkm

A couple of my friends have those UHF mini-transmitters, and they might work OK except that most old TVs do not have UHF tuners.

I own a couple of cable-TV-type commercial VHF modulators that I am going to experiment with eventually. It will be fun to connect them to ATSC tuners on different channels, add an MATV amplifier and local antenna, and see what I get.

I was really looking for a ch. 2-83 modulator, but since my collection only includes '67-'75 color sets, I kind of wanted UHF anyway.
Now, just got to find me a '64-'66 Roundie that works!

same here :shifty: