desires to know who owned these TV's, radio's, etc. along with any stories about them or that surrounded them? I am watching a great and beautiful PBS TV special called: "The Canteen Spirit" which is about a train stop in North Platte, Nebraska where by accident the town's people started a huge effort to make an incredibly special moment happen for all the soldiers who passed through on their way to war from December 25,'41 to April 1,'46. They show people then and now telling of everything and 60 years after it happened they take some of those amazing people back to revisit. A ten minute stop allowed those dearly wonderful soldiers and volunteers to experience moments that bring tears to their eyes and mine 60 years later. To see those beautiful souls in the fresh photos and films makes me long to have any contact with any of them before they are gone forever. This is the primary reason that I love TV's and all who help bring such images and info to those of us who appreciate the past and everybody who made it possible for us to have all we have today. I could use any new TV to get the presentations but seeing the same images exactly as they were seen by the people I love makes the experience even more special to me. So, I thought of a TV I have from Omaha that somebody from the past bought new and took such good care of it. I just wish I could learn anything about the owner as well as I like to know about everybody to appreciate them as I believe most people wish not to be forgotten. I feel a strong sense of owing many people and I hope to become better able to do all I can to repay in any way possible.

No, you're not the only one, I've often wondered about the previous owners. Especially those sets and other things that give off "wierd vibes"

i think all of us feel the same way.mark is more dedicated to the history than any other person i have met in my 60+ years.the stories behind the sets are almost as fascinating as the the tvs there selves.i learned where my ctc-9 came from originally.it is interesting.it makes for good conversation.

A little off-topic, but still related...One of my R-390As is a 1955 contract Collins radio. Collins was the outfit that designed these wonderful machines in the 1st place, yet they actually made very few of them-most were made by the other some dozen contractors. Anyhow, '55 was the 1st real year of production. When I got this radio, it was in pristine shape, yet it didn't work-but if you know anything about R-390As, that is NOT a big deal. It LOOKED to my untrained eye to be all-original-all the modules looked to have been with the radio for all of its life, & there didn't appear to be any hacking or repairs, which is VERY unusual. I sent it off to Rick Mish, who is one of the "Gurus" of the R-390A world. He called me back excitedly & offered me $5K or 2 of his museum-class restoration jobs for this set, as he said I DID have a pristine 1955 Collins, w/Collins modules. The problem w/it turned out to be very minor. He asked me if I knew anything about it, I told him I bought-stole, really-it from Fair Radio Sales, & they'd gotten it locally. We figured it MIGHT have come out of some laboratory at Wright-Pat, or was some big shot's personal baby-even the front panel was unmarked, which NEVER happens in R-390As this old. In any event, it had NOT seen the usual level of wear, tear & abuse these guys were usually subjected to. Rick also said this radio had an extremely accurate VFO, more like frequency-counter territory than a radio, which led him to surmise this bad boy was a lab rat at some point. Yeah, I sure do wish these old veterans could talk-What stories they could tell !

Every set in my collection, radio, tv, even if it's a junker, gets an index card. On it I write make/model/description-and then I write where I got it and any other information I know about the set and its history. In some cases I need to type up a seperate sheet to put with the set. The real "keepers" in my collection are those sets that belonged to someone I know. It's important to write these things down-memories all have limits, and when we are gone nobody will ever know these things.

Somewhat related: I have written a brief history on many of the local TV shops. In some cases I have pictures and first hand information; with others I just have a name. I really, really need to force myself to do this up right and actually sit down with folks and do interviews. I can invision a small book of sorts that could be placed in local libraries. Maybe nobody else will find it interesting, but the TV repair industry has nearly left us, and if I don't document it, who will?

I used to keep track of the history of my sets, but the collection grew in the 80s until I had about 300 sets. By then I lost track of most of the histories, then it waned during the 90s to now about a dozen sets. I still have 3 that I got in the mid/late 70s when I was 9 or 10 years old, which are "keepers". I know the history on those, but the owners have long-since passed away. All 3 I got from their original owners.

Charles

Somewhat related: I have written a brief history on many of the local TV shops. In some cases I have pictures and first hand information; with others I just have a name. I really, really need to force myself to do this up right and actually sit down with folks and do interviews. I can invision a small book of sorts that could be placed in local libraries. Maybe nobody else will find it interesting, but the TV repair industry has nearly left us, and if I don't document it, who will?

Spin it as a story of days-gone-by, discuss the social aspects and include lots of entertaining anecdotes and I could see this selling very well. Good luck with it, I hope you write it some day.

Maybe nobody else will find it interesting, but the TV repair industry has nearly left us, and if I don't document it, who will?

One of our local newpaper columnists thought so:
http://hamptonroads.com/2008/02/television-repair-shops-picture-looking-dim

Cheers,

The thing I hate to see go is all the collective body of knowlege that is fast dying off. Having hung around mechanics & electricians all my life, I marvelled at all the little tricks thse guys used to fix things-the kind of stuff that NEVER gets put down in any book, save for a few cryptic "henscratches" in a greasy shirtpocket notebook. Newer, younger guys, if they can't look it up on one of these damthings, lots of times they're stumped. We had an old electrician, Charlie, who carried a lightbulb w/2 leads, a pair of Klein pliers, & a couple of screwdrivers, that was about it, but he could fix about ANYTHING. Man, I'd give my eyeteeth to know what he's FORGOT about stuff...Much less what he knows...

One of our local newpaper columnists thought so:
http://hamptonroads.com/2008/02/television-repair-shops-picture-looking-dim

Cheers,

I'm glad somebody besides us is taking notice. I can remember a time when this town was loaded with TV repair shops and every one of them stayed busy. I think there are 3 left now. From what I hear, two of them only work on big screen, plasma, LCD, and other "new technology" sets and make most of their money on high $ check out fees. There is one shop that still takes in regular CRT TV's; but, he's not doing near the business that he once was. I rarely ever see anything older than 2000 in his shop. All of the real "old school" shops from around here were gone by the late '90's, most by the mid '90's. The owners either died or read the writing on the wall. A friend (who is now deceased) once told me that he saw the direction TV repair was going in the early '70's, when he closed up shop.

It used to fascinate me to walk in a TV shop and see all the various TV's sitting around. Old, new, solid state, tube type, B&W, color - people would still pay to have them fixed back in the late '80's to early '90's.

Concerning the article, I can relate to parts being easier to find for older equipment than modern sets. I currently have two Orion sets in my possession that need the 2SK2633 MOSFET in the power supply. I had to check with several places before I found someone that had it. I've junked later model TV's because the part was NLA are too expensive. Once, I tried to get service info on a late model 32" Advent TV. The company wouldn't sell it to me because I "was not an authorized repair center."

The fact is that companies don't want customers repairing their sets. That would cut into new set sales. The companies want you to keep "coming back for more" of their crap every few years.

The thing I hate to see go is all the collective body of knowlege that is fast dying off. Having hung around mechanics & electricians all my life, I marvelled at all the little tricks thse guys used to fix things-the kind of stuff that NEVER gets put down in any book, save for a few cryptic "henscratches" in a greasy shirtpocket notebook. Newer, younger guys, if they can't look it up on one of these damthings, lots of times they're stumped. We had an old electrician, Charlie, who carried a lightbulb w/2 leads, a pair of Klein pliers, & a couple of screwdrivers, that was about it, but he could fix about ANYTHING. Man, I'd give my eyeteeth to know what he's FORGOT about stuff...Much less what he knows...

I had a friend who was in the TV/radio business from the '40's through the early '70's and as long as he had his Eico 232 VTVM, he could fix most any tube radio or TV that you sat in front of him. There was no internet, no "help line", etc. back then. For the most part, the technicians either figured it out on their own or it didn't get fixed. He closed up shop in the early '70's because his health was failing and he saw the downward direction of the TV repair industry. He also started seeing solid state sets replacing tube sets and he didn't care to learn solid state.

Now, many "technicians" (not just TV) would be lost if they didn't have the internet, etc. to help them along. I'll admit that I've used information on the internet to get me out of a bind; but, I like to try and fix the problem before I go to outside help. I think many of these modern "techs" make most of their money on high up front check out fees. Then , your set sits in the same spot for months untouched.

If I was a veteran repairman back then, I wouldn't care to learn solid state either. Tube gear was considerably heftier and easier to work on at that time. I don't know many people who would prefer to work on a circuit board versus a point-to-point tube chassis set. But, these days just TRY to get a tube set repaired. I have been laughed at a few times asking about tube sets in repairshops.

Certainly is a dying profession, unless you focus on PCs and cell phones exclusively. Installations can also be decent, I hear. But to rely on customers having sets repaired? Good luck, unfortunately. And then you have the people who want their 3 year old Plasma repaired, but thats easier said than done.

A very wise senior citizen near my place was closing his AV shop after roughly 45 years of service in 2005. He had stacks of cool audio gear, test equipment, parts, TVs, etc. I gave him my Pioneer SX-838 stereo to get the dial string restrung. Figured its a bitch of a job, and he could use the work. He couldn't locate a source for dial string. Neither could I, on the internet. Anyway, a week later I called to pick up the unit and learned he had passed on. I went to the shop and the new owners had paid to get the entire shop hauled away, except for the pile with pending repairs for customers. (its now a flower store ugh) I'm talking, EICO, Fisher, Scott, Marantz gear. All gone. One set was left. It was a 1990's RCA console, one of the ones that looks much older than it is. The owner wanted to keep it since it worked. I took it from them after an argument and gave it to a friend who needed a TV. :thumbsdn:

Back when there were TV shops on every corner, color TVs cost $500 while new cars cost $3000, a 1/6 ratio. Now you can get a good flat screen for $1000, while an average car cost $20000 or more(1/20 ratio). This is one reason that TV shops are a dying breed.

Also, back in those days, the TVs were very basic, with a tube or transistor doing only one function, fairly easy to service. Now you have million transistor integrated circuits doing many functions, making the electronics much more capable, but limiting service. TV repair shops are just becoming obsolete.

As far as things being throw-away, this should at least be changed so that things are re-cyclable. There is a limited amount of resources in the world and a limited amount of landfile space.

When i find an old TV, I wonder about what it's displayed in its lifetime. What great or awful images have graced its screen? What news events did it display? It's one of life's mysteries.

Speaking of sets with histories, does anyone remember Armand Hammer,
of US-USSR business fame, who owned a trio of color sets that had once
belonged to president Johnson? IIRC, I read a story about this in Life many
years ago.

Back in the '90's, I could often fix those older TV's without a schematic. It might have taken me a little longer; but, I could do it. On a modern set, unless it's a blown fuse or shorted rectifier, you will almost always need service information.

And it rarely is! Damn ICs always fail...hard to remove surfacemount stuff too....

MRX37, I always wonder about that kind of thing when I get used stuff. For instance, I recently got a new turntable, and the fist album played on it was The Mason Williams Phonograph Record.

But who the hell knows what the first song my Fisher 500-c played?! I'm the third owner AFAIK.

And the TVs....well, when you come across a busted-up 1950s tv, you wonder what the LAST thing it displayed was before it broke.

I've got some radio station turntables and I'd love to hear (or own) all the records that were played on those TT's back in the day.

Another thing I've wondered is how the gear feels with me as its new owner :scratch2::D

When I bought my Kenwood stuff, the lady I found through craigslist said it was her late husband's stuff. She offered me a collection of big band and folk records (which he played on it I assume) but I declined as I don't listen to that stuff much.

Now I use it to play 80s alternative and metal. Talk about a change of pace!!

Hehehehehe...Yeah, an' my R-390s & EK-07...Defending the Free World against Godless Communism one day, then DXing fleapower redneck backwoods preacher stations outta Kentucky the next...(grin)

One of the most prized sets in my collection is a 15" roundtube BW RCA; it was bought new by my great-grandparents. I got one super story out of my aunt: she was visiting her grandmother the day we landed on the moon; they watched it on that set. My great-grandmother's comment: "I thought heaven was there, but I guess I was wrong." Thing is, without that story attached to it, without that background, it's just another old TV set, right?

I really enjoy finding information on the people who owned my sets. Most sets being from local estate sales, I can find peoples names somewhere in the house if I look good enough like on a suit case or bowling ball bag. Sometimes you find a box of bills and paperwork from 1963 in the basement......
If I find some of that stuff, I take a peice of it and keep it with the set. I was very fortunate to find photos taken of a motorola color TV I found last year in Chicago. It was the only way I could get an idea what the TV was like new and what the environment was like.
When I find a set, I write down in my notebook the make model etc. and where it came from, and the owners name. Sometimes you can't find a clue as to the owners name in the house. In that case you just go to whitepages.com and type in the address and most of the time you are givin a name. Also, Im interested in what kind of life the owners had. By looking around at an estate sale, you'll sometimes find all kinds of books and paperwork especially interesting to me if the man was an engineer of some kind. I love looking at old hand made mechanical drawings. I also enjoy looking at all the WWII photos as you see those in almost every sale which is sad.... Anyway, I like to know how old they were too. Most of the time the original owners have passed on when you go to their estate. Ive found most owners of the sets Ive found were born between 1913-1920, even to this day, which I find very interesting. For me, going to estate sales is a good way of seeing what the past generations were about, even if there is a TV or not.

I would agree-I've been to a couple sales where the owner had been in engineering, in one case with Ashland Oil, another with DuPont. I really wished I could have met these gentlemen-at least I was able to save some of their cherished possessions.

I, too, often wonder what news broadcasts passed through the tuners of my sets, or what shows were watched on them and by whom. I remember the family TV growing up and watching cartoons on it in the morning before school - or everybody making a big bowl of popcorn and settling in to watch "Attack of the Mushroom People" with the lights out. I've got a few sets in my collection that I have knowledge of their history, and that knowledge makes using those sets more of an experience.

I had the good fortune of meeting the owner of both of my Admiral sets; the older one (in the avatar) originally belonged to his mother and was her first color television, and the other one was his first color set. He told me of replacing the flyback in his set back in the early 80's and had all of the literature to go along with it. When I got his mother's set working I sent an email with a picture; he was very pleased to see the set running again all these years later.

The GE AA-chassis set that I have was my grandparents' kitchen TV for a long time, and I can remember it always on before Saturday dinner. It's in my living room now, plugged into a DTV converter, and gets watched almost every day. Dad gave it back to me after it quit working on him and I told him I remembered it growing up.

-Jim

I wonder too who owned the equipment before me, what radio stations they listened to, why did they part with the set.

The only TV I have with known history is a 25" Wells-Gardner built Truetone color console from the early '70's. There's a thread about that set on here somewhere. The people that owned it kept me during the day when I was 2-4 years old. The only thing I wanted to play with was that old TV. I didn't wan't anything to do with the other kids, the toys, or anything. I just wanted to mess with the TV. The lady's hubby would often get upset when he'd come home from work and turn on the TV, just to have to re-adjust all the controls behind me. That was 26+ years ago and that couple finally gave me that TV earlier this year. They said they started to throw it away 20 years ago; but, decided to save it and give it back to me. I guess you might say that TV sparked my interest in electronics. I hope to get it going one day. Even if I can't fix it, it's not going anywhere.

I've also got a '59 or '60 Magnavox console stereo that was given to me by an elderly couple that never had children and were very nice to me when I was growing up. I think they looked at me like the child they never had. They were married 73 years (many marriages today would be doing good to last 73 months) and her husband recently passed away. I don't think they would have given that stereo to just anyone. They gave it to me because they thought a lot of me and knew I'd appreciate it. It currently sits in my bedroom and it's not going anywhere, either.

There's also a late '60's beat up Zenith AM/FM solid state radio that sat on top of my deceased Uncle's refrigerator for years. You guessed it. It stays here as well.

Now, had there not been personal history involved with these three items, they would have probably gotten parted out, sold, or given away a long time ago. Owning these vintage pieces that we collect is great; but, it's even more special when you have history to go along with it.

I once found a 1964 Uher 4000 Report-S tape recorder in a junkyard, it was inside a suitcase along with its power supply, a microphone, and several tapes...

The tapes were packed with pop/rock/country songs recorded off a Swedish radio station in late 1972... a real time capsule... i was 12 yrs old back then and this was so fascinating to me... now i'm 29 but everytime i listen to those tapes again i still enjoy it like the first time!

This also got me started on 70s country-rock

When i find an old TV, I wonder about what it's displayed in its lifetime. What great or awful images have graced its screen? What news events did it display? It's one of life's mysteries.

I know I wonder about things like that too. I even think about the 1982 Zenith I have where it displayed everything from Ronald Reagan's "Evil Empire" Speech, The A-Team to the fall of the Berlin Wall, 9-11, to the political conventions now. Olympics, I watched the Olympics on it from the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Games to the recent 2008 Beijing Summer games. Heck, it seems like a different world when we got the Zenith. I was 16 when we got it, I'm 42 now.

I once found a 1964 Uher 4000 Report-S tape recorder in a junkyard, it was inside a suitcase along with its power supply, a microphone, and several tapes...

The tapes were packed with pop/rock/country songs recorded off a Swedish radio station in late 1972... a real time capsule... i was 12 yrs old back then and this was so fascinating to me... now i'm 29 but everytime i listen to those tapes again i still enjoy it like the first time!

This also got me started on 70s country-rock

I've heard lots of stories like that where people come across tapes that were going to be thrown out only that there is a lot of history on them. Myself, I have a Sony Tapecorder 600 of similar vintage and my parents taped off the TV shows like the old CBS "This is Barbra" (Streisand) show in 1965 and one Frank Sinatra Special from November of 1968. Once I clean up some things I might dub them to disc.

BTW, noticed you are a slave to your pets, your 3 horses, as you can see my tagline, I'm a slave to 5 cats. I had 4 cats with my on my bed, tough to sleep, plus a few times, Pixie, my 16 year old black cat wakes me up and likes to lay on top of me, then my 1 year old cat, Rascal, he wakes me up and so on. My 16 year old and 1 year old like to chase each other.

actually, i'm slave to 2 horses and a mule... it's sometimes tough to sleep with them in the backyard right out of my window too! especially when the mule goes hee-haw in the middle of the night :dammit:

1) Yes I remember Armand Hammer

2) We have a shop in the Everett WA area that seems to do decent business refurbing plasma and LCD sets for another local liquidation store. They sell very high end stuff for about 1/2 to 3/4 of the Best Buy price. They also warrranty the sets for 90 days, and you can purchase insurance.