G'day all.

As I understand when the RCA TK-10 and TK-30 image orthicon cameras were introduced in the latter half of 1946, they pretty much were bought like hotcakes by stations all over America between 1946 and 1948 due to their greatly superior quality pictures.

Britain and European countries on the other hand continued to use iconoscope/orthicon type cameras well into the 50s, BBC used their 1936 EMI emitron tube cameras well into the 50s, stations also used CPS emitron cameras which were an improved version of the orthicon. And there were the midget iconoscope type tube cameras like the PYE photicon/pesticon used into the 50s.

Anyhow I am curious however, when were studio/remote iconoscope cameras completely phased out in USA and which station(s) were the last to use them before switching to image orthicon? I also ask the same question about the orthicon cameras that came on the scene in the early 40s?

Probably PBS(then called NET) affiliates, college and community stations. The early television museum in Ohio has a field van from a NET station and much of the equip that they were using in the 60's and 70's was late 40's gear that was donated by other stations. There was a great video shot of crew from that station recalling the experience at a convention a few years back. I believe they called the place the only the place "the worlds only operating TV broadcasting museum" back when it was on the air....Much of the equipment was older than the teen age crew members!

I'm still chuckling over the fact that someone actually named a tube "pesticon"....

And even after broadcast stations switched to image orthicon for their studio cameras, early film chains (RCA's TK-20 comes to mind) used iconoscopes, well into the mid-1950's when the vidicon TK-21 came on the market (followed by the color TK-26).

How about the early UHF affiliates of the "Busted Budget Broadcasting Corporation"? I'm specifically referring to the ones which succumbed to economic euthanasia before serious power (often on bigger towers) and cable carriage saved them from themselves. Growing up in the D.C. area, I fondly remember WOOK-TV (later WFAN-TV), channel 14 being of this genre...