It's that time of year again! The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and it's the start of all the "spring clean-up / bulk trash" days held in many of the local communities over the next several weeks. Not a lot of finds yet, but here's two TV-related items I've picked up off the curb the past two days.

One: A Zenith 17" Chromacolor II with ultrasonic Space Command (see photos). The original remote was sitting right there next to it too! This is the first Zenith Space Command portable I've encountered in a looong time that uses the mechanical-type ultrasonic remote. Nice 70's styling too! Works well, but at first the color cut in and out intermittently. Removing the back, I found the luminance module was partially loose, so I clipped it back into place. The chroma module appeared to be seated properly, but I reseated it anyway. The color intermittent seems to be gone though. The remote functions work great, but the 'kicker' for the On/Off button doesn't "reset" properly when you release the button (it can be made to 'reset' with a small screwdriver though), so that needs to be fixed. Question: are there any special "gotchas" when working with these mechanical Space Command remotes? (i.e. springs that will go flying off, or levers that will flip/rotate/fall off if you aren't careful?)

Two: Believe it or not, a 24AUP4 B&W CRT. Actually, what I found was a late-50's looking Magnavox console TV cabinet that someone else had already mostly gutted out. They left the CRT in the cabinet though, and that was fine, since at least I could (hopefully) use it as a replacement for the one in an RCA console I got recently that's got a dud CRT. It's not exactly often you get a chance at a 24" B&W CRT, in any case! ...So I got the tools out of the trunk, turned the Magnavox cabinet on its face, removed the CRT from the cabinet right there, and left the now-almost-empty cabinet on the curb (sorry guys...) Haven't been able to test the CRT's condition yet though, since its socket is loose and needs to be re-threaded first.

In any case, these bulk-trash days can be rather facinating..! It's really interesting to see what sort of stuff people are throwing out-- and what sorts of stuff passers-by are actually stopping to load into their vehicles... :)

I used to love bulk trash weeks when I lived in PA. Being a student, I had the time to drive around for a couple of hours every day of trash week.

Most people seem to realize that people like to pick up usable stuff. It's not unusual to see remotes with TVs and even signs that say whether or not it works. Occasionally you see a selfish person who puts a "do not touch" sign on their trash pile, but that's rare. It's amazing what people throw away. There really should be a system setup to get this stuff to where it can be reused. I got both my round color sets, 2 sets of Bose 901s, a 14" 50's RCA portable, enough working air conditioners for the entire extended family and lots of other good things over the years.

My best ever find was probably an old organ with approximately 75 Amperex 'bugle boy' 12AU7s in it. I couldn't take the organ, but the tubes were worth about $20 each on eaby!

Some people really look down on those who drive around, but I guess they don't know how good some of the stuff is. They act like a perfectly good TV suddenly becomes tainted the second it's placed at the side of the road.

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much worth finding at the side of the road in CA. At least the weather is nicer.

Most people seem to realize that people like to pick up usable stuff. It's not unusual to see remotes with TVs and even signs that say whether or not it works. Occasionally you see a selfish person who puts a "do not touch" sign on their trash pile, but that's rare.
I've never seen a sign on a trash pile that said "do not touch", but I've had it yelled at me from porches and front doors many times over the years. I think it comes from the "I'd rather throw it away than give it to someone else" mentality. I guess these folk figure it was their money that bought it originally, and since they can get anything else out of it, they don't want anyone else to have it either.

Anyone that has ever told me "hands off" a trash pile has been politely told to go pound sand up their a**. I will also explain that once it hits the sidewalk, it's fair game, and if they wish to save it for the trashman, they should carry it from thier domicile to the truck when it arrives.

Most folks will just stand there with their mouths hanging open once I give em' my whatfor!

I studied in Germany for a year. One day a month was "Sparemuell" day- literally extra waste day. It was when you were supposed to toss out stuff like old tvs and furniture. It was a bonanza for the pack rat. An Italian friend of mine went wild one night and brought in 10 functional tvs. He gave them away to all of us poor students. An old b&w Philips. Perfect for a student's budget.

If any of you collectors want European tvs, plan your vacations accordingly.

I wish they still did this around my house. My city went from yearly "bulk trash days" (talk about happy hunting grounds! I picked up a working Pioneer SX-450 receiver, and passed up [JACKASS!] a Dynaco ST-70 amp) to where you now make a phone call to the city-designated hauler for an appointment to pick up yer junk:(. Boo. Hiss.
Tom

I've never seen a sign on a trash pile that said "do not touch", but I've had it yelled at me from porches and front doors many times over the years. I think it comes from the "I'd rather throw it away than give it to someone else" mentality. I guess these folk figure it was their money that bought it originally, and since they can get anything else out of it, they don't want anyone else to have it either.

Anyone that has ever told me "hands off" a trash pile has been politely told to go pound sand up their a**. I will also explain that once it hits the sidewalk, it's fair game, and if they wish to save it for the trashman, they should carry it from thier domicile to the truck when it arrives.

Most folks will just stand there with their mouths hanging open once I give em' my whatfor!

My M.O. is to go ring the doorbell, and say "Hi; is that TV out for the Salvation Army, or may I buy it from you?" The response is usually "It's in the trash, and I would be happy if you make it go away". Or occasionally the person will think for a second and say "I was going to sell it at a (probably a lie) garage sale next weekend, but if you want it now you can have it for $10". In any case, this avoids any yelling or police-calling. The human mind wants to be in control. By just picking up the TV, you have denied the former owner any control. By my method, you volunteer the control back to them and put them in a friendly mode (usually).

Charles

I've never had any yell at me when I picked something up. On the rare occasions when someone sees me, they've always been delegated that someone could use what they were throwing away. Sometimes they even offer me other things they wanted to get rid of.

I usually don't ask if it's obvious it's trash, but if there's any doubt I knock on the door.

A few months ago, I was trolling trash when I found a Kirby Generation III vacuum cleaner with all the attachments sitting on the curb infront of a home. I slammed on the brakes and went back and got it. The previous owner stood at the door and just watched me pick it up, and didnt even wave back when I smiled and waved at them.

The kicker was when I got it home. I opened the car trunk and got the smell of dogs**t instantly. Guess what they used it for? Anyway, I washed the bag and scrubbed the parts out and it is now quite presentable as a very nice example of a $1500 vacuum, and I use it daily. Only have had to replace the fan impeller. It runs and smells like new. Good thing I can stand the stench! I would have dropped it off somewhere else if I couldn't!

I got a cute little RCA B/W 17" tube set a couple of years ago. It works just fine after I dried it out.

In the 30 or soyears I have been routing(including long before I could drive, where I routed on foot, by bicycle, or had someone drive me) I have been threatened with arrest, chased, and even been threatened with a GUN, by one WOMAN!!, for "curb shopping".

As for the pigs(yes I DID say that, as that is how I have been treated by most of them!!) I have been searched personally, had my car searched more than once, and wanrned that I could be charged with THEFT by one pig in Mt. Healthy, who could finid nothing better to do than call FIVE of his buddies in to harass and question me, a "hardened criminal, "(that is how they made it seem anyway), and finally, allowed me back to my car, and they all LAUGHED about things, and gave me a $74 dollar ticket for NO front plate, as that is ALL they could charge me with!!

Has ANY of that stopped me from my "shopping" trips?? Heck NO!! I do not route much in Mt. Healthy, though. Most of the time in other communities when the police see me, they just go about their business and leave me alone. But not those pigs in Mt. Healthy, Middletown or Morrow!! (in 1987, I had one play that same game with me, and finally admit that i was "not doing anything illegal", before he let me go.) Nonetheless, I continue to take my chances, as there is WAY too much good stuff out there, too often, to pass up!!

I remember when collecting TV's from the trash during large item pickup in Ohio...you could get a lot the night before but often people didn't put stuff out till the morning so it was a mad dash in the morning to load the TV's, record players etc before the trash man came. I can remember being about 16 yrs old and lifting huge RCA consoles into Dad's toyota corolla station wagon by myself.
Now I am the official TV collector for the yearly Texas Recycles Day in Midland, TX. Always get a good amount of TV's and even still some tube type sets.
There is no "curbside" pickup of any trash in this area. In the city you put it in a dumpster in the alley...in the country you have to haul to the dump yourself or have your own dumpster with a private trash hauler.
Speaking of Kirby vacuums I have gotten plenty from thrift stores for $3-5 each, still working fine.

In the 30 or soyears I have been routing(including long before I could drive, where I routed on foot, by bicycle, or had someone drive me) I have been threatened with arrest, chased, and even been threatened with a GUN, by one WOMAN!!, for "curb shopping".

As for the pigs(yes I DID say that, as that is how I have been treated by most of them!!) I have been searched personally, had my car searched more than once, and wanrned that I could be charged with THEFT by one pig in Mt. Healthy, who could finid nothing better to do than call FIVE of his buddies in to harass and question me, a "hardened criminal, "(that is how they made it seem anyway), and finally, allowed me back to my car, and they all LAUGHED about things, and gave me a $74 dollar ticket for NO front plate, as that is ALL they could charge me with!!

Has ANY of that stopped me from my "shopping" trips?? Heck NO!! I do not route much in Mt. Healthy, though. Most of the time in other communities when the police see me, they just go about their business and leave me alone. But not those pigs in Mt. Healthy, Middletown or Morrow!! (in 1987, I had one play that same game with me, and finally admit that i was "not doing anything illegal", before he let me go.) Nonetheless, I continue to take my chances, as there is WAY too much good stuff out there, too often, to pass up!!

Yeah, sounds like you had a lot of run-ins there with overzealous cops. I don't do much curb hunting myself but I do keep my eyes peeled for electronic things and computers. I got hold of a motherboard with Pentium III capability and I plan on making a "Franken-Computer" out of it. ;) What limits me is space and I don't want to get mom mad at me for hauling home more junk so to me, it will have to be a "must have or die." ;)

From what I've learned at Business Law in college, once it is on the curb, it is fair game.

I know here in Penna, we only need a license plate on the back, but yeah, there are cops out there, especially local ones, who try to look for anything to pin on anyone, doubly so if they are in a rotten mood.

I have heard horror stories before about people yelling, cops and all that as well. The last thing I want to do is fight with someone over garbage! I have never had a problem, but almost always go to the door and ask first.
What I did years ago was ask if it was out in the trash and that I could use it for parts as I was a repairman. Always had good responses, many times the owner would help me load it even! Quite often I would get other non-working sets they had or they would need repairs on other tv's in the house. Made a lot of friends that way as well!
I think that if you approach people in a friendly way about the items on the curb they are more than happy to give them to you. Plus, if you let them know you can help them with any electronic repairs in the future (vcr cleaning, repair discount) it gives them something back. Never have I paid money for any curb finds. I have dealt with a wide range of people in the business world for 30 years now and have gotten to know how to deal with all types of people pretty well. Of course, I no longer do any regular picking so maybe people have gotten grumpier lately? If I happen to be driving somewhere like I was several weeks ago and find something than so be it. But gas is too expensive and my car unreliable to drive my old routes anymore...

When I lived in Berkeley, it was common practice for people to put stuff out on the curb (often with a "free" sign) even when it wasn't bulk trash day. I used to haul alot of stuff back then, even when I didn't have a car for a while, I used to carry consoles several blocks, sometimes it would take an hour or so of just moving it a bit at a time. One time someone was so happy I was taking their system 3 console (which worked great when I got it back), they helped me carry it half a block, and even up the stairs to my apartment, and gave me a few free lamps, too.

Here in LA there is no bulk trash day, and curbside junk is not nearly as common, it is more common in areas mostly filled with apartment complexes, and in those places (where there rarely is not a junk sofa) I just put it in my trunk and haul it home if I find something. If I see something in a nicer part of town with houses, I have knocked at the door and asked about it, I never got any reply other than just take it away. Once there was this nice magnavox hi-fi and it really looked too good to be just trash, so I didn't just take it, but the guy was never there when I stopped to ask about it, finally I was driving by when someone was loading it into his truck (already mostly full of old refrigerators) , I asked him if he wanted to sell it, he said he didn't care what happened to it and helped me load it into my trunk.

It's amazing how many people around here go "cruising for trash" on these special bulk waste / clean-up days. It almost seems like a neighborhood gathering 'event' in some areas. :) You see the same people driving up and down the streets looking for stuff out on the curb the night before the pick-up day. Sometimes people can get a bit carried away, though, as shown in the attached photo of a vehicle I saw last year on one of these trash days. :saywhat:

I've never seen anyone get upset when picking up trash items from the curb. As a matter of fact, many people seem to try to encourage people to take large items (by putting signs on things like "Works!" or "Free!"). That might be because even on bulk-trash days around here, I think some cities still charge for removal of certain types of large appliances (refrigerators, for example), even though it's otherwise pretty much a free-for-all in terms of what you can set out on the curb on those days.

By the way, I've noticed a surprising number of not-all-that-old PCs on the curb so far this year, including several PIII-class machines in the 500-800 MHz range. I've usually left them alone (unless there was something else interesting with them), but tonight I found in front of one house an Athlon 1.0 GHz (Sony VAIO) *and* a very new-looking Celeron 2.7 GHz (Compaq) machine, and couldn't resist. Haven't tested the Sony yet, but the Compaq works fine. I've only powered it up briefly, but it appears to have a bunch of spyware installed on it bogging down the system, perhaps that's why it was tossed away. I guess even a personal computer has become "disposable" enough that people will just throw away a perfectly good PC just because of something like that... :dunno:

You'd be surprised how many PCs are thrown away because of spyware. Most people have no idea how to reinstall windows even if they figure out what the problem is. I guess they just assume it's running slow because it's old.

That guy driving that old chevy van in the photo is a "scrapper" he has nothing but aluminium lawn furniture and bbq lids piled on that poor beast. Some of those guys make out pretty well lately as scrap metal prices are at an all time high!

Linux will fix those trashed PC's up good. All the computers I use at home are salvaged and had really messed up windows 98 and NT installs. Slackware did the trick. Those 500-800 mhz machines will do graphical web browsing just as well as on Windows, using SLackware and Mozilla.

The Generation III Kirby vac is one of the ones with the automatic transmission that pulls it around the floor.

I've found several '60's-era Kirbys recently at yard sales, and the thrift stores. The local Kirby distributor is more than happy to get me NOS parts for these old ones, if they need them, which they usually dont.

They usually can be had for around $5, like yours. Amazing, considering what they cost when new... I have sold several OLD kirby's to friends that think they are the best things ever after trying them on their carpets. Usually, new motor bearings, brushes, and a drive belt is all they need, if that! :thmbsp:

A couple of months ago, I saw an antique clock in the garbage. It was being thrown out by someone, but i made the mistake of asking the wrong people if I could have it, simply because there trash pile was right next to the people who were actually throwing it out. Well, of course the other people layed claim to it, which i presume they had no more right than me. . That taught me a lesson, go at dusk after the other people have disappeared,and dont ask anyone. If someone complains, I would lie and say I asked the person throwing it out and they said I could have it. If they happen to be the ones throwing it out and call my bluff and tell me to leave it alone, well, I will.

I've been picking stuff up the off street for a long time. I started when I was 8 years old. Back then I wasn't so much fixing things as taking them apart and trying to make things out of the parts. It's different now, but back then people would start putting stuff out on the street 2 weeks before the collection date. I'd could cover the entire suburb on foot in that time.

Back then (early 80s) I was mainly finding black and white tube console sets.
I used to push an old pram around the streets with some tools in it. They were too big for me to move, so I'd strip out the chassis right there on the street. Often my parents would complain when they came home to find the entire lounge room floor covered in dusty TV chassis. Occasionally I'd find a portable set and drag it home intact. Those days I didn't really get much working. After a blowing a few fuses I wasn't allowed to play with mains power. It's kind of hard to get tube stuff working on batteries.

Twenty years later I'm still picking stuff up, but it's easier now with a station wagon. Now people are only allowed to put stuff out on the weekend before the collection day and scavenging is now illegal. I still do the rounds, as do others including some guys who I've seen out there since the days I was out there with my pram. One guy I know still goes out despite being caught numerous times and fined thousands of dollars. Most people don't have a problem with you taking the stuff as long as you don't make a mess or too much noise. I've got the stuff in the car and I'm long gone before anyone has time to complain anyway. The tube sets are long gone, but there's still other good stuff out there to be had.

Over the years I have rescued many items. My favorites include a NAD 2200, Marantz 2270, a few Sansui receivers, and a pair of Infinity speakers. My wife found a really nice high dollar BMX bike that needed new inner tubes and a chain. Lot's of pc,s and cheapo speakers I give to friends that could use. The NAD and Marantz were both within three blocks from home and work perfectly. Nice!

I've been "makeing the rounds" around the area here for a few years, and I've found some pretty good stuff. This year I didn't find a whole lot, but I came back with a lot of perfectly working TV's - including a perfectly working 32" RCA set, only a few years old! Not a lot out there in terms of tube sets, but I did find a low end GE tube B&W console, and a tube GE portable with no tubes or knobs. Never found a roundie, although last year I found a nice CTC-28. Typically people are really friendly or just watch quietly while I load things in the car, but I've had a couple people talk to me, thrilled that I was taking the TV, and amazed that I was able to fix them. The _only_ time I've ever been told off by a homeowner was this one time last year when a friend and I were out in the outskirts, in the dark - it was like 9:00, and I had spotted a tube console radio - it turned out to be a Victor Electrola, but it was totally trashed - it had clearly been sitting outside for YEARS, the cabinet had all seperated, the legs had rotted off, and the bottom was full of mud and crud. But the chassis weren't rusted (what did they make those things out of, I've never seen one rust), and it had all it's tubes, so we were pulling out the chassis and the speaker. My friend was holding my old Maglite, and I was prying the power chassis out with a tire iron (the bolt holding the bracket in was hopelessly rusted), I'd just gotten it free and we heard a woman yell "There's nothing good there - it's all garbage - get out of here". My friend replied - "We know, we just want some parts here, we'll be gone in a minute". To which we heard "You could get shot out here!". We'd already gutted the thing, and we were about to leave anyway, so I tossed the power chassis in the trunk with the rest of the parts, and we headed off, laughing the whole way. We had visions of her calling the police, "Someone is stealing my garbage!" - "OK, lady, we'll be right over, yeah. We'll catch those trash theives" <click>.

I've been over to the side of a road, my flashers on and loading an old television into the car and had police drive right by. They could care less. It's basically a free for all, and nobody is going to give you a hard time for scavenging from the garbage.

-Ian

Here in michigan it is illegal to trash pick in some areas! Especially in Saint Clair Shores where I picked up the two sets from the curb a few weeks ago!
No problems though, I was pretty quick! I think the first time is a warning then after that you get a stiff fine. There seems to be little or no enforcement of the law anyway as I see a lot of people picking.

The best thing I ever found in the trash was probably the Infinity IRS III speakers I picked up a couple months ago (I posted about them yesterday in another thread, my first post).

I also spent a year studying in Germany as a teenager, and loved to go out hunting for stuff on their designated "extra waste day". Got some great old books and an old tube radio with a dial that had lots of European city names scattered across the dial, showing where one should tune in to receive broadcasts from those different cities.

Here in Hong Kong, I have occasionally found old carved Chinese blackwood furniture, and once found 19 panels of artistically carved colored lacquer used for folding screens. Five of those now decorate the living room wall, and the rest are stored under the bed.

The best thing I had to pass up on (because I had no way to get it home at the time) was a smallish but gorgeous-looking old upright piano veneered in one of the most beautiful woods I've ever seen, and in pristine condition. It had a deep reddish cast, might have been real Cuban Mahogany. I was pretty sure the keys were covered in real ivory, too, but were unscratched, unsplit... the whole thing was obviously old, but in near-new condition and stunning. I ran my fingers up and down the keys, and it was perfectly in tune. Someone had obviously taken real loving care of it. I wanted it, but it was too heavy for me to take by myself, and I had somewhere else I had to go first. When I finished what I had to do I went back there (about two hours later) to see if I could somehow arrange assistance to take it home, but someone else had already gotten it.

A lot of people here don't want to take things from the trash, partly because of embarrassment ("loss of face") and partly because of superstitious beliefs that if the person who used to own it was evil or unlucky, some of that might still be in the thing. They don't want to bring home some bad luck (or a ghost) with the item. I have no such qualms. If it is nice and/or I can clean and fix it up, I'm happy to recycle things that other wise would end up in the landfill.

I missed a nice CTC169 RCA projection tv this morning.I was in a hurry to get to work and saw the tv.Had no help and a customer's chassis in the way.Was afraid to bother the people.They put it out at the last minute as today was pickup day and it wasn't there last night.Wasn't even there when my cousin drove the by on his way home with the schoolbus he drives/Would have had time last night.Tried to get the guys I know who work right down the street to get it on their cell phones.Neither had their phones on.Bummer. :tears: Sure enough when I got off work the tv was gone.I can get $300 and up for used modern projection tvs.My boss looks down on me picking trash tvs even if it's a bigscreen.But he will go get one in a heartbeat if someone calls the shop wanting to give one away.Said if he saw it in the back of the truck he'd probably push it out on the road. :eek:

My luck seems to me changing. On my way to the store I saw a nice 20" Sony at the end of someone's drive. It was too far into the drive to be sure it was trash, so I knocked on the door and they told me to take it. Upon closer inspection, the cord had been cut, so I guess it was obviously trash. It's a nice "V" series which was the top of the line 20". I put a plug on it and it powered up with a very dim picture, but normal on screen display (so I knew the CRT was ok). While going over the board for bad soldering, I found a small crack near the flyback. 4 jumper wires later it has a nice bright picture. After some adjustment it will look great.

I've been needing a TV since I moved here 6 weeks ago. All my TVs are still in storage and the 27" Panasonic I brought got smashed by UPS.

Here in michigan it is illegal to trash pick in some areas! Especially in Saint Clair Shores where I picked up the two sets from the curb a few weeks ago!
No problems though, I was pretty quick! I think the first time is a warning then after that you get a stiff fine. There seems to be little or no enforcement of the law anyway as I see a lot of people picking.

Why would there be a law against scavenging? It keeps some stuff out of the landfill. You would think the environmentalists would support that. We all should get a tax credit for all the sets we have kept out of the trash heap. It is totally harmless to trash pick and I've seen the tras collectors do it themselves. Many a gutted tv got put in the front seat of the trash truck on collection day. There are too many rules governing inconsequential human activity.

Most of the laws prohibiting scavenging are to prevent stealing private information, as far as I recall reading articles about it over the years. Once in awhile a scandal comes up where a celebrity's trash is ransacked and some kind of item or document gets publicized. They get really nasty about enforcing those laws in the wealthier neighborhoods. But I have picked up plenty of nice TVs in Beverly Hills alleys; including a mint-condition working CTC-5 Special table model out back of a house on Tower Road. (this was about 1984).

The moral of the story is be discreet, quick, and act dumb if caught. Being a tech-nerd, and offering a long detail of why a particular TV is a historically significant piece that needs rescuing can help too... It will show the officer that you are a harmless nut case into saving old TV sets, and you aren't after Jennifer Lopez' underwear nor Donald Trump's social security number :D

Charles

If anything, there should be a law against throwing away perfectly good things!

Around here the reason given for the anti scavenging bylaws is one of two things depending on who you talk to.

One is that the contractors collecting the waste factor in getting a certain amount for what they pick up (scrap, etc) into their tender price. Therefore, collecting it is effectively stealing from the contractor. Indeed according to the exact wording of the bylaw if you put something out, but then change your mind and take it back inside your are breaking the law. It effectively becomes the property of the council when it hits the street. Considering that for the last couple of years I have observed the contractors throwing absolutely everything into the compactor truck I don't understand this myself.

The other more plausible reason is residents complaints about some of poor behaviour of some people collecting. Spreading stuff all over the road looking for things, making excessive noise, blocking driveways/traffic. While I can understand this to a certain degree I don't see why a specific law against scavening is needed to stop those causing the problems. If they are making a mess fine them for littering, if they are blocking driveways fine them for illegal parking. Why punish those that do all they can to avoid trouble. I've never left a mess behind or blocked traffic.

I have noticed that every year the warnings about scavenging are stressed more and more in the local papers and the notices announcing the collection. In the same way I have also noticed more people who will pile their stuff on their front lawn with a free to take sign and only move it out onto the street at the last moment.

It seems that most people (at least around here) don't have a problem with scavenging, but I guess those that do are especially vocal.

Most people don't have a problem with you taking the stuff as long as you don't make a mess or too much noise.

That is key.

Just today, I drove by a major mountain of trash just a block away from my residence. I had the wife stop and I found a few old reel to reel tapes and the an intact 16mm Bell & Howell film projector complete with case and even the machine oil it needs. I have no idea what I am going to do with it, but I grabbed one of the home movies also being tossed in order to test it.

I went back and one of the workers was tossing more out. He told me they were cleaning out an attic and for me to help myself. I then found a Sony reel to reel which I am now cleaning up. But I made sure that I did not knock over piles and let papers go blowing in the wind. Gotta keep the neighborhood nice.

I couldn't agree with you more. I picked up all of my old TVs and radios I had in my old neighborhood from the neighbors' trash; no one ever said one word or batted an eye, and I kept up this trash-picking for over 30 years. The way I see it, these things are being put out with the trash, so folks obviously want to get rid of them. Why should they care if someone grabs an old radio, TV, etc. from a curb or trash pile, as long as no messes are made? They don't or should not care how these things are gotten rid of as long as they get them out of their homes, etc. When I moved here almost seven years ago, I put out a Zenith 12" solid-state b&w portable TV I had no room for in my then-new apartment. A day or so later (before the trash pickup), the set was gone. Did I put up a fuss about it? No. In fact, I was glad to see that someone had picked up the set and was supposedly putting it to good use; :yes: that set had plenty of life left in it and didn't deserve an undignified death in a landfill. The same thing happened when I put out some old furniture, etc. I had brought from my previous residence, again which I had no room for here. One piece was a 6-foot-high shelving unit I had used in a bedroom at the other house; I put it out near the trash barrels behind the apartment building, and within a day or so it had disappeared. My best guess was then and is now that the landlord may have grabbed it to use in the building's basement. It didn't bother me in the least. If someone can find uses for this old stuff people throw out, why not pick it up if it can be put to some use? I've seen several old TVs in the trash here recently, but didn't do anything with them because they were cheap tube portables with PC boards. :no: I once saw a 32" Mitsubishi color set near the trash barrels last year which I would have ordinarily snapped up without thinking twice; the only reason I left it was it was too big and heavy to lug back into the apartment.

I never did too well with real curb finds myself. In this rural area curbside pickup of anything outside of a trashcan is pretty rare. Here in my town, now, they will take furniture or appliances but first you have to go to the town hall in the middle of the day, buy a "toe-tag" for $10 for each item you are tossing, then have it out there for a once a month pickup. I could see that if someone had paid 10 bucks to the town they might not be too happy with someone coming along and hauling it for free! I have to say, I don't recall ever seeing anything large out on the curb right here. Most folks go a few miles out in the country and toss it in the woods.

In some somewhat bigger towns I have found a few things-solid state tv sets left by a dumpster, a CTC-15 combo with a "free"sign taped to the screen...my very best luck was at the local auction house. I would go there the day after the sale, when all the leftovers were hauled out. Some pretty good stuff would end up there...I brought home a '60 Zenith bw console, and '70 GE color console, a Hallicrafters Super Defiant with speaker, many working small appliances, and on & on. I was always nervous about it since I never asked permission and it was private property, but then more than once the auctioneer spotted me and yelled out "Take it all!" Then I started picking through the junk pile at another auction house, where they had a dumpster plus a burn pile. From the pile I rescued an RCA 811K (cabinet was shot but chassis was still good) and a smaller radio; there was an RCA round color combo that was too far gone for me. (nowadays I would have saved it if just for the crt) When I came back the next time there was a dirty 70s solid state 19 incher sitting behind the dumpster so I proceeded to load it up...a woman came running out of the office and threatened to call the cops. I would have thought they would be happy to get rid of it...I still feel bad about that experience, and will not go back to their auction house.

I used to pick up a lot of stuff that was dumped out back of the local auction house. It happened to be on my way to school, so I'd often drag stuff into class with me. The teachers gave up telling me not to drag it in, if they told me to take it outside I'd drag it all the way home. They didn't have a problem with me taking the stuff and I became a regular customer there for years until they closed down.

At another auction house they wouldn't even let me BUY stuff that was already in the dumpster. I got what I wanted in the end. It's very rare that someone actually succeeds in keeping something from me, I'm stubborn like that. Beaurocrats and their bylaws, OH&S and whatever other excuses they can come up with be damned. I once pulled a 3 rack PDP-11 (old mini computer) system out of a 5th floor control room and carried it out piece by piece.

For an area that's not supposed to have TVs in the trash, I've done ok this week.

I picked up a KV-20V60 first. It's not a bad looking set even though it uses what I call a "fake" trinitron CRT. It has an in-line gun instead of a single lens trinitron gun.

Next I found a KV-13TR14 a few houses down from me. It appears to work fine, but I see a few solder connections that look questionable. The cabinet obviously needs a good clean too!
Does anyone have a remote I could buy? It needs a remote with 3 recessed channel programming buttons (add/del, auto program, and TV/CATV). It also has a button that cycles through the various video adjustments and two buttons to adjust it. No universal remote I've seen duplicates those buttons. Pretty much any remote from the time period would work such as one for a KV-20TRXX, or KV-20EXR, 27EXR...

Finally, about 2 blocks from my house I found a KV-1311CR. This is about the best 13" TV ever made. It's exactly what I was using in the kitchen back in PA (currently in sotrage). It has a fine dot pitch CRT like a computer monitor, or professional video monitor. It also has A/V inputs and outputs, plus an analog RGB input. This one seems to work fine as found, but looks a lot better after a slight adjustment of the gray scale and focus.

I studied in Germany for a year. One day a month was "Sparemuell" day- literally extra waste day. It was when you were supposed to toss out stuff like old tvs and furniture. It was a bonanza for the pack rat.
In my childhood, I never forgot a "Sperrmüll"-day. I took my school bag and filled it with the tubes, which I removed from the tv sets. If I had the luck, that somebody transport a tv set, I brought it home. Sometimes, I used my bicycle to bring them home. This was in the 1970's. The TV sets were mostly from the 1950's and 1960's in that days.
Today, the Sperrmüll-Day was repealed. When the people have old TV sets and so on, the phone the municipality, and they make a private date for taking it away.
But today, we have the electronic-recycling day, which is better than Sperrmüll. The next will be next friday :banana:

Eckhard

No pictures yet, but here it has been the week for not so old, but nice and at the time expensive TVs. So far I've picked up a Loewe Calida 5672 (72cm, 100Hz, RGB) that needs a flyback. Back when I paid $1800 for a new Loewe Profil 3272 that set was several models up and about $1000 more expensive.

There was also a a relatively unmolested (missing a few screws, but no obvious signs they went any further) 84cm Grundig down at the TV graveyard that I'm very tempted to grab if I can lift it by myself and find somewhere to put it. These big Grundigs were heavily discounted by a couple of local dealers, but if it was bought before discounting started someone probably paid around $4000 for it.

The TV graveyard is in the back corner of an open yard that is used to store containers and park trucks. A guy who bought used/dead TV/VCRs and other appliances in bulk had a couple of containers in the back corner. His suppliers would unload their vans directly into the container. He'd come along later and sort through it, literally throwing the sets he didn't want on an ever growing pile (for some reason he was a lot more fussy about TVs than any of the other stuff he bought). Others saw this pile and added their own dead sets to it figuring no-one would notice an extra set on the heap.

The guy, the containers and his suppliers are long gone now, but the pile remains and others add to it regularly. Most of the sets are beyond salvage (someone else who visits the pile likes smashing CRTs), but sometimes you get to something before anyone else does. I often pick through the remains of the smashed sets. Chassis and even fragments of chassis often provide the parts to fix sets that would otherwise be unrepairable.

Today, I found a like-new looking Sony KV-27EXR25 set with the remote sitting with it! All I find wrong is the big power IC on the "G" board. I have one on hand, and will let you know how it works this evening.

Glad I got there when I did, it was starting to rain!

That's one of the last of the best Sonys made... Replace that STR-S6301, check the electrolytics on the G board, and you will have a nice TV! And if you didn't realize it, that is the top of the line PIP model, unlike the xxEXR15.

Charles

Hello!

It's the first friday in May, and we had the electronic-recycling day again. It is a warm and sunny day, and here is the recent report. I had been there with my son who had just school's out. The whole community was there and it was a fantastic mood:

http://www.kirchenlöwe.de/collectibles/img/recyclingday1.JPG
http://www.kirchenlöwe.de/collectibles/img/recyclingday2.JPG
http://www.kirchenlöwe.de/collectibles/img/recyclingday3.JPG
http://www.kirchenlöwe.de/collectibles/img/recyclingday4.JPG
http://www.kirchenlöwe.de/collectibles/img/recyclingday5.JPG
http://www.kirchenlöwe.de/collectibles/img/recyclingday6.JPG
http://www.kirchenlöwe.de/collectibles/img/recyclingday7.JPG
http://www.kirchenlöwe.de/collectibles/img/recyclingday8.JPG
http://www.kirchenlöwe.de/collectibles/img/recyclingday9.JPG
http://www.kirchenlöwe.de/collectibles/img/junkVCRtvs.JPG

Most of the stuff were computer parts, monitors, industry electronics, X-ray sets, and so on. For me, some junk TV sets from the 1950's and 1960's were interesting, so I filled my pockets with tubes (line output tubes, shunt regulator, dampers and so on):

http://www.kirchenlöwe.de/collectibles/img/tubes.JPG

In the moment our government makes new laws about electronic recycling, so we are in fear how long we still have the recycling day.

Eckhard

That looks like a nice event. I wish they had something like that here. There is an electronics recycling day, but scavenging is strictly prohibited. This was back in PA. I'm not sure what they have in CA yet.

I saw a sony trinitron video monitor on the curb this morning, a big one in a metal cabinet, I didn't have time to stop and check it out, and I really don't want it myself, but if anybody does (and can stop by soon to pick it up), it was right near my apartment, so I can pick it up on my way home and hold it for a while, or I could just direct you to its current location, if it's still there.

That looks like a nice event. I wish they had something like that here. There is an electronics recycling day, but scavenging is strictly prohibited.

This is usually all over the country the case. But here in Braunschweig, the holder makes an exception. But the public authorities try to prohibit it.
Much more than the goodies I got there, it is an event for my son. He is 12 years old, and he reassembles computers from pieces. He learned there how to bargain, how to test the things. He wants to have a 100 watts hi-fi system. We have taken some loudspeakers out of the junk containers, some wire and went to the power point and test it. And the hi-fi system worked. After some bargain, he got it for $10. These experiences are much more valuable than the hi-fi system for itself. The discovery, that one needs not to go into a shop to get something, but can get it in a much cheaper and more exciting way, this is important.

Eckhard

I go out some nights on bulk refuse and pickup some good stuff. My wife actually encourages me. I built part of my HT setup through finds, found a $449 snowblower this week (Got it working and farily new), second fastest computer in the house (2.6 pent4 dvd burner, 1 gig ram 160 gig hard drive all in one video card, highend soundblaster) was a street find. It is amazing what people toss. I figure I am keeping it out of landfills. I give some stufff to the low paid staff at work. Doing my bit.

Hello!

It's the first friday in May, and we had the electronic-recycling day again. It is a warm and sunny day, and here is the recent report. I had been there with my son who had just school's out. The whole community was there and it was a fantastic mood


Interesting photos! It's rather odd to see so much equipment like that in one place that has been systematically disassembled and sorted for recycling.

We've had a few more bulk-trash-collection days in my area, but, alas no more TV's worth picking up. There are still several more bulk-trash days to go though. Did find some interesting non-electronic related stuff on the curb, including a reflector telescope (it's fairly chintzy though), and a not-so-old Kirby Generation 3 vacuum cleaner with a number of attachments. (You guys are right-- Kirbys do seem to be rather nice machines at that...) I quickly discovered why the Kirby was thrown out, though--it needs a new impeller. The impeller is plastic, and from the looks of things, it must have split through, then started tearing around in an arc near the motor shaft, eventually causing part of it to bend and somehow *fold over* on top of itself before the motor finally jammed. The folded-over broken impeller was wedged *very* solidly inside the housing-- I'm rather impressed that the motor was powerful enough to keep running to the point where it got so solidly wedged up. After removing the remains of the impeller, the motor runs fine, so looks like a new impeller blade is all it needs. From looking on the web, it seems to be an inexpensive and common replacement part.

The 27EXR25 now is WORKING! It was the IC that Charles mentioned in his post... I had at one time, about 20 of these IC's in a bag that I bought from MCM Electronics. Sony wanted about $36 EACH for them... This was a big failure issue with these sets. I also replaced any caps on the G board that had heat damage, and installed a small fan on the IC heat sink. I have never had a repeat repair on a set like this... I bought an EXR25 in 1991 or so, and have never had any troubles with it, other than the IC in 1996. These sets both beat the heck out of the 27TS32 Sony that is in my bedroom. It has had troubles since the warranty ran out. It is currently having width problems. Its intermittent, but I notice it!

If there is a Kirby distributor in your area, the impeller kit is only about $13. Its a very easy repair once you find all the screws... My parts guy is more than happy to coach me when I go to tear down a newer Kirby... They dont have a metal impeller anymore. My mother is really good at sucking up loose change in her Kirby Heritage vac. I've replaced the impeller on hers several times since I bought it on eBone about 5 years ago. Best of luck!

These sets both beat the heck out of the 27TS32 Sony that is in my bedroom. It has had troubles since the warranty ran out. It is currently having width problems. Its intermittent, but I notice it!
If I were you I'd resolder the driver transformer and also the Horzontal output transister,flyback and yoke section,and vertical section on the circuit board.The later Sonys are notorious for bad solder connections and loss of drive to the horizontal output will take it out as well as the regulator transistors and fusible resistor.If you have intermittent loss of width there's a good chance there's a bad solder joint somewhere in the horizontal section.

In Romania, usually, people rip of the components from the sets befote thoruing 'em away! So, very little chances to find an old intresting tv that I can repaire... :tears:

Ive come dangerously close to being arrested for dumpster diving. Its against the law in Thousand Oaks to take anything out of anyones trash, and the law is enforced.

David

Our laws are not so strong. The event on the recycling yard is fully legal, and people are invited to come, see and buy. The price in most cases is 1 EURO for 1 kg.
On Sperrmuell days, dumpster diving is of course prohibited. But nobody does worry about it. A nasty proverb call these days the "Turkish Xmas", because most of the Turkish immigrants were cruising for finding good stuff.

Eckhard

If there is a Kirby distributor in your area, the impeller kit is only about $13. Its a very easy repair once you find all the screws... My parts guy is more than happy to coach me when I go to tear down a newer Kirby... They dont have a metal impeller anymore. My mother is really good at sucking up loose change in her Kirby Heritage vac. I've replaced the impeller on hers several times since I bought it on eBone about 5 years ago. Best of luck!

Thanks! Funny thing, I actually found another Kirby G3 on the curb a few days later. It wasn't in as nice condition, but it did have an okay (but somewhat beat-up) impeller. I went to a local shop and bought a new impeller anyway (as you say, they're not very expensive), but at least now I've also got some extra spare parts. Now my Kirby-from-the-curb-y works great!

I didn't have too much trouble figuring out how to take it apart and replace the impeller, but it's definitely not as simple as it could be. Taking it apart involves a number of unnecesarily interlocking parts that conceal screws or other fasteners for the other parts. Also, the impeller bolt/belt pulley has a reverse thread, though that wasn't actually too suprising. My guess is that the Kirby people wanted to make disassembling the thing juuust tricky and unobvious enough that Joe Homeowner will give up trying to figure it out and take it to the local Kirby Authorized Service Center, but still make it fairly easy for the official Kirby repairman. :)

Back on the topic of TV sets though-- what Japanese company made Sears-brand TVs in the late 70's? Was it Sanyo? On that same trash day, I noticed a Japanese-looking Sears-brand solid-state color portable, but the styling/control layout didn't look familiar. I didn't pick it up, but I'm kinda curious who actually made the set. It had a click-stop UHF tuner with two "odometer"-style drums to indicate the selected UHF channel; wasn't Matsushita/Panasonic fond of those for a while?

But today, we have the electronic-recycling day, which is better than Sperrmüll. The next will be next friday

Viel Spass. :tresbon:

Yes Sanyo made most of the SS Sears units, but who knows abut that particular unit. All I gather is that alot of Japanese color manufacturers had those flip-over channel indicators; for example Sony did on a 1976 KV1612 (with XE3 chassis and HSTAT, all solid state). It has the click-stop UHF with flip-over indicator, also backlit- perhaps the sears was too?
I keep passing up alot of good stuff here because I have certain doubts also. Certainly never had to worry about laws and such prohibiting me, thank goodness. Oh, and my greatest find was an RCA 630-type set that only needed the horizontal tube with the plate cap replaced!! Have a good day see you on the forums.

When I worked at Sears, they had:

Warwick
Wells-Gardner
Sanyo
Toshiba

I almost NEVER had problems with the Toshiba sets. The console Sanyos were good at blowing audio output transistors, and caps in the power supplies.

All the above companies supplied portables to Sears. I have several W-G, and Toshiba sets from the mid-to late '70's that are working... somewhat...


Oh yeah, on the KIRBY, I forgot to mention the reverse-thread on the shaft. Sorry about that, Chief! :nono:

When I worked at Sears, they had:

Warwick
Wells-Gardner
Sanyo
Toshiba

I almost NEVER had problems with the Toshiba sets. The console Sanyos were good at blowing audio output transistors, and caps in the power supplies.

All the above companies supplied portables to Sears. I have several W-G, and Toshiba sets from the mid-to late '70's that are working... somewhat...


Oh yeah, on the KIRBY, I forgot to mention the reverse-thread on the shaft. Sorry about that, Chief! :nono:



I think the Toshiba made sets were the best they sold.I've had several over the years that I fixed and sol and they were always something minor like solder joints or just needed deoxit in the tuner and controls.The Sanyo built sets were notorious for bad capacitors and the ones with the black rectifier/focus block combo all had trouble with that part.It would often take the flyback with it.The worst has to be the Warwick sets.My boss worked for Sears back then and they often would condemn them because they couldn't guarantee them.The module contacts were always a source of problems.Strange that they had so much trouble since Sylvania used the same type of connectors for the modules to plug in and my grandmother's set never had an intermittent problem due to that.Only the yoke connector burned up after nearly 20 years of constant use and I had to hardwire it to the board.My mom had one of those Warwick made consoles(1973 or 1974) and it was always giving trouble.I think the Sears man was out there once a year for something until he finally condemed it in 1982.I got it for a project not long after storing it at my grandmother's.A flyback and tripler got it going again but then it developed AGC troubles.An open resistor fiixed that but the tube was going gassy and it soon failed.I should have stopped there but it was from my childhood.Watched Scooby Doo,Brady Bunch,Waltons,Happy Days,Archie Bunker you name it from the 70s on that tv.I fitted a Philco tube found in the attic of the shop I work at in it and it played fine again.It always had a good picture ,just unreliable as could be.A few years later I took it to an auction.Then the guy who bought it wanted me to look at it.It had an intermittent problem and he could hit it and make it go away.I never went.I should have let it die when the tube went. What a repairman's nightmare those sets must have been.Good riddance.The Zenith System 3 my mom bought to replace it never broke in 10 years until lightning got it in 1992.Fried the tuner.My boss put a new tuner in it and sold it.Last I saw it in the new owner's house in 1998(I was there working on the big satellite dish that they have since got rid of) it was still going.Probably still working somewhere.I would imagine the Sears set hit the landfill long before 1998.

Oh yes, it's garbage night, and the feeling's right... :yes:

There have been several more "spring cleanup" bulk trash days for various neighborhoods near me these past weeks, but no more worthwhile TV-related finds. Until this Friday night, at least. Well, it's not a Predicta Holiday (that was a truly *amazing* find, Captain Moody!), but it's still kinda neat.
It's a nifty 19" Zenith Chromacolor II Space Command in a 70's-style white melmanine cabinet, complete with matching pedestal stand and mechanical ultrasonic remote. Looks a lot like a 'mini' version of the consoles that Zenith also sold in this style, like the one vintagecollect got recently. Attached is a photo of it taken just before I loaded it into my vehicle.

It's in the storage garage for now. I haven't had a chance yet to check it out and power it up. The power cord is gone, which might be a bad sign, but I've also noticed there's at least one scrapper out there on these bulk-trash nights who seems to love clipping or removing the AC cords from every electrical appliance he passes by in his truck. :rolleyes: Frankly, I don't understand what the point of that is. What's the copper scrap value of a 6-foot long piece of zip-cord anyway? One cent? Two cents? Chee...

Also spotted (but didn't pick up) a late-60's RCA B&W console. It was rather unremarkable except that it had a kinda odd-sized CRT. It was a 21" size, but it had the more squared-off look of a 23" / 22V. Hadn't seen one like that before.

Another one! That's yet a different kind of base, does it swivel on that one? Seeing all these is making me want to start working on the one I have.

I don't know what it is with the removing of the power cords, I've seen that around here, too. Maybe they want to use them in other stuff.

I heard that the former "R.C.A." plant isn't in good condition; maybe something from there may be saved! - on old or aboandoned plants you can find intresting stuff (not necesarly audio & video stuff); the demolished an old plant in Bucharest (they preserved 1 or 2 buildings) - there is a hotel now - and they displayed in the yard some old industrial wquypment (pre 1940!); I mad because when they teard down an old bread plant to make some apartament blocks for the rich I didn't have the ideea to save some old equypment! :tears: Some one saved some vintage light bulbs :thmbsp: from an attic of an old house that was demolished! :sigh:
God knows what future surprises the past have for us! :scratch2:

On the Mcintosh thread......... I describe MY garbage find from today, on the way to church...............

Might be worth your all's time to venture over there!!!

The scrappers are real bad here, they get about 20 bucks for 40 pounds of cords. So that almost guarantees that any appliance or electronic item will be stripped of them.
You see at least 3-4 trucks full of anything metal drive by on trash night around here and they always slow down and look when going by my place.
They won't get much from me though, I remove the yokes and any wire before throwing tv's out!
I take the scrap copper in and trade for nice items at the yard. People drop off nearly new mowers and washers/dryers there with hardly anything wrong with them!

Another one! That's yet a different kind of base, does it swivel on that one? Seeing all these is making me want to start working on the one I have.
Yep, the base swivels.

I don't know what it is with the removing of the power cords, I've seen that around here, too. Maybe they want to use them in other stuff.
Perhaps, but I've seen this guy clipping cords, and he doesn't seem to be terribly picky in that sort of way. I actually encountered this guy a few weeks ago on the spring-cleanup day in a different neighborhood. I stopped to pick up an old Friden STW mechanical calculator I spotted on the curb. Good thing I got there in time, or the power cord (detachable with a non-standard connector) for this thing would have been gone! Just as I'm loading it into the car, this guy rolls up in his truck, and then walks around and *very* quickly and efficiently clips off all the power cords from all the other AC-powered appliances on the block, including snatching the detachable cord for a later-model adding machine that had been sitting right next to the Friden calculator I just picked up. Then I spotted some old typewriter cases in the pile of trash across the street, so I walk over there to investigate just where the guy and and a woman (who I assume is his wife) are leaving. As I'm checking the contents of the typewriter cases (both were ordinary Royal portables; I didn't bother taking them), the woman says to me something like "You kin have the typewriters; those are made uh steel, so we don't want 'em" So, I tend not to think he's not taking all the power cords for any sort of actual use... It is annoying to us 'collector'-type of scroungers though.

I've noticed a lot of devices with missing cords too, and typically it'll be in a pattern of everything along a street will have missing cords. But I've never actually seen anyone in the act. It's not normally a problem, except when they clip off monitor video cables and the like - those are a royal pain to patch back on, and make it so not worth it to pick up a monitor like that. But AC cords aren't _that_ big of a deal, but it is kinda annoying. I do, however, tend to clip cords off vaccuum cleaners, the really beat-up, cheap junky ones that I know nobody will want. Vaccuum cleaner cords are nice and long, very flexible, and work great for test cords, speaker connections, etc. I use them frequently.

-Ian

You'd be surprised how many PCs are thrown away because of spyware. Most people have no idea how to reinstall windows even if they figure out what the problem is. I guess they just assume it's running slow because it's old.

Reminds me of the story of the man who sold his car simply because the ashtray was full. :D

As to the ones who discard perfectly good computers simply due to spyware, I think some may know full well how to reinstall Windows, but they cringe at the sheer amount of time it takes to do it. On my ancient (technologically) IBM Aptiva 595 (bought new almost seven years ago and was already obsolete after six months--grrr) it takes a good 45 minutes to install the operating system. I've only done it twice since I've had the computer.

About spyware: Have these people never heard of system maintenance programs that delete this harmful stuff from your hard drive? (Apparently not, if they put the system out for the trash at the first sign of spyware and/or adware.) The software isn't cheap, but it's a small price to pay for peace of mind, and it's a lot cheaper than buying a new computer. I have AdAware SE and Spyware - Search and Destroy on mine, plus a registry repair program and System Mechanic v5.0, all of which (except Spyware S&D, which is redundant) I run regularly. Seems like every time I run AdAware I find at least some spyware on the drive. With identity theft being such a huge (not to mention dangerous) problem these days, it is very, very important to have and use some kind of spyware scanning scheme on your computer.

To discard a perfectly good (and likely very expensive) system that may be only a couple of years old simply because of spyware, though--sheeeeeesh! Finding TVs, radios and stereo gear in the trash which may have only minor problems (even as minor as dry-rotted line cords[!] or consoles, table sets, etc. that don't match the decor of the owner's home after times and styles change) is bad enough, but when we start finding computer systems on curbs and treelawns . . . again I say, sheeeeesh! Today's world practically runs on computers; because of this, more folks should learn how to maintain their own systems. If more people would obtain, learn to use, and above all else use regularly programs such as AdAware, et al. (not to mention firewall software) we could conceivably find far fewer perfectly operational computers headed for the landfill.

Most of the stuff i find are working. Actually, all the TVs i have found have worked at first try. People throw it away just because it is old(fashioned). Found a Philips K40 TV today, the cheapest model with only 5 watt audio amplifier, not the "Hifi" sound system and no teletext, but it worked and the picture is great. Philips K40s are almost bulletproof, and they are pretty common, mostly the mid priced ones with 15 watt amplifier and hifi sound system.

Talk about street finds. Old baldwin organ with a bank of tubes in the back. The owner was outside and said it worked, but he was remodeling. Took four guys to dismantle and bring it outside. Probably should have pulled the tubes?It was a beautiful piece, but what am I going to do with it? Was on the way home from a boyscout meet with my son who said oh dad, when I stopped to look.

Depending on how old the Baldwin was, it probably had a load of 12AU7 tubes, of if older, 6SN7GT's I've gotten loads of tubes from junked organs. Most of them test nearly 100%!!!

Form an L-103(I think) Hammond organ.

I have the board(literally) on which is mounted the tone generator (mechanical) including the motor(probably about 35-50 pounds, about 2 feet wide or so),


And the amp/PS chassis. (all tubes).

I picked them up figggering someone here might need them. I would be happy to get rid of them, for shipping cost(and perhaps a small donation to AK). I already tore my pants once bumping into them in the garage!!

Talk about street finds. Old baldwin organ with a bank of tubes in the back. The owner was outside and said it worked, but he was remodeling. Took four guys to dismantle and bring it outside. Probably should have pulled the tubes?It was a beautiful piece, but what am I going to do with it? Was on the way home from a boyscout meet with my son who said oh dad, when I stopped to look.

I made about $1500 selling tubes on ebay that I pulled from an old organ that was at the side of the road. It was full of Amperex 12AU7s all with matching date codes.

I think cord clipping is a self perpuating thing. I get so much stuff with cut cords that I cut cords off the stuff I don't want to replace them.

Data and signal cables can be a real pain though. I also collect old computers. I've got several data cables here with big lumps of heatshrink in the middle of them. When you can't find matching connectors there's no choice but to patch the remains of the original cable.

Some of the scrappers around here are real nasty though. They don't just cut the cords, they'll break the neck off the CRT for the yoke and even break transformers off PCBs.

Well, the various "Spring Clean-Up" trash days are just about winding up around here, but found a few semi-interesting goodies on Friday.

First up, one of the few tube portables I've encountered in the trash, a rather plain-looking Admiral 19" black-and-white (see attached photo). It had a sticky-note on it that said "B&W / This works / gets 5 channels" Sure enough, it does work, though contrast and brightness are both rather poor, and IF seems weak (which I'm sure is related to the poor contrast).

I mentioned a Zenith stereo table radio in drh's "estate sale" thread, but I also found another Zenith that perhaps doesn't have quite as much character or charm, and isn't USA-made, but it should get points for *something*. See attached photo. I've seen some fairly elaborate Zenith compact stereos before, but I don't think I've seen one that tops this. Note the rebadged B-I-C belt-drive multi-play record changer on top, and it appears to have a Shure magnetic cartidge. It has both cassette *and* 8-Track recording capability, and even has manual recording level controls and meters. The AM/FM receiver section has such features as flywheel tuning, tuning meter, and a detented feel on the volume control.
Question: What year did Zenith get out of the radio/audio business anyway? This must have been from about their last year of such products.

Also, in the non-A/V category, found a few semi-interesting computer related items, including an IBM PC/XT with keyboard and CGA display -- which might not sound terribly interesting, but all three pieces were in nice shape and were complete with their original boxes and packaging, and that's not something you see so often anymore. Also a Kaypro II (not in such nice shape though, and without box).

Those turntables like on those Zenith are a real pain to fix! We have had to retrofit older BSR units that are still repairable into consoles using these TT's. We haven't had to do one for a while but it seems as though it is impossible to disassemble it to work on it.
Is your Kaypro II working? I remember finding one in the trash too but could not get it to start up.

That Zenith was from the same series (minus the 8 track) as my first real stereo. Allegro. The memories. I ran that thing to death! The amps were able to handle low (2 ohm, maybe lower) impedance. I would hook a ton of speakers and use it as a party machine.

YES, I was (am) young and stupid. It never blew up, never quit. It was a warrior. If I had the room I would love to get another. Nice score!

Now that I think about it, It may have had a 8 track.

If it did, I never used it. I do remember the smoked glass on the tuner dial and the switches that ben with ease.

As I remember Zenith tried one last time making good stereos in the late 70's even if they were not made here. I would say by 1980 they had given up.
Steve

I also found another Zenith that perhaps doesn't have quite as much character or charm, and isn't USA-made, but it should get points for *something*. See attached photo. I've seen some fairly elaborate Zenith compact stereos before, but I don't think I've seen one that tops this. Note the rebadged B-I-C belt-drive multi-play record changer on top, and it appears to have a Shure magnetic cartidge. It has both cassette *and* 8-Track recording capability, and even has manual recording level controls and meters. The AM/FM receiver section has such features as flywheel tuning, tuning meter, and a detented feel on the volume control.
Question: What year did Zenith get out of the radio/audio business anyway? This must have been from about their last year of such products.

I had a Zenith integrated stereo system almost like that one in the early '80s. Mine didn't have record level VU meters, but it did have an eight-track deck, cassette deck and a BSR turntable, along with the detented volume control and a tuning meter that worked for AM and FM. It also had Allegro 100 tuned-port two-way speakers and sounded just great! :yes: It lasted 17 years, then I gave it away and bought an Aiwa bookshelf system when I moved, as the Zenith stereo would have been too big, physically, for my apartment. Oh well, I was overdue for a technology upgrade anyway.

Zenith made and marketed its last table radio in 1982. They left the audio field altogether shortly thereafter and sold out to Gold Star a few years later. :no: You have a piece of Zenith history in that integrated system; I'd hang on to it, as they don't make them like that anymore.

Zenith (GS) does have a mini stereo in its current product line (model LX-140), but I don't think it is built to last anywhere nearly as long as the system you have and the one I used to have. When Zenith left Chicago and moved offshore, the quality fell off the boat and never made it. That's why I collect vintage Zenith radios today. Those older Zeniths were built by the original Zenith Radio Corporation of Chicago and were built to last; like the Eveready Energizer battery, they just keep going and going and going. OTOH, I wouldn't expect a "Zenith" LX-140 to last more than a year or two. :no:

Those turntables like on those Zenith are a real pain to fix! We have had to retrofit older BSR units that are still repairable into consoles using these TT's. We haven't had to do one for a while but it seems as though it is impossible to disassemble it to work on it.
Is your Kaypro II working? I remember finding one in the trash too but could not get it to start up.

Hmm. Didn't realize those turntables had reliability issues; perhaps that's one reason why you don't see very many B-I-C changers around anymore. Weren't they made in the USA though, by the remnants of V-M? [The ubiquitous BSR changers were of course made in the UK]

The Kaypro II appears to be functional (it comes up with a prompt requesting a disk in drive A), but I don't have any Kaypro-format CP/M disks handy, so wasn't able to boot it up. I might have some around here somewheres though, or I can probably make one if all else fails.

Just got back from what might just be the last night for this this year. Actually, I thought the 'bulk-trash' pick-up day for that particular neighborhood was today, but turns out it's tomorrow, so I made another run-through tonight. Anyway, turned up two more TV-related items.

First off, one of those little 9" cube-shaped Zenith color portables from the late 80's. I dunno about everyone else, but I always liked these 9" Zeniths-- they're really cute little sets! I think I've got five or six of these things now; they seem to show up at yard sales and such now with increasing frequency. Anyway, these were available in at least 4 different colors, with white/creme being the most common. It was also available in pink (like this one) and a light baby-blue color. There was also a 'metallic' black version, which differed from the others in that it could also run on 12VDC. (I've never seen a black one that wasn't AC/DC, nor have I seen an AC/DC one in any other color) Other variants include a Space Command remote control version (which I've only seen in the white/creme color), and a Heathkit version of the metallic black AC/DC set, which was indeed offered as a (rather expensive!) build-it-yourself kit. Anyone know if there were any other colors or special variants offered?
Anyway, this particular one doesn't appear to be in great cosmetic shape in the photo, but the cabinet mostly just really dirty; it should clean up rather nicely. Unfortunately, it's completely non-functional, which somehow surprises me. BTW, anyone know what years Zenith made these sets? I've seen them with manufacturing dates ranging from about 1986 to 1990.

Also found on the curb tonight was, of all things, an RCA Silverama 17BP4D picture tube in box. The box is pretty beat up and water damaged, and had obviously been opened long ago, but the CRT appears to indeed be as NOS. The tube neck and socket are nice and clean, and the identification label is still on the face of the tube. Also has an unfilled out distributor purchase/warranty card. Gave it a quick test on a CRT tester, and it checks out great. So, it doesn't seem to actually have been used. Strange that someone would just happen to have an old unused CRT sitting in a box-- there weren't any other related items among the rest of the trash in front of the same house. Weird. Unfortunately, I don't currently have a set that can really use this CRT though, but at least it has been rescued from the landfill, so that it may someday have a TV to live in...

I picked up this 1975 Zenith chromacolor 2 on the curb today. This one is dirty like it's been sitting in a shed or garage for a long time, but it still works.

If zenith was still in business as an American company, they could have some great advertizing about the reliability of their TV's. They could show these 30 year old plus TV's that have been in harsh environments for all these years and show that they still work no matter what they've been though!
Didnt someone here have a zenith that was sitting outside in the weather for years, yet it still worked great and the TV was rusted and beat to heck? We've all said it a million times, you can beat Zenith quality.

It worked at first, but after about 30min, I started to have problems with it (see 1st picture). At first I thought it was a horiz problem, but I swapped the horiz module with no difference. After a while it started to loose horiz sync, sound, picture and all, then I thought it was the tuner and cleaned the pins and sockets going to the tuner, and resoldered some of the ground and B+ connections, but that didn't do it. Then I noticed it worked good if I turned to a station with a weak signal, so I tried to adjust the AGC and that didn't help, then I swapped out the entire AGC board, and that fixed it.
I've had plenty of Zenith tube sets as early as a '61 b/w and as late as a '71 4 tube chromacolor, work when I brought them home and stay working for years, I still have a 1970 23" b/w in the metal cabinet with all original parts in it, tubes and caps and everything, that works great, but everytime I bring home one of these chroma IIs they always seem to need something.

I think it is a good idea to let collectors take the old TVs off the street. In California, Cathode Ray Tubes are considered hazardous waste. A while back there was a 30 dollar fee to dump one. Now it is free at most recycling facilities. Our facility has a neat bin loaded with old televisions and monitors, waiting for the electronic recycling company. Most are then loaded onto cargo ships and sent to China and dismantled by children. The tube is broken and the chassis is burnt to extract the trace metals, then dumped in any convenient water body.

It worked at first, but after about 30min, I started to have problems with it (see 1st picture). At first I thought it was a horiz problem, but I swapped the horiz module with no difference. After a while it started to loose horiz sync, sound, picture and all, then I thought it was the tuner and cleaned the pins and sockets going to the tuner, and resoldered some of the ground and B+ connections, but that didn't do it. Then I noticed it worked good if I turned to a station with a weak signal, so I tried to adjust the AGC and that didn't help, then I swapped out the entire AGC board, and that fixed it.
I've had plenty of Zenith tube sets as early as a '61 b/w and as late as a '71 4 tube chromacolor, work when I brought them home and stay working for years, I still have a 1970 23" b/w in the metal cabinet with all original parts in it, tubes and caps and everything, that works great, but everytime I bring home one of these chroma IIs they always seem to need something.

You might want to change the caps on the old AGC board and see if that fixes it. Then, you'll have a spare board. I tend to agree about the CCII's needing something. Even though they were good sets; I've always had to do something to the ones that I found. I hated to get one where the tripler failed and took the flyback and HOT with it. A lot of the older Zeniths worked or just needed minor adjustment when I got them.

I'm not a dumpster diver or curb shopper, but a few years ago the people renting the house behind me were finally evicted. For the next 3 weeks, the alley rats were in hog heaven picking through the trash there, to the point people would line up to take their turn. The cops were called a few times because people would park in yards, block driveways and just cause a rukus. I did venture over a few times and pulled out a brand new 80lb. punching bag and several crates of LP's. There was a nice old magnavox console stereo too. I came back from work but some kids had come over and busted it up. The were throwing tubes at each other & the neighbors dog when I pulled up, jumped out of my truck and told them to get the f**k out as a cop was cruising down the alley and stopped one of them (other 2 got away.)