Finally found my TV. But...
 

OK. Exciting day here today. If you've ever noticed the set in my VK avatar, I've been looking for years for this model, the TV I spent far too many hours perched in front of during my childhood.

My set (circa 1955):
http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9485574f.jpg

Fellow VK'er Polaraman ran across one today. That's the good news.

Polaraman's find:
http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/...psd6dcd099.jpg

The bad news is that its in Alabama and I'm in New Jersey. Craters and Freighters wants an arm and a leg to bring it here. So I'm wondering if anyone near Woodland Alabama might be coming to the Early Television Convention and be willing to Pony Express it there?

Thanks!
-- Dave Sica

Dave, it could be worse, it could be in CA.

have you considered USHIP?

http://www.uship.com/?page=brandus&-...alwaysShowCCTA

I have used them several times with good results. It would probably help if you could get the seller to strap it to a pallet and wrap it in shrink wrap. Or just the shrink wrap plastic, which can be gotten at any home improvement store.

Good luck.

What about a vacation to Alabama ?
what kind of set is that ?

mikw

Im in Woodland... unfortunately the California one... :(

SR

Motorola VK-21-something. I have the exact model number noted somewhere. Circa 1954 or so.

Thank goodness you warned me. I could have ended up there looking for it! :)

Great picture! The older one I mean... Hope it safely gets to your home soon.
Good luck!

Hi John,

I forgot about uShip. I was pretty well horrified by what I saw in the video clip of the guy moving Nick's set and other things, but Nick says he was very happy with them. Of course this ain't no priceless developmental set, so figuring what's an acceptable amount to budget for shipping is a little more stressful.

-- Dave

electroking: where are you in Montreal? I lived in NDG and Montreal West for a number of years a long time ago. (I wasn't yet a TV collector back then, I was still a relatively sane person!) I get up that way every once in a while. How active is the collecting community there?

-- Dave

Check with your local Fastenal (or their website), they are doing shipping like this now and are reasonable. Would probably have to be palletized, though.

I received great service from a uShip trucker, can't remember his name now. I looked at the thread about my 8PCS41 from November or so, but his name isn't there. Go ahead and ask for a quote, just remember, the show is dramatized for advertiser revenue!

I shipped a porthole with uship. I was the sender, so I was responsible for the packing, which is probably 75% of the battle. I put it on a skid, bubble wrapped it twice, built a box over it, bubble wrapped that, then shrink wrapped it. Then I put some L-shaped corner pieces on the top and strapped it to the pallet. Then I sat back and bit my nails until I heard from the buyer ;)

All went well though. It arrived with no damage.

I've used Uship before and was happy with the results. I sent you the direct email for the guy I used. The set I purchased wasn't packed at all. Glen (the shipper) blanket wrapped the set and it arrived in Pittsburgh just as it left.

Well, I have a number of friends who are diehard collectors, I just have
about 50 project radios and two B/W TVs, so I can tell you that there
is some activity, but have no way to compare it with other areas.

The Quebec Hamfest held in Sorel-Tracy each May is a fine place to
find stuff, even though some people have been predicting its demise
for years now...

I live in the Villeray borough, to answer your question. And in relation
to your own story, my avatar shows me circa 1961 in front of my parent's
Electrohome Tampico TV, which we were fortunate to keep to this day.
It still has the factory CRT, and I do have a good spare, so I trust this
TV will be with me for the rest of my life. Regards.

We have in Germany/Europe something called "Mitfahrzentrale".
It is a service organisation in which people are asking and offering
space in their cars (mostly passenger) for travellers.
They are much lower in price than trains and airports or shippers.
I received this way TVs from Spain and Italy safe.
Had to pick the sets up from the homes of the drivers.
Maybe you find any salesman who takes this way you need, someone
with a station wagon, someone who is happy that his "guy"
on the backseat doesn`t drink, smell, smoke or is telling him
during the long trip about his lousy job!:D

Best regards,

TV-Collector:stupid:

I was happy with the results when I used U-ship last year to haul a very heavy monitor from OH to WA. In that case, the seller kindly bolted it to a pallet, built a custom crate around that, and delivered it to the shipping terminal (yes, I paid him a nice bonus for that assistance).

Your console might not need to be put on a pallet, if the chassis is secure and the CRT mounting is such that it won't come loose and self-destruct. Some years ago, I had a very large radio/tv/combo hauled by a mover -- basically one husky guy with a big lift-gate truck -- and he treated it like any other piece of big furniture. Wrapped in a blanket during transit and moved with a big hand truck at both ends.

I think the trucker's term for that is something like LTFL (less than full load). They are already moving stuff from Point A to B and have spare room in the truck, so they'll bring along your piece for a reasonable fee.

TV-collector's suggestion might also be worth pursuing. When I was trying to transport that monitor from OH to WA, I put an ad in the Ride Share section of that town's craigslist ads. I found a guy who was moving here and had room in his truck, but the timing didn't work out.

Phil Nelson

Argh! I heard from the seller today that someone came by yesterday and bought both of the sets he was selling. :(

Except for the family history angle, I think this set is unremarkable and even kind of butt-ugly compared to a lot of others. I'm genuinely surprised that anyone else was interested in it at any price.

I suppose since I've been looking for this set for at least 10 or 15 years now I should have just jumped on it and worried about the logistics afterward. But the initial shipping estimates I was getting, in the 600-700 dollar range, really scared the enthusiasm right out of me.

Perhaps I'll be able to get in touch with the buyer and see if I can interest him in trading that "unremarkable" Motorola to me for something more interesting.

Oh well, huge thanks to Polaraman and all the others who've been keeping an eye out for me. Maybe some day...

-- Dave

Well, Shit...SOOOO close...

Awww. I'll keep an eye out around here too. I never see much though. I have had to drive over 100 miles for both my sets.

I've driven 8 hours one way for the right set.

The set's probably a 1952 model. I don't think, Motorola built a 17" set with that style bezzle any later. :scratch2:

Sorry to hear that, I thought the deal was already closed and you were just looking
for a carrier. Good luck, you may eventually find something even nicer...

Yeah, I was too cautious, and banking on the fact that no one but me would be silly enough to want that particular set.

dieseljeep: it could very well be as early as '52. I have that information here somewhere. But I'm certain it's a 21" tube.

Take a look here:
http://tvhistory.tv/1953-Motorola-Brochure.JPG
To me (judging from the Knob spacing vs width of the CRT), the Avatar set is looking more like a 17". :scratch2:

jr

My goodness jr, I think you're right!

Keep in mind that to a kid that sat there with his nose practically pressed up against the TV, a 17" screen would have looked pretty huge! :)

I will rationalize this loss, and console myself with the fact that this set was a very close match, but wasn't 100% the exact same model. Our set had that blonde finish that was popular back then (there was a name for that finish that I'm not recalling) and as far as I recall, it didn't have a UHF tuner (or maybe we just didn't have any UHF stations!)

I remember all those *8 foot snowdrifts* from childhood, that we don't seem to get any more! :D

One thing that puzzles me about the avatar set is the aspect ratio of the CRT, which measures more like 6x9 rather than 4x3. Did the pix get stretched, or is this some strange rendering of the avatar on my system?

jr

Several people have mentioned that. I scanned this years ago with a first-generation hand scanner (the 4" wide one that you held in your hand and rolled over a photo) and it sometimes produced "interesting" results.

Either that or my family had one of the very first widescreen sets ever made!

I still have the original Polaroid print around somewhere.

If that TV was bought in Northern Jersey, it very likely did not have UHF. Nothing sold within 50 miles of Philly had UHF either
It was a floor model, right? My first set was a Motorola, 10 years newer and I never saw another like it.
But I will keep an eye out for one like yours. Motorolas seemed to sell well here despite RCA having a CRT factory in town.

Greetings from FixitLand!

I am following this thread with interest. Like Dave S., my "first TV" in 1970 was a 1953 Motorola (in my case, a 17F13 radio-TV-phono in the limed-oak cabinet; TV Chassis TS-401) given me by family friends. The phono in that rig was a funky triangular-shaped unit with a large record-support shelf that slid in and out for different-sized records. Unfortunately, the radio chassis and speaker had been removed; getting the set operational again was daunting for a 15-year-old! (Had to learn about "electro-dynamic speakers.") But the TV did play again, and ran until 1975 when I parted it out (wish I hadn't now! but I likely still have most of the tubes). Had a visible ion burn, but no brightener. The picture tube was a 17LP4 cylindrical-face tube, and it did seem to have a slightly wider pic than other tubes of its size. It's a touch more rectangular than most of its contemporaries. My Zenith K1846R has the same tube. The set was purchased new in the Portland, Oregon area, and at that time the only channel available here was KPTV Ch. 27, so it had a factory UHF tuner (which I never got to use, since Ch. 27 merged with KLOR Ch. 12 in 1958 and UHF went dark in Portland until 1982). The VHF tuner was wafer-switch-style rather than the turret type. High-voltage cage is built into the chassis rather than sitting proud on top of the chassis as with most sets. The set also uses selenium rectifiers, so beware...<grin!>

Good luck with your search...

J. E. Knox "The Victor Freak"