So who has the oldest Daily Watcher?
 

I think this was touched on in other threads, but I am wondering who is watching the oldest set as primary. I don't mean having a vintage set hooked up that you watch somewhat regularly, I mean the MAIN TV in the house.

To open the discussion, Len Horowitz in LA has a CTC-4 as his daily (and only cable-connected) TV. I have the 1972 Zenith 25" set, which we watch every day, and is the only TV connected besides the smaller bedroom set that we use to go to sleep by but seldom watch a program on.

My main daily watcher is my CTC15 Beauchamp. It plays all the time... and many times I'm not even in there watching it. That's a bad habit i need to break.

This set was pieced together using 3 sets. Cabinet from one, chassis from another, and the last set donated the picture tube (which I took to Dallas for rebuild). The main chassis repair was a new flyback. Since then, I've only had to change a 6GH8A... I think it was a month ago when the color crapped out.

Unfortunately, about five days ago, I turned it on to find a hum bar in the picture and sound. Not good. The lytics are still the originals... so I suspect one of them went south. Perhaps I'll luck out and find a tube developed a H-K short.

The photo below of the screen shot came out that way due to bad timing... I snapped the shutter just as the picture was changing. I decided to keep the photo because I thought it looked somewhat ghostly and it was kinda neat looking.

HOPEFULLY i'll get my magnavox workin soon and i'll have a '54 as my daily watched set
frank

My Archie watcher is the big Zenith combo noted on my website. It was made around 1965. My other sets only see about 2 hours a week of playtime. Once I get my in-house caqble system, I will be able to watch on any set I choose (or all of them). I had found a shitload of RG6 coax in a dumpster on a jobsite I was working at. From my Primestar days, I saved splitters and connectors. My oldest working set might be either my Andrea or Philco 12". Since I want to preserve the tubes in these, I will not use them on a daily basis. The Andrea uses the metal 16GP4. For me, there is something about the Zenith. Since I mostly watch DVD's of old shows, this set would be most "period correct."

Well I've already been blown otta this contest, but here's a shot taken about 5 mins ago...

1978 Zenith Space Command

It looks kinda weird because I snapped it with the lights OFF, then photshopped everything BUT the screen.

My living room set is a 1990 27" Zenith, but honestly the computer room set shown here is the one that sees most use.

Our living room set at home is a 23" 1979 Zenith Chromacolor II w/ space command.

Charlie I would change those caps in that ctc 15 now. I had some that started to go bad and ended up shorting out.

For me its a 1969 16Z7C50 chassis Zenith "Lundberg" with space command 600. Have been using this as the main daily watcher for the past 2 years. in the bedroom is a 1967 (20X1C38) zenith space command 600 table TV on the dresser. and in the computer room, a 1972 zenith (20CC50). The rest of the vintage TVs are on display and get turned on every so often.

Those rectangles are great! You really do collect classic entertainment. Perfect for that groovy retro look.


I used to have an old RCA VCR like that, their first consumer model in 1977, VHS. Pretty much sold cheap to neighbor when I moved, shouldn't sold it.

Thanks for the info... Those are ALL nice sets to be envious of! It looks like mine is the middle of the road agewise. But one thing I notice: Most of these daily watchers are Zeniths :scratch2: ... I think this echoes what has been the buzz for many years about how the Zeniths of the 60s and 70s stand apart from the crowd for quality.

So at this point, Len's CTC-4 is oldest. Let's hear from the rest who wish to comment in the next week or 2. At one time in the early 80s, I had a 12" Hoffman 1949 B&W as my daily set :thmbsp: . It was NOT RECAPPED EITHER!!!!! But then again that was 25 years ago.

Just for the record, I thought about it today and my NEWEST set (not counting a couple of friends' TVs here for repair) is a 15 year old Trinitron 13".

Charles

My daily watcher was a 1964 CTC-15 based Silvertone until a couple of years ago when I last moved. The crt was getting weak, and I really didnt have room for a console. The tube has been rebuilt at Hawkeye, and the chassis is on the bench right now getting aligned. When I get it put back together I suppose it will be my daily watcher again, If I can find room for it.

John

When my CTC-16 comes back from being repaired it will be my oldest daily watcher (1964) My current line up for watchers now is: Bedroom: 19" 1974 RCA XL100 Office: (which see's the most use and where the CTC-16 will reside) 1984 25" System 3 console and finally in my basement work-out room I use my 19" 1979 System 3 SC

ctc 9 winslow

For about 6 months, a few years ago, when I first started fixing TVs, the only working set I had was a 59 Magnavox b/w console. For a while I mostly used a 72 Zenith 21" color hybrid for about a year, then switched to a 67 Zenith 25" color console (which I am avoiding now until I change the filter caps in the power supply). For some time I favored a 70 Zenith b/w.
Lately I have so many sets that I tend to rotate which sets I use regularly. Some sets even after they are repaired don't make it into the rotation, smaller portables, sets with weak CRTs, etc... Lately I have watched alot of my 61 Zenith 23" b/w, my other 59 Magnavox b/w console, and 68 Zenith 21" color. For the past few days I have been watching alot of VHS, which I almost exclusively watch now on my 83 Zenith, so I don't get that 'wavy' picture at the top of the screen.
I plan to fix up that 63 Philco color to the point where I can use it as a daily watcher. I watched some DVDs on it for a few hours this afternoon, and it dosen't really have any visible problems, just some dirty controls.

...I grew up watching B&W sets, so not to be too old fashioned, I'm a pre-color post WWII guy. My daily watcher is a well maintained RCA 8TS30. When I want to watch a somewhat bigger picture I'll warm up the RCA 8-T-54 which uses a round glass-metal 16GP4 (non-aluminized!) tube. Periodically, I'll tell my wife that the Dumonts' are coming for diner. She knows I'll be eating in the living room watching something at least as old as me and probably (she thinks) just as tempermental - it definitely means I won't be eating the kitchen. If I decide to join in some family viewing then one of two 25" RCA Colortrack 2000's (1985 vintage) are required viewing - they form the rest of the family daily watchers - neither has ever been serviced, they get at least 5 hours of use per day and they CRT's are just as bright as they were 21 years ago. Golly gee, they must have been made on a Tuesday - both were assembled in Prescott, Ontario. :D

Alas, the Ryan household is not entirely confined to the stone age (post Gen X), in my study I keep a 36" Mitsubishi high definition color monitor ...for those special moments, in case I want to watch symphonies, operas or Heifetz or Horowitz reruns. The PC get some use too, and movies like Cliffhanger or Das Boot take on a surreal appearance. Even Robinson Caruso on Mars (Laser Disc version) is awesome. Of course, on those really far out occasions I'll crank up the Sony VPH-G70Q and dazzle the everyone with an 10 foot wide home theater experience in the family room. I do have a bunch of roundie colors but they're not daily watchers for me. Guess they could be...but Turner Classic Movies in B&W are a waste on those babies.

I've always preferred roundies because they are so odd looking to people who didn't grow up with them... not as round as say a Porthole Zenith, but round nonetheless. You know, so odd looking that they stop looking old, and start looking COOL!
But now that HDTV will be taking over, with it's widescreen format, over the years it will make even old 4:3 rectangulars start to look weird and strange... and COOL! : )

Its been a long time since I had a tube set as daily watcher. There was a long line of them through the 80s & 90s, my favorites being the CTC-31 that CaptainMoody has now, a great Philco-Ford rect. console that I really miss (late 60s) & then for a short while I used a 4 tube Zenith (that drh has now). Since then, though, its just been my Grandfather's 1991 NAP Sylvania. I would love to bring one of the old timer's up front but I really don't think Kim would go for it!

The set I always watch in my bedroom is a '72 Zenith 17" b&w portable. I forget how many tubes are in there... maybe 5 or 6 at most. I got it for 5 bucks nearly ten years ago. The set looks like new. I've never done a thing to it other than clean the dust out once or twice. Still has all the original caps and tubes, and still plays perfectly. People have often commented on how well these Zenith portables hold up... and I can understand why. This one has been a great performer and well worth the 5 bucks.

I don't know if this qualifies, but we run our 621 and 630, plus our 1947 Telejuke all day Saturday and Sunday when the museum is open.

1969 Symphonic B/W portable 3" received as a gift for Christmas 1969 and depending on whats on a 1984 Panasonic CT-101 1.5" color CRT both in my workshop/computer room. I have a 46" rear projection Mitsubishi in the Family room but I almost never watch that one. I have one of them on when I am in the room for background noise, if it is completely silent I have a problem working on electronics. Right now I have am working on a Onkyo 5 Channel monster that my neighbor dropped from about 5 feet, power transformer (about 20 pounds) bent and cracked the powersupply board. Several dozen point to point wires should do it.
Richard.

Right now my oldest daily watcher is the 12" Zenith portable featured in my avatar. My first TV was one like this and I just love the style and build quality of the '60s Zeniths. This set was a thrift store find, has required very little work over the two or three years I have had it and the performance is great. If my wife would not object, I'd sell off every newer set in the house, buy a big three-way Zenith roundie combo and live in the past forever. For daily service, I definitely prefer a Zenith tube set. I am thinking about getting an early to mid '70s Chromacolor 19" or 13" for the bedroom if I can find one.

Compucat:

I love your signature line... Zenith: The tube goes in before the back goes on.

:D

I heard this one from one of a former member of my antique radio club.

Philco-the quality fell out before the name went on.

Obviously he was not impressed with the quality of Philco products.

My daily watcher is not all that old, started life as a 1986 Sylvania 31" with a NC4 chassis, got updated to a Philips GR1CX chassis with PIP in 1991 and a new Philips 32V CRT in 1995 has been turned on 24/7 since 1989 and the current CRT has 96,000+ hours with the chassis fully recapped once.

Must been a b**** recapping it while it was turned on : ()

Zat why I got the shakes an glow in the dark....

My 2 Daily Watchers
 

Here is my 2 Daily Watchers that I have had going for several months now. Ive been watching the CTC 16 as a Daily set since September. Here lately the Silvertone (1966 CTC 15 like set) on the right has been put through alot of use. The origonal problem with the silvertone was that the horizontal hold would not lock. I discovered a good smack on the side would cause it to lock. Pulled the chassis out and looked for possible causes. Found that the Horizonal OSC coil was not making a good connection to the board. Resoldered it last week and it has fixed the problem for now. Ive got 4 more roundies, 2 that im getting close to being done with. Biggest problem is finding a good spot in the house for them. My sets seem to get moved around before they settle to one spot.

VERY NICE!

I think the last time I saw two round sets turned on together was 20 years ago at the Salvation Army store.

Charles

XBOX on a roundie eh? that must look real cool.

I'd still like to see Pong on a hi-def plasma screen.

-Ian

I recently bought one of those newer versions of the Atari 2600 at Walmart. I think it's called Atari Flashback, or something like that. It's at my parents' right now. We've been playing it on their 36" Hitachi. Guess I will have to bring it here to try on a roundie.

...

Someone here (from AK's very early days) had a photo posted with 3 roundies all playing James Bond... I think two were ctc 7's, and the third set may have been a 10. It was a really cool photo to see the three sets all playing together.

Actually, I think it was winter and they were looking for a heating alternative in that part of the house! ;) :D

How about this picture:

http://www.earlytelevision.org/five_working.html

:thmbsp: THAT photo, my dear friend, ROCKS!

I don't think anyone can beat that photo!

Sort of a challenge...I have posted in an old thread a shot of 2 of my roundies running (my avatar is half that picture) but I think I could get 5 of the 6 I have in one shot. Maybe I'll try that this weekend. Hmmm...there is supposed to be a cold snap coming before long!

I can't compete. :tears:

But I could post an MP3 of 6 Toyota Diesel engines running all at the same time :banana:

To see 5 15GP22s in one photo is remarkable. To see them operating is UNSPEAKABLE!!!!

Charles

the pic is stunning!!! and just think of their combined value now ..let alone in 1953!!!

my own oldest daily watcher is a 1976 Sony KV1800AS ..standard 1970s Sony trinitron ...no roundies downunder :(

the old girl chugs on ...but could do with some love and attention ...the blue is a bit sick ..but she keeps working!

Geez I remember buying an Atari 2600 'mini' version that came with 10 game carts about 10 years ago, this machine will NEVER die! : )

Here goes...
 

Well, I thought this would be akin to herding cats but it worked out okay. Each set has its quarks. From left to right: CTC-12, CTC-11, CTC-5, Zenith 25MC30 & 25MC33. Only the 11 & 5 were getting a strong signal-I didn't have enough splitters & cable to have them all off the same source. Looking at the pics you can sure see where they came up with the saying "Never Twice Same Color". Later I was able to compare the 11 & 12 with the same program & they were real close in reproduction. There is one more, a 15, but I couldn't get it in the picture. This was fun; I didn't think of it until later but this was, like, 125 tubes running at once!

Great photos! In the meantime, the rest of the neighborhood is suffering a minor brown-out! :D