I Love Trash!
 

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.

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

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.

You guys are ALL VERY lucky!!
 

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.

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.

Great finds
 

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.

Best finds and one that got away...
 

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.

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.

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.

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/collectibl...yclingday1.JPG
http://www.kirchenlöwe.de/collectibl...yclingday2.JPG
http://www.kirchenlöwe.de/collectibl...yclingday3.JPG
http://www.kirchenlöwe.de/collectibl...yclingday4.JPG
http://www.kirchenlöwe.de/collectibl...yclingday5.JPG
http://www.kirchenlöwe.de/collectibl...yclingday6.JPG
http://www.kirchenlöwe.de/collectibl...yclingday7.JPG
http://www.kirchenlöwe.de/collectibl...yclingday8.JPG
http://www.kirchenlöwe.de/collectibl...yclingday9.JPG
http://www.kirchenlöwe.de/collectibl...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