Extra-potent pot in North Texas? Magnavox 12" B&W
 

http://cgi.ebay.com/15-MAGNAVOX-TUBE...item1c1252efd6


Oh brother.

Charles

such a steal!
I remember repairing those devils! They LOVE vertical height and lin controls!

I think that set has been constantly relisted for the last 6 months. Maybe I'll submit a $3.50 offer.

$350 for a 15" b&w portable?
 

Three hundred fifty dollars for a 15-inch b&w portable TV that's probably 25 years old or more? Come on already. This outrageous bid makes about as much sense as turning a nice TV console into a fish tank.

Even if this were a common color set, that opening bid would still be way out of line; even more so if the set doesn't work. The seller claims he cannot test it because he does not have a converter box. Does he have cable? If so, he can use a matching transformer at the end of the cable and connect it to this set's VHF antenna terminals so he can test it on at least 12 channels; after all, any TV set, even one with a standard detented VHF tuner, will work with cable to receive channels 2 through 13 without the need for a cable box.

It is little wonder that this TV has been relisted on eBay so often. Hardly anyone is going to touch this set as long as the opening bid is so high. I personally wouldn't pay more than $50 for this, depending on its condition. IMHO, due to its age, it probably isn't worth much more than that. If it does not work, I wouldn't give more than $5-$10 for it. The seller must either be broke or nearly so, or else he simply wants to get as much money for it as he can. However, if he thinks he's going to get anywhere near $350 for it, he is dreaming. As long as that opening bid remains, the set could remain on eBay for weeks, months, years...or forever. The only thing I can think of, in trying to figure out why this person has set the opening bid so high, is that he or she thinks because tube type analog televisions are obsolete and nearly worthless to anyone other than collectors these days, any set like this is a rarity that should bring top dollar--even in an eBay auction. If this were an RCA CT-100 or some other truly rare television I could see an opening bid this high or higher, but not for a little 15-inch portable two and a half decades old or more that may not even work.

I know this type seller. He probably has a steady income and is not worried about how he's going to eat or pay his bills. He has this old TV that he has placed a very inflated price on; and, he likely has the attitude, "If someone wants to pay my price, they can have it, otherwise, I don't have to sell it to eat". There's a guy at the flea market like that. He has a bunch of overpriced radios that I know have been there for 10 years. He will not negotiate and he acts like he does not care if you buy anything or not. He thinks that, sooner or later, some fool with more money than sense will pay his price.

Why? Did the vertical osc/output tubes in these sets have a habit of shorting, or was there a history of shorts developing in the vertical sweep circuit which would burn up the pots? If either is the case, it would be way out of character for Magnavox, as their televisions and stereos were noted for quality--at least they were when the company was still based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This little portable was probably made during that era, so there should have been little or no excuse for the set being designed with underrated, flimsy circuitry that shorts out at the drop of a hat and takes the height and linearity pots with it. If it was made after Magnavox left Indiana for the Pacific Rim and merged with Philips, well....there's the problem.

I saw that TV a few nights ago - it is beat to all hell! I would be hard pressed to pick that up off the side of the road.

I used to have one of those, I used it as a desk tv, back when I lived in Los Angeles, and I mainly wanted to watch uhf, it looks vhf only, but has a concentric uhf tuner control. It had trouble with the vertical when I got it, but it actually worked pretty good after I fixed it up. Now that I don't need uhf, I use a little 1956 8" b/w RCA on my desk.

You don't need UHF? I find that difficult to believe. The Detroit area, as you no doubt know, has at least four UHF stations -- 20, 50, 56 and 62. (I live near Cleveland, always have, but I used to get Detroit TV in the spring and summer in my old neighborhood before I had cable, which is how I know about Detroit's four pre-transition UHF channels.) Channel 62 is now the CBS affiliate for the Detroit area, with channel 2 now affiliated with Fox. If you are using a TV without UHF, you are probably only getting channels 4, 7 and 9; in fact, since all TV is digital these days, you are likely seeing only channel 9 from Windsor, Ontario (Canada's television stations won't make the digital switch until next year) and nothing from Detroit, unless you're using a converter box ahead of your small RCA set.

I was unclear, what I mean is that I don't need my tvs to receive uhf now that I use a converter box hooked to a modulator on ch5. But I do get that Canadian ch 9.