[kx250rider]

Originally Posted by Bobby Brady

The whole trouble, and we've discussed it before, is: tube type TV sets have no value to 99.99% of the population. If there were poor people willing to pay $40 for a New Vista Color console, well, they would still be on the market. But even the most downtrodden person today can have a 19" color Tv with remote for next to nothing or nothing, so why bother with such an old-timer? If the sets we love are going to be saved, we have to go out and find them and save them. Right now those remaining sets are located in living rooms & basements belonging to people who are reaching the ends of their lives. Or they are located in the back of a few of the few remaining TV shops. Either way, their days are short.

I have wondered about this subject often as I continue to invest many hundreds of dollars and many thousands of hours into the few old TV's I have. I often think of the many successful people advising others to "follow their instincts" and I can't help but wonder if my instincts are wrong. I have seemed to be driven to obtain some TV's and make them just like they were when new, inside and out. I love the idea and I look forward to having any of them finished because the main goal I have is to occassionally watch vintage material on them and share them with as many people as I can interest. I wish to watch with relatives and friends to see the past a little. Many seem to think this notion is weird or maybe even mentally unhealthy. That is the impression I get as I show them the unworking old TV's and watch them try to look interested. However, I have not been able to show them the picture I keep claiming my sets can and will have.
I did not start collecting the TV's and the sales literature and the parts and the service info and the service equipment until after I discovered this website and found that others had the same unique interests. Initially I was excited to be able to associate with and learn from people who seemed to be genuinely interested in sharing themselves with others under this umbrella of "Karma". I was quite surprised as I read story after story from people like myself all the way up to those who have the highest levels of knowledge one can obtain on any given subject. I realized that these great minds know a great deal more than how to fix electronics. So, I thought I have finally found a place to develope healthy well-rounded friendships that could not just help me fix my toys but also help me learn more of whatever I need to learn in order to become a better person for others as well as for myself. I often recognize my faults and change whenever possible. It seems that most people need input from other healthy minded people in order to evolve.
If only I had kept my big mouth shut! I became to believe I was understanding the primary members of this website well enough to interact as I may do when face to face. I thought we could take the TV talks to related areas in life and maybe even throw in some humor. I had not put in nearly enough thought into the different ways others could percieve what I wrote. I have been completely misunderstood several times and now my questions and comments are usually ignored. I guess I am being "snubbed" again as I was by the TV men I remember so well at an RCA service class held at an RCA distributor way back. I was 15 and had worked with a neighbor who had been in the business for many years. I often wondered why this man who seemed to get along very well with many types of people would rarely, if ever, associate with other TV men. He sent me to the class and I was basically ignored and felt others did not want me in their presence. I thought maybe it was because I was a kid. Today I know that adults who care about others will actually put fourth the effort to speak and share knowlege. When I became 18 I was given his established TV company to operate and use as my own. I remember being alone with those TV's and while I like meeting the customers I became afraid that somehow, be it the fumes from the melting lead solder, radiation, or just being isolated from others, I may become like those seemingly selfish TV men I remembered from RCA. I could not take it and left it all to the dear and generous man who had long since lost interest in the daily grind of the shop. It closed soon after.
For anybody here that I have offended: Please consider that I did not intend to be disrespectful in any way and I sincerely apologize for the mistakes I have made. I will be more careful to imagine how my words could be misunderstood before I write them.
Please consider that I am someone who will continue to promote this idea of old TV's being worthwhile to restore and preserve. If you forgive me and allow me to participate here I can help in many ways. Sometimes I may know the answer to somebody's question. Sometimes I may have free parts to share. I beleive I will find people who would pay fair, if not generous, money for old TV's.
If I get some positive feedback I will post photos, etc.

Thanks for your time!

Very nice article! I used to feel weird when I was a teen, and I was collecting and restoring TVs. The other guys would go to football practice or the Boy Scout meeting after school, but I would go after school (or once in awhile play hookey from school) to go spend time at some of the local TV repair shops... It caused me to be "different", but somehow that didn't bother me. I did it because it makes me happy. And I wound up making many lifelong friends who are also into old TV & radio.

Anyone who thinks collecting TVs is weird, wouldn't think so anymore if I admitted that I'm going to drive 250 miles and take a day off this Friday just to hear an old Federal Thunderbolt air raid siren blowing

Charles