I Love Trash!

[Whirled One]

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...