Tube sets in Daily use

[fsjonsey]

I've been wondering about this for a long time. Seeing how reliable some of the 60's tube sets are, how many do you think are still in use by non collectors? Does anyone in the repair business still see them being brought in for service?

[MRX37]

Outside of a collector or a restorer, I doubt a lot of people still use an all tube TV in their day to day watching.

For however reliable tube TV's became before solid state became the norm, tubes still get weak and fail fairly quickly. In order to keep the set a daily watcher, its owner would have to at the very least know how to replace the tubes inside it. I'm sure it would eventually need recapping as well. A well made solid state TV may run for a decade or more with no maintainence.

[drh4683]

Ive always been curious about this myself. I go to estate sales on saterday mornings for about the last 5 years. About 90% of the sets I find have been tucked away in a basement untouched. Its very rare that I run across a tube set that still plugged in, still attached to the outdoor antenna and in the livingroom with no other TVs around it. Those sets were never used though. Ive found a number of sets like this and when I pull the back off to check things out, almost all of the original tube are in place and the sets were hardly ever if not at all serviced. I suspected either a different room was used for TV viewing, or the people just didnt watch that much.
I have seen some zenith b/w portable sets that appeared to have heavy use and still in the kitchen yet they still work. As for color sets, Id say all of them have been retired. Ive never seen a color set with tons of hours and capable of producing an acceptable picture on the spot.
I see many homes with chomacolor II's still in daily use, hooked upto a VCR etc. in the living room, same for a system 3's from the early 80's. but not tube or hybrid sets. Ive talked to a few guys in the TV repair business for a profession and they all have told me that they havn't seen a tube set in for service since the early 90's. Id say that time was the VERY end of tube sets in daily use. You talk to most guys in the TV business and you hear about tube color sets being junked by the dozen at TV shops back in the mid 80's. I talked to one TV guy and he told me the only tube type color TV that he would service back in the late 80's were zenith sets, but it had to alteast have the solid state IF. Solid state IF's in zeniths took place starting in '69 for all chassis. If it was a tube type IF, the set was considered too old and suggested that the set be replaced.
When I was a kid, I found many tube type color sets at the curb and at the resale shop back in the early to mid 90's. This atleast tells me the set were *probably* being used up until that time when I found them. Most had high hours and had somekind of problems that needed attention.

[Chad Hauris]

I have seen a few tube type TV's which worked still in use today...a 27" Magnavox B/W and a 25" color Admiral. Both of these though are entertainment centers with phono and in both cases there are modern color TV's in the same rooms with the old sets. The owners seem to use the old sets for record listening but they don't really use the TV part.

The last time I saw tube type color sets actually being used day-to-day was in the late 80's/early 90's. Some owners I think would have kept using them indefinitely but I think TV repairmen were probably steering people to new sets (in some cases the bad CRT Zeniths) as the tube sets were needing more and more work and they though it was unprofitable.

I think it's good that I got the tube type color sets when I did as they are almost non-existent now as far as thrift stores, estate sales, and Texas Recycles Day.
Usually the only tube type sets I see are GE and Zenith B/w portables from the 70's and Portacolors.

What has really disappeared are tube type table radios from the 50's and 60's. I used to find so many of these at flea markets from the early 80's through the early 90's...getting a collection of about 100 of them. Over the past 10 years I probably have only found about 10 or 12.

[radiotvnut]

I think the last tube color set I saw in daily use was in the mid '90's at a friend's antique shop. It was a '76 GE Portacolor and it saw daily use as his shop TV. It went belly up in the mid '90's and I gave him a solid state 19" Zenith to replace it. I should have kept the Portacolor since it was one of the last tube sets made. I used to get a lot of tube sets in the '90's from older people. These sets had either been sitting unused for years or had just broken and the owner did not want to spend any money on it because of it's age. I suspect there may still be a few tube sets in use; but, they are probably in secondary locations and will most likely not be repaired once they die. Most shops would not touch a tube TV and tubes would probably be hard to find locally even if the owner knew how to change tubes. Most shops around here stopped taking in tube sets in the mid '80's. Most of what's left in the way of shops around here are too young to know what a tube is.

[nasadowsk]

Not a TV, but my parents have a tube Panasonic radio that's in daily use, though slated to be retired. It's been on the fridge for about 10 years now, and on 1/2 the day. Before that, it was my apartment radio, and before THAT, my bedroom set.

Both my grandparents had tube TVs in regular use until the late 80's.

[zenith2134]

When I found my 12" B&W GE on the curb, it had a busted volume/power shaft. And it was stuck on the off position. I assume that someone still used this set once in a while, because it did produce a watchable picture with good brightness after repairing the shaft.

I would estimate that there are very few early tube color sets in use, but possible many 60's 70's tube sets still used semi-regularly. If daily watchers, the owner would have to know something about tv's as you guys have pointed out.

[radiotvnut]

I'll add that I still run into a few people that think modern TV's use tubes. I've caught a few people by surprise when I told them that the only tube in their set was the CRT. I usually hear "How does it work without tubes? I thought all TV's had tubes in them."

[andy]

Originally Posted by fsjonsey

I've been wondering about this for a long time. Seeing how reliable some of the 60's tube sets are, how many do you think are still in use by non collectors? Does anyone in the repair business still see them being brought in for service?

I would say that more repairable would be a better term than more reliable. When I was a kid in the 80's and early 90's I saw a LOT of tube sets. I can't remember getting a watchable picture out of any of them, but 70's solid state sets were easy to get working well.

My older family members still complain about how unreliable TVs used to be and can't believe their modern set that has worked for 10 years without trouble. As cheap as modern TVs are, most of them will work for their entire life without needing any service.

I read a 1960's book about starting your own TV repair shop and it estimated the average life of a color TV at something like 7 years (including several "major" repairs). I love collecting old TVs, but I wouldn't want to have to depend on them for every day use any more that I would want to drive a model T on the freeway every day.

[fsjonsey]

I've actually seen a few tube sets on the curb with the comcast or time warner issued 300 ohm matching transformer attached to the twin lead posts. This makes me think they were still in use until recently, as time warner has only been here two years, and comcast was only our provider for a couple of years before that. I'm so mad i never grabbed these sets, but I dont have a vehicle large enough to transport them. The most space I have is the fold down back seat in my 62' Corvair Monza Sedan.

[Carmine]

Originally Posted by fsjonsey

The most space I have is the fold down back seat in my 62' Corvair Monza Sedan.

I should think a car that large would have a LOT of room. (just kidding)

I remember doing some door-to-door selling around 1989 and an older woman came to the door. I could see her TV on in the background, displaying a BEAUTIFUL color picture. It was a roundie, but I can't remember the brand. Figure it was 25 years old by then, and I'd guess her only set.

[kx250rider]

There are still a few I know of... An elderly lady in Brentwood, CA is still using a CTC-16, and I think it's the only TV in the house. It's serviced by my friend's shop in West LA. Also I know of a CTC-4 as main TV, but that belongs to a collector. Also among collectors, Dr. Dan uses a Magnavox roundie on a regular basis. About a year ago, another older lady brought a Zenith 12" B&W tube set in for repair, and she said it was her only set.

Charles

[Chad Hauris]

Charles, do you know how much TV viewing is done on these sets? I think if they were used in an air-conditioned environment for maybe a few hours of viewing each night and maybe not every night, the sets would have such a better chance of long-term trouble-free life.
It was really the 12 hour a day (or more) TV usage that a lot of families with kids seemed to have that just killed the tube sets with heat buildup.

I've got a CTC-22 portable that had been used in an air-conditioned office all its life, probably seeing little use, and it's amazing how good the picture looks. It seems to have almost no degradation of any components. I need to install some fans on it to try and help mitigate the huge amount of heat it produces and help keep it in its like-new state.

[peverett]

I am like Andy, I like collecting and repairing the tube type TVs, but believe that solid state sets can be made much more reliable. The keys are the heat reduction and the fact that solid state devices do not wear out near as fast as tubes.

I have seen tube sets with little use and a lot of use. I have found that with the sets with little use, it is fairly easy to get these working well. However, with the other sets, all parts seem to have been fried from the heat and sometimes it is very difficult, if not impossible to get these working , even with new tubes, etc. Of course the construction of the sets makes a difference, with the Zenith hand crafted chassis being the best(no charcoaled PC boards).

Another big advancement in later solid state sets were the tuners. The old mechanical wafer tuners from the 1950s/1960s are horrible, especially if they have been heavily used.

[andy]

Originally Posted by Chad Hauris

I've got a CTC-22 portable that had been used in an air-conditioned office all its life, probably seeing little use, and it's amazing how good the picture looks. It seems to have almost no degradation of any components. I need to install some fans on it to try and help mitigate the huge amount of heat it produces and help keep it in its like-new state.

I had a CTC-22 for a while when I was a kid. I enjoyed playing with it, but I was disappointed by its blurry picture. Even after hours of tube testing and adjustment, it wasn't any fun to watch. It had one of those three setting low voltage focus systems (blurry, blurrier, and really blurry). It's nice to know they can produce a good picture. The CTC-22 is definitely on my must have list. I even have a really sharp 15" CRT that I'm saving for one. I wish I had saved the 22 now. I gave it to a neighbor, but when I asked about it years later they didn't even remember it.