Tube sets in Daily use

[bgadow]

My stepmother mentioned to me last year that her mother's set was on its last legs-that they had just had a tube replaced. I told her to let me know if they needed help with it! I've been real curious to see just what it is. But I've heard such references before and I think this is sometimes coming from people who still think modern tv sets are full of tubes. I had a portacolor that was in daily use in a store just a couple years ago; but the last tube set that was in regular home use before I got it? Probably early 90s.

[Big Dave]

Other than myself, and other collectors, I don't know of anyone with a tube set still in daily use. Many of my great aunts/uncles had roundies, but practically all were replaced in the 70's. This was before I got into repair/collecting/restoring. My grandparents never had a roundie. They went from a 60's era BW right to rectangular color. Roundies were not involved with my parents either. They inherited my grandparents' BW set. My father decided he wanted to watch the Watergate hearings in color, so he went to Ward's and bought a color set. Roundies didn't enter our house until I got into repair and collecting.

[fsjonsey]

Originally Posted by 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

Wow, a CTC16 still in daily use by its original owner? How often does it come in for service?

[kx250rider]

Originally Posted by fsjonsey

Wow, a CTC16 still in daily use by its original owner? How often does it come in for service?

Usually once or twice in 6 months... I don't know how often the lady uses it, but I bet probably an hour a day. I had a customer with a 16 who had that set on all day, every day. It always worked, but he finally retired it due to constant small problems. That was about 2 years ago.

Charles

[radiotvnut]

My cable guy came out today to hook us up and noticed all the TV's I had in the basement. I asked him did he ever have to connect older TV's with rotary tuners. He said that I'd be amazed at the age of some of the sets they are asked to hook up. He told me that he really didn't know how to use a rotary tuner TV. I asked him to remember me if he saw someone with an older TV they wanted to get rid of.

[truetone36]

Originally Posted by fsjonsey

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

Another Corvair driver, huh? I have a '62 Corvair Greenbrier van, so fortunately I have plenty of hauling room.

Dumont-First with the finest in television.

[KentTeffeteller]

Hi,

Our main daily watchers:

Knoxville house: 1962 Zenith Combo.
Chattanooga house: RCA CTC 9

Even though we have Marantz plasma TV sets at each house, we prefer our roundies. We restore and repair them too.

[fsjonsey]

Originally Posted by truetone36

Another Corvair driver, huh? I have a '62 Corvair Greenbrier van, so fortunately I have plenty of hauling room.

Dumont-First with the finest in television.

Well, its out of comission at the moment, as the differential shattered while I was driving it the other day...

[truetone36]

My Corvair's gone as of today. I parked out on the curbside and someone slammed into the rear end of it and basically totaled it. I can't even think about getting another car till after tax time, so that limits t.v. size for me for a while.

Dumont-First with the finest in television.