'60's 23" Truetone B&W at the flea market

[radiotvnut]

That's what I thought about. If it was a 17" or smaller set, it wouldn't be quite as big of a problem because those are easier to ship. A 23" tube would be costly to ship and finding a good one might be hard to find. I wasn't finding that many later 23" B&W consoles twenty years ago and even back then, the ones I was finding often had weak CRT's.

So, I'll let him keep his set and maybe these vendors will someday get the message that I might buy their stuff, when the price gets right.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

That's what I thought about. If it was a 17" or smaller set, it wouldn't be quite as big of a problem because those are easier to ship. A 23" tube would be costly to ship and finding a good one might be hard to find. I wasn't finding that many later 23" B&W consoles twenty years ago and even back then, the ones I was finding often had weak CRT's.

So, I'll let him keep his set and maybe these vendors will someday get the message that I might buy their stuff, when the price gets right.

I think, the only 23" B&W consoles that really survived, were the Zeniths.
They still had a good following, up to the early to mid-70's, with the older crowd.

[radiotvnut]

My '69 Zenith still has a very strong CRT and I've had it since 2008. Of course, I don't know how much time was put on that set before I got it. It has some replacement tubes in it; so, it must have been used at least a fair amount. I think Zenith's last large screen B&W was from the '81 model year and I have two Sylvania 22" B&W consoles - one from '78 and the other one is from 1980.

[Robert Grant]

Originally Posted by zeno

The selector knob is a Zenith clone almost but the small
knobs look Admiral. I dont remember rebadged Zenith till the
late 80's. A sure sign of trouble along with licensing your
name to Chinese to put on crap radios.

73 Zeno

Yeah, Admiral. The set looks exactly like one my grandmother bought about 1971 or so. Before she bought it, I thought color TVs had VHF and UHF, and B&W TVs had only VHF - hers "broke the rules".

Sad story - when my grandmother moved in with my aunt and uncle, she gave that set to us. I almost never got to watch what I wanted to watch on the family set (RCA CTC38), and the GE M4/21T2425 upstairs only had a VHF tuner, when most of the shows I wanted to watch were on UHF. About 6 months after we took this set it, the power switch failed to the closed state, suddenly turning itself on. I wanted to install the Christmas tree switch cord on the set to function as an on/off switch, but my mom would not hear of it. She was convinced it was going to set the house on fire, so a 5 year old all-channel 22" TV, with all-channel tuner, went to the curb.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Robert Grant

Yeah, Admiral. The set looks exactly like one my grandmother bought about 1971 or so. Before she bought it, I thought color TVs had VHF and UHF, and B&W TVs had only VHF - hers "broke the rules".

Sad story - when my grandmother moved in with my aunt and uncle, she gave that set to us. I almost never got to watch what I wanted to watch on the family set (RCA CTC38), and the GE M4/21T2425 upstairs only had a VHF tuner, when most of the shows I wanted to watch were on UHF. About 6 months after we took this set it, the power switch failed to the closed state, suddenly turning itself on. I wanted to install the Christmas tree switch cord on the set to function as an on/off switch, but my mom would not hear of it. She was convinced it was going to set the house on fire, so a 5 year old all-channel 22" TV, with all-channel tuner, went to the curb.

It probably had an instant-on diode across the switch. If it picks up a spike from lightning in the area or a heavy surge, it shorts, mysteriously turning on the set.
Back in the day, someone probably picked it up and repaired it.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Robert Grant

Yeah, Admiral. The set looks exactly like one my grandmother bought about 1971 or so. Before she bought it, I thought color TVs had VHF and UHF, and B&W TVs had only VHF - hers "broke the rules".

Sad story - when my grandmother moved in with my aunt and uncle, she gave that set to us. I almost never got to watch what I wanted to watch on the family set (RCA CTC38), and the GE M4/21T2425 upstairs only had a VHF tuner, when most of the shows I wanted to watch were on UHF. About 6 months after we took this set it, the power switch failed to the closed state, suddenly turning itself on. I wanted to install the Christmas tree switch cord on the set to function as an on/off switch, but my mom would not hear of it. She was convinced it was going to set the house on fire, so a 5 year old all-channel 22" TV, with all-channel tuner, went to the curb.

I failed to mention, that from May,1964, all TV sets built for sale in the US had to equipped with UHF/VHF tuners. No matter if the set was the lowest priced B/W portable or the highest priced color set. It didn't matter if there was a UHF channel in the area or not.
The FCC wouldn't issue any more VHF licenses.

[Robert Grant]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

I failed to mention, that from May,1964, all TV sets built for sale in the US had to equipped with UHF/VHF tuners. No matter if the set was the lowest priced B/W portable or the highest priced color set. It didn't matter if there was a UHF channel in the area or not.
The FCC wouldn't issue any more VHF licenses.

Yeah, I didn't know about the all-channel act when I was little, I only knew that every color set I had seen had UHF, and that every B&W set I had seen (to that point) did not.

Forgive this nitpick: The all-channel act did not forbid new VHF stations. VHF remained the preferred band where channels were still available (which, in major markets, were already taken), so new stations increasingly were UHF, but new VHF stations continued to pop up, even into this millennium (KCWX, for example).

[old_coot88]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

It probably had an instant-on diode across the switch. If it picks up a spike from lightning in the area or a heavy surge, it shorts, mysteriously turning on the set.

On all of the instant-on stuff I ever seen (maybe there were exceptions), the switch was double-pole; the second section disabled the B+ when 'off'.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by old_coot88

On all of the instant-on stuff I ever seen (maybe there were exceptions), the switch was double-pole; the second section disabled the B+ when 'off'.

I think most of the color sets had the double pole switching, but the later B/W sets only used a single pole switch, with a diode across it.
The Magnavox color sets, really had some wild switching arrangements, especially on their transformer powered, tube color sets. Switch and volume control was complicated and expensive to replace.

[radiotvnut]

I forgot to mention that someone bought this set and according to the owner, he got his price for it. I'm sure the chassis and CRT were quickly removed and the cabinet now probably holds a fishtank. I wish I could have saved it; but, like I said above, I'm not rolling in money and I don't have a lot of space left; so, I have to be very picky about what I bring home.

[tvtimeisfun]

That tv is definitely a admiral my parents had a set that was exactly like this set it said admiral it lasted me until the 90s...Timothy

[dieseljeep]

-ig

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

I forgot to mention that someone bought this set and according to the owner, he got his price for it. I'm sure the chassis and CRT were quickly removed and the cabinet now probably holds a fishtank. I wish I could have saved it; but, like I said above, I'm not rolling in money and I don't have a lot of space left; so, I have to be very picky about what I bring home.

This thread goes back, quite a while!
From what I saw of the picture, the thing was rather beat up and grungy. It's interesting to see what was going on with the last of the tube or hybrid B/W sets, but it wasn't worth the asking price. Naturally, the seller would tell you that he got his asking price, in case he got in another set, that you might be interested in.

[radiotvnut]

When they say things like "I got my price for it" or "I can't let it go that cheap because I've got too much in it", I take it with a grain of salt. I also know that these guys don't "pay too much" for anything. What they usually do is beat people out of the stuff for pennies on the dollar and then they act like they've got a ton of money in the stuff.

[truetone36]

I had one of those sets. Made by Admiral, about a 1969 model or thereabouts.