how things have changed

[josephdaniel]

Originally Posted by JCFitz

My grandma also used the rotary phone up until she died in 1999.
On another note but related to this discussion could you imagine an average teenage ipod listeners reaction to selecting sides of an LP record album with a rotary phone dial? Well that's how you get my Seeburg HSC1 home stereo console to play music. And instead of something you put in your pocket and stick little earbuds in your ear this baby is 6 feet long and rocks the house.

I have a rotary phone in my room my brother is 4 and knows how to use it (found that out when he dialed 911 once) I use my rotary over my cell since it has better sound quality. I also listen to records over my iphone when at home on my marantz 6300 guess im of topic here huh
EDIT: I also use some typewriters that I have to write school reports on since I seen to be the only one who is able to read my handwriting

[DavGoodlin]

It is so impressive to hear all the guys in their 20s and 30s who appreciate this stuff!

Im 49, but will not miss:
carburetors (except for the demonic sound of a 4-barrel Carter on a Chrysler or Rochester on a Pontiac V8)
8-Track tapes (except for the different colors they came in)
Selecting channels with fussy hashy tuners (Except RCA, Zenith, Philco and Admiral)

BTW - At an estate sale down the road, a 1956 Western Electric rotary telephone was tossed in the yard and left behind when someone bought a box lot of stuff.
Its pretty dirty but complete. Its in my garage and will be hooked up to the Comcast modem in the house via a copper pair underground. Nothing like a solid ring to get your attention.

[Reece]

Amen on those old rotaries. I've been able to find several at flea markets for as little as $4. The ones with metal dials (rather than plastic) are the older ones. Dates often stamped on the bottom. That authoritative brass bell ring really makes you perk up! I have a ring like that on my cell, and when it rings somewhere all the old folks look up surprised!

[holmesuser01]

I was the kid that ran the 16mm film projectors in school from the 3rd grade-on.

[tvtimeisfun]

I use to be in charge of audio visual dept at my school delivering those old tube type magnavox tvs on carts to the classrooms and record players that was the highlight of my school days...Timothy

[Jeffhs]

Yes, indeed, how times have changed. Read on, if you will:

I was also on the A/V crew in high school, in the early '70s. We had Sony AV and CV series VTRs, and the school's closed-circuit television system was set up on three channels -- 2, 4, and 6 -- using a miniature modulator (mini-mod for short) for each channel. We added a fourth channel, channel 7, which was fed by a Sony AV-series color VTR and gave us our first all-color channel, the year I graduated (1975). I was something of a jack-of-all-trades on that crew: master control operator for the CCTV system (including operating a special-effects generator, which was interesting and fun -- it was interesting seeing all the things that could be done with a raw image from one of our cameras before it ever got to the VTR), camera operator for remote tapings, even as a color announcer for one of our school's football games we were taping on a Saturday afternoon, for rebroadcast over the system the following week. The cameras were small, by commercial TV station standards, but I cannot for the life of me remember what brand they were, although Sony comes to mind as they were designed to work together with our Sony VTRs.


I haven't been back to my high school in Cleveland Heights (an eastern bedroom suburb of Cleveland) since graduation 37 (goin' on 38) years ago (I've moved twice since, so I have absolutely no idea what's going on in that school now or since I graduated), but I bet a lot has changed in the A/V department since then. I imagine they now have flat screen monitors, state-of-the-art video recording and storage, the whole works to bring the system into the 21st century -- unless school funding cuts are forcing them to use outdated '90s or (gasp) '80s technology. I don't think, however, they are still using the same VTRs, mini-mods and cameras they had when I was there in the seventies. Those machines probably wore out years or decades ago.

I could tell you lots of stories of my experiences on the A/V crew, but I don't want to make my post too terribly long. I don't like to brag, but I wound up winning an award at the end of senior year for outstanding work in the A/V department of my high school. Believe me, those are three years I'll never forget -- at least not any time soon!

[DavGoodlin]

Jeff, I think being the A/V Guru in High School may be almost as good as being in Band.
You go to numerous events and get some respect if you're any good at all. I was in VoTech, so I missed out on those experiences.

We had a Setchell Carlson 23" BW Monitor in the Library of my elementary school. The kind with two big speakers under the CRT with the controls clustered in the middle. Saw the inside of one at VoTech, a very impressive hand-wired modular design!

Generally, only two kinds of RCA sets were universally used in the middle and high schools. The first was a 23" BW, metal cabinet, hard plastic back and 1968-ish knobs. The color sets were 1975 RCA 25" XL-100s model JU970, I have one recently rescued from a project and a newer Colortrak from 1986. RCA's finest work in the later years IMO

Over the last 15 years, I was part of the architects' design teams for public school projects. I had to design the power and pathways for all things copper and fiber. Unfortunately, I was onto the next job and rarely saw how the AV department outfitted and used these studios.
The newest thing I saw in the last 6 years is a web-based video server that is networked to classroom PCs to video projectors with smartboards.

The standard AV space is set-up as a small studio with theatrical lighting. The control room has a long countertop and window to the studio, then loaded up with video switchers and monitors for editing. It probably rivals local TV stations.
My job was to interview the teacher before a major construcion project and make sure the "blue prints" reflected what they were prepared to fit out and use. Universally, there are floor power/ethernet outlets in the studio with "mouseholes" for AV cables running across the floor into the control room. The control room has wiremold outlet strips along all the walls and above/below the counter.
I never heard anybody complain there were too many power receptacles.
I also saw many a collection of Zenith, Panasonic, RCA and Sony CRT sets on carts wasting away in basements, storage rooms and warehouses. On a recent project, the sets were donated to Haiti relief efforts.

[DavGoodlin]

Originally Posted by tvtimeisfun

I use to be in charge of audio visual dept at my school delivering those old tube type magnavox tvs on carts to the classrooms and record players that was the highlight of my school days...Timothy

Yes - Mags were in schools, too! I saw 20" Magnavox color sets (late-80's) in schools that had the Channel one satellite service. The sets had a "turn-on" signal sent over the cable distribution. The cable distribution from satellite receiver was for channel 3 only, so it was crude, using line taps and RG-6 cable. useless for any sort of broadband.

The building's PA system had an audio feed from the receiver box so the audio would play as a take-over on the PA system at the same time each day. Reminds me of Tele-tubbies and the pop-up speakers coming out of the ground announcing another commercial brainwashing session.