I miss clicking around the channels with old remotes!

[kx250rider]

Although we are basically used to the digital changeover, and those of us with vintage TVs have adapted as best we can, there's one thing I miss...... Using the Space Command 500 remote on my Zenith 25DC56. Now it rests silently with the only noise heard by changing channels, being the "flick" sound from the high voltage as the scene changes. No more "Click-roar-chunk-a-chunk" .

How's a 43 year-old lazy bum couch potato with his belly hanging out under torn shirt with potato chips spilled on him, supposed to pacify his need to click a remote???

(My wife put me up to this pose for her Facebook page)

Charles

[zenithfan1]

I still use mine, I have analog cable which is great for the old sets. Do you still have that in your area? I also have several modulators hooked to a signal combiner, I can then select my various inputs by changing the channel with the "clicker" I couldn't stand not using the remote sets either, this was the best workaround I came up with. That's a comfy looking couch 'ya got there! That Corona's lookin' pretty good too!

[Adam]

I got 4 modulators: ch3, ch5, and two that are adjustable that I usually keep on 10 and 13. I thought that I would want to leave them all on at once so I can flip through the channels too, but I rarely turn on more than one at once. And I'm up to 6 remote sets now. But then I'm feeding 3 modulators with dvd players and only one with a converter box, if I had more converter boxes tuned to different channels, I might be more tempted to leave several on at once.

Lately one of my favorite things to do is set one of the adjustable ones to ch1 and watch my 721ts.

[Jeffhs]

I still have analog cable (Time Warner) here near Cleveland. ATSC from the headend is converted to analog NTSC (broadcast channels only) and sent to my TV -- the set doesn't know the difference; it works just as if it were hooked up to an antenna. The set's remote, a $5 General Electric four-device universal that also controls my VCR and DVD, works just as it did before the DTV transition.

For Zenithfan1: I don't know what you're missing; a remote is a remote. Your ATSC->NTSC converter box (OTA or cable) almost certainly has an IR (infrared) remote that may not click as the old-school ones did when buttons are pressed, but it likely changes channels, turns the set on and off (unless your box is one of the new ones that does not have a switched AC outlet), turns the volume up and down and mutes the sound; what more could you ask for?

[ChrisW6ATV]

If you really want to change channels on your antique TV sets, set up a multi-channel digital tuner/analog modulator/combiner system with Ebay modulators and a few of the digital tuners.

[zenithfan1]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

I still have analog cable (Time Warner) here near Cleveland. ATSC from the headend is converted to analog NTSC (broadcast channels only) and sent to my TV -- the set doesn't know the difference; it works just as if it were hooked up to an antenna. The set's remote, a $5 General Electric four-device universal that also controls my VCR and DVD, works just as it did before the DTV transition.

For Zenithfan1: I don't know what you're missing; a remote is a remote. Your ATSC->NTSC converter box (OTA or cable) almost certainly has an IR (infrared) remote that may not click as the old-school ones did when buttons are pressed, but it likely changes channels, turns the set on and off (unless your box is one of the new ones that does not have a switched AC outlet), turns the volume up and down and mutes the sound; what more could you ask for?

I'm not missing anything, a remote is not just a remote. I prefer to use the original ultrasonic remote on remote sets, anyone can use a cable box to have remote. The point is to use the tv as it was originally used. That's why I set up a system of modulators and a combiner like ChrisW6ATV is talking about. I enjoy the clunking tuner and clicking remote.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by zenithfan1

I'm not missing anything, a remote is not just a remote. I prefer to use the original ultrasonic remote on remote sets, anyone can use a cable box to have remote. The point is to use the tv as it was originally used. That's why I set up a system of modulators and a combiner like ChrisW6ATV is talking about. I enjoy the clunking tuner and clicking remote.

As far as I am concerned, yes, a remote is a remote. What you did, with all those modulators, sounds like an awful lot of trouble to go to just to be able to use an outdated remote. Most people today could not care less about (or are too young to remember) clicking TV remotes; all they know is infrared TV remotes and IR remote-control cable and/or DTV converters. This is, after all, the 21st century, and infrared remotes on TVs and cable boxes is the way it's done these days--no one else cares about those old clickers (except you and, apparently, some others here at VK). If you were to tell a teenager today that you have a TV with a remote that clicks and the TV itself audibly clunks through the channels, he or she might look at you as if you were nuts. Using a Rube Goldberg system of RF modulators just to be able to use your precious 60-year-old clicking TV remote is okay if it makes you happy, but the point I'm trying to make is that most other people outside our hobby might wonder why you are hopelessly behind the times.

[zenithfan1]

I'm not worried about what other's think, Jeff. In fact, I couldn't care less if I wanted to. And no, it wasn't much trouble at all. In fact, everything is easier now, all I have to do is turn a set on and put the antenna up. I can take a tv outside and watch it while I cook out and drink beer too. I think a remote set should be used like it's supposed to, otherwise I'm not opposed to hooking things up. I just want to enjoy the sets I've restored and put time into so the remote function works correctly and it's a bummer with 12 channels of static on the VHF dial. Otherwise, I totally see your point.

[radiotvnut]

Actually, I don't care if anyone thinks I'm behind the times. Vintage radios and TVs is what I enjoy and the opinions of the general public, concerning my hobby, mean nothing to me. It goes without saying that most teenagers and young adults have never seen a "clicker" remote, a B&W TV, a TV that you actually had to get up off your butt and turn a knob, or a TV that had to "warm up" for a minute or two.

At this time, I don't own any mechanical remote sets; but, that could change at any given time. Even though I don't currently own any such sets, I'm still toying around with installing a multi channel TV setup in my shop. There are about 10 DTV channels that are available in my area and it would be nice to have it set up where I can use the tuner in the TV for channel changing, rather it be for a vintage set or a modern set that I have on the bench for service.

[Sandy G]

My grandad had c. 1956 Zenith 24" or 27" that was one of the old mechanical remotes...Ka-Chunk, Ka-Chunk, Ka-chunk !!, & it sounded like machinery only slightly less substantial than the Firth of Forth Bridge was being parlayed about...He also had later a '68 Zenith color that was pretty much the same way...Seems like the color set had a few more functions than the old B&W did, though. But the IR remotes of today are like everything else nowadays, More efficient, yes, but SOULESS as hell...

[DaveWM]

I like my maggie phantom with the doggie whistle, and I get a nice Kerchunk with the tuner and the volume (3 whole steps). I have to kerchunk my way to the UHF position to turn it off (not uhf equipped).

[AUdubon5425]

Well, I can tell you that if you're saddled by a Motorola digital cable box there is no "flipping" through the channels - you could cover five channels with a mechanical remote in the time it takes the modern box to advance one station.

I'll tell you something else that's a modern pain today - 300+ channels and the "channel guide." I'm sorry, but I can't remember the channel numbers of the few networks I may be interested in viewing. Combing through the channel guide (the networks are abbreviated) can take five minutes. Christ, I just want to see IF anything is on that interests me. And I have no better luck with 300+ channels than with the 21 OTA choices. I don't even try watching TV when I get home from work - at 2:30/3:00 in the morning I'll bet there are over 200 infomercials airing - a total waste.

[DaveWM]

aint that the truth. back in the day 3 networks (with good programming) and a couple uhf independants, and a lot more to watch than today. It take what seems like forever to advance thru the stations with my whiz bang box that I got with the cable. Thank goodness for RTV OTA, its pretty much the only thing I watch, but I HATE the endless commercials for the school of culinary arts, the endless lawsuit ambulance chaseres, the hveround chairs, etc...

Bring back Mrs. Olson selling coffee, Oscar meyer hot dogs, and a peter max levi jean commercial.


hmmm I just had a thought back then we made stuff here in the states, now we only do service jobs and sue over everything.

[zenithfan1]

Originally Posted by DaveWM

an the hveround chairs, etc...

"With medicare and insurance, I never thought they'd be so nice and work so hard to get me a powerchair, at no cost to me" Jowls jiggling the whole time he shakes his head. ROFL!!

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by DaveWM

I like my maggie phantom with the doggie whistle, and I get a nice Kerchunk with the tuner and the volume (3 whole steps). I have to kerchunk my way to the UHF position to turn it off (not uhf equipped).

Is the Magnavox TV you're referring to the same Maggie 3-way console you've been working on? I have a friend whose parents had a 19" (IIRC) Maggie table model set (all channel, again IIRC) with the "Phantom" remote, which worked well for them the many years they had it; it is long gone today, having been replaced years ago, the last I heard, by a Fisher 25" color console. For all I know now, they may have scrapped the Fisher set and gotten a new HD flat panel with digital tuner, 5.1-channel sound, the whole nine yards.

I didn't know the Magnavox 3-way entertainment centers used the UHF position of the tuner to turn off the set (in those sets without UHF, of course). I can see this feature being used in their remote portables (my friend's folks' Maggie probably had it, but if it did, as far as I know they never used it), but I've never seen any of their earlier consoles advertised as having the power-off function accessed via the UHF position of the VHF tuner. I'll download some old Maggie brochures tonight and look at the ads, as I'm interested in how Magnavox achieved remote control of their sets of that era; what functions were included on the hand unit, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if Magnavox TVs of 45 years ago also had motorized tint and color controls in addition to channel up/down and volume, as did the high-end mid-'60s Zeniths I mentioned. Magnavox, in its day, made and marketed several high-end TV and combination TV/AM-FM/phono consoles, and it wouldn't surprise me if they were in direct and very heated competition with Zenith (which had its own line of such sets) during that time as well.

I'm surprised Magnavox's remote TVs of the '60s only had four-step volume control, with the fourth step (if there was one) being the audio mute function. I would have thought the remote would have been set up for continuously variable volume adjustment, using a motor to turn the control itself--not unlike the remote color/hue adjustments on mid-'60s Zenith color sets, in which the volume up/down buttons on the hand control unit acted as remote color controls when the sound was muted. The buttons activated motors which physically turned the tint and color controls, allowing remote changes of color and hue (or tint) as the viewer deemed necessary.