In soviet 'Merica TVs come to YOU!
Several months ago I was approached at a radio swap meet by a local fellow that was helping a friend clear out a basement full of tube TVs. He wanted to know if I had any interest and I did.
Fast forward to Saturday...I woke up to my folks telling me someone called earlier asking to talk to me. I honestly had forgotten about our conversation and it took a moment to click. After some talk I somehow was under the mistaken impression that they were coming Sunday...They came Saturday.
I had the first pick (someone else was interested), and I primarily wanted the table sets and Roundy color, but wound up taking it all because the other guy said he did not want consoles (also the consoles both had UHF which helped tip the scales) and if I did not take them they would be headed to the land fill.
All was free on the condition I fix the 7" table set, but I gave them $40 anyway.
What I consider to be the prizes of the load: Silvertone metal cabinet roundy color, Zenith SC300 portable with tube based remote chassis (which IIRC dates it to '62 or earlier), Bakelite ~16" admiral, ~20" Zenith metal table set (I've sorta wanted one), and possibly that CBS console with the funky UHF slider tuner.
The bad: the open heater on the loose 16TP4 (that I had high hopes for using in another set), the moto table model with aftermarket legs (which helped sell me on it) as well as the admiral console are having the glued wood sides fall off.
I also got a box of tubes, a spare back or two, and a monochrome Silvertone part's portable (unless someone has an empty cabinet available).
The only CRT I've tested yet is the loose 16TP4....I hope the others test significantly better.
I'd have tested the other CRTs already but time has been scarce. Between a computer rebuild (recap) that dragged out, the load of TVs and a friend visiting Saturday evening I ran out of time to prepare and decided to skip the local radio swap meet Sunday. My folks have a rule that anything I get that ain't new has to stay in the garage overnight...This time of year I'm not supposed to keep things in the garage such that either parking space is not usable. So Sunday I cleared all but the two monochrome consoles before taking Mom out for an early Birthday dinner, and shopping for a gift for her actual B-day...By the time I was done with all that lifting and standing had me tired and sore so I laid down and finished reloading software on to my computer project.
Tonight I hope to test some CRTs and tear into some new projects (I've even got a fresh order of caps)....I've been stuck on a dog video problem in that RCA CTC-36 I got in Indiana back in fall, and I've temporarily run out of damns to give that TV, so I'll shelve it till I get more.