What can one do with a watchman

[ArmyOfQuad]

Perhaps this post will just be a boring rehashing of obvious things many already know. But wanted to post some thoughts and see if anything interesting comes of it.

I went to a flea market this past weekend, and while wandering around browsing through the various things, I saw a Sony watchman FD-10A on a table. It made me curious enough to pick it up and take a look, I had no serious thoughts of actually purchasing it. I have no practical use for the thing, and my first thought is it's obviously useless as nothing transmits anything that it can receive, all it will do is receive static. I took off the battery door to check for any battery corrosion or damage, and found a set of non corroded modern looking batteries in there. So I flipped the switch and sure enough, a static filled screen came to life. Which was a bit of a thrill, to be honest.

At this point, the guy attending the table asked for an offer. Aw crap, I'm clearly interested at this point. I saw the $10 price tag on it, and threw out $5 - sure, it's functionally useless - but it's cool, I'll pay $5 for that. He accepts the offer, one less thing for him to carry back home, and now I have a Sony watchman.

But - why did I get such a thrill out of turning on a screen of static? I suppose it's funny the things that will excite us. I guess it takes me back to an earlier time, when the idea of having a TV in your pocket was cool. Up to a certain point, I wasn't even allowed to have a TV in my room, let alone a portable device that I could watch anywhere. So devices like these, when I saw them, were like the coolest thing. And so I suppose that still gives me a little thrill of holding a TV, flipping a switch - and oh my, there it is, functional TV (not receiving signal, but still) right in my hands. Which is rather funny to think that got me excited when I have a smart phone right in my pocket that can receive in far more day after day.

But, of course, there comes the question of, now what? Sure - perhaps I can find a way to rig something up to display something on the screen. But, even so, that's hardly useful, and not even all that exciting. Relying on a device to provide the signal makes this no longer much of a portable device. And really, the fun of the portable TV was, right in your hands, you can turn it on, fiddle with the dial, and who knows what you'll find? And so I'm left with a bit of sadness, that the time has gone. Now that I have the device, the opportunity to actually use it to tune in to something and enjoy some programming is gone. It's like - I wish I could give it to my earlier self, when I could really appreciate it. Sure, some of us often make purchases of nostalgia to try and recapture a piece of something. But even then, you can only recapture a piece of it. There will always be something missing.

Of course, my mind always wanders to the impractical, to the beyond impractical. Could one modify one of these devices to tune in modern TV?

Surly a modern TV tuner could be small enough to fit inside the case of a watchman. How modifiable are these things - could a small board or chip be purchased that is the tuner portion of a modern TV? Could the tuning portion inside the watchman be swapped out with some modification for a modern tuner that receives in the current range of TV signals? Sure, completely impractical given that there are better ways of watching portable content, and digital signals are going to be far less forgiving and far more difficult to tune in than the old analog TV signals were. But if it were possible, it might be cool to be able to turn it back into a device that one can take out of their pocket, turn on, and possibly tune in some signal that's live right now.

Like I said, beyond impractical - but....possible?


Also, what fun things has anyone found to do with these devices, besides stare at static and think of another time?