What does collecting old tv's mean to young people?

[bgadow]

At 43, I'm out of the real "youngster" crowd now, but most of what I have is older than me. Tubes have always been a fascination for me. We didn't have a solid state TV in the house until the early 80s so I had plenty of chance to stare at those glowing bulbs through the back of a couple old GE sets. On the other hand, the only tube radios I'd seen were beautiful but didn't work. When I found a working AA5, it was just magic. I've been hooked ever since.

[jbivy]

I get the same feeling from restoring a tv and seeing a picture come up nice and clear, as when i get a classic car to sputter back to life after decades of sleeping. Theyre not "junk" anymore, they have a purpose again.

I dont know why i love to repair old things. I just do. Its cool, its history, with a bit of help it can be working history again. Plus, what else do i have to do in my spare time BUT play with old junk?

[Sandy G]

Guys, I feel like there will be a small, but DETERMINED bunch of enthusiasts who would THANK us from, say, the year 2115, that WE took the time & trouble to "Restore" a bunch of these old things... Been a history buff all my life, & getting to "Save" a little of it, figures in BIG w/me... Also takes me back.. When I was growing up, "Happiness" was curled up in my Mama's lap, watching the "Huntley/Brinkley Report". I THINK we had a big old Zenith, & it put out quite a bit of heat.. That good, warm "Homey" smell that comes only from Tooob stuff. That was B4 LBJ's "Great Society", we ended up getting a 1st rate cable TV system early on, as we were "Disadvantaged", & the Gummint thought getting a cable TV system, would lift us out of the isolation, & backwardness that was endemic around here.

[Kamakiri]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

Guys, I feel like there will be a small, but DETERMINED bunch of enthusiasts who would THANK us from, say, the year 2115, that WE took the time & trouble to "Restore" a bunch of these old things...

That may be truer than you think. What many people don't realize is that we here have been internet "pioneers". One day everything we talk about today might be used as a guide to future generations of VK members. And there will be people joining this site long after we're all gone....oddly enough.

[Arcanine]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

That may be truer than you think. What many people don't realize is that we here have been internet "pioneers". One day everything we talk about today might be used as a guide to future generations of VK members. And there will be people joining this site long after we're all gone....oddly enough.

I'm not gonna lie. I drove my mom nuts when I was kid, hauling home peoples toss out TV's and playing with them.

I was over joyed when I found this site. I thought "Oh my god! Like minded people who collect TELEVISIONS! THEY COLLECT FIX AND RESTORE OLD CRT TV'S! OH MY GOD THEY EVEN HAVE A SECTION FOR PORTABLE LITTLE TV'S! oh look, they have a section for vintage color sets. I always wanted a vintage color that worked!"

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

That may be truer than you think. What many people don't realize is that we here have been internet "pioneers". ...

I've been on the 'net since 1987, before the web was invented. Back then it was a UNIX test based system. Usenews forums were what we used. All text, no pictures. rec.antiques.radio+phono was the equivalent to videokarma in the day. Just being able to participate in a world wide forum, at no cost beyond a fixed monthly fee from an ISP, was great. You didn't have to pass thru a filter, like a magazine editor. Except for moderated groups, of course.

[Dave S]

Originally Posted by Kamakiri

...we here have been internet "pioneers".

I am WAY charmed by that thought!

[oldtvman]

Like I said, growing up in the fifties, things were just starting to blossom, stereo sound, transistor radio and color television. My dad took me to a tv store for something and there among the b & w sets were two color tv's on and I think the show was The price is right.

From that point as a kid you could only wish you had one, and to make it worse when color shows came on the NBC Peacock would come on and taunt you, reminding you that this show was in full color, but not for you. Everytime we would go to Sears or any big department store I would head for the tv Dept to see if any color shows were on.

[Glenz75]

I'm not quite half way there yet (just turned 40) and I probably have the biggest collection on vintage TV sets in New Zealand last count around 50 or so but all currently in storage due to some major life changes over the past year.
We need this young blood to carry on the preservation of these old sets and its good to see there are young people getting interested in vintage technology as they will be the ones who will end up being the custodians of it all eventually.

[fsjonsey]

I'm 25. By the time I was 8 years old I became enamored with vintage radios. I blame my grandparents Depression era radio stories, dad telling me he had the first color TV on his street, and Ken Burns' Empire of The Air for that. By age 10 I had 20 tube radios ranging from the 1930's to 1960's that neighbors gave me, and my parents bought during our trips to the local antique malls. By age 12 I learned to solder and do basic troubleshooting using what I learned from the internet (Phils Old Radios). Since most of what I collected were basic AA5 radios, I got pretty good at recapping. That same year I flipped from radios to tube HiFi (I was getting into classic rock and Jazz) and fell in with a couple of guys who ran a vintage audio shop in Lakewood, OH that no longer exists. They sold my dad a restored Fisher 500B for $120 as a Christmas present, to get me into the hobby. That Fisher gave way to ever more complex tube hifi setups that evolved into the McIntosh/Leak/Altec system I run today. I bought my first vintage TV, a 1956 Zenith Bugeye, at an antique mall in Columbus, OH in 2007 with lawn mowing money. I recapped the set and it worked well, and later a fellow VK member sent me a new CRT for it some years later. College came, I got my first tube color set, a 1966 Zenith in 2011, and I still use it to this day. Now I own a recording studio that uses vintage analog audio equipment wherever possible, in a building filled with my collection of vintage TV's and Radios.

Basically, my attraction to vintage electronics is rooted in the fact that they were something totally different, that I never actually got to experience growing up in the 1990's and early 2K's. Tube electronics felt more real to me. Also the history- That we, as a nation, were able to do so much with technology that everyone today sees as completely archaic. The brilliant industrial design was also a factor. Seeing beautiful old radios and TV's when I was surrounded in a sea of black plastic electronics pulled me in.

[decojoe67]

I'm 48 and remember when, in the late '70's-early '80's when TV collecting was a very limited area of the radio collecting hobby. Period magazine articles on the subject would often start out with something like "people collect old barbed-wire, door-knobs.....so why not old televisions..." referring to it as being pretty odd. I personally was blown-away by the look of vintage TV's at the time, but focused on radios because of how odd it seemed to actually purchase an old TV. It took well into the '90's, when TV collecting got more wide-spread, before I finally started to collect what I liked the most.
I see vintage TV's as the closest thing to time-travel as you an you find, and everyone loves the idea of time-travel. Having an early dusty "as-found" TV restored, and the first time watching a period show on it, is a total thrill for me. All these years later, it has never gotten old.

[wa2ise]

Originally Posted by decojoe67

"people collect old barbed-wire, door-knobs.....so why not old televisions..." referring to it as being pretty odd.

In the 69's TV show "Bewitched" Samatha had a relative Aunt someone who collected door knobs. Presented as something totally wacky, that no normal person would be interested in doing.... Later in the episode that this was mentioned, it was a plot device to explain a few missing doorknobs in Samatha's house...

You must be thinking of Canal Street

I remember paying too much for a POS reel to reel machine there back around 1974. 20 years later I had occasion to go there, along with a Chinese friend, and Canal St had become a Chinatown extension.

[kvflyer]

Here goes! I'm 67 and my Dad worked at the Glenn L. Martin company for a good part of his life. As you may know, defense work if often at the whim of the current ellected officials. So you could have a great job for years and get laid off in a New York minute.

He dabbled in a little TV and radio repair. I watched him but didn't really understand exactly what he did. I did become interested and when I went into the army, I got formal electronics training. Solid state electronics was the hot new stuff so I was all into it. Vacuum tubes went by the way of the buggy whip. Also, when the rectangular color CRT came out, I had no use for the round screen. Heck, we had gotten rid round BW CRT years ago!

For years, I loved the newest stuff but could only afford very little due to my modest income and lifestyle. 15 years, ago, I discovered eBay and the ability to obtain items that were memories from the past. I found out that those old ancient looking round CRTs were rather cool. I got an RCA CTC-9 and have started a restoration. It is still on hold due to some family issues (nothing bad, just time consuming) and look forward to completing it. It has a raster so that's a good sign.

I should mention that after getting out of the army, I built a Heathkit console TV. All transistors of course. That got my interest in the TV part of electronics. I guess I have had a renaissance because I really like the older stuff. Yes, I do have surround sound and a 60" LCD set. But watching Broderick Crawford in "Highway Patrol" (2150 to Headqarters!") on my Admiral 26R12 Bakelite console.

The Admiral is the exact model that I had as a teenager. It's restored and has an NOS CRT. I also have the first color set that Dad got when I was in high school, 1967. That too is in queue. I guess I should stop rambling on; the coffee has not kicked in yet .

So, I understand the process and also hope our younger "Whipper Snappers" will carry on. It really is nice to bring an old set back to life. You can even transmit to your vinatage set from your set top box or DVD player and watch those old shows. Cool...

[Countryford]

I'm 32. I started collecting radios first when I was 12. My dad and I went to a few garage sales one day. At one of the sales, there was about 4 tube radios. I fell in love and was hooked ever since. I bought all that they had and that started my collection. Several years later, once I was 16, I was at an antique store and found a Philco TV. Guess what, it came home with me.

I don't have much experience working on them. I'm at a point where I need to work on them and not collect anymore.

[Sandy G]

Another thing-Radio collecting can be one of the few areas where a person of MODEST means can STILL build himself an impressive collection of things that were & are considered "The Best there is..." I am, of course, referring to the Collins designed R-390 series.