ETF TV Convention
 

It is really slow because a lot of folks are at the TV convention. I could not make it because of transportation issues. Really hate the fact that I am not there. There will be more chances in the future.

Thought I would start a thread for others to post some pictures of the event.

:worthless


polaraman

I didn't think to take a lot of pictures. I could only budget a few hours there between too many things going on. Here's one of the swap meet. I filled my car to the gills and spent too much money. Glad I didn't bring my truck.

This guy was vending there, sold me a couple things. Friendly service. Thought I should give him a plug. http://www.findatube.com/

It was worth the trip to see the working DuMont Royal Sovereign. In "color" even.

See also http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=111044

Stay tuned to this post.

I have many photos which I have to download and will post. The best are the photos of the CT-100 that Pete Dexnis demonstrated. It was his chassis mated to a NOS 15GP22 that ETF had in their cabinet. Pete's chassis had his video adaptor installed to inject pure video past the RF section. The pictures are spectacular. This has been an ongoing effort to determine the proper colorimetry for the tube and has been a sucess. And it was a duplicate of what was done in stations of the day to monitor color transmissions.

He showed many Technicolor movie clips, Ed Reitan showed his restorations of the Fred Astaire Show specials along with two surviving color kinescopes of early color including what may be the second NBC color program after the Rose Bowl parade. Maurice Schecter contributed various restored NBC Peacocks to see along with his WWII military television seminar and the same equipment in working condition.

And with regrets, the various tapes and kines are not available for mass copying. Rightsholders, estates and copyright problems prevent this. We were fortunate to have been able to see them at ETF throught the efforts of the presenters for this occasion only. Another reason to attend.

The seminars were a trip through history with topics from Dumont to Disney. Denis Asseman came from Belgium to show his replica Octagon mechanical set. Look him up on Google to see more amazing efforts in mechanical television.

It was a group effort to get the ETF Dumont 30" Soverign to display color via John Folsom's "personal color" viewer up and running. And several strong backs were used to get the ETF TK-41 properly mounted on a pedestal and cam head for show to visitors. Now if you have a monitor assembly for the camera, let Steve know.

Be sure to be in Hilliard, OH next year.

Dave A

I bought a RCA 630TCS, a 10 inch Muntz, and old RCA oscilloscope at ETF. I picked up a 1940s Transvision field strength meter and a old Rembrandt rabbit rabbit ears antenna on the way there. I never saw a Muntz with a 10" screen before this one. It was in poor condition but had all 4 original knobs and was only $40.

I was there for Saturday only, and thought it was well worth flying out from the West coast.

The seminars were great, and it was amazing to see Pete D's setup showing how good the color can be on a CT-100 with a new CRT. If you never wanted a CT-100 before, you would have left this convention with dreams of finding a good one in Granny's attic :-)

I didn't take any photos because that distracts me too much from what's going on (plus, my photos are usually rotten). I saw plenty of cameras in use, though, and look forward to seeing what others captured.

If you like bargains, the swap meet and auction are not to miss. I practically cried when I saw some of those auction items go so cheap, especially the little Tele-Tone in a wooden cabinet (a TV149?). But I'm too far behind on projects, so I had promised myself not to buy anything that couldn't fit in my carry-on bag. Chuck A should get a special hand for donating things -- including restored TVs -- to the auction.

Phil Nelson

Phil, This one?

http://audiokarma.org/forums/attachm...1&d=1178584124

I just couldn't help myself. And Chuck, you let me down! :nono:


.

ETF report 1 of 5
 

In no particular order, here come the photos of some of the activities and displays from the 2007 ETF convention over the weekend. I will group them by activity or specialty items on display.

I will try to upload them in the order I describe them hoping my computer skills match the AK upload system. If not, each thumbnail will have its own ID # and description to match to the text in each of the 5 posts to follow. If you all can hold off for a bit on comments until all 5 are loaded, they can be in order. It’s dial-up here at home here in the sticks and the load is slow. Hurry up Verizon FIOS!

Permission to reproduce my photos in this series is granted for non-commercial purposes only. Contact me for any other usage. All photos are from an Olympus 810 digital in its available light mode. It is a very slow shutter speed that allows a slower exposure rate than the scan rate of the screen. The Wizard of Oz photo is from a Panasonic DV camcorder in its photo mode which worked better in this instance.

Let’s got to the videotape.

The first group is a view of some of the color wheels on display this weekend.

1-The ETF restored CBS color wheel adaptor in front of its RCA B&W set. Steve restored this and his description can be seen on the ETF website.

2-A photo of the image being shown from the Wizard of Oz. The color reproduction is amazing especially in the blue and green odd shades.

3-Chuck Azzalina and Steve Kissinger working on the ETF Dumont Royal Sovereign 30” set in preparation for using it to display John Folsom’s “Personal Viewer” reproduction of the similar CBS viewer on display at ETF. It is in the lower left of the picture on the table. As it does not have a view port, you have to get close and find the spot where the image is in proper color phase. You have a one in three chance of finding it.

4-A photo of color bars from the viewer on the Sovereign. The photo is very close to the real brightness you actually see. Wheels and their filters do cut the light coming to the eye.

Etf 2
 

Next are some photos of the displays at the ETF for those that may not have ever been able to attend. The ETF has expertly grouped sets on display by either era or origin. These are just a few of the many sets to see. And if Steve has restored a set, he is more than glad to fire it up for you. My photos are just a fraction of what you can see.

5-This is the ETF RCA pre-war TRK lineup. From the TT-5 video only set to the TRK-12. The ETF TRK-12 has had its CRT replaced by the British CRT’s that were discovered and acquired and were modified to use in this set at Clinton Electronics. It is a bright image that was well worth the cost to the lucky 15 that made the cut for purchase.

6-A view of the ETF British pre-war set line-up.

7a-Steve McVoy showing his color mirror-screw reproduction to a representative of the BBC. You can read the history of this project on the ETF site.

7-These sets are a portion of the ETF color collection including the ETF after-market color wheels. Other sets are seen in other photos.

Etf 3
 

In this post we look at one of the displays that was brought to the ETF for all of us to see the efforts of many years of searching and devotion to a single bit of television history.

In this post, we see the efforts of Maurice Schecter of Duart Film & Video in New York. He has assembled a complete and working demonstration of a WWII aerial television bomb guidance system. All the way from the camera to be mounted in the bomb ordinance or a drone plane loaded to the hilt with bombs to the antennas and to the receiving equipment installed in a chase plane where the image could be viewed by a bombardier to aim the ordinance or drone to the target. It was a treat to hear the sound of a dynamotor in 2007.

This is all known as the Block system. It had three variations during the war with this display being the last of the systems known as Block 3. It became available in surplus around 1955 with some hams grabbing up the equipment for their use…slow-scan I suppose. The Thermite destruction devices were removed before surplus sale.

Maurice was also the source for the restored NBC peacocks on display on the CT-100.

8-This is the camera end of the chain which would be in the ordinance or plane. Next to it is the monitor. There is the dynamotor, antenna and power supplies that I did not show. The picture is looking out the garage door of ETF. Not a distinctive view nor a target either.

9-This is the green-screen monitor on the receiving end of the signal. It was in the chase plane. This also had the same dynamotor supply.

10-This is the view that the bombardier had via a feed from the prime monitor and was used to control the ordinance or drone plane.

Etf 4
 

This is the highlight of the convention. Pete Dexnis and others have been collaborating lately via email and massive research to determine what the original CT100 was capable of reproducing. Old RCA documents have been scoured over and many questions have been asked and answered in this search.

Pete has built an original RCA design composite video adaptor which would inject pure video in to a CT100 after the RF tuner and did this installation on his chassis. Add this to his tuned-up chassis and mate it with a ETF new-old-stock 15GP22 they acquired, you have one of the most accurate and brightest CT100 sets available to display. So much like what stations and network did to view color in their plants with this set.

This particular set and CRT shows some ringing on the left side of the picture. We are not sure of the problem, but the resulting color was enough to ignore any set or yoke problem. It also had a bit of purity problems on the upper right of the CRT that would not go away. None of this distracted from the Technicolor-like picture that was on the screen.

11-Pete Dexnis is in the rear looking at the display CT100 for his demonstrations. Julian Burke is in the foreground admiring the ETF Westinghouse 15” set.

12-This is part-way through the NBC peacock DVD on the CT100 screen.

13-This is the complete NBC peacock on the CT100 screen.

14-This is a view of the Robin Hood Technicolor feature. The blues and greens are so brilliant and separated in to their individual hues.

Etf 5
 

Denis Asseman came from Belgium to show his reproduction GE Octagon complete with video to see through the porthole. It is a work of mechanical and electronic art to see. You can Google him and see more of his work online.

And a few views of Don Saltzman leading the auction.

15-Viewing the Octagon up close as it would have been in the day.

16-A screenshot of what Denis was playing on the Octagon. He had images of other mechanical sets on view.

17-The ETF TK-41 standing sentinel over the auction. It is now mounted on a proper head and safe for playing with. I would be glad to give a demonstration of how easy this big beast is operate when properly mounted and balanced. It looks ugly until you get it going right. What looks impossible to operate on old paperwork becomes clear when you learn its dynamics. All sorts of physics are in play…leverage, fulcrums, et al.

Two or more generations are used to smallish cameras and have never touched such a fine handling giant like this. It is the Cadillac of cameras for operators. It was my pleasure to reassemble a camera like what I learned on to glide again. If it could only make a picture.

And who has a monitor assembly to complete this display?

18-Don Saltzman separating the audience from their money.

The upload for 2007 is done. Comments are welcome.

Dave A

I'll add my Kudos to the working CT-100's color. There was quite a crowd around it at all times. The image of the NBC Peacock ("The following is brought to you in living color...") was the perfect loop to run on it, for those of us who remember the '60s. It was well worth the visit, for those of you considering next year...

Westinghouse Pop-Up
 

I did not take many photos at the convention, as I am not really a "camera guy". But I did take a few, and here is one of a Westinghouse pop-up 16" TV, being offered for $200. I was VERY surprised that it did not sell. If I had a way to get it home, and a bit fore space, I would have loved to give it a home.

Dave, your photos are great and with the nice writeup you did that accompanies each I think you've captured the spirit of the event commendably.


.

Dave,

Thanks so much for posting all the pix.and discriptions. Due to illness I was unable to attend and your photos are a wonderful peek at the '07 convention.

-Steve D.