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Personally my attraction to the hobby is I like to see the history of the equipment. Equipment changes over time and as fashion and technology change. I think its fascinating to see equipment from a particular time period.
For example, I wanted to know what a video distribution amplifier looked like in the 1950's. Today they can be as small as the connectors themselves (usually BNC or F depending on the whether the video is baseband or RF). Well, its actually rather difficult to find out what a DA in a a 1950's television station looks like. Its a subject that doesn't have a lot of pictures lurking around on the net. Most people know about the cameras of the 1950's, but not all the equipment that surrounded them to make them work. Anyway, I enjoyed doing some research to find out. Number one because I'm interested in where things came from, and number two because sometimes knowing the way a piece of equipment was at one time can answer the question as to why it takes its current form. Equipment designers tend not to go off on a tangent.
Anyway, that probably all sounds weird, but I think its a fascinating hobby.
For the record, at least one video distribution amplifier from the 1950's was just a shelf with some tubes and connectors on it about 6 rack units high. Amazingly 1950's television equipment has all of its guts out in the open, only later did they start packaging it neat enclosures.
David
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