Met up with freakaftr8 (Shawn)

[Findm-Keepm]

Originally Posted by kbmuri

Ok, I'm 46 and change. My dad was a TV repairman in the '60s. He taught me how to test tubes on his Sencore TC-131 when I was 7 or 8, and that was "my job" when he took me on a servce call or took a set home. My first TV was a red and white Magnavox portable I got at an auction for one dollar, broken. Fixed it the same day and put it in my room. Back then it was rare for a kid to have his own TV. Later I had a job one summer (1974?) repairing b/w motel sets for a local owner of 5 or 6 seedy establishments, 35 bucks a set fixed price, delivered broken, returned fixed. I also took care of the neighbors. Forgot about TVs when I got into cars and girls in high school in the late 70's (although I did salvage a curbside tube stereo and set it up in the garage so I could work on cars in proper tunes). "Life" gobbled me up for 25 years. Then got back into radios again when eBay became mainstream, 7-ish years ago, say 2001. Got back into TVs about 5 years ago after rescuing a Capehart 333 from a fishtanker (the other eBay bid was by a college frat house in Chicago). Got absorbed with it after discovering AK. Now the darn things are all over the house.

The red and white magnavox portable would be a nice find. Or maybe it was a zenith. It was a long time ago...

Holy cow...I'm 43 and also started on a TC-131 (6GH8 setup: 6-D-11-B) tube tester! I burnt up my Dad's - ran a 6 volt tube on 8 volts and left it for a day or so. Dad was pissed - we got him a B&K 747 to replace that. I got a TC-131 a few years back on eBay - still haven't plugged it in, more of a sentimental piece.

My Dad taught me the business too. Started when I was about 5 or 6, by sorting resistors and working my way up to fixing B/W sets in his shop. The Navy got 22 years from me, but I've returned to my roots. When I'm not doing something productive, I'm spending time with my Dad...fixing RCA's, Sonys and Funai crap.

To the youngsters - you truly are the heroes here. With so many others absorbed in the next "i" product(s), you all are plugging away restoring our American treasures. My hat's off to all who save even one vintage set!

Cheers and many thanks for the thread,