How do you find sets in your area?

[Zenith26kc20]

Agree with Audubon, Katrina finished off the area known as Lakeview where alot of the older sets were. I've been given a few and found one at a flea market (my T-933 Maggie).
My roundie came from Mark and Craters and Freighters brought it here untouched.
The most of one kind are the VT-71 Motorolas. I have seven of them. I got them when the Motorola distributor closed up and sold them to me.

[AUdubon5425]

Originally Posted by Zenith26kc20

Agree with Audubon, Katrina finished off the area known as Lakeview where alot of the older sets were. I've been given a few and found one at a flea market (my T-933 Maggie).
My roundie came from Mark and Craters and Freighters brought it here untouched.
The most of one kind are the VT-71 Motorolas. I have seven of them. I got them when the Motorola distributor closed up and sold them to me.

When I'm able, I look for estate sales in Uptown, certain older parts of Metairie, River Ridge and the Aurora Gardens section of Algiers. Basically middle to upper-middle class sections that didn't flood. I've only scored one set from an estate sale though, the '72 hybrid Chromacolor. And it had an Evansville, Ind. address carved on the back - I guess that's where it originated.

[Findm-Keepm]

I got my CTC-16 roundie from a TV shop closing - the same closing yielded a 12" Sony with no back (it survived a fire!), a Setchell Carlson 21" institutional BW set, and a 60's 19" Dumont B/W luggable. I got my CTC-40 by chance - a guy needed it fixed but didn't want to spend the money.

I got my (working!) portacolor from a trash pick - there's a post I made in the old A-K days about that find. I even picked up a spare set of knobs from a local company with old GE/RCA/Zenith parts.

Most of my curb finds in the last two years were 25-36" BPC sets, usually set out with the box from a recent HDTV purchase. I was grabbing the HDTV boxes for a dealer (seems some manufacturers want LCD/Plasma warranty sets returned in original packaging) and the BPC sets for scrapping.

Public Surplus.com has tons of BPC stuff, and the occasional oddity, like my CRT HDTV Panasonic set, and my ton of test equipment - some from the 60's.

The local thrifts now pooh-pooh CRT sets, so no luck there. I usually go in to try and find other goodies - like tube based organs, the occasional Heathkit or other odd test equipment, and my two best finds: a MIB Altec amp I bought for $4.98 and sold on the bay for $451, and a Sansui AU-11000 bought for 14.98 and sold for $416.

Strategies I'd suggest:
1. Visit and talk to TV repair shops. What they throw away, we sometimes want. Be willing to take everything, so you don't miss out. Leave them a card with a cell number you can be reached at. I've picked up sets in a blizzard, just to show I'm the one to call first.
2. Scour the thrifts - some charity thrifts cull their stuff and trash it immediately - that's the stuff we typically want.
3. CL and newspaper classifieds - sure, you have a lot of chaff, but occasionally the CT-100 pops up!
4. Even at my church, I let it be known I'm into the older stuff. The average age of our members is 63 years old, so they are the ones with the classic TVs. VFW's, KofC and other organizations with elderly folks might also be the honeyhole you are looking for.
5. Keep trash-picking! You never know...

Cheers,