Estate Sale Finds in 2010!

[andy]

...

[batterymaker]

Looks odd for it to sit on the floor like that. I wonder if it had a legged base that it sat on. Very sharp B&W set.

[RobtWB]

Good looking old GE set.
I do believe that is one of those sets designed to sit on a base with legs.
Have a junk Maggie like that - too far gone to save.

[andy]

...

[bgadow]

That chassis is more substantial looking than I expected...and I sure figured it would be series string.

[RobtWB]

Many sets/brands of that era had optional factory designed bases designed to exactly fit the cabinet. The cabinet was simply placed on top of the base. The legs were part of the base. Look at advertising literature from that era and you will see them. Someone recently had 2 NOS bases for sale on eBay.

[mwplefty]

Originally Posted by andy

For the first time in over two years, I found a vintage TV at an estate sale! It's nothing special, but for $5 I couldn't say no. I was actually at the same house a couple of weeks ago, but the TV was hidden in the back of a closet. It's a 19" GE from 1963. The cabinet is unusually luxurious for a 60's table top B/W set. It's all real wood, and despite its looks, there's no evidence that it was supposed to have legs. Does anyone know if the channel knob is original? It's ugly, but I'm starting to think it is original.

I think I was the first person to take the back off it. It has all the original tubes, and no evidence of any repairs. All it needed was a serious tuner cleaning, tube socket cleaning, and some minor adjustments. It has a Zenith style projection channel indicator. It's also surprising to see a transformer chassis on a 60's GE.

Is that a low-power channel you're picking up on Channel 8?

Either way, the channel knob looks a little out-of-place in my opinion, but I think it is original.

[andy]

...

[mwplefty]

Originally Posted by andy

It's just connected directly to analog cable. It's an easy way to make sure all 12 channels are working properly. All the low power channels are on UHF (which this set lacks) and are in Spanish.

I agree that it's an ugly knob, but the more I look at it, I think it may be original. I'm hoping to check it against the Sams folder when I get my stuff out of storage.

Yeah. Here in Chicago I believe we can pick up about 7 UHF low-powered channels and 1 VHF low-powered channel (but the reception on this channel is terrible).

[Jeffhs]

I read in a recent Broadcasting & Cable newsletter (I don't want to try to quote it due to copyright issues) that translator and low-power TV stations will be converting to digital some time in 2012, so any of you with older sets connected to analog cable had better enjoy those LPTV analog stations while they last.

I knew it was only a matter of time until even the LPTV stations would face a DTV transition deadline. I don't know, however, if this will also apply to translator channels, but it wouldn't surprise me if it did. I think the FCC wants to and eventually will require every TV station in the country to vacate the VHF and UHF TV bands so they can reallocate the entire spectrum from 54 to 700 MHz; they already had a head start on this when they reallocated channels 70 through 83 to land-mobile in 1970. Both of my analog TVs (one 1995-vintage, the other 1999) have electronic VHF/UHF tuners that only tune channels 14-69, although for some reason most of the all-channel sets I remember from 1970 until perhaps 1990 or so had tuners that went to channel 83.

[batterymaker]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

Both of my analog TVs (one 1995-vintage, the other 1999) have electronic VHF/UHF tuners that only tune channels 14-69, although for some reason most of the all-channel sets I remember from 1970 until perhaps 1990 or so had tuners that went to channel 83.

They cut the higher channel numbers because you could pick up the old cellular frequencies up there! ECPA took care of that.

[andy]

...

[andy]

...

[mwplefty]

Originally Posted by andy

Low power TV stations have nothing to do with analog cable. It's entirely up to the cable companies whether or not they continue to offer analog cable. My cable company still has about 50 analog channels, including all the over the air channels, and most of the basic cable channels such as Discovery and CNN.

What cable provider do you have? I have Comcast, and we get 2-31 (minus a few stations in-between), 70, 96, and 98. It annoys me because most of my favorite channels aren't included. Who knows when I'll even be able to get this many channels, with the FCC making changes at rapid speed without notifying us in advance.

I heard LPTV stations will remain over-the-air for the next 20 years (as of August 13, 2008). Now "20 years" is a pretty relative term, since no date was ACTUALLY set in stone. I think it's just another way of saying that we shouldn't worry about it right now because, at this time, low-powered analog stations aren't "disrupting" the airwaves and "blocking phone lines" as much as full-powered analog stations "supposedly" did. (Please take notice of the quotations).

[AUdubon5425]

Originally Posted by mwplefty

I heard LPTV stations will remain over-the-air for the next 20 years (as of August 13, 2008). Now "20 years" is a pretty relative term, since no date was ACTUALLY set in stone. I think it's just another way of saying that we shouldn't worry about it right now because, at this time, low-powered analog stations aren't "disrupting" the airwaves and "blocking phone lines" as much as full-powered analog stations "supposedly" did. (Please take notice of the quotations).

I think economics are already affecting LP stations. There are only two left operating in my area, where there were at least five or six before the transition. And the signals on the two remaining are weaker (as if you thought that was possible!)