How long since you adjusted your vertical hold? Horizontal?

[xtgold]

I remember coming home from school and watching the world series(wow,during the day) with a very snowy picture.
There were many classic shows I never saw and had to wait until decades later to see on cable tv,like the original star trek.
CT. had channel 18 during the 60's,one of the first pay tv stations.The decoder had to be hardwired into the receiver,B&W only.
Color tv and the color burst freq. put an end to that decoding method.

 

[RT-Cat]

..........As a kid our first TV was around the mid 1950s.....Ahh yes, those were the "good old days" all right. And back then we were "GREEN" before it was ever "fashionable", ie, I either walked or rode my bike to elementary school, then I either hitch hiked or rode the city bus to a centrally located high school. We had only ONE car, one phone on a party line and we had no A/C, only a window fan. The house only had ONE TV, not one in each room. We recycled soft drink bottles, beer bottles and also milk bottles. The mail man WALKED to our house to deliver mail and us kids played outside most of the time instead of sitting in front of the TV all day. As I said, those were the days! ;-)

Oh my, what a reminder!

I guess the ironic part is I dont drink

But see I'm smart...I wait until he gets up, gets the beer then just gets back to the chair and just as he's gonna sit down I go "where's my pop? Did you grab me a pop?"

Yup! I keep pepsico in business for sure.

 

[Blindowl1234]

Nice old set. I had an early GE combo set with phono that my folks had when I was a kid. I left it at the old house eight years ago tooooo heavy to move lol..
I got rid of most of my old tv's still have several radios, tape players etc....even an old tube caddy with a couple of hundred tubes in the garage. Anyone remember the old Rider's manuals? Got a full set out still I think lol....Blind

 

[radio]

Just yesterday I downloaded the "Sams Photofact" for the set. Had an auctioneer/appraiser on the air today, he tells me the 50's stuff is COMING BACK "hot" again in sales, and I bought just the right piece! The "look" is what makes this set so cool. Can't wait for full restoration!

 

[Corrado]

My grandfather was in the TV and radio repair business for years and taught me at a young age how to test tubes and follow circuit boards that had overheated and cracked and such. I still have the old Tripp analog multimeters and boxes of vacuum tubes. In my Dad's attic I think there is a 1960s vintage UHF converter.

I think it is the analog DXing of TV I miss the most. I used to be able to pull channel 2 from Utica NY and channel 8 from Hartford CT (?) and once channel 5 West Palm Beach FL when conditions permitted. Not in the digital age.

 

[toucan-man]

In my Dad's attic I think there is a 1960s vintage UHF converter.

Our first set-top box was a Blonder Tongue BTU 2 unit.

With a name like Blonder Tongue, it has to be good[SUP]®[/SUP].

 

[rv1pop]

Not since the Wishram2 fire, when the analog repeaters went out for me.... I haven't even tried OTA since before the Monastery fire so it has been awhile. The big TVs draw too much current for my small inverters, also.

 

[Bongu]

Nice blonde finish on the console! I read this thread and thought, wow, I am lucky to have seen some of the events on TV. I didn't experience anything but B&W TV until my mid teens. Like a few others, I was the remote control for my dad, god bless him. My first truly memorable moment on TV was was when I witnessed the first Moon mission returning to Earth. I could see the Red and White colors of the parachutes in my imagination only since it was on THE 12" B&W set that we had in the house. TV was a luxury back then, not a necessity. I hope the restoration goes as planned.

 

[radio]

Nice blonde finish on the console! I hope the restoration goes as planned.

Yesterday the set got moved to a former "AP" (associated press) room in the radio station. Just big enough to have THAT TV and two other RCA "salesman sample" style mini consoles displayed. This was the room years ago for ONE announcer to stand, and for the AP machine to rattle away loudly behind the padded door so it would bother the staff much less!

As time permits, I'll flip the TV around, work on it, and get it restored. And, if I run out of time or energy, I plan to hire it done....its too nice to let go.....For now, enjoying the small Black & White sets with wood cabinets (also RCA tube sets) works fine for me. Note on the left set the "tape rule" antenna. You literally crank the antenna elements up and down, and they roll up inside the base like a tape rule. I watched this happen yesterday as I tuned our local digital channel 43. As the antenna approached a tuned length the picture came in, then as I continued cranking it up, the signal pixelated, and disappeared! Proof positive of the resonant frequencies of antennas either making or breaking reception.

By contrast, the small, more modern antenna on the RIGHT TV picks up the signal at all times, and much easier, also without any amplification.

A "TV room" at a radio station. Go figure! Oh, but its fun!

 

[radio]

Tubes ordered. We'll see what else the "blonde" needs. (Capacitors, resistors, odd parts no longer made), ..the restoration project begins....soon.

 

[kodaz]

i still have 2 tv's with v and h holds , both black and white and both small screens (aprox 4")
i use them for dish tuning... makes that s9 micro q bar even smaller!!!!
they are old, but i have no idea how old, i got em 2nd hand about 15 years ago..

edit, i cant seem to remember when i got one of them, lol

 

[Tron]

On newer tube TVs (by tube I mean picture tube), the V and H Hold adjustments were often recessed in the back in such a way that you needed a special tool to get to them.

One thing these adjustments did that was beneficial was they allowed viewing of the vertical blanking interval, which can reveal many things about the signal. Professional monitors have the option to do this with a button.

 

[radio]

I remember that well! The "Hammerhead" look of the signal, if its in good sync if I'm not mistaken! This set needs serious help in the vertical department, and i'm sure I won't "luck-out" to just weak vertical driver and output tubes, but...when done, oh, how cool. Sets like you describe also often put the horizontal height and linearity on the same pot piggybacked to save space.

 

[Tron]

Yup, the hammerhead sync, and if present, CC info and VITS (Vertical Interval Test Signals) ...

There are many things we're going to miss about analog...