Vintage televisions, anyone? Post pics here!

[Foxer55]

decojoe,

When watching these historic sets, you can just picture a roomfull of people surrounding it laughing at Milton Berle on "The Texaco Star Theater"!

Exactly. Everyone was relaxed and just having a good time. No pressures, no cell phones, no correctness worries, just fat, dumb, and happy and enjoying life.

 

[decojoe67]

decojoe,



Exactly. Everyone was relaxed and just having a good time. No pressures, no cell phones, no correctness worries, just fat, dumb, and happy and enjoying life.

I agree completely with you. One the biggest reason I love all this old nostalgia is a deep longing for those simplier times where people getting together and enjoying each others company was the favorite past-time! I was just born in the wrong time period.

 

[Stearmen]

I agree completely with you. One the biggest reason I love all this old nostalgia is a deep longing for those simplier times where people getting together and enjoying each others company was the favorite past-time! I was just born in the wrong time period.

You didn't always get to relax and watch the show! I am sure many here got stuck holding one of the Rabbitears while every one else watched a historic event. And if you leaned forward to try and watch, every one would yell, "stand up, stand up" because the picture would go! [video=youtube;TZ28YQUR2b4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ28YQUR2b4[/video]

 

[decojoe67]

I'm old enough to remember fiddling with rabbitt ears as a kid in the early 70's! I remember my brothers using tin foil to extend the antenna! Typically you watched one or maybe two channels in one evening, so once you got a decent picture, you were all set.

 

[rjb1]

"Modern" digital-TV transmissions are even worse than the old sets with rabbit ears for low-quality of reception and tendency to lose the signal. Every time I lose a channel I curse Congress for voting to eliminate analog broadcasting.

 

[John in Covina]

"Modern" digital-TV transmissions are even worse than the old sets with rabbit ears for low-quality of reception and tendency to lose the signal. Every time I lose a channel I curse Congress for voting to eliminate analog broadcasting.

I live within line of sight of the broadcast antennas. Most are on Mt. Wilson and i can actually see them from my backyard, yet regularly certain channels go from about 88% to no signal. I figure it's airplanes or police helicopters blocking the signal. if that ain't it then it is no rhyme or reason.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I can't get over the air television at all where I live -- I'm exactly halfway between Bangor and Portland, with mountains to the north of me and hills to the south, and the digital signals from both directions are nil. The deletion of analog broadcasting was nothing but a racket to force people in outlying areas to go satellite or cable. You'll find that satellite and cable interests had a lot to do with lobbying that bill thru. So much for the airwaves being the property of "the people."

 

[rjb1]

Listen for a plane or helicopter when your digital signal goes bad. They definitely cause problems. Also rain or snow... Then again it can go out for no discernible reason. Lizzie - It's a lose-lose situation. We get terrible reception for free, and you have to pay big bucks for 100 channels, of which maybe a half dozen (on a good day) are worth having.
When our previous idiot-Congressman voted for the TV-signal "change", I knew we were being sold out to cable and satellite. I never had the chance, but always wanted to ask him at a town meeting to explain the difference between "analog" and "digital". His head would have exploded...

 

[decojoe67]

New aquisition

Here is a not often seen set. It's a 9" 1958 Tele-O-Master portable TV made in Tokyo by Denschi. It mimicks the American brands such as the GE and Hotpoint., but it's actually a better made set! It foreshadows what was to come. It's an attractive set with a very 1950's looking two-tone forest green and mint green. It has been electronically restored and works very well. See the pic on the next post.

 

[decojoe67]

Here is the 1958 Tele-O-Master 8T-58:

 

[decojoe67]

Hey! It's 1964 all over again!

I grew up with an Admiral "brief-case" TV very similar to this 1960 Philco "Seventeener III", so I had to get it. The darn thing works just as well as I remember the Admiral playing. We used it up to about 1979!
Okay it's not my typical wood vintage TV's, but it's a real blast-from-the-past.

 

[decojoe67]

Back to an earlier set, here's my latest find. It's a very early production 1948 Motorola VT-71. It was the first set to sell under $200 and weighs only 26 pounds! It's a transformer-less electrostatic set with a very simple chassis. Amazing for the time. The set came in mahogany, walnut, and the less-often-seen blonde, as this one is. The front upper and lower panel is a decal. The set was found with an exceptional condition case, but the chassis led a hard life. It needed major components replaced. After likely 55-60 years, the set lives again!

 

[decojoe67]

A classic '50's set

This '57 Zenith Z1511B portable screams '50's with it's side rocket-pods and turquoise and white two-tone paint job.
I spent hours returning the original cabinet to it's former glory, and my tech got it working like new.

 

[decojoe67]

Here's that '57 Zenith:

 

[decojoe67]

A 1959 Philco "Predicta" "Debutante". This was the second generation "Predicta" with the 17" screen and improved dependability. It ONLY came painted in charcoal brown. This was the cheapest model with the cloth front (with cool interwoven gold tinsel) and deleted gold metal CRT case "handle-bars". A load of these sets were specially painted tan, had a deleted antenna, an instruction sheet pasted to the top, and sold to the "Holiday Inn" hotel chain!
This one has the original optional stand and is all original. It was electronically restored with a 3rd replacement CRT! It plays beautifully. Watching a "Twilight-Zone" episode on it is a total blast.

 

[decojoe67]

Some new sets to the collection from 1948:
A 10" Admiral 20X122 console. It's about 32 inches high and one piece of bakelite:

A portable 7" Airline (Montgomery-Ward) 94GSE-3015A , uncommon model with the unmasked "porthole" style screen:

A 7 "Hallicrafters 505 tabletop designed by Raymond Loewy. Unusual push-button tuning which includes channel 1:

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I see WTMJ out of Milwaukee is on there. Didn't know it was once channel 3, it's channel 4 now.

List of American TV stations as of 1950.

No new TV licenses were issued between 1949 and 1952, as the Federal Communications Commission reevaluated its table of channel assignments to ensure that future stations would not cause unnecessary interference.

It's too bad you can't get any over-the-air stations where you are. When I was growing up, we lived about 20 minutes from Madison, and about an hour from Milwaukee. I could get every station both cities had to offer, and could even pull WGN from Chicago on clear mornings, on the TV in my bedroom growing up. We had an old farm on top of a hill, with no trees to speak of, besides a tree line between the house and the farm fields.

I'm still using rabbit ears, now and they really offer a lot more that I like to watch nowadays. Channels like "MeTV" and "AntennaTV" are a blessing. I do miss the analog tuning. I hate having to run converter boxes, and having umpteen different remotes. With analog, at least if the signal was weak, you still got SOMETHING. And there was something very satisfying about fiddling with the fine tuning knobs to get the picture to come in clearer. That was antiquated technology, even back then. I think we stopped using that set in 2002, or so lol. I still have it and want to put it back into service one of these days. Still works but the picture always has a greenish tint to it, now.

 

[decojoe67]

Just picked-up this 1949 7" Tele-Tone TV-208 tan-tolex covered portable. It has a built-in rotary antenna and is fairly light for the period at 26 pounds. It has a two-piece chassis that's rather crammed into the cabinet and is a fairly good performer. Several different versions of these vertical portables were produced at the time, but these "porthole" screen models are the least common and the most unique.

 

[decojoe67]

This is a 1950 Motorola 9T1 bakelite 8.5" tabletop TV that I just acquired. Motorola started with the wooden VT-71, the first television to sell for under $200, in 1947, and this marks the end of that run. By this time they offered the set in bakelite and squeezed an 8" CRT in the cabinet giving it, what I find, a rather appealing "bulging-eye" look. A more comfortable set to watch than the 7" models, but a rare tube to replace if need be. This 8.5" tube, as far as I know, was used only by Motorola, Arvin, and Silvertone in 1950. This set actually proved to have a bad tube, but luckily my repairman had a replacement for me and the set works excellent now. I lucked-out for sure!

 

[decojoe67]

Here's a 1948 Admiral 19A11 7" brown bakelite TV. This set was actually acquired from the son of the original owner who left the set on display in the original house! It was never stored away since new. It's a super clean original and was easily restored back to working condition. An interesting touch is the heavily swirled knobs and channel plate. A classic compact and light early TV!