rees@apollo.uucp (Jim Rees) (01/30/86)
When colour was widely introduced
in 1968 plans were to leave the old transmitters running for (I think)
25 years to let all the old televisions die out. I think they
actually pulled the plug last year because they decided that all
the old sets had finally died.
Should that have been 1958? 1968 is only 18 years ago.
I have about half a dozen TVs, and only one of them was built later than
1960. I would be pretty upset if they all stopped working.
My favorite is a 1948 Hallicrafters with a seven inch round screen. It has
a clunky car-radio style pushbutton tuner, and gets channel 1 (picks up
cordless telephones). I had to make some 7Kv capacitors and a flyback for
it, but it works fine now.
Any other TV collectors out there? I am currently looking for a
pre-1958 color set, and a late tube-technology battery set.berger@clio.Uiuc.ARPA (02/05/86)
I have a friend that makes his living restoring antique amusement devices. He specializes in Juke Boxes. He has about 15 Philco Predictas, reflecting about 6 different models. He had to have some picture tubes custom made (2 volt filament!) but most of them are functional. If you don't know what a Philco Predicta is, take a look at the cover of the latest Rush album.
dsi@unccvax.UUCP (02/13/86)
> > I have a friend that makes his living restoring antique amusement > devices. He specializes in Juke Boxes. He has about 15 Philco > Predictas, reflecting about 6 different models. He had to have > some picture tubes custom made (2 volt filament!) but most of > them are functional. Are there *six* models of Predictas? And why are these sets always featured in Empty-V type of popular culture? And, just how much are Predictas worth (I have access to one which is the "pedestal" model) operating? If I hadn't trashed my RCA CTC-3A (with the "drumhead" 15 inch CRT).... (sigh) David Anthony DataSpan, Inc P.S. I'd really like to know what the other four Predicta models are. I've only seen the "pedestal" version and the "tabletop" version, both of which are on the Rush album cover..
john@moncol.UUCP (John Ruschmeyer) (02/17/86)
In article <439@unccvax.unccvax.UUCP> dsi@unccvax.UUCP writes: > > Are there *six* models of Predictas? And why are these sets always >featured in Empty-V type of popular culture? I can't speak for how many models of the Predicta there are, but I do have an opinion on why they are so representative of popular culture. The Predicta was manufactured in the 1950's and was special in that it tried to capture that rare quality of being a "vision of the future". Thirty years later, we can look back and realize that the Predicta's vision did not come to pass. Rather, it now has a certian quaint, futuristic appearance- not unlike the visions of the 1980's seen in a 1930's Science Fiction movie. Of course, one man's quaint is another man's laughable. Next time you're at the library, look through a few LIFE magazines from the late 1950's. It is interesting to see an ad for a "portable" television which extolls the fact that it only weighs 20+ pounds! -- Name: John Ruschmeyer US Mail: Monmouth College, W. Long Branch, NJ 07764 Phone: (201) 571-3451 UUCP: ...!vax135!petsd!moncol!john ...!princeton!moncol!john ...!pesnta!moncol!john Give an ape control of its environment and it will fill the world with bananas.