TeleTales #8…Remember These?
Back before everything became “disposable” (meaning there was no one to fix it if it broke), there were men that would come to your house to fix your TV set. These little cases were full of tools and tubes, and if you had a pro…he had a mirror too. Click Like if you know why.
Old times gone, but not forgotten. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee
Transcontinental Television History Here’s another great article from our friend Richard Wirth. The original “broadband” and much more are covered in this write up of how AT&T made coast to coast television possible. The videos are very good too, so take a look! Thanks Richard! Source
‘The Patsy’…Marconi Mark VIs and RCA TK60s In Action, Exclusive From the 1964 Jerry Lewis, Paramount release, ‘The Patsy’, here is an edited clip you can only see here. This gives us a good look at two classic cameras in action. The Marconi Mark IV cameras in the first part are owned by KTLA which […]
Ultra Rare And HILARIOUS! This Is A LOL RIOT! Thanks to our friend David Crosthwait at DC Video in Los Angeles, here is a clip from a recently discovered reel of tape in Nevada. Jerry Lewis is guest hosting for Johnny Carson and…well…you’ll just have to watch this to see one of the funniest, impromptu […]
Remembering Ray Dolby His first job was at Ampex working on video tape recording. From there, the rest is history. He was a true pioneer in audio and will be missed. PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Ray Dolby, an American inventor and audio pioneer who founded Dolby Laboratories, has died at the age of 80. The […]
The mirror was to watch the television screen, while switching out vacuum tubes and making other adjustments in the rear.
6BQ6…
Pep boys had a tube tester for the do-it-yourselfers.
I remember my dad pulling tubes from our old B&W set and going with him to check them in the tube checker at the store.
“I’ll have to take it in to the shop.”
RCA vs CBS tubes, along with the ads by entertainers like Arthur Godfrey in the magazines endorsing them.
we had a 1961 RCA 21″ round color set and remember my dae degaussing the tube with a home made degausser. Also getting those booster things to put on the rear of the neck of the picture tube to get more life out of it. We had that set into the 70s when we got a SOny 13″ Trinitron
And if you couldn’t afford color TV, there was always the trusty blue/red/green plastic sheet you put over the screen to simulate “color”. What a scam that was. But they sold MANY of them. A friend of mine actually had one!
The RCA Service man visits The Jetsons!
Doing Static Convergence on a 21 inch color set was a PIA, you HAD to have a mirror 🙂
I am still watching tv’s of the 50’s. Self taught on repair.
I used to go down to the Thrifty drug store to test tubes. I’d get a 10 cent ice cream while I was there.
Have a large tube caddy in the attic still full of new tubes.
I (like my father) just smacked the top of the tv and voila it was fixed!
Fun thing was that that box had all the needed parts to fix 80% of the common problems. AS far as brands of tubes, major manufacturers were proably RCA, GE, Sylvanaia, CBS-HYTRON, Westinghouse, Later Philco-Landsdale, Before 1950 National-Union, before WWII Kenrad (bought out by GE) Philips (as Amperex) BUT they ALL sold tubes to each other from time to time. Some types were only made by one or two companies, and so that is what you got no matter what the name on the box. (here in Canada the majors were proably GE, RVC (Marconi) and Rogers)
I got a tube caddy at a house sale, sadly mostly filled with auto radio tubes and vibrators (the old way to get B+ for tube plates)/
I remember seeing the tube tester in the local drug store when I was a child. And I remember swapping out tubes when I was a bit older.
And a degaussing coil.
I worked in a drug store that had a tube tester. I got very good at identify what tube was needed to correct a problem. People would come to the store and tell me their problem. I would tell them what tube to pull or go to their house and pull it. The store sold tubes and I got some much needed tips from happy customers.
Our repairman Harold Hazzard (real name!) used a big mirror! He also had the best collection of early TVs in his shop on the North Side of the Twilight Zone!
At one time between TV jobs, I worked at a local Radio Shack. If a customer bought a new tube from RS and later it failed, if you brought it in with the receipt, it was free.
The mirror was for setting the screens and convergence from the back of the set. I worked for RCA Service company many years ago. 10 service calls a day, and they expected us to sell service contracts. The oldest set I ever worked on was an RCA CT5 Color chassis. This elderly lady had been paying for the service contract for 20 years. She could have bought several new sets for the price she paid, but she insisted on keeping that one. What a bitch it was to set up. Had to move magnets around the CRT to adjust purity. I sure am glad I switched over to production!
I had a roommate for a while, in Chicago, who was one of those RCA service guys. Once in a while, I’d go out on calls with him.
The OZ4 was always going out
As a kid, I remember the TV repairman coming to the house.