While my dad (WWII USAF so the clothing color is about right but for work he wore dark slacks, white shirt and bow tie, clip on thank you) got in on the ground floor of TV repair he wasn't responsible for the programming. Brings back memories of hanging out in his shop as a little tyke. The parts box was known as a tube caddy btw.
My father spent many hours back in the 1950s removing our Zeneth's TV tubes (Valves in England) going to the local hardware store where they had a test machine, locating the faulty item, buying a new one, reinstalling 12 tubes and finding it really wasn't the bad one.
Yeah, in the Early 60's I had that Fun as a little kid, going with my Dad to the local Radio/TV/Stereo Shop with the Tubes, standing on a Chair and following Instructions to Set and Operate the Tube Tester. Another fellow in our Neighborhood was an Electronics Engineer, and had an Oscilliscope and a couple other Magic Boxes. He would do "Alignments" or Power-On Adjustments that really made the difference between a Sharp Picture and 'Fuzz'.
Later, in High School, I got into Ham Radio, with a Hallicrafters Reciever and Heathkit Transmitter, and a Spiderweb of Longwire Antennas in the Trees in the Backyard. Should have Kept that Gear, but there was a period after the Jap/Transistor "rigs" came out that the Old-School Gear, no longer made, became wildly Valuable on the secondhand market. I Sold it off mostly because I wasn't living anywhere I could have a Mast or Longwire Array.
I started out like that guy servicing TV's that looked just like it. (Based on the anode cap on that tube he's holding, it's the horizontal output tube, a common failure item.) When I was 12 years old, a neighbor of mine put an old "portable" TV out with the trash. It was otherwise intact, so I took it home and decided to take it apart and see what all was inside. (I had no idea of the dangers of high-vacuum CRT's at the time.) I opened the back and saw one of the tubes had fallen out of its socket and was laying on its side. I plugged the tube back in and then plugged the TV in and turned it on. It worked! I had fixed it! From that point on, for the next 55 years, I was hooked on electronics.
While my dad (WWII USAF so the clothing color is about right but for work he wore dark slacks, white shirt and bow tie, clip on thank you) got in on the ground floor of TV repair he wasn't responsible for the programming. Brings back memories of hanging out in his shop as a little tyke. The parts box was known as a tube caddy btw.
ReplyDeleteSteve S6
My father spent many hours back in the 1950s removing our Zeneth's TV tubes (Valves in England) going to the local hardware store where they had a test machine, locating the faulty item, buying a new one, reinstalling 12 tubes and finding it really wasn't the bad one.
ReplyDeleteSometimes you had to find what's causing the tube to fail.
DeleteSteve S6
Yeah, in the Early 60's I had that Fun as a little kid, going with my Dad to the local Radio/TV/Stereo Shop with the Tubes, standing on a Chair and following Instructions to Set and Operate the Tube Tester. Another fellow in our Neighborhood was an Electronics Engineer, and had an Oscilliscope and a couple other Magic Boxes. He would do "Alignments" or Power-On Adjustments that really made the difference between a Sharp Picture and 'Fuzz'.
DeleteLater, in High School, I got into Ham Radio, with a Hallicrafters Reciever and Heathkit Transmitter, and a Spiderweb of Longwire Antennas in the Trees in the Backyard. Should have Kept that Gear, but there was a period after the Jap/Transistor "rigs" came out that the Old-School Gear, no longer made, became wildly Valuable on the secondhand market. I Sold it off mostly because I wasn't living anywhere I could have a Mast or Longwire Array.
I started out like that guy servicing TV's that looked just like it. (Based on the anode cap on that tube he's holding, it's the horizontal output tube, a common failure item.)
ReplyDeleteWhen I was 12 years old, a neighbor of mine put an old "portable" TV out with the trash. It was otherwise intact, so I took it home and decided to take it apart and see what all was inside. (I had no idea of the dangers of high-vacuum CRT's at the time.) I opened the back and saw one of the tubes had fallen out of its socket and was laying on its side. I plugged the tube back in and then plugged the TV in and turned it on. It worked! I had fixed it! From that point on, for the next 55 years, I was hooked on electronics.
That's Jeff Spicoli's father.
ReplyDelete