Thought you might like a trip down memory lane…
in the presentation mention is made of tubes being tested
in such a manner to determine durability…some 5000 hours some 10,000 hours
some 50,000 hours…wow
Enjoy
Thought you might like a trip down memory lane…
in the presentation mention is made of tubes being tested
in such a manner to determine durability…some 5000 hours some 10,000 hours
some 50,000 hours…wow
Enjoy
I’m old enough to remember RCA TV technicians coming to our house with a satchel full of tubes when our 21" black and white RCA TV “went on the blink” and needed repair.
glad you enjoyed the trrip down memory lane…
My family’s black and white RCA was
huge, heavy, blew a lot of fuses (the screw in kind), and only caught on fire once!
When my mother wasn’t swearing at it because of repairs needed she was swearing by it as the best babysitter she could’ve asked for.
I remember watching test patterns on Saturday mornings until the cartoons started and the National Anthem was played.
Oh, yes. Andy’s Gang, Sky King, Fury and all the rest.
Don’t forget Howdee Doodee and Buffalo Bob.
Oh, never could forget them. Simpler times, for sure.
Roy Rogers, Rin Tin Tin, Gene Autry and many more…
Don’t forget Hopalong Cassidy!
Different programs but similar memories. I used to particularly enjoy the transmitter information cards in the early afternoons.
Years later of course we all became teletext addicts…
I remember when I was a child, my father had a problem with our TV. He took the vacuum tubes out and we went down at the local drug store where they had a tube testing machine like the one above. Then he would test each tube until he found the bad one. The machine was stocked full of replacement tubes.
I remember my grandparents all tube television with a mechanical clicker remote. In a way, the craftsmanship and manufacturing expertise that went into mass production of large diagonal size tube displays themselves was remarkable.
I have two headphone amps that can sub this tube. It was original designed for tubed TV tuners vertical hold duties.
https://www.tubesandmore.com/products/vacuum-tube-12b4a-triode-low-mu
Me too…
My father had a portable tube tester. He was often the most popular guy in the neighborhood. Our local hardware store stocked the tubes.
My family’s first TV was a Bendix with a ten inch round picture tube, and push button varactor channel selectors for channels 1-13. Yes, you read it correctly. It had Channel 1. Only two stations, apparently, ever used that frequency. One was is Scottsdale, AZ, and I think the other was in NYC. Channel 1 went bye-bye about the same time as the DuPont Network, if memory serves me, circa 1955.
The Channel 1 you’re referring to was most recently an “educational” station in existence from 1989 to 2018.
Channel One was an underground comedy ensemble co-founded by Chevy Chase in 1967. A comedy club in Manhattan (Greenwich Village I believe) with the same name was a most interesting experience. I attended it with my eventual-to-be wife. It was pitch black inside with the only illumination being cast by television screens scattered around the club. Seating was movie theater style. Chevy Chase appeared on screen in a number of sketches that were shown including one memorable skit entitled “The Sexual Olympics” another was him slapping a bald man’s head in time to the tune of “Me and My Shadow.”
It helped if you were in a certain frame of mind while viewing.
The Cannel 1 I am referring to has nothing in common with the one you are referring to. The one I am referring to operated in the 44-50MHz region which hasn’t been used for television since around 1950 or so.