Its been a long time since I had a tube set as daily watcher. There was a long line of them through the 80s & 90s, my favorites being the CTC-31 that CaptainMoody has now, a great Philco-Ford rect. console that I really miss (late 60s) & then for a short while I used a 4 tube Zenith (that drh has now). Since then, though, its just been my Grandfather's 1991 NAP Sylvania. I would love to bring one of the old timer's up front but I really don't think Kim would go for it!

The set I always watch in my bedroom is a '72 Zenith 17" b&w portable. I forget how many tubes are in there... maybe 5 or 6 at most. I got it for 5 bucks nearly ten years ago. The set looks like new. I've never done a thing to it other than clean the dust out once or twice. Still has all the original caps and tubes, and still plays perfectly. People have often commented on how well these Zenith portables hold up... and I can understand why. This one has been a great performer and well worth the 5 bucks.

I don't know if this qualifies, but we run our 621 and 630, plus our 1947 Telejuke all day Saturday and Sunday when the museum is open.

1969 Symphonic B/W portable 3" received as a gift for Christmas 1969 and depending on whats on a 1984 Panasonic CT-101 1.5" color CRT both in my workshop/computer room. I have a 46" rear projection Mitsubishi in the Family room but I almost never watch that one. I have one of them on when I am in the room for background noise, if it is completely silent I have a problem working on electronics. Right now I have am working on a Onkyo 5 Channel monster that my neighbor dropped from about 5 feet, power transformer (about 20 pounds) bent and cracked the powersupply board. Several dozen point to point wires should do it.
Richard.

Right now my oldest daily watcher is the 12" Zenith portable featured in my avatar. My first TV was one like this and I just love the style and build quality of the '60s Zeniths. This set was a thrift store find, has required very little work over the two or three years I have had it and the performance is great. If my wife would not object, I'd sell off every newer set in the house, buy a big three-way Zenith roundie combo and live in the past forever. For daily service, I definitely prefer a Zenith tube set. I am thinking about getting an early to mid '70s Chromacolor 19" or 13" for the bedroom if I can find one.

Compucat:

I love your signature line... Zenith: The tube goes in before the back goes on.

:D

I heard this one from one of a former member of my antique radio club.

Philco-the quality fell out before the name went on.

Obviously he was not impressed with the quality of Philco products.

My daily watcher is not all that old, started life as a 1986 Sylvania 31" with a NC4 chassis, got updated to a Philips GR1CX chassis with PIP in 1991 and a new Philips 32V CRT in 1995 has been turned on 24/7 since 1989 and the current CRT has 96,000+ hours with the chassis fully recapped once.

Must been a b**** recapping it while it was turned on : ()

Zat why I got the shakes an glow in the dark....

My 2 Daily Watchers
 

Here is my 2 Daily Watchers that I have had going for several months now. Ive been watching the CTC 16 as a Daily set since September. Here lately the Silvertone (1966 CTC 15 like set) on the right has been put through alot of use. The origonal problem with the silvertone was that the horizontal hold would not lock. I discovered a good smack on the side would cause it to lock. Pulled the chassis out and looked for possible causes. Found that the Horizonal OSC coil was not making a good connection to the board. Resoldered it last week and it has fixed the problem for now. Ive got 4 more roundies, 2 that im getting close to being done with. Biggest problem is finding a good spot in the house for them. My sets seem to get moved around before they settle to one spot.

VERY NICE!

I think the last time I saw two round sets turned on together was 20 years ago at the Salvation Army store.

Charles

XBOX on a roundie eh? that must look real cool.

I'd still like to see Pong on a hi-def plasma screen.

-Ian

I recently bought one of those newer versions of the Atari 2600 at Walmart. I think it's called Atari Flashback, or something like that. It's at my parents' right now. We've been playing it on their 36" Hitachi. Guess I will have to bring it here to try on a roundie.