Hello from Connecticut
 

Hello everyone, I just registered yesterday, what a fantastic forum! My name is Steven and I live in Southeastern CT, where I make my living as a pretty good auto mechanic. As many of you do, I like to collect nostalgia items and (hopefully) restore them as best I can. In my immediate future loom a 1972 Rupp Scrambler minibike restoration and a really cool 1954 Philco "Golden Grid" console television that I recently purchased for 60 bucks and would love to get working... so I can make some popcorn and watch old back and white episodes of Lost In Space on it, just like I did on the same kind of Philco when I was a little kid!

I already have a few questions on the Philco, but I just wanted to say hello to you all first. Fascinating stuff here!!!

Nice t'have ya ! Welcome !

welcome to vk!

Welcome to VK Steven,A BEAUTIFUL TV YOU HAVE :)

re: Hello From CT
 

Thanks for welcoming me!

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THANKS Raster Master!!!

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Thanks Dude, I get goosebumps every time I get near that TV!! Thank you for welcoming me, everyone get ready for some brain-picking!

Greetings! There should be lots of help here on just about any TV. Be careful tho, it can become addictive!

you sure got that right i got em staked 3, or 4 tvs high :D

Hello Steve welcome aboard the tv merrygoround hang on tight it is a wild ride nice to have you...Timothy

They're INSIDIOUS...You think you're DONE oncet you get this one workin'...WRONG !! You'll be moseyin' along, mindin' yer own Beeswax, & you'll spy a '56 8" RCA portable in an an Aunty-Kew Emporium...It'll start Talkin' To You..."Pleeze, Mister, take me home,willya ? I'm kinda Little 'n' Cute, don't take up much room...You KNOW you Want Me..So Howzaboutit, Pal ? C'mon, you can do it !" You snort, pick the damthing up, & trudge to the Check-Out lane...Face it, Buster, You're HOOKED....(grin)

it happens to me all day long! last week i spent 200 on an rca coffee table tee vee! :D

Thanks for the Introduction and welcome to the electron madhouse. - That Philco is the very kind that some of us pretend to be experts on.

Only Doctor Smith would dare plug in a set of that vintage before a complete capacitor replacement.

Thanks Tim, it's nice to meet you and everyone else.

Dr. Smith would blow this Philco up in a NY minute if he thought it might get him back to Earth!

I am extremely glad to be in the company of experts. I have already read and re-read Phil's section on capacitor replacement, and I can see now that this is going to be more than just a matter of replacing some tubes etc. Although I tinkered quite a bit with tube/solid state tv's in the '70's & '80's, looking into the back of this '54 Philco is somewhat like gazing upon an alien machine from another world. It's simplicity/complexity is mind boggling. I am here to share my attempts at restoration and to hopefully learn a thing or two!

BTW I did plug it in when I first got it home - not a good idea, I can see now - but nothing exploded or smelled, nothing really happened at all except a few tubes lit up and a few didn't. The back of the picture tube where the collar of wires was lit up, not sure if that's a good sign but I suppose it is...