[julianburke]

I hope that I can find some ID marks on it like I found on my TK11/31 camera when cleaning it for the first time. Up under the top overhanging the viewfinder I found a WOR (NYC) property tag! My TK60 was a lease unit when new and found many notes inside it. The TK41 is in a crate on my big truck and my back has been hurting lately and it is supposed to rain the rest of this week. I do need to get it out so I can get it on my camera shelf in my garage here at home.

In the early 60's when I lived in Seattle is when I was really exposed to color TV. I hung around mainly two of the three TV station transmitters when they would let me. Channel 4 KOMO was great and learned much from them and channel 5 KING was OK. KOMO had a TM-10 RCA 15" monitor that was a big deal to me to watch at the transmitter site. (I have one of these as well as a RCA TM-20 21" monitor) KING had a CT100 for a station monitor that didn't work. I later found out what happened to it in a roundabout way that is truly another story! Since, when I could, would save anything to do with color TV, I have been collecting (accumulating) color TV stuff more seriously since 1967. My first was a CTC5 Aldrich. Now I have four buildings (12,000 SF total) that a credit card cannot find its' way in! (not all TV stuff but military vehicles (jeeps-humvees-TOW missile carriers (2), military radios, parts, tubes-about 40K of them from 40 years of buying them when found or gifts, other strange electronics, telephone stuff, switchboards, microphones, early computers-PDP8 Dec's other early DEC's too, early Intel from the 70's, and a host of a ton of other interesting stuff I've picked up in my travels. The key to it is having a truck when you need it. I have 4, 2 with tommy gates. It is getting harder to find the good stuff so it is not coming in as fast as it used to.

If you want another great story and good material, google "jp patches", a local clown show that was highly successful in Seattle. This website will keep you spellbound for at least 2 hours! They don't make them like this anymore and what a shame. Chris Widas was JP, no one else could do it better and I think the parents enjoyed it more than the children! I talk to him every now and then and what a personality!!

About 20-25 years ago when I would attend the radio meets, I would pull a small UHaul trailer and just fill my caravan and trailer up with the $5 or less stuff and every one would always say "what do you want with that stuff?" I was thinking that this would be good profit items back home but ending up never selling anything. Harry Poster tried to do a TV auction at Elgin one year and attendance was very low. Most collectors had little interest because it was after all, a radio meet! I bought a nice blonde CTC5 for $10 as no one bid against me and I still have it today. This is also a curse in some respects, but I want more, more and MORE!!!!!! Did I say I want MORE?

Yeah, there's the wife thing too and she's concerned & says we have more than enough but has been with me all along. But you know, when she's there and a good item comes up or available-she'll say you better buy it or demands I get back there quickly and snag it!

If anyone is interested, google "tennesseetraveler" and the first hit you get should say "WVLT" in it. Click on it and in the many stories you can scroll (sideways), click on "mic collector" and "TV collector" (two TV collectors but mine is the latest) These are two items for a six part series on my super collections. It is getting harder to keep up with it all.