1956 general electric!

[radiotron]

guess what johnny just got!

A WORKING PERFECTLY!
1956 ge portable!
pix posted after christmas.

[Dangler]

Please don't drop it!

Merry Christmas, Johnny.

[wa2ise]

Sometimes I've gotten TVs of that vintage that still worked well, or at least well enough to tell me that the important parts were in good condition. I'd still go thru the set and replace any wax paper caps, as I knew that the effort wouldn't be possibly wasted if was a set I was restoring had a fatal flaw. Do one cap at a time. Also the electrolytics too. You'll want that set to be working when you get to be as old as most of us here.

And Merry Xmas.

[Glenz75]

Me too! Don't drop it!

Originally Posted by Dangler

Please don't drop it!

Merry Christmas, Johnny.

[tvtimeisfun]

Hello I think Johnny learned his lesson Merry Christmas Johnny see you Friday...Timothy

[Jeffhs]

Merry Christmas, Johnny. I will be waiting to see the pictures of your "new" (to you) '56 GE TV. Those were good sets in their day, and can still work well today if you recap at least the power supply. That filter capacitor is very important to the television's proper operation; if it loses capacitance, you will see bends in the picture and/or hear hum in the sound. If it shorts, it can burn out the power transformer if your set is transformer powered, if the B+ (plate voltage) supply is not fused or if the house fuse or circuit breaker does not open/trip.

BTW, it seems to me you must have resolved your camera issues, as I remember in one of your previous posts your statement that your camera was at first dead, then broken. If you don't have a new camera, I'm thinking you may have found the problem with the one you have, which I think may have been no more serious than a dead battery in need of a charge.

If you don't drop or otherwise abuse a digital camera, it should last a long time, needing only a new battery every few months or years, depending on how often you charge it and how much you use the camera. I've had my Radio Shack "FlatFoto" digital camera for about seven years going on eight; it works very well and still has its original lithium battery.

Enjoy your "new" GE 1956 TV. That set is as old as I am (56 years), but it can still make very good pictures if in good shape. I assume you will be using either a cable box or an OTA (over the air) antenna with a converter box, as this TV (or any other CRT television ever made) will not work with today's digital TV signals unless one or the other option is employed. The only way your TV will work with just an antenna connected to the terminals on the back will be if Indianapolis still has analog low-power TV (LPTV) stations or translators on VHF channels; however, bear in mind that these translators/LPTVs will need to convert to digital by the year 2015. When that day comes, there will be no more analog TV -- period; you will need to have a cable box or converter box on your TV to get any reception at all once those translators/LPTVs convert to full digital.

Note as well that your area's cable service may be all-digital (as the service in my area, from Time Warner Cable, already is and has been for well over a year), in which case you will need a digital cable box on your TV. However, remember that even with digital cable, your GE TV will show digital and high-definition channels as standard definition (the latter being 4:3 aspect ratio), not as HD, so you may see black bars on either side of the raster when viewing such programs. There is no way on earth any standard CRT television will display programs in HD, even if it is fed a high-definition signal from an HD cable box.

Please keep us posted.

[radiotron]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

Merry Christmas, Johnny. I will be waiting to see the pictures of your "new" (to you) '56 GE TV. Those were good sets in their day, and can still work well today if you recap at least the power supply. That filter capacitor is very important to the television's proper operation; if it loses capacitance, you will see bends in the picture and/or hear hum in the sound. If it shorts, it can burn out the power transformer if your set is transformer powered, if the B+ (plate voltage) supply is not fused or if the house fuse or circuit breaker does not open/trip.

BTW, it seems to me you must have resolved your camera issues, as I remember in one of your previous posts your statement that your camera was at first dead, then broken. If you don't have a new camera, I'm thinking you may have found the problem with the one you have, which I think may have been no more serious than a dead battery in need of a charge.

If you don't drop or otherwise abuse a digital camera, it should last a long time, needing only a new battery every few months or years, depending on how often you charge it and how much you use the camera. I've had my Radio Shack "FlatFoto" digital camera for about seven years going on eight; it works very well and still has its original lithium battery.

Enjoy your "new" GE 1956 TV. That set is as old as I am (56 years), but it can still make very good pictures if in good shape. I assume you will be using either a cable box or an OTA (over the air) antenna with a converter box, as this TV (or any other CRT television ever made) will not work with today's digital TV signals unless one or the other option is employed. The only way your TV will work with just an antenna connected to the terminals on the back will be if Indianapolis still has analog low-power TV (LPTV) stations or translators on VHF channels; however, bear in mind that these translators/LPTVs will need to convert to digital by the year 2015. When that day comes, there will be no more analog TV -- period; you will need to have a cable box or converter box on your TV to get any reception at all once those translators/LPTVs convert to full digital.

Note as well that your area's cable service may be all-digital (as the service in my area, from Time Warner Cable, already is and has been for well over a year), in which case you will need a digital cable box on your TV. However, remember that even with digital cable, your GE TV will show digital and high-definition channels as standard definition (the latter being 4:3 aspect ratio), not as HD, so you may see black bars on either side of the raster when viewing such programs. There is no way on earth any standard CRT television will display programs in HD, even if it is fed a high-definition signal from an HD cable box.

Please keep us posted.

i have a converter box on it that i got for christmas today!,
and boy does the leave it to beaver christmas speacial look good on there!

[radiotron]

pictures!

[Kamakiri]

I've got a GE 14T00(something) that I've had since 1983. Coral and white portable set. Dim raster from a semi-dead picture tube, but still working.....up until about 3 weeks ago. Something died during an episode of Law and Order, gonna have to set time aside to tear the gal apart....

[DavGoodlin]

Looks good! Someone must have recapped that one! A true portable.

I have a Hotpoint 14S201 with the same chassis two-tone gray with rabbit ears.
Did a minimal re-cap when I got it in 1978, needs a real overhaul.

[Jeffhs]

Your TV looks like it's working very well. I agree with DavGoodlin -- the set must have been recapped some time before you got it, as the picture looks great for a 56-year-old portable.

I looked at the TV Guide listings for OTA broadcast for your area in TV Guide on their website (www.tvguide.com), and found digital OTA stations from channel 4.2 to 69.1 (including Indy's own local stations, of course), so, depending on where you are in the Indianapolis area and depending on what you are using as an antenna, you should get a good assortment of channels using your new converter box.

Indy's WTHR-TV, NBC channel 13, carries MeTV in your area; I did not, however, see an affiliate listed for Antenna TV, so you might need an outdoor antenna to get that network from an out-of-town station, unless there are plans in the works to eventually put Antenna TV on another local channel next year.

I'm glad you are enjoying MeTV with the converter box on your vintage GE TV. I've been watching MeTV for a couple years myself (it is my favorite retro-TV channel, next to Antenna TV) and am enjoying it, ever since the CBS TV station in Cleveland picked up the network two years or so ago and put it on a DTV subchannel (19.2).

[radiotron]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

Your TV looks like it's working very well. I agree with DavGoodlin -- the set must have been recapped some time before you got it, as the picture looks great for a 56-year-old portable.

I looked at the TV Guide listings for OTA broadcast for your area in TV Guide on their website (www.tvguide.com), and found digital OTA stations from channel 4.2 to 69.1 (including Indy's own local stations, of course), so, depending on where you are in the Indianapolis area and depending on what you are using as an antenna, you should get a good assortment of channels using your new converter box.

Indy's WTHR-TV, NBC channel 13, carries MeTV in your area; I did not, however, see an affiliate listed for Antenna TV, so you might need an outdoor antenna to get that network from an out-of-town station, unless there are plans in the works to eventually put Antenna TV on another local channel next year.

I'm glad you are enjoying MeTV with the converter box on your vintage GE TV. I've been watching MeTV for a couple years myself (it is my favorite retro-TV channel, next to Antenna TV) and am enjoying it, ever since the CBS TV station in Cleveland picked up the network two years or so ago and put it on a DTV subchannel (19.2).

i have a VERY strong antenna on it, and i do get antenna tv

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by radiotron

i have a VERY strong antenna on it, and i do get antenna tv

I don't think you would need that powerful an antenna just to get Antenna TV from Indy, unless you are in a poor signal area or unless the station's DTV signal is on a VHF channel. It's on a subchannel of WXIN-TV (59.2), as I just found out on TVGuide.com's local listings for Indianapolis OTA broadcast television channels. Channel 59.1 is WXIN-TV's main signal, which is a Fox affiliate.

[tvtimeisfun]

Hello he failed to mention where he got that good quality set from it came from my shop that set was never recapped to my knowledge I had it for about 15 years and it always performed very well I hope he enjoys this set and takes good care of it....Timothy

[DavGoodlin]

Originally Posted by tvtimeisfun

Hello he failed to mention where he got that good quality set from it came from my shop that set was never recapped to my knowledge I had it for about 15 years and it always performed very well I hope he enjoys this set and takes good care of it....Timothy

I I woudda done everything right back in the old days, mine would still work.