New member from central North Carolina

[Walnut2]

I'm in my late 20s and new to the television and radio collecting hobbies but not new to collecting antiques. I am or have been, full-fledged or just dabbling, into a variety of other areas: telephones, padlocks, early electric and oil lighting and appliances, clocks and watches, cameras, jars and bottles, typewriters, and more... to some extent old stuff in general. Radios and especially TVs have had some casual appeal to me for a while but I've seldom run into TVs in visiting antique stores and shows, and it's only now that I've really been familiarizing myself with these categories and what's involved that I realize non-working condition is perfectly normal and expected and one shouldn't even plug them in to test without recapping or the proper equipment and knowledge—wish I'd known that in the past.

Recently was presented locally with a circa 1954 Trav-Ler 321-480 21" console TV, which kick-started my researching and getting into this stuff in earnest. I will probably post a thread about it; I intend to recap it and hopefully get it working. I couldn't find any other examples or pictures of this model online. I know some of you long-time collectors don't think much of these large and less-than-high-end '50s B&W consoles, but it was probably going to be "upcycled" if I didn't get it and I think it's a good one to start out with. I also have a '60s G.E. B&W tube portable I got about a dozen years ago for $5 at a thrift store—back when thrift stores still accepted CRT televisions—and a 1987 Samsung TB1212 B&W portable I picked up not long ago at an antique show. I don't have much space left for collecting large TVs or radios, but I probably will have a hard time not helping to preserve what's left of this history in my region instead of it ending up in the landfill or "dog-bedded"/"fish-tanked".

On the radio side, I currently have a Zenith 7H920 I won in an auction a handful of years back at the local Habitat for Humanity ReStore (back when they'd sell some of the better items they received through a form of in-store write-in auction) and a really cheap late tube-era G.E. radio I recently picked up (small circuit board instead of a chassis). The same source the Trav-Ler TV came from also has a circa 1935 Philco 38L lowboy console, but it's in much rougher shape and I'm unsure whether it's worthwhile for me (as a beginner especially) to rescue. Currently intending to get a good cheap "All American 5" radio before long that I can practice recapping/soldering on before diving into the TV project or the Zenith.

I've been learning a lot from from watching YouTube videos by bandersentv (especially his recent "beginner's guide" series of videos) and shango066, and from perusing this forum and some other sites. I would have joined a little sooner, but the registration form was broken; kudos to the admins for fixing that, and thanks for accepting me as a member.

Zachary.

[Dude111]

Welcome Zak,I hope you like it here!!!!!!!

[electronjohn]

Welcome to VK!!

[ronl]

Welcome go the forum. RonL

[Alex KL-1]

Welcome!

Here are people from various field and hobbystic expertises, some having a lot of knowledge about TV subjects, from different regions of globe. With some very interesting informative threads. (Because of all of this I made my subscription some time ago).