2009 July | Vintage Electronics Blogsphere

Archive for July, 2009

Audio Radio Tubes

Audio Radio Tubes
Tell me if you remember the picture jumping, and the slanted line iterference on old tv sets?

when a car passed your house, the screen went zig-zag, and you could hear the spark plugs firing on the audio. You indulged to get an antenna up on the roof, instead of the rabbit ears. They sold a chimney strapping kit, so you could do it yourself. The tv repairmen spung up to meet so many demands, no different now than the cable guys. No Radio Shack, just a Tube Tester, with instuctions written ( in english only) on the floor of your local drug store. They were better days back then, people knew how to do for themselves, and there were no couch potatoes.

Yes. It is called the "Vertical Hold" and "Horizontal Hold" of the old picture tubes. They were capable of being interfered with in the days when the equipment was much more sensitive to electrical interference, and even walking in front of the rabbit-ear antennas might interfere with the reception. . Almost unknown in TV sets today, which have much more picture stability than those of 40 or 50 years ago.