Vintage TV for $5!

Should just screw those together, I used to have a converter like that.

Good for Duck Hunt.

VHF output on the converter is just coaxial. I need channel 3-4

Nice, but newer (1990s) CRT TVs are really cheap. Sometimes you see them for free on a sidewalk!

You need one of these.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/RCA-VH54-LVH54N-RCA-VH54-LVH54N-Indoor-Matching-Transformer/20588615

EDIT: Note that's a completely outrageous price for one. For example:

http://www.cnaweb.com/indoor-nickel-matching-transformer.aspx?gclid=Cj0KEQjw4fCqBRDM1ZKhk5jfo6IBEiQAZQ97OHh6NLL77trhylPIVvI0kVZ-8fJV1F2YJbTFDm6KpBIaAuAW8P8HAQ

Used to be you couldn't go through any junk drawer without finding one of these things, but I guess it's been 20 years since people commonly needed them.

Picked one up at radio shack for $6 ish. I'll see how it turns out!

Got a VCR out and after some adjustments, I can clearly see the menu screen. It is a black and white TV, but that's what I was expecting. I might try to find a place for it in the garage and hook my iPad to it.

You need an Apple II to set that on!

I got one, maybe I will someday. I want to take the stuff off the shelves and set up some of the better machines with accessories on a long table so people can just turn one on and start messing with it.

That looks more appropriate for an Atari 2600, IMO.

Apple II is better as Atari has color and black and white.

Apple IIs (at least the //e enhanced I used) do this cool thing where they represent colours as bunches of black and white dots. They're great on both both B&W and colour screens.

The Apple ][ should be able to display color, or at least that is what I thought. (That was why they made the Apple "colorful.")

When the Apple II came out small color TVs were $300-$400, while a black-and-white model was more like $60. (To say nothing of what a real "color monitor" cost.) A *lot* of Apple II's ended up hooked to B&W TVs back in the day.

What all would I need to connect my iPad Mini to this for YouTube and the like? I have a regular coax connection now, but what is the cheapest option to go about this?

My guess would be iPad to RCA, then an RCA-Coax adapter.

That being said, did Apple ever make an iPad to RCA Lightning cable, or was that just 30-pin?

They have a 30-pin to RCA adapter, and I got one with the intent to toy around with getting it to work on my iPhone (which has a lightening connector) with an adapter. I never got around to it, but seeing this has reminded me, so maybe I'll check it out... eventually.

By the way, what era do you all think that TV is from? I say maybe mid-late seventies or early eighties. Does it have a "date of manufacture" sticker on it anywhere?

c

I'd put it around 1983. I own two Electrohome sets myself. Great units for stuff that only does RF.

an RCA-Coax adapter.

Click to expand...

It's called an "RF Modulator"

Best thing about where I live is that we still have analog VHF, so the good old '53 in the living room can pull in local programming.

Manufactured in 1977 for those wondering.

Hmm, I thought so!

The fake wood-grain look seemed to be popular in the 80's and into the 90's, and this doesn't have it, so I figured it was either before the fad, or some off-beat thing that didn't follow the styling conventions of the time.

CalGen: I guess Canada still has analog OTA broadcasts, no? I wish they hadn't discontinued it down here, as I now have a pile of portable TVs that are completely useless as TVs (they might still be somewhat useful as tiny, almost illegible monitors for a vintage computer of some sort, but that would be pointless as larger, non-portable TVs are far superior for that job). My favorite from the stack is a nice, COLOR TV that looks like it was from the 80's. It looks somewhat like this.

Too bad I can't use it for it's original purpose anymore :,(

c

I keep a working color analog CRT TV for old game consoles. I bypass the RF converter by using a coax (from the console) to screw type adapter. Also the RCA inputs work well for stereo consoles.

Assuming you can get composite video out of your iPad the "most available" option for an RF modulator is to use an old VCR. Most VCRs, even quite old ones, have composite in/out jacks for dubbing or connecting a video camera. Hook your iPod to the composite in jack (and the sound to the audio input jacks), the TV to the RF out jack via your matching transformer, and set the VCR to "video in" (or whatever it calls it).

Or you could get a stand alone RF modulator. They were still making them until not that long ago. (I have one in a junkbox I'm holding on to in case I ever find a retro TV I just can't pass up.)

BTW, don't be confused by what Unknown_k is referring to, which is bypassing the old RCA to antenna switchboxes used by game consoles. The output from said consoles was RF modulated, not the composite you'll get from the iPad adapter. A simple transformer won't make the conversion for you.

CCC_33: My neck of the woods was not required to transition over to digital so CFJC and all its repeaters and transmitters will remain analog for the foreseeable future.

You can however buy small VHF transmitters that were intended for in-house use only and they work great.........buuut, I personally know of a few people that are operating well beyond the 100mw restriction.

That TV is begging for a '70s Pong console

Those old Zeniths are pretty solid. My mom has one she bought new in 1979 and it's still working great and has never been in for a repair. It's a System 3 model with push buttons to change channels. Since it's a little newer, the Atari 2600 is a good mate for it.

I've been thinking. Wouldn't it be possible to have like a digital to analog converter that rebroadcasts, at a fairly low power (within regulation), the digital signals as analog on their proper channels, such that a nearby analog-only TV can receive them, and tune them in with it's own tuner?

Such a thing *must* exist in some form, must it?

If not, it should, because it would make my portable TVs useful again [] ]'>

c

p.s. And I know that transitional VCRs with digital tuners and analog-compatible output were a thing, but that's not quite what I mean.

Yes, they exist. They just aren't as common anymore because analog has been out of service in most areas for years now. They're also simple enough that you can build your own.

Enlighten me a bit more on that antenna concept. I'd love to get something like that going for the old Zenith with push buttons since it will inevitably become mine when my mom moves.

So they do exist! Interesting.

I should go look up some schematics and see if I can build one.

c