Early Prewar TV, 1939 Television by RCA Victor, working TV

Sorry for my bumpy camera handling. I had to adjust the set and room lighting while filming. This is a 5-inch TV set built as a radio combination. You can read more about it and see photos of it and its "family" (other prewar TVs) at: http://www.earlytelevision.org/rca.html The TV was mostly sold in New York City to receive W2XBS, which was NBC's experimental TV station. The station became WNBT in 1941 and today is WNBC. New York also had two other TV stations before and during World War II; a CBS station and a station owned by DuMont. A very few large American cities also had TV before and during World War II. This set sold for $295 starting in April of 1939; which was about half the price of a new 6-cylinder automobile. It had 5 channels and could tune around 44 to 90 MHz. It still receives US channel 3 and the other four "low band" channels, which means I can attach it to a VCR or even a digital converter box today. It originally used 441 lines and AM sound, but was adjusted to scan the NTSC standard of 525 lines and FM sound introduced in 1941.

This posting is in response to the You Tube postings of both TeslaMaster and pmscott6135 who have excellent videos of German and British Prewar TVs in operation! Here is the American version.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Early TV
• Television
• RCA
• NBC
• New York
• WNBC
• Experimental TV
• prewar
• television
• set
• tv
• 1939
• pre-war
• TV
• invention

[jshorva65]

Excellent! Have the original paper capacitors been re-stuffed museum-style with modern film units or simply replaced under the chassis with film types, discarding the old paper shells? There is great risk of recurrence of leakage path formation with age via the old paper shells and wax end seals of re-stuffed paper capacitors unless some sealant other than wax (colored to match the old wax for appearance) is used instead. Some form of high dielectric strength hot-melt glue and dyes are suggested

[NP4Mayans]

@jshorva65 Old paper capacitors were stuffed with modern ones.

[NP4Mayans]

@jshorva65 Old paper capacitors were stuffed with modern ones for authenticity. Hopefully this old horse stays operational.

[BJSTV]

You have not only the TRK-5 but a TT-5 RCA Television of 1939. How FANTASTIC!!! I own the RCA TRK-12 Console 1939 TV set in my collection. Take a look at BJSTV. Finally another collector with a 1939 Television set !!!!

[NP4Mayans]

@BJSTV Just downloaded video of the TT-5 running, playing the opening theme to Astroboy. Just look at my downloads by clicking my user name.

[NP4Mayans]

@seatboi Yes! That was the last episode of the Waltons (which ran for about 12 years I think). Ironic that they ended with an episode with a TV. Their first episode showed them getting their radio, which also was seen during the theme song each time. I think it may have been intentional to end the last show with a TV set.

[seatboi]

@Billybopper1 I actually remember an episode of the Waltons where john boy gets an electrostatic TV kit & gets electrocuted trying to make it work! Anyone else remember this one??

[seatboi]

OH WHAT A GORGEOUS SET! You are SO lucky! I bet it's a hoot to watch, huh?? The oldest set I have restored/owned/watched is a Dumont "doghouse" from 1947. How WONDERFUL to see a set almost TEN years OLDER working so perfectly! GREAT job! AWESOME video! THANKS for posting! :)

[Billybopper1]

That's funny! Such a tiny screen on such a huge console. I can just imagine the Waltons trying to watch a program on one of these. John Boy telling Jim Bob to get out of the way because he can't see. HA HA!

[albertusj]

OMG, the screen is tiny

[fromthesidelines]

Incidentally, there WERE several movies presented on W2XBS during 1939; but Hollywood already had a "hands off" attitude towards TV; the major studios would not allow RCA/NBC to telecast their more recent films, for fear they'd lure viewers away from the movie theaters they controlled. Channel 1 had to settle for "B-pictures" (from two to ten years vintage) from small indepenent studios that had gone out of business, or foreign films of more recent vintage [usually shown with no subtitles].

[fromthesidelines]

This model was the one that most viewers in New York had in their own homes in 1939 (about 500 of them), which enabled them to see RCA's experimental programs on W2XBS {now WNBC-TV}, which initially aired for about two hours a day (one in the afternoon, one at night), on different days of the week.

[MrClassicDoctorWho]

@psychoclown420 loool MW 2 would be GREAT on it!!!