[OKDXA] 'Scuze Me While I Brag For A Moment...

[Nelson Derks]

I must be suffering from HamFest deprivation... And those of you who know me
will recall that I only brag on the good deals, rarely on the oinkers.

Yesterday I had the urge to scrounge so I wandered over to the Goodwill
store near 145th E Ave and 91st St in Broken Arrow. They have a very small
section devoted to electrical items so the pickings are slim, but I've been
looking for a cheap VCR to use as a stereo TV tuner. They had four in the
$20 range, and one was a Sylvania marked with "19 Micron Heads" on the
cassette door flap. Hmmm... That usually indicates a JVC machine. Of all the
VHS machines, it's my opinion that JVC tends to make the best of the bunch
with SONY a close second.

Walked it up front to find they were having a storewide sale, so it went out
the door for $15 plus tax. I then wandered over to the Salvation Army Family
Store on 91st near Elm, exactly a mile away. They have a much larger
electronics section and among the new arrivals was a SONY KV-1928 TV set
marked 'As Is, $39.95". The label on the back told me it was built in
January of 1980 and the KV-19xx series was the line that put SONY firmly in
the lead as 'most desirable among TV manufacturers. This particular set had
one broken foot under the cabinet (easy fix) and was a bit dirty, but
appeared to be a higher-end model that would clean up FB.

Now, remember this is not a stereo set, not cable ready, has no A/V ins or
outs, and is old enough to have separate UHF and VHF antenna ports. Its only
claim to modernity is electronic tuning. The Salvation Army store was also
having a sale and at 25% off that made it a $30 TV. I offered $25 and got
it. Neither of the two pieces came with their remote controls.

The VCR plays and records like a champ and does respond to a JVC remote
control. Suspicions confirmed. The tuner is crisp and the AFT is spot-on,
but the big surprise came when I popped an S-VHS tape in the slot. It played
perfectly. Only a JVC will do that, and only their newer models have that
feature. Since I'm an S-VHS kinda' guy, that was a nice bonus. The machine
cleaned up to near-mint appearance and got a quick clean & lube on the
innards. It's a keeper.

As for the TV... It also cleaned up well and will need a slight tweak on the
convergence controls. Seeing a little red-green fringing in the center of
the picture, which... Otherwise... Is bright, sharp and tracks grey scale
perfectly. That's a sign of a CRT that's still in its prime. Also, for those
of you with an eye for video, remember when the SONY's made good pictures
out of weak signals, had near zero color noise, perfect timing between the
luminance and chroma channels, plus zero ringing in the picture? Yeah...
It's like that, and reminded me why that was one of SONY's best series.
Electrically, the set is extremely well preserved and easy on the eyes. The
newer sets are slightly sharper and more vibrant on saturated colors, but
the digitally enhanced models don't have the same level of subtlety in their
grey scale rendition and tend to look a bit too 'processed' at times. At
nearly 24 years old, this one has nothing to apologize for.

Bottom Line: If you're a 'junker' this is a good time of year to visit your
local second-hand shop. Those who are looking for a charitable deduction
have until the end of the year to clean house, so the junk is coming in
NOW...

Disclaimer: I also picked up a SONY AM/FM headset radio for a paltry $2
that's heading for the trash. It plays, but with all the selectivity and
sensitivity of a crystal set... The AM side is particularly bad as a local 5
kW station can be heard in the background no matter where I tune.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. It's just like a HamFest... If
someone had told me ten years ago that I'd score a primo VCR / TV combo for
$40 while killing time on a Saturday afternoon I'd have told them they were
nuts. Plug the VCR audio into a stereo, run the TV through the VCR RF out,
buy a cheap universal remote, and I could have a pretty damned nice cable
ready stereo TV setup. (!)

- 83 minus the square of 3 de AC5UP








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