I had one of the Zenith with the tuning fork remotes. It was a 19"
cabinet model, B&W onlt of course. I purchased it in a yard sale in
1972 for $10.00 to complement my $40.00 a month house. The house was in
the "slum" area of town, but it was all an 18 yo, out of high school for
2 weeks and employed at the minimum wage of $1.60/hr could afford. The
rats were bigger than my siamsese cat. Later that year, I got a job as
an electrican's helper at $2.25/hr. I could afford a slightly better
house and a new JCPenny TV, a 19" color model with an ultrasonic remote
(transisitor). The color set was a private labeled Toshiba set that
lasted well into the late '80's.
James
Chris wrote:
>>Some US company (I forget who) made an ultrasonic remote controlled valve TV
>>where the remote was essentially tuned metal bars that were mechanically
>>hit when the button was pressed. No electronics in the handset at all.
>>The receiver in the TV detected one of 4 (or so) different frequencies
>>corresponding to the 4 buttons on the remote, and then operated a relay
>>to trigger the appropriate function (I think channel selection was done
>>using an electromechanical stepping swtich, etc).
>>
>>
>
>My grandparents had a TV with an ultrasonic remote. I think it was a
>Zenith, may have been an RCA.
>
>And my parents have a Sony with an ultrasonic remote. The remote is long
>since dead, but back when it worked, you could hold the remote up to your
>ear and actually hear it clicking different patterns for each button
>pressed. The remote ceased to work after a bad battery leakage incident.
>
>Actually, I should see if they still have the remote as the last time I
>saw it, I didn't have the skills needed to repair it, but today I
>probably could. They probably do have it, knowing them, it is still in
>the holder on the back of the TV where I put it some 20 years ago when I
>decided it was no longer working (I definitly get my pack rat problems
>from them).
>
>But at least with the Sony remote, IIRC it was transistors that did all
>the work. I don't know about my grand parents one, as I never opened the
>remote, but that TV was old enough it might very well have been one of
>the first with a remote at all.
>
>-chris
><http://www.mythtech.net>
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Received on Wed Aug 28 2002 - 06:41:00 BST