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Old 17th Dec 2018, 2:33 am   #81
Graham G3ZVT
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

My wife won't know this, but the two glass worktop protectors / cutting boards that she uses daily, were implosion screens from Red Arrow 19 inch Thorn 850 TVs.
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Old 17th Dec 2018, 7:57 pm   #82
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

I've just realised this radio of mine might be classed as vintage!

I won it in a competition held by BBC Radio Lancashire, called Radio Goes To Town. They had a mobile studio set up on Blackpool prom, where people could go inside and enter the competition. They were publicising the new RDS service!

And I won! It's a Sony ICF-M300L.

It has been my bathroom radio for thirty years, and has also accompanied me on every overnight trip away, being a radio alarm clock aswell.

I wonder how many sets of batteries it's had?!
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Old 17th Dec 2018, 8:02 pm   #83
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Forgot to say! It was September 1989!
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Old 17th Dec 2018, 8:27 pm   #84
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

Quote:
Originally Posted by KeithsTV View Post
And, as I bought it over 25 years ago, I guess the Fluke 79 I used today can be classed as vintage.
I don't really regard anything I use regularly as vintage, but seeing 25 years counts there's always my ProSeries clock radio, a 1987 Christmas present from my parents. It's still going, although we don't rely on it as an alarm - I'm banned from waking up to Radio Hauraki and a cellphone alarm is more reliable. The buttons are getting a little flaky again though, so I'll have to see if I can clean and shuffle them around to keep it going for another 31 years.

The bones of my main audio system are also borderline vintage - Denon PMA360, Infinity Reference 20s and Teac W525R from 1993. The Sony CDP397 was replaced with a Marantz 15 years ago when the laser was getting weak, and served in the workshop until the loading motor died.

Oh, and there's an Akai AT-K110 (late 70s/early 80s) and Teac W770RX (late 80s) in the office, feeding non-vintage gear. I have an Apple IIc set up in here but never have time to play with it!

For most things I just like tech too much to go truly vintage....
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Old 17th Dec 2018, 9:42 pm   #85
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

I tend to regard anything I bought new as not being vintage, no matter how old it is.

There's no logic to this, its just a foible of mine.
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Old 18th Dec 2018, 2:11 am   #86
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

A Woden "Pushpin". A really useful gadget I found on a tool stall at this year's Speech House Vintage Show.

I was fitting a pen and ink drawing of a BR Class 4MT at Barry Scrapyard in 1973 into a secondhand picture frame at the time.
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Old 18th Dec 2018, 7:32 am   #87
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

Not as vintage as others here, but:

My Roberts RCS80 in the kitchen.

At my mother's house yesterday, her HP Deskjet 500 printer acquired when her then employer had a clear out 25 years ago. Sadly, HP and Microsoft have decided it has become obsolete by ceasing supply of the ink cartridges and drivers in the latest Windows 10 update.
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Old 18th Dec 2018, 9:32 am   #88
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

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Originally Posted by barretter View Post
My pair of Chartwell LS3/5a speakers (bought at my local flea market for £40, with speaker leads soldered to the terminals) through my pair of BBC LSM10 amplifiers bought many years ago at MB Radio in Leeds and finally restored this year.
Love it!
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Old 18th Dec 2018, 9:57 am   #89
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

Another item that I do use from time to time is my Henley Solon 25W soldering iron, it's not the original I bought c1955 but an identical one from quite a few years ago.

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Old 18th Dec 2018, 11:07 am   #90
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

At the moment I listen to either BBC R4, BBC R Wales and Absolute 1215 for a few hours each evening as part of on going tests on my 1970 Binatone Mustang.
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Old 18th Dec 2018, 6:18 pm   #91
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

Today's "vintage" has been listening on shortwave using my R209 Mk.II, a bit of Classic-FM on the Roberts R24 [does that really class as vintage?] and some classic 1990s Vocal Trance music [relayed via an AM-shortwave pantry-transmitter using di.fm as the online source] on my Pye P75.
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Old 18th Dec 2018, 10:18 pm   #92
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The oldest thing I use every day is the house, 1908.
 
Old 18th Dec 2018, 10:29 pm   #93
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

I was thinking, I can't compete here as although I have plenty of older test gear, it doesn't get used often. But here am I watching TV on a 2018 OLED TV, with a 2015 cinema amp and similarly modern surround speakers and subwoofer. But the main stereo speakers that blow everything else away are some early nineties Mission 780 speakers. We first bought a pair around 1992 but gave those away, but then decided that the modern stuff we had wasn't up to the job and got some replacements. Also persuaded my Nephew that he should get some to go with the eighties audio amp I gave him. It may only be a cheapo Sanyo but again is better than much modern stuff.
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Old 18th Dec 2018, 10:52 pm   #94
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

I too have a Sharp microwave oven (Easy Chef II). As others have stated, totally reliable, doesn't appear to have lost any power and the door shuts with a decent 'clunk'. I think I have had to renew the bulb at one time but I'm not sure. The cavity gets cleaned periodically using the 'steam' method...no chemicals required. I bought it new in 1994 when I bought my house (or rather the mortgage company bought it for me).

I regularly use a B&O Beovision 5502 TV and it's only ever needed an EHT cable assembly and a three legged thermistor. It has to be thirty-five years old at least. The CRT is original although it gives a slightly 'soft' picture now.

My kitchen radio, used every day, is a Grundig Music Boy which must be twenty-five years old if it's a day.

In truth, I don't think I own anything new...even my IT stuff is salvage. It was all being thrown away as obsolete until I rescued it. It all runs perfectly on Linux and I see no need to change it.

Even our (syndicate owned) aircraft was built in 1974 and flies absolutely fine and costs very little in maintenance. They built them properly in those days. It's clocked up over three and a half thousand hours so far and it's only ever had one AD on it and we could see to that ourselves.

None of this stuff is tatty, it's all absolutely fine because it's been looked after and not abused. I just don't need new. Long may it all last.

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Old 19th Dec 2018, 12:30 am   #95
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

In my earlier post, I forgot an Antex soldering iron, 12 volt, 25 watt. Does not seem vintage since a very similar model is made today, but defo had it more than 25 years.

And an even older Solon soldering iron, 150 watts I think. Much too big and heavy for electronics, but useful for heavy electrical connections.

And a Lucas "Marinapower" battery charger from about 1980 ? Hugely expensive in its day, I think that I paid about £100 for it. It was one of the first fully regulated, constant voltage battery chargers.
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Old 19th Dec 2018, 1:44 am   #96
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My Beolit 600 trannie gets used almost every day. It's the later model 600 (1501), and I bought it because at the time it was (and probably still is) the best sounding and best looking portable radio available.

I've just pulled the original user guide and receipt out of my files.
£39.95 (a week's wages) on 6th June 1975, from Beaver Radio in Liverpool.

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Old 19th Dec 2018, 10:01 am   #97
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

My Quad ESL's are in daily use. They are permanently powered of course, so have been 'switched on' since new (1962) apart from a couple of days when I decided to give them an overhaul and change a few parts for safety after all those years of faultless sound reproduction. Today they are used with a 'modern' AV amplifier as I need HDMI switching of DVD players etc. Wonder how long it will be before the audio systems are labelled 99.1 - can't be long judging by the rapid changes that take place.
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Old 19th Dec 2018, 11:00 am   #98
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

Quote:
Originally Posted by merlinmaxwell View Post
The oldest thing I use every day is the house, 1908.
Isn't it time you threw it out and bought a new one?

We run a couple of vintage houses too: 1862 and about 1790. But they've had many components replaced and brought up to spec: Both dwellings have been rebuilt inside with new components and the cases have been modified at the back.
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Old 19th Dec 2018, 12:20 pm   #99
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

My good old Leak 2060s. Still sounding great after 43 years!
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Old 19th Dec 2018, 12:45 pm   #100
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

Used my Eddystone 770 mk2 this morning to listen to the local airport traffic that seemed to be very busy all of a sudden.


It gets used every 2 or 3 days .
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