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Old 2nd Jan 2019, 3:41 pm   #121
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

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Old 2nd Jan 2019, 11:05 pm   #122
MotorBikeLes
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

Nick, back in the early '80s, I sold a CTV to a chap I knew from childhood. He was into microwaves and said he would fix us up with a good used one. He turned up with this lovely looking Panasonic, all stainless steel and analogue controls. But we found it cooked things unevenly, so he took it back and gave us a rough looking one (can't remember the make, but unknown to me before then). It seemed to have been covered with brown fablon "Teak". Probably original in spite of its appearance.
However it was a really good cooker. It modulated the output using an on-off timer control, as well as the normal timer control. Disposed of it when I got my first oil fired Rayburn range cooker.
Les.
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Old 3rd Jan 2019, 1:31 pm   #123
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

Not the same model as mine, Les, though I learned in the early days the techniques of cooking required to get food to even temperature. This one has the rotating platter. At one point, many moons ago, it was the only means of cooking I had and thinking, like many back in the day, that an MO was just for heating things up quickly I was amazed at what I was able to cook in it, though it was often a laborious process. (I had a Zanussi (made in the UK it said proudly on the front!) of similar vintage in the office which didn't have a rotating platter but required the same technique. I brought it home to be able to do accompaniments. It was built like a battleship and I've not long disposed of it - the rotary timer failed.)

These days I cook conventionally on the hob or oven (used yesterday evening and only a couple of years younger so another now vintage item in use) in bulk and freeze so the Panasonic heats from frozen most days. I don't blast a frozen meal full tilt but use lower settings for longer and stir and stand in between as I am usually cooking potatoes, pasta or rice, etc., conventionally alongside.

From my recipe books of the time, uneven cooking and lack of browning was a recognised problem with early microwave ovens. I found that baked potatoes were terrible - I like a crisp jacket. I daresay modern microwave ovens have overcome all these problems.
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Old 4th Jan 2019, 4:49 pm   #124
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Plenty of 70's and 80's bench supplies in use in the lab today, and an early 90's (I think) Wiltron VNA that runs DOS.

I cycled to work this morning on my 70's folding bike, but the car is a 1967 MGB. I think the 1930s GEC doorbells got used a couple of days ago, and the 1906 Drummond lathe last week sometime.
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Old 4th Jan 2019, 5:01 pm   #125
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

Today I've used my Eddystone 840A (early-1950s), my Clansman PRC320 (mid-1970s) along with a 1960s-vintage Redifon ATU, and am currently listening to "Heart FM" (96.5MHz) on my Roberts R707 from the 1970s.

All kept in a house built in 1866.
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Old 8th Jan 2019, 1:12 pm   #126
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Originally Posted by russell_w_b View Post
Once me and my ilk retire, I suspect they'll have a jolly good clean-out of the workshops.
Depends on the customers - I have a modern 15MHZ scope on my bench and a really old Cossor with multiple switches etc sitting on the side - total bandwidth of 1MHZ on a good day with the wind behind it! However every visitor asks me why I use that small scope when there is obviously a much better one 'over there'. Avo's look a lot more impressive than Fluke digital meters - LOL.
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Old 8th Jan 2019, 1:15 pm   #127
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Of course if you want real vintage I have a work of Aristotole printed in 1538 and still usable but I don't use it daily.
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Old 11th Jan 2019, 8:43 am   #128
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Hello This morning.5am to 730am Radio 4 on my Saba Freudenstadt 7 in the bedroom, made in 1956 and it as a blonde case.


Regards
Kevin.
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Old 11th Jan 2019, 5:29 pm   #129
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Last few days I've been decorating with my Ever Ready Sky Leader providing the entertainment.

Keith
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Old 12th Jan 2019, 12:40 am   #130
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

35 year old screwdriver and a Roberts R900 that's on test.
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Old 12th Jan 2019, 10:58 am   #131
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Stella ST160 Radio (1964). Used most weekends.
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Old 12th Jan 2019, 11:04 pm   #132
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

It varies from day to day what I use.

If I have toast for breakfast then I fire up my 1977 Hoover toaster.

If I am cleaning then I bring out my 1970s Electrolux 504 vacuum cleaner.

An assortment of Metamec clocks around the house inform me what the time is. Ashamed to admit they are all running quartz mechanisms these days...

If I make a phone call it will be on the trimphone in my living room or a BT Viscount upstairs in the bedroom if I need to call a switchboard which can't cope with pulse dialling!

Radio wise my most used sets are my Pye Fenman 2 in my living room, a Decca SRG600 stereogram also in my living room- I have disconnected the turntable from the amplifier and fitted a discreet Bluetooth module, a Perdio Continental in my kitchen and a very scruffy TR82 in the workshop.

Tomorrow I will be using most of the above plus a trip to the shops in my 1971 Morris Marina. The BT Viscount, Electrolux vacuum and the Perdio Continental have all been in the family from new!
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Old 12th Jan 2019, 11:08 pm   #133
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

Vintage fluorescent tube units! We have 8 off twin 5' fittings in our workshop. They are dated 1966 and have Thorn SRS ballasts fitted and so will only drive 65W T12 tubes.

They weigh a ton but work really well in the cold, unlike more modern T8 fittings. They are almost instant start and give really good lamp life. Luckily, I have enough spare T12 tubes to last for about 20 years!

I rescued these units from the skip about 20 years ago and they have given good service ever since!

Cheers
Nick
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Old 12th Jan 2019, 11:43 pm   #134
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

Ah, the old semi-resonant start technology. I bagged 3 six foot battens from a skip and only 1 was serviceable- perhaps unlucky! One of the others made a horrible arcing noise from inside the ballast. I did notice they have a fuse fitted alongside the ballast which did nothing to improve my confidence.

I too have stockpiled T12 tubes. T8's give more lumens per watt but for the first 4 minutes on a cold start they are indeed pretty lame.

Dave
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Old 24th Feb 2019, 10:09 am   #135
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

Roberts R600 (early) used every day in the office. Another R600 (late) in the kitchen. RFM3 found its regular use in the bathroom. The other Roberts radios i use are Revivals R250 - so not exactly vintage.
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Old 24th Feb 2019, 5:06 pm   #136
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Junk Box Nick View Post
I too have a Panasonic microwave oven (1986 vintage) that is in use almost every day. I have had it from new. It has rotary controls and still has its original interior bulb.
I have a similar Panasonic, which must date to around the same time. I remember repairing the door catch about twenty years ago, and my partner saying the repair wouldn't last lol
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Old 24th Feb 2019, 7:51 pm   #137
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

Had another bash at repairing one of my Grundig V2000s and also had a few games of Gorf and Riddle of the Phoenix on my vintage Atari 2600 machine.
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Old 24th Feb 2019, 8:24 pm   #138
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

Maybe not vintage but my stereo system is pretty ancient and in use daily.
An Akai 2350 amplifier rescued from the recycling centre many years ago the tuner is a Trio Kenwood KT-5550. The CD player is more modern a Sony XR CD270.
However I do tell the time by my Long Case clocks. Two from about 1870 and a smaller 'grandmother' parts of which date from the 1600's and other bits are Victorian. hey regularly all strike at the same time +/- a few seconds. Midday is noisy.

Malcolm
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Old 24th Feb 2019, 9:10 pm   #139
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Default Re: What vintage equipment did you actually use today?

My Ferguson 3926 Cassiever, currently paired with Hitachi SS635 speakers, sees daily use in the kitchen. Slightly more vintage though is the c.1930's Rushworth & Dreaper upright piano in the conservatory, plinked out a few notes on that earlier. Really in need of a tuning now though.

Used the on-board battery charger unit in our 1986 Swift Corniche to top off it's battery, and even less vintage than the above mentioned Akai amp would be the Matsui MCD100 integrated "faux-stack" system which I serviced before dinner & sat happily blaring out The Happy Piano of Mrs. Miller whilst I ate.
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Old 24th Feb 2019, 10:08 pm   #140
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1930's knife switch that does for the downstairs bog light, looks suitably dangerous.

Don't panic, it only switches 4.5V (to a solid state relay powered by 3 AA cells, should last for years) even I wouldn't put 240V AC on exposed terminals in the dark.
 
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