OT: Winge

Ah, long gone are the days of 7805s in TO-3 packages, which'd last forever.

For that matter, long gone are the days of over-engineering. Everything now is built right down to the edge of functionality - to both cut costs and to guarantee death as soon as the warranty expires.

Be thankful it lasted a decade; something of 2014 vintage will be lucky to see you into 2016.

--
Bob Milutinovic 
Cognicom

10 years... You are either joking or showing you age. ;-)

--
:-P

** I have similar recollections, but more like 1 to 2 times a year to fix our Kriesler 23inch set.

The TV guy was in and out in about 15 minutes and exchanged one or maybe two valves - the sets were designed for easy valve replacement and valve deterioration was responsible for over 90% of all troubles.

Solid state sets arrived in the mid 70s ( along with colour) were vastly more reliable, so much so that the number of TV tech employed dropped to a small faction.

My last set, a 68cm NEC, lasted over 10 years with no faults, then died spectacularly.

... Phil

You had a TV? Wow!

Sadly, the new Philips solid date set we rented in the late 70s failed a couple of days after it was installed with a strange fault that made the picture a lot wider, and killed the sound. That fault recurred over the set's life, though I later discovered that it could be corrected by giving the set a good thump. The alleged technicians never did figure it out, but when, many years later, I obtained a circuit diagram, it seemed fairly obvious where the offending loose connection had to be, given the symptoms. I suspect many techs had little understanding of the equipment they were repairing.

Sylvia.

HUH!! sheer luxury !! I wasn't even allowed inside until 10 years of age !!

You had a dog? Wow!

YUP! sadly we fell on bad times and had to eat him.