Jim's Antique Radio Museum
Real radios glow in the dark and are warm to cuddle up next to!..
THIS PAGE IS FOR THINGS IN THE MUSEUM THAT AREN'T RADIOS
The Museum is starting to get a lot of stuff that is not radio. However, these items are still part of the communications industry of the past so I will include them on this page.
We will start with this 1972 Heathkit Color TV. The TV was donated to the museum by Leslie and Anne Foster, of El Cerrito, CA, who had built this originally as a kit in 1972.
As you can see, the set still works and it is amazing that I was able to get a signal inside a METAL building with just a rabbit ear antenna. I guess Les and Anne did a great job putting this TV together.
The kit came with four manuals so it was quite an involved project. I think the cabinet even had its own manual for assembly.
Now as a historical point for you younger people, this set required you to get up out of the chair and walk over to it in order to be able to change channels! The remote control has changed the world and made all of us a bit wider. So, did the term "couch potato" come into being after remote controls came onto the scene?
100,000 VOLT TESLA COIL
This is a Tesla Coil capable of putting out 80,000 to 100,000 volts from the secondary of the large vertical coil.
This close up shows the components.
In the lower left is an auto-transformer that allows you to adjust the amount of AC going into the system.
Next, on the lower right is an Ignition coil which says output is 6000 volts (but for what input?).
The brown block in the middle is a high voltage capacitor (very high voltage).
Then in the upper left is a spark gap and the spark gap feeds the main coil on the upper right.
This thing will put out an arc that will jump a gap of 4-6 inches and will light up everything in the area...hahah.
I know someone is going to complain that his is not a radio.....but let me assure you this thing will be heard on every receiver within a mile around. So it is a pretty good transmitter.
I have donated this Tesla Coil to Brian Bosworth, a science teacher at North Monterey County High School so he will have a tool to use when teaching on this subject. So, if you are getting interference, see Brian, not me......hahaha.