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Transforming Vintage Electronics from Worn to Working Since 2002Welcome to the AMPTECH SYSTEMS web site and our TUBETVSHOP.COM portal. We're always growing and evolving while remaining a family-owned business. For 2012, the shop is undergoing a transformation like the one the web site underwent in 2010. Click here to learn the story behind TUBETVSHOP.COM. Our goal for 2012 is continued expansion of our Restoration capabilities. Making high-quality Restoration services affordable for any "Family Heirloom" Radio, TV, or similar device has been an Amptech Systems tradition since 2002. We're a lot like the old-fashioned "Mom & Pop's TV Shop" of some 50 years ago. We're more than a web presence; we're people with names like John, Dave, Ann, and Todd. Yes, we can even do in-home Service Calls for our semi-local clients after initial Restoration (northeastern Ohio / northwestern Pennsylvania ... ask about our Field Service availability area). Also New for 2012We are about to announce, by the end of 2012, more new additions to our established line of Reproduction replacement parts for Vintage TV sets. The most-exciting of these will be our new Vector Three™ series replacements for hard-to-find Ballast Tubes used in certain Vintage TV models and application of similar technology to certain Antique Radio models which used Ballast Tubes or special power cords. (acquisition is in progress for applicable patents and trademarks related to the forthcoming Vector Three™ products, which refers to a specific combination of improvements to existing technologies currently in non-commercial use). Our new Vector Three™ series Ballast Tube replacements will develop 90% less heat than the single-use glass Ballast Tube replacements available on the Surplus market for Motorola part number 17A485459 and will have a version which will be a direct plug-in replacement for part number 7A470303 for which no current availability of Surplus replacements exists to the best of our knowledge; and our version will be technician-repairable in case of future failure, unlike the sealed glass Amperite replacement for the 17A485459. Pricing remains "To Be Determined" although at least one client has already remarked that one repairable Ballast Tube could easily be worth the equivalent of as many as three or four non-repairable types whose future availability remains uncertain due to that availability being as Surplus / New Old Stock items. We will, however, do our best to achieve the ability to price our final product as competitively with the "disposable" type Surplus replacement part as possible. The Vector Three™ series are designed to operate simultaneously as a replacement Ballast Tube and as a tamper-resistant protective device for vital components of the Restored set in which it is intended to be used, and to provide visual indication of a Fault condition inside the set via a Fault Warning indicator light inside the Vector Three™ unit. Still Ongoing From 2011In 2011, we celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the first of two events which brought Color TV from 1950's-era high-tech Novelty status to its maturity as a commercially-successful product. The first of those events was the brilliant marketing strategy by Disney, RCA, and NBC of introducing Color TV to the public via "Disney's Wonderful World of Color" in 1961. The next great event was Zenith's ultra-reliable "$ervice $aver" Color TV chassis design, introduced with their 29JC20 chassis in 1962. By utilizing an entirely hand-wired TV chassis, Zenith eliminated serious reliability problems which had been introduced by other manufacturers' utilizing (still new and insufficiently perfected for such demanding applications) printed circuit board construction. Two of our six workbenches (one at each of our two Restoration Shop facilities) are fully equipped for precision Restoration of Color TV circuitry. As far as we know, we are the only Restoration Shop in this country with more than one fully-equipped Color TV Servicing workstation supporting both Tube and early Solid State circuitry.
Announcements:We are adding a new link to our Links page, and have also decided to feature their site on our Home page for the month of August, 2011 as a "Thank You" from us for linking to us on their site. Special thanks to http://www.antiquestoves.com/toac/about.htm for the link to us on their site. Attention Philco Predicta owners! We have just completed documentation of a Philco Predicta Restoration and are ready to showcase that we offer Restoration for all models in the Predicta series and all conventional-cabinet models using chassis of the Predicta class (such as the Miss America and Slender Seventeener models). View Dave's excellent article and photos here. Now Hiring (Apprentice): Electronics Students Preferred The Restoration Request form has just been repaired after an extended period of "down" time of which we only recently became aware. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. The Restoration Request form has been confirmed to have full functionality as of today, July 23, 2010. You may also want to visit Big Dave's personal Vintage TV site to view his impressive collection. Dave's personal page is located at http://evilfurnaceman.tripod.com/ We now offer re-stuffing service for multi-section electrolytic capacitors. Cost is $10 to $25 labor plus materials (varies by number of sections, capacitance and working voltage ratings of individual sections). Original capacitor units must be structurally intact (mounting ring and lugs unbroken). Email Us to request a quote for custom re-stuffing of specific capacitor types. We are also equipped to service Vintage Automobile Radio. Service available for all tube-type and most transistor models, 6V or 12V DC, positive or negative ground. Our Bench Power Supply can operate any Vintage Auto Radio for troubleshooting, alignment, or post-service testing. We have serviced radios for 1937 Plymouth, 1953 Buick, 1963-65 AMC/Rambler, 1970-75 General Motors, and others. Experience has shown that foreign sets typically require replacement of a far greater number of their original components during Restoration than American products require in order to obtain satisfactory performance. For this reason, and due to a trend we have observed whereby foreign products typically require far more Labor during the debugging process, we have determined that Restoration of foreign sets is typically not economically feasible. We will no longer accept Restoration requests for foreign items. Limited exceptions to this new policy will be made at our discretion, but Labor rates and prepaid Deposit amounts for the servicing of imported items will be greater than those for American sets. Our HistoryEvolving from a home-based TV Repair service established by a teen from a small suburb in Ohio with extensive background in Electronics and particular interest in tube-based technology, that teen's after-school business venture has matured along with its proprietor. Antique radio, always a favorite hobby since his pre-teen years, ultimately led him toward historic preservation of more-complex vintage technologies. The results are the Amptech Systems Restoration Shop and Parts Reproductions. We're basically a group of friends with a shared interest in Vintage Electronics who have teamed up to advance a shared goal of Historic Preservation of fascinating items from a bygone era. Company Directory
Over Thirty Years' ExperienceThe year 2008 marked 30 years since my first experience with Antique and Vintage Electronics. My Field Representative / Bench Technician, Dave, has 25 years' experience. Dave began restoring Vintage Electronics items at the same age I was when I re-awakened that first 50-year-old radio from decades of hibernation after it was retrieved from the attic of one of Grandpa's Real Estate investments. Our MissionHistoric preservation of vintage electronics such that full functionality is restored and retained by means of comprehensive corrective and preventive maintenance of its original vacuum-tube circuit topology. Our PhilosophyJust over 20 years ago, I had the great honor of being selected to occupy a Temporary position as Assistant Technician under John Witkoski, who was Service Manager of a local TV and Appliance dealership at that time. One of the first things I learned while assisting Mr. Witkoski during the 1988 Holiday Season was that the Technicians from "competing" Service facilities in the Warren/Youngstown area had established a spirit of cooperation which has shaped my Business Philosophy ever since. Informal weekly meetings at an area restaurant every Wednesday at noon provided an opportunity to discuss case histories and sometimes for one shop to provide a needed part to another on the agreement that the receiving shop order the part to replace the one from the source shop's inventory. The receiving shop got to finish the repair sooner due to not having to wait until the part being ordered actually arrived, and the source shop would almost always have the replacement that was ordered back in stock before they themselves needed it for a repair. I would love to establish a network of cooperating shops across the nation and/or around the world. With a proper Database posted on the Web sites of multiple shops, collectors on the West Coast who found this site first would know about shops in their area while collectors in the Midwest who found a West Coast shop's site first would find me. Why should our clients ship their vintage sets 3,000 miles for service when a quality shop may exist within 300 miles? Owners of other Restoration Facilities are invited to email me to discuss participation. Photos of Service Bench(es), List of Test Equipment, Years Experience, Location, etc. would be helpful. Under the terms of my listing in the Antique Electronic Supply catalogs, however, I may only list Service Facilities whose linked Web sites do not explicitly advertise NOS Tubes and/or Parts for sale which would make such a shop a "competing" vendor. Aside from that one stipulation, my invitation is extended to anyone meeting criteria of ten years' minimum experience and having at least one reasonably well-equipped service bench. Long-Term ObjectivesA Tribute to American IndustryI am deeply saddened by the demise of the US consumer electronics industry. Although I'm barely old enough to remember when products such as radio and television receivers were produced in American factories by American workers. Some of my earliest childhood memories are of television. At home, that was an American-made Sylvania black-and-white set bought new in about 1967. My grandparents' three 1966-vintage American-made Zenith sets were the first color sets I had seen. Those sets continued in daily use well into the late 1980's. How many $99 imported sets will last 20 years or more? I believe that America has the best workforce in the world and that we can and should work hard to reclaim a significant share of the global market. Restoration of antique electronics is, for me, historic preservation of artifacts of a bygone era and a tribute to American inventors who created the technology, American entrepreneurs who built the manufacturing facilities and to American workers who made a living in those factories. The displacement of honest entrepreneurs by dishonest plutocrats during the past few decades disgusts me. Had the founders of RCA, Zenith, and other firms known what the sale of their companies would bring, I suspect that those individuals would have fought long and hard to retain control of the firms which they created. Roy Disney has expressed his disgust at the results of his brother's company coming under the control of persons outside the Disney family.
A Commitment to QualityI know I can't be the only one who's tired of $59 throw-away VCR's that just barely survive through their warranty period. I'd rather spend $400-$500 for one that will last 10 years than spend $59 every year for 10 years (do the math and the cheapie models cost more in the long run). Even if it's "obsolete" in a year because the new ones have new features, there's always someone who can't afford a new one, doesn't care about having the latest bells and whistles and will pay $100-$200 for a good used VCR. National SecurityMany of the countries where these throw-away products are made commit horrible atrocities against their citizens. Many manufacturers of these cheap units use slave labor. Some of these nations are the same ones described by President Bush as "the axis of evil" that helped Osama Bin Laden to orchestrate the atrocities of 9/11. I do not support regimes that support terrorism since I buy only products made by America and our most-trusted allies. Ironically, our own government practices a great hypocrisy by continuing "Most-Favored Nation" trade status for communist China ... despite China's human rights atrocities and its being a key component of "the axis of evil" which supports international terrorism. Job CreationMy goals include the creation of new American manufacturing jobs through expansion of my company's array of products and services. Dispelling Certain MythsSome years ago, someone started a vicious rumor that "women were discriminated against in the workplace" quite possibly as the old "divide and conquer" strategy. The truth is that women were often the first chosen for high-wage skilled assembly work. Am I in the minority these days, in noticing that the artificially-created "battle of the sexes" has done far more harm than good for both men and women? What ever happened to the concept of teamwork between men and women? The photo below was a gift from Jamie, and clearly shows the all-female assembly team at the Capehart factory in Capehart, Indiana. So much for that old line about women being forever sentenced to the typing pool. Back then, also, families had the luxury of deciding for themselves whether to be a single-income or two-income household. Today, two incomes are virtually mandatory for survival of families. Worse, the two-income families of today depend on incomes from low-wage, dead-end jobs in retail and fast-food formerly held by high school and college students. If the American Dream is to remain within the grasp of families, if a strong Middle Class is to continue to exist, America must stop permitting our jobs to be exported. When adults must compete with teens for the same low-wage jobs, everyone loses as the Middle Class plunges headlong into poverty. During my early childhood, both of my parents had promising careers in different divisions of the same Automotive corporation. Both of my parents could have continued those careers, but the choice was made that one income was sufficient to meet our needs and that my brother and I would benefit far more from having one parent at home full-time. Either my mother or my father could have chosen to be that full-time parent, but my mother ultimately chose to be the full-time parent, putting her career on hold. Some years later, after my brother and I had graduated high school and enrolled in college, my mother entered the workforce again at a finance company which had been a spin-off of the factory where she had assembled car wiring harnesses 20 years earlier. A few years later, my father retired from the auto and van assembly facility. That's teamwork in action. Company Profile
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