This is an Atari 2600 “Video Computer System,” or VCS:
But you knew that already. This is the model known as the “Heavy Six.” It was made in Sunnyvale, California.
It’s a first generation model. It’s called a Heavy Six because of the six switches on the front panel, and it weighed more than later models due to the thick cabinet:
And because of the cast aluminum RF shield present around the actual processor and other circuitry. This was not present in later models:
The cabinet is held together with 8 screws, and splits easily into two halves.
Code named “Stella” when it was being developed, one of the removed features was built-in speakers. You can still see the holes in the top chassis where they were supposed to be mounted.
But that’s not what interests me the most. If you examine the board, you’ll notice that now familiar Textolite “T” imprinted in the circuit board itself, indicating the raw board came from the GE plant in Coshocton, OH.
It still amazes me how far-reaching this little town’s products were.
I was digging through some old storage recently, and came across this set of pictures from Dayton 2003.
I went with a group of friends this year, and of course it was just pouring down rain. Much of the flea market was covered and uncovered at various times, so we spent most of our time inside the arena and ballrooms, looking at the stuff. While we did view the entire flea market, I didn’t get the camera out as much as I wanted to because of the random hard rain showers.
Keep in mind that these were taken before all the fancy things like good auto white balance and low light compensation, the quality of the shots is all over the place. It was hard to stop and take pictures at times due to the crowds.
Regardless, we had a good time, and here’s my memories of the event.
An old (now ancient) AB controller computer.
Lots of antique CPUs.
An interesting looking RF amplifer chassis.
An IFR analyzer. I worked for their parent company at the time.
I think these are switching boxes.
A cheapie antenna.
More Antenna Needed.
Antennas made from PVC.
Baluns in PVC.
Even more antennas. Detecting a theme here?
You guessed it.
Another PCB antenna.
An antenna tuner.
AOR’s display for 2003.
The main arena at HARA.
Random arena shot.
Another random arena shot.
Batteries dot jaypeg
More batteries for your (now) old tech.
A big transmitter tube.
Switches and tuners.
An interesting device.
Yep, it’s stuff in a box.
Copper coils n things.
A box with a display!
More coils.
Baluns.
A communications bridge in a case.
An “Ion Cannon.”
A pringles cantenna. Love the label here.
Forbidden canned foods.
Remember when these were all the rage?
I prefer my sound to stay put.
Computer cards from long ago.
I think I took this picture due to the weather radio ad.
That’s a big choke. And it’s smooooooooth.
Another blast from the past.
These things used to be expensive.
A big (wet) coil.
Custom coils.
Remember when this stuff was cheap?
More copper.
Discharge tubes.
I have no idea what was going on here.
Yeah, uh huh.
Early SDR, I believe.
This stuff was usually overpriced.
Lots of test equipment.
More equipment.
Obsolete equipment.
Tunable notch filters.
Dude looks worried.
Bandpass filters.
Top view of the bandpass filters.
Geiger counter tubes.
Heatsinks, probably from 486 CPUs.
A repeater.
I don’t think she’s impressed.
I don’t know you well enough to answer that.
ICOM gear.
More ICOM gear.
More ICOM gear.
More ICOM gear.
More ICOM gear.
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Wet junk in the flea market.
Keys.
A big key.
Lamps made from transmitter tubes.
Some meters.
Meters in the back of a van.
Analog television.
A blurry shot of a mic.
Some odds n ends for the radio trade.
Microphones for your rig.
More lamps from tubes.
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Whatever this thing does, it’s lit up.
A neon dragon. What more do you need?
An old Vibroplex Key.
An AMPS phone. Probably still had service in ‘03.
I’m happy stuff like this is long gone.
Parts is parts.
A telephone patch panel.
The electronic porcupine in it’s native habitat.
Don’t you love auto white-balance? We didn’t have it then.
The Palm Pilot sells me.
An R390. These things will never go away.
Some Hallicrafters gear.
A blurry shot of some radio gear.
Before switching power supplies we did it with motors.
Rotate and Enhance!
Old DBS.
A little scope on a big cart.
Old school specans.
These things used to cost a fortune.
I’m not saying it looks like that, but it does.
A screenshot of a screen.
A stack of gear.
Wires n stuff.
More stuff.
Surplus Sales of Nebraska.
Did I mention stuff?
How about some stuff?
Clocks.
Switches. Stuff like this was usually locked down.
