Above are images of my TT5, taken after my restoration (11/2012) was completed. This set is all original except for the capacitors and resistors + 1 tube needed for the electronic restoration. I also re-created the rear chassis labels that were mostly obliterated. The cabinet and finish are all original as well. The only thing I did to the cabinet was the repair the veneer cracks at the rounded areas, top left and right. According to what was told to me by the owner at the time of my purchase; this little set was used by an engineer at Chicago TV station in 1939 to help the transmitting engineers tweak the transmitter at night when the station was off regular broadcast. He had the set at home and would communicate by phone with the station engineers as they adjusted the transmitter. The set was later given to a nephew where it sat in his living room unused for many years. He sold it to me in 2000. Unfortunately I did not have the foresight to document the story or even get the original owner's name. I've since lost contact with the party and the only thing I can recall is his last name was Tate and resided in North Carolina in 2000. The TT-5 was sold as a television attachment because it had to be attached to a radio that was equipped for Television since the TV had no speaker or sound amplifier stage. Some radio's sold in the 1939 - 40 era were promoted as being equipped for television, this made customers feel they were getting something special when in reality all these radios had was an additional audio input labeled "television" that was no different than the common phonograph input. Below is such a radio, an RCA T80 (below):
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