Fix Machines That Time Has Passed By

Dan Zak
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 28, 2007

Some of us cling to antiquated electronic equipment for posterity, or novelty, or because it just works better than the new stuff. For me, the reason was sentimental. I wanted to get my dad's Mitsubishi stereo receiver repaired because this was the machine on which he played "Born to Run" when it was first released on vinyl. I wanted to restore it to its, um, glory days.

I combed the Yellow Pages. Nothing. Called RadioShack for references. No luck. Then, after some Google plumbing, I found Mike Phelps, as well as a few other repairmen of the "antiquities."

Stereo Savior

Mike Phelps is the country doctor of audiovisual equipment. He doesn't advertise, and he has no storefront. He makes house calls in the District, Maryland and Virginia. A half-hour after I called, he was at my place to inspect the stereo. He diagnosed the problem, determined the machine needed rehab, drove off with it and brought it back in a couple of weeks, fixed and shiny. It cost nearly $200 but, well . . .

"The tuner is beautiful," Phelps said when he brought it back, flipping the radio to 104.1 FM. "I know people on this block who can't get this station with brand-new equipment."

Exactly. Since 1968, Phelps says, he has worked in every job in the consumer electronics industry. He's done work for the little guy as well as the first President Bush. In conversation, he lets slip that his audio expertise was once requested when the Watergate tapes went to court.

Did he recover those 1861/27 minutes? Can he elaborate?

"Don't think I should."

Mike Phelps (AV Services), 202-331-1311. Free pickup and delivery by appointment. For a stereo receiver, repair fees can be $125-$325, depending on what needs to be done.

The Right Type

Typewriter serviceman Sterling King operates a repair room in the basement of his D.C. home and, like Phelps, has been practicing his trade since 1968 and does pickups and drop-offs free of charge. "When I got into the business, I found it so fascinating," says King, who occasionally does work for law firms and congressmen. "Engineers designed this thing, but they need me to keep it operating."

King worked for the National Security Agency in the '60s, and the government sent him to two-week courses held by Remington Rand and IBM Royal. King originally operated a storefront on Georgia Avenue across from Howard University but closed shop as business flagged. These days, he gets about three or four calls a week.

"Every business should have at least one typewriter to do the simple jobs," says King, suggesting the machines are ideal for envelopes and filling out forms. "Some things are much simpler and easier to do with a typewriter than a computer."

Sterling King, 202-232-5339. Repair fees are $75-$150.

Also see: Kensington Office Machines, 3827 Plyers Mill Rd., Kensington, 301-946-0800, www.kensingtonofficemachines.com. Repair charges are $45-$299 and can be done in-house or on-site.

Old-Time Radio

The Antique Emporium used to be swinging, says Milt Margolis, who, despite the decreased foot traffic, still sets up shop on weekends in the two-level structure in Annandale. His specialty is repairing tube-type radios from the '30s, '40s and '50s.

Margolis, 75, started fooling around with radios when he was 10 and eventually developed it into a profession, working in defense electronics as a contractor for RCA and General Electric. He retired 10 years ago and parlayed his interest into collecting and repairing pre-transistor radios.

"It's like any other hobby," Margolis says. "Why do people like collecting stamps or coins? I'm mechanically inclined and just derive enjoyment from it. It's the satisfaction of making something work."

Margolis has 30 radios in his Springfield home and occasionally builds some from scratch. Much of his clientele consists of people who wish to restore a family heirloom to working condition or who want to buy a certain make to enhance a collection.

"There's a lot of collectors," Margolis says, "but folks like myself are dwindling."

Milt Margolis, Antique Emporium, 7120 Little River Tpk., Annandale, 703-658-0505. Typical restoration runs $150-$300.

Apple Doctors

So why would anyone still use an old Apple II or III series computer, which were introduced in the early '80s and discontinued a decade later?

"There are those folks who grew up with the machine and became comfortable with the methodology," says Lorin Evans, a volunteer for Washington Apple Pi, a 1,000-member nonprofit club based in Rockville that is devoted to the appreciation and maintenance of Macintosh computers. "We discard technologies or methodologies that we think are ancient or obsolete, yet toothbrushes and toothpicks -- we're still running around using them. If it serves your purpose, don't worry about it."

On Tuesday nights, volunteer experts hold a clinic at the Rockville headquarters to diagnose and fix problems with Apple and Macintosh hardware. A common project for volunteers is retrieving data from diskettes and hard drives and converting the information into modern computer language.

In one recent case, Evans helped a family reconstruct genealogical records from an Apple II series computer (the likes of which once retailed for $3,000) by translating it to Excel. He calls this resurrection of data "part art and part technology."

"And, yes, to see the smile on the faces of people who are able to revisit events from a time long past is very rewarding," Evans says.

Tuesdays at 7 p.m. 12022 Parklawn Dr., Rockville. Free (donation suggested). 301-984-0300, www.wap.org.