80's Cable installer here. There were some TVs that I would see and breath a sigh of joy, for they always did the best they could with any signal. Sony Trinitrons for one, but that was when they commanded a premium price. This RCA here was another joy to install cable to - 75 ohm input, FREAKING CASTORS to make it easy to turn around to get to said coax jack and a great picture with a solid state tuner that made every channel pop right in. They were also resistant to direct pickup, where a cable channel and an off air channel would mix and give poor pictures. Great old TV.
Those are good sets and that chassis was used in 13", 17", 19", and 25" sets. The main problems they gave was the main filter cap, the 3.58 MHz trimmer needing adjusting or replacement, and bad connections inside the tuner and control modules. I don't think I've ever seen a vertical failure of any kind (besides needing adjustment) on one of these.
The first TV I bought (when I was in high school) was a GJR641 25", newer cabinet but almost the same, with the CTC-120 chassis... I still have it. It's a remote set but there were seveal different tuner setups available for those chassis. There was even one with an OSD with the channel number and a clock. They're all interchangeable, basically plug-and-play. Those 25VDP22 or whatever it is CRTs are awesome... I have a very similar set, closer cabinet to that one of yours, stashed out in the garage that a neigbor was going to toss, so I took the CR-70 over and checked it, super strong still too, so I kept the whole thing for spare parts for mine. :) By this point on the RCA inline guns they were supplying the CRT and yoke as a factory-aligned assembly so a CRT replacement is just as easy as a B&W set. They DID, however, sell an adjustable service yoke assembly for replacement in the case of a yoke fault and it is possible to remove the yoke (it isn't PERMA-glued) but you need the uber-rare adjustable assembly to be able to ever get the setup correct. If you ever see the adjustable service yoke on a dead EOL-worthy set, hang on to the fully adjustable yoke! Mine have the same kind of similar of photo finish in good condition (except one water splotch from a plant on my original one, that finish is very easy to water damage) but if that one you have were my set. I would put real wood veneer on the top since the rest of the cabinet looks pretty darn good. (Though, I'm good at woodworking, not sure of your wood and finishing skills :) Wouldn't be very difficult, though...) I have the SAMS in pdf if you ever need it and can't find a copy in your stash. IIRC, it even has the setup info for the adjustable service yoke. EDIT: It is in set 2217, folder 1... looks like it isn't a whole adjustable yopke assembly replacement, just the "beam bender" as RCA called it. Part No. 145381 is the adjustable "Beam Bender" :) Awesome TVs... Those, a few Zeniths and the 80s-early-90s Trinitrons are my favorites of all time.
That is a nice set! I have a 1988 Zenith 25" console that has a walnut look particleboard cabinet. When I got it there was similar damage to the top of my set. I sanded the top smooth and sealed it with several coats of polyurethane and then put woodgrain vinyl on it. Then I used polyshades 2 in 1 finish to touch up the chips and dings on the rest of the cabinet. It looks like new!
The white control in the back is the sharpness control. You should open up the tuner control module and resolder all the "stake" connections going to all the molex plugs. That was always a problem as well as the dual large cap in the back would fail as well. Also check by the horizontal deflection circuit. They actually used wax paper caps in some of those! I fixed so many of those back in the day. Good sets!
im glad you consider that a keeper! like really! im really into the late 70's to late 80's rca stuff, and the crown would be my 1985 rca dimensia, but those console sets are really hard to find working now! im almost positive all colortraks have a remote, even the small ones that GE is an rca from 1989, since ge owned rca im sure they had no trouble using all of rca'a patents
Enjoy them, I remember being amazed in the 80's about how much better TV's were then than they were 20 years earlier. The earlier tube ones were easier to work on.
Back in the early 80's had a Quasar that had a very similar cabinet as the GE, however it had the control pad and speaker grill section of the RCA, that was an awesome TV, it did not come with a mfg remote, the remote we had was your two feet! Same was true with my big 10 foot satellite dish, all manual, that got old quick! I have been loosely looking for a replacement Quasar, I really did like that TV....unfortunately todays programming sux! Luckily I still have Beta & VHS!.
Neat disappearing trick in these later year sets. What used to be crammed with vintage electronics, now shrunk down to a small chassis with lots of room inside.
I had this set too. In the middle of the music video era. Was non-remote. Long gone, but still have the factory power switch knob. The original switch was broken. Nice.
My apologies for replying on such an old video, i haven't watched your whole catalog. I watched you years ago when you were getting fed up with bad comments and almost quit. was so happy to see you pop back up on my suggested. We had an RCA similar to the one in this while i was growing up in the 80s, my neighbor had a GE similar to the one in this as well. I'd have to go back to my early birthday vhs rips i did to get a better cabinet picture but it had a controller and such. it developed lines on the top of the CRT but kept going another 15 years after that at my grandfathers. and as someone that, growing up, blew up many electronics (once in my face, my face was covered in soot around 6-7yo) i absolutely love your channel. this is knowledge you just do not find anymore.
These were not remote sets. When they had the numeric keypad at the set this was the case. We were an RCA dealer when this was new. Model number would have an "R" at the end for remote (example GD760TR would be remote, GD760T would not). That GE set is actually RCA. These sets were from the Thomson era. The band that is held on to the CRT neck by the zip tie is the convergence and purity magnet. These were magnetized specifically to each individual CRT to get best purity and convergence by computer.
You could try that autoadhesive veneer imitation that they use in the typical Ikea-style particle board furniture. I remember they used to sell it at hardware stores, prolly still to this day, though I'm not sure if you'll find a format large enough to be useful in this one. RCA chassis from this era are interesting looking, they have the DIP chips that you would find in all sets from then on, but they have the older style multi-section filter cap and the bigger IF coils.
A lot of space to store your "stuff", lol. Really cool. Remember when Trucks had lots of unused space under the hood? I do. Before all the pollution garbage.
We had a colortrak like that but it didn't have the touchpad. Ours had a really easy to turn knob for the channels. It also had lettered channels for something. Those were a great 📺
Those lettered channels was for UHF. We had the same TV in the 80's. The front of the tuner came off, and you could tune each letter preset to different UHF channels.
i had one of those the crt was dead but sound worked and i had another tv on top of it that the tv worked but the sound was shot. i used to turn both of them to the same channel to watch tv. picture from one sound from the other
Bonded yokes had no convergence or purity rings. The replacement crts included the bonded yokes. There was minimal set up involved only focus,master G2 and rgb tracking adjustments A kine replacement took less than an hour because there was no convergence set up
I have what I believe right off hand is a 19 inch CTC 120 table top set. That one is a remote set. It has something similar to Zenith's membrane control behind the buttons. It had problems with that board. I hosed it down CRC QD electronic cleaner to great success.
Since it shows a blank screen for channel 0, does it do the same thing on channel 1 or channels above 83? I was surprised to see that its tuner doesn't lock out invalid channel numbers.
The front of that cabinet is very similar to what my great grandmother had, the hardware was pretty much the same. The TV part itself was older. It was an XL-100 (I suspect) Delta Gun. It was in the same era as the CTC-86 (1978) as the set Spats Bear has is very similar.
+Dani Nothing wrong with that tho, if it's quality made. The size is caused by the use of ICs, which simplify the curcuitry and reduce weight. Thus, plastic can be used instead of sturdy steel, and that way corrosion is not a problem. I have a 1975 Nordmende 4005 Radio that uses one single IC, it's very easy to work on such sets because all parts are easily accessible. The plastic frame is in great shape, not brittle or anything else you might suppose. And even if those ICs should fail once, most of them are common and easy to replace (unlike the one used these days).
Amazingly, the things actually only have four ICs on the main chassis, a chroma-luma chip (NTE-844 is the sub, ask me how I know :) LOL ) where you can tap a composite or S-Video into the thing, a deflection driver IC, an IF/AFT IC and the audio IC. Everything else is discrete. Depending on the tuner there may be a chip or two in them but there was also even a CLUNK-CLUNK mechanical tuner available for those chassis. Horizontal out is RCA's SCR design. Very reliable, robust design overall, actually. Only a few years later everything everywhere went to crap. :) That's why I still have and use mine...
Well what you fail to see is those type chassis were more dependable than the old TV sets, they had a great color picture. That cabinet is NOT so nice, its particle board with some kind of wood finish on it. TVs whent to pure crap when they started building them in China, the quality went to pure crap. They were still building good TVs back in the 90s, I had a Magnavox portable built in 1994 that lasted 17 years and it still had a perfect color picture when I threw it away. The reason I threw it away is because it had some IC chip in the RF circuit board going out. Sometimes it would come on working perfect and other times just a raster for like an hour before it would work. I kinda wish now I would have tried to repair it, I am sure it would still be working today.
I would spray paint the top of the cabinet, masking the wood from the plastic, with a flat black finish. It would look much nicer than using any kind of a wood grain decal.
If it was a keeper, I would grab some cheap Home Depot pre-glued veneer. No additional cement need. It would look better than the original top. Cut with a utility knife and metal straight-edge.. A little dark stain and it would look better than original. Leave off the top wood pieces as an option? Stain the top extensions since they are real wood.
My parents had one of those when I was a kid. It ended up failing where it would turn on for 30 seconds, the screen would continue to get bright and then go all blue and make a buzzing sound from the rear and sound was lost from speakers. Always kind of wondered what failed.
Good Video. Brings back lots of memories of old tv repairs. Would you consider doing a video on if alighnment with your vg91. I used the va48 and va62 but never tried it. I want your opinion if it is easier than using your 415 or other sweep generator. Thanks Jimmy
Border thing on top. A corral? I think I have a late 1960's Motorola hybrid black and white set and it had a labelthat said how to attach the top piece. I'll have to look and see if I can find the word.
Were they really still making full cabinet TVs in the States in 1989? Wow. Here in the UK any wood surrounds on TVs disappeared around 1982. Nice and ready to work on though it must be said!
The difference in electronics 'culture' between the two sides of the pond is amazing. I guess a lot has to do with the fact that houses in the US are much larger than they tend to be in Europe.
I don't think it is the size of the houses, people here just tend to like big TV sets. Now days, you see people with a small house with a big flat panel TV that takes up a whole wall. Back when I was young, TVs like the one is this video were very common in most peoples houses and they are small now days compared to the new flat panel ones that people buy today.
Shang, I would like to suggest/request a video, please. Would you please explain how the design and operation of radios using "space charge" tubes (from the early '60s; tubes that used low voltage on their plates) differs from that of conventional vacuum tubes that use a high B+ voltage? I can send you a copy of the service manual for a Motorola/Chrysler hybrid space charge tube radio from 1962, if you desire. I don't understand how they are handling the biasing on the tubes. Thank you very much.
Ah, woodgrain formica fail. I suppose you could peel it up and glue another sheet down. Or find some wood veneer if you really wanted to go all out on it. Or pull a Johnny Dangerously and go with shelf paper. XD
Haha the poor thing can't make up its mind whether it is piece of antique furniture, or if it is a digital electronic device. Or if it is wood or plastic.
I disagree, by the 80s XL-100's were trash. The Colortrak 2000's from 1984-1987 were the best pictures in RCA. I've never really cared for RCA tvs because their reds always look like shit. They look more pink than red. I think Zenith sets probably had the best color balance in the 80s. To me, the best color tv's were the late 60's to early 70's Magnavox consoles. Everyone in my family had those back then and those TV's had very good color if they were adjusted correctly.
I gotta say this set just shouts 'the worst of ugly shoddy shite' to me. The pretend plastic cabinet , the cheap hardboard back which opens to show the gross poorly finished empty interior. Late 70s early 80s garbage, like the cars of that generation and much , much more.
Absolutely nothing wrong with them... Except: -Most of them are butt ugly (except very early 90s ones and early 2000s the flat-tube ones) -Most are cheap + chinese -They are extremely depressing to work on because of SMD parts & tons of ICs, multiple curcuit boards, tons of screws and plastic snap-ins, etc...
ddorfpunk1 234 first thing is a matter of taste really. i am interested in the newer tech and fixing it now so try and find stuff about that a lot of time. it is usually a easy fix too since seems like the same thing messes up on a lot of the same thing. my monitor was free and all i had to do was replace a few caps. been working for years. going by what people think my tv should have stopped working a long time ago too. jsut a magnavox lcd tv from 2008.
I once heard that LCD TVS where supposed to outlast crt sets, because of no high voltage. Now most people say, you'll only get 3 or 4 years out of a cheap flat screen TV. I remember seeing a RU-vid video about a portable battery operated LCD pocket tv from 20 years ago, and it still worked. I believe the reason for most of the new TV failures is due to the over complicated design of switching power supplies. Most electronics that use linear power supplies, or that run on batteries last forever.
ddorfpunk1 234 now i have to say that is not true. i never never heard of that now or seen any proof of something like that. if anything they use underrated stuff to make them fail faster though