My grandmother has an analog RCA portable television set that was manufactured in October 1979. It has been sitting on a ledge in her basement for the past thirty years. A couple of weeks ago I went over to her house to convert the TV set using TV baluns and twin-lead wire adapters. Unfortunately, when I went to scan for DTV channels, I couldn't get a picture, and I barely got any noise. All I got was a bright line running horizontally across the screen.

When I contacted the FCC, they informed me that I had connected the DTV converter box correctly and that the problem most likely laid with the TV set itself. I was not expecting this, and restoring a television was beyond my expertise.

That is why I'm asking for your help. I can't do this on my own, and it's not something I could learn from the Internet or some instruction manual that easily.

If anyone could come over to my grandmother's house and restore/repair her TV set, that would be great. My grandma lives in the nearby suburbs of Chicago. If you don't feel comfortable coming to her house, let me know of a place you would feel comfortable.

Thanks guys, and I hope to hear from one of you!

Matt


By the way, I'm sorry I don't have a picture of the TV with me at the moment.

First off, look in the back of the set for a switch that is labeled norm/service.
Make sure it's switched to norm or normal. you have a vertical collapse issue and the odd thing is that you have no sound either which makes me believe that it could very well be that switch. If you lost vertical, usually there would still be sound.

RCA tv's of that era had a thermistor behind the chassis go bad. The big problem is you have to carefully pull the chassis. I have, in a pinch, replaced the thermistor with a resistor as it has not been available for a long time. This thermistor will kill vertical and audio.
Can you get me the chassis (CTC) number and I'll pull the schematic and see what the value is
Sorry to say I'm in New Orleans so I can't make a house call there.
The setup switch does give trouble but as mentioned earlier, does not affect sound.

That set should have a light brown pull-tab switch on the back, toward the bottom center, if it's a CTC-92 or 99. That's the "service-normal" switch. If it's not making contact, it will make only a white line across the middle of the screen. Try gently working that switch in & out a few times, as they get corroded contacts. If it's a CTC-81, there is a black slide switch on the back near the top center, where all the service adjustments are. If you put a picture of the set, or the chassis number (CTC-___), we can probably offer better tips. If it's a CTC-81, you likely have a bad filter capacitor, which needs a little electronics skills to replace. That was very common on that set, if that's the chassis you have.

CAUTION: If you let that line sit there, it will burn a permanent dark line through the picture. If you're going to fool with it, turn the brightness and contrast down to where you can barely see that line, and that will protect the tube somewhat from damage.

Charles

There are some members in Chicagoland who might be able to help, if the problem persists. Maybe one of them will chime in? This shouldn't be very difficult to repair, as these things go.

I'm pretty busy but I might be able to help, pm me your details if interested.

I'm also in the area...

Thank you all. I will send additional information as soon as possible.

It's an XL-100. It looks remarkably similar to this XL-100, except my grandmother's TV is a few years newer. I'm still working on getting a picture of the actual set though.

http://images.goantiques.com/dbimages/WQU4598/WQU45989577.jpg (front)

http://images.goantiques.com/dbimages4/WQU4598/WQU45989577.jpg (back)