A similar one at least, not the actual set, like the GE the original RCA got tossed long ago, it had a short life with numerous problems.

My set was Harvest Gold and White, this one is Woodgrain and Black but otherwise it's very similar, front controls are exact but the chassis is slightly different.
For instance, my set had a 38HE7 output tube, this one uses a 22JG6 but overall it's close enough to be nostalgic for me!

I bought this set off eBay some years ago for the price of $1, I gave the seller $20 though because I wanted it to get here in one piece. :yes:

The CRT is pretty tired, it took a long time to warm up so I put the Beltron on it, I only had to go as far as Cleaning and it came right up to maximum good reading, how long it will last is anyone's guess.

It works quite well now as-is, it's playing a Laser Disc of the 1930's version of Scarface, the picture is bright and clear.

The Philips LD player is a recent acquisition from GW, it works well but has a problem loading, the laser transport wont lock in place without a little help, I think the loading belt is just worn out since it also opens and closes the drawer and that hangs up too.

I'm surprised that your set was trouble-prone, as that model was pretty reliable. The set you have now is probably an earlier model. The appearance was the same for a few model years.

I can't remember exactly when we got the RCA, our old GE had conked out right in the middle of an episode of Mod Squad, most likely in 1968 or 69.

We went without TV until my Mom won the RCA in a Grocery Store raffle, I'm guessing 1969-1970.
I still have a memory of seeing the set sitting on the Meat counter in the butcher shop area (very small local store) some time later one of my Brothers or Sisters came running out to tell me we had won a color TV!
Well, it was somewhat disappointing that it wasn't color but we didn't really care, we had a TV and that was good enough.

It broke down a few times that I can recall, first time I think it was just tubes, then it blew the fusible link, that was a shorted Yoke, then a capacitor on the tuner broke loose and caused a resistor to start smoking, I fixed that one but didn't have a resistor for it and the picture was quite snowy after that.
The set was on a roll around stand on Carpet, it got a lot of shaking around that probably didn't help.

Next the tuner shaft broke, that was just plain abuse combined with the fact that it was a thin aluminum shaft with a plastic covering to make it fit the knob, I just took the back off and stuck a knob on the other end of the shaft and used it like that until we got rid of it.

I don't think it died again, we just got another set for cheap (a mid 60's Bradford portable) and this one was given to the TV repair guy, he may have fixed it up or scrapped it, I don't know.
I think that was around 1975 or 76 so the RCA wasn't around all that long though it seemed longer at the time.

One of my first sets was a motorola 17p6 gave it up to a repair tech when the flyback went bad. Never saw it again. Havent seen one since, saw one on the bay once, but it was too far away. All quiet since.. :(

Good lookin tv there :)

SR

AH yes, new logo 1969 when RCA dropped the Victor and the "quality went out"and how many times I saw VHF channels being changed with slip-joint pliers due to that STUPID plastic tuner shaft. So much for the safety line-side isolation.

My family would spend New years eve every year with a family that had the same set in Eric's Picture, an RCA KCS171 IIRC. This family also had an early 50s motorola 17" sitting idle on a shelf in the basement. The RCA 19" was the second set for this family of 6 with one car (67 Falcon SW).
I would be allowed to go down and tinker with that motorola and it always got a raster but never got any signal.

Later, based on my record of no smoke or fire in the basement, I was "allowed" to work on the RCA upstairs as it was becoming touchy. The first issue was the vertical hold, conveniently located around on the back on the left side looking from the front. I cleaned the control and that seemed fix that issue. A second visit and I ended up simply adjusting height/linearity. Still another new years eve, they brought the set to our house saying the reception was snowy. It seems that with all the adjusting of the UHF loop, the antenna terminal screws wiggled enough in the plastic "board" to break off the UHF tuner antenna leads on the inside. I was later told that they never had repairs done on that TV by a "real tv guy". L O freakin L

This all being said, I would stop and pick one up fir my collection if I saw one. All sets have a place in history.

I hooked up an RCA I rebuilt that's 10 years older than the first one, same setup, same LD player but this set shows a bunch of lines at the top of the pic, looks like VIR info getting into the picture.

I can move it up or down a couple inches with the vertical hold but can't get rid of it.

Wonder what's different.

Eric, that is probably the disc's encoded frame/time information, which is also in the vertical interval. There must be differences in blanking (or lack of same) between the two sets.

Guess so, this 1959 model works fine with a DVD and Modulator at least.

Eric, the GE set I sent you years ago... was it the same one you were looking for, or just a similar model? I remember it was in poor condition... likely only good for parts. IMS, seems I recall you said something was burned out in it... maybe the power transformer?

Were you ever able to salvage anything from that set?

Eric, the GE set I sent you years ago... was it the same one you were looking for, or just a similar model? I remember it was in poor condition... likely only good for parts. IMS, seems I recall you said something was burned out in it... maybe the power transformer?

Were you ever able to salvage anything from that set?


Hi Charlie, it was a similar set, 17" instead of 21". Plastic instead of Metal, chassis was basically the same, the CRT was dead and the transformer was shorted (possibly I got some water inside when I cleaned it) I wound up scrapping it but I saved parts of the chassis like the Flyback and Yoke.

I did finally get the correct set from Captain Moody, clean and complete with the factory stand which we never had originally!

http://vintagetvsets.com/images/1959ge/GE1.jpg

Ah yeah... I remember now. It's really great when you finally get what you've long been search for from your youth! :yes: