I just acquired from a thrift store yesterday a 1984 13" XL-100 set. It is in a small cabinet with woodgrain colored plastic. It only has screw terminals for the antennas, no coax connection. Although I usually don't buy sets this new, I liked it because it was solidly built, very stylish (not like the 1987 black box xl-100 it was sitting near) and has a single rotary tuning knob with lighted channel indicator. The dial is calibrated 2-13, A-F. The numbers are backlit, not LED and the tuning control is on the right side of the cabinet. I haven't powered it up yet. I was wondering, what do you think of the RCAs from this era from a quality and performace standpoint?

Also, does anyone have a tuning knob for this set? Mine is totally gone. Apparently it broke off and I don't even know what it is supposed to look like. I will post a pic of the set soon. I like it because it still has a sort of late seventies style and lighted channel numbers on a rotary drum are just not seen anymore.

These have very good quality from my experience...only trouble I've had with this era of RCA is no color, mostly due to corrosion/nicotine inside of a piston trimmer cap in the color circuit. The manual tuning version has a screw that opens up a side panel to adjust the fine tuning adjustments for each channel and removing this panel may help in replacing the knob too.
There was a version of this set with digital tuning and remote control...looks exactly the same except it has a flip open panel at the front side and a remote control. The digital tuning version has cable capabilities and a 75 ohm input.

These have very good quality from my experience...only trouble I've had with this era of RCA is no color, mostly due to corrosion/nicotine inside of a piston trimmer cap in the color circuit. The manual tuning version has a screw that opens up a side panel to adjust the fine tuning adjustments for each channel and removing this panel may help in replacing the knob too.
There was a version of this set with digital tuning and remote control...looks exactly the same except it has a flip open panel at the front side and a remote control. The digital tuning version has cable capabilities and a 75 ohm input.

I saw the screw that releases the small side panel. I assumed it housed UHF station trimmers. I haven't opened mine up yet. Is it also possible to replace the UHF letters with numbers? Similar sets came with number inserts that you could put in once the UHF channels were preset. I once made some inserts for a Sharp 19" set that I had found and fixed up. My parents are still using it five years later. I'm looking forwad to working on this set. I know it's not yet collectible but the unusual tuning scheme makes it interesting.

Yes you should be able to replace the uhf letters with numbers, RCA provided a kit with the set but it seems like many people either did not watch uhf or did not bother to install the numbers as it seems like most of the sets did not have them installed.

Well, I finally powered it up. To my delight it works. All the controls are scratchy, the greyscale needs touching up, the channel lamp is out and it seems to have an intermittent reduction in height, all things I can easily fix.

The missing tuning knob seems to be unconventional. It looks as though it was fasened to the channel indicator drum. Anyone familiar with this and know where I could get a replacement. This is definitely a restorable set. Here is a picture of it along with a view of where the tuning knob goes.

I forgot to post the model number: EJR335W

Moyers Electronics would most likely have the part you need. http://www.moyerelectronics.com/ However am hoping your RCA didn't do what Zenith did on some Chromacolor 2 and Early System 3 sets. They "cheaped out" on the Electronic tuners, and the knob was molded in a way that is was a permanent part of the tuner, if the knob broke off you were screwed as you had to replace the whole tuner assembly. Call Moyers and give them your model/chassis number. If a knob is available they will have it.

That is a nice TV.

Although I usually don't buy sets this new, I liked it because it was solidly built, very stylish (not like the 1987 black box xl-100 it was sitting near)

It seems that once you get beyond the early-mid 1980s, TVs went to the cheap black boxes. The early 80's is going to be the extent of TV collecting for me. Some early 80's sets still looked like they belonged in the 70's, which I like.

Iwas right. The tuning knob and the channel indicator drum are one piece. The tuner is located elsewhere on the chassis and the knob and drum assembly slides onto the shaft of the selector switch. Not a bad arrangement. I was disapointed to discover that the dial lamp is an option that was not offered on the 13" version of this set. It is interesting to note that on the component layout it lists five screen sizes: 13", 15", 17", 19" and 25". The chassis number is CTC117A. The set is quite clean inside and I see practically no heat damage. Most of the heat generating components are mounted on the metal chassis frame. I may try to post an interior shot of the set. I know it sounds weird but I find the inside of a TV to be often more beautiful than the outside.

I bought one of those sets new in '84, a 13"er used as a primary set, that was before home theater. It finished up service as a spare bedroom set before being dropped during a renovation, just one week ago. It now resides at the landfill.

Moyer Electronics had the parts I needed. They had the channel indicator drum and the tuning knob.. Those guys are great and they will definitely get future business from me. I want to thank everyone on this forum who showed interest in this thread. I haven't had time to work on this set yet as I am still doing some five inch black and white sets (I collect them.) I will post some chassis pics as requested. Also, I am thinking of installing a channel backlight. There is a place on the chassis where the backlight connects so I may install a white or yellow LED. It may not be original but it will add some interest to the set.