Periodically I will make contact with local tv shops in search of treasures. I was recently talking to a local tube audio collector who mentioned a shop I didn't know about. (it is an hour from here) He had already bought all the tubes but he seemed to think there would be more goodies I was interested in. I sent him a letter (my preferred way of doing things, since I am too shy for "cold calling") and he called me back. A very nice gentlemen, 81 years old and in business since 1948. I wouldn't say he had a lot of tube era stuff but certainly enough to be worth saving. It included several boxes of parts including lots of little NOS stuff (knobs, trim, coils, etc.), some good used flybacks, and a decent Arvin tube stereo table radio from the 60s that needs some work. There was also a nice prewar GE console radio, odd in that it is about 8 tubes with an eye but is ac/dc. He still had 2 used tube bw sets for sale on the shelf out front, a 63 GE 19" portable & a cute 9" Sears from 68. Both should work; they are exceptionally clean. The neatest thing is an RCA color roundie test jig-sort of from the CTC-11 or 12 era. Includes a drawer full of cables. I don't know what I'll do with the jig; I made mention to him that if nothing else I could use the crt in one of my sets. Then he pointed out something I didn't know: RCA wanted to get as many shops servicing color as it could so it offered these jigs at a deep discount. Apparently the jigs sold for less than the cost of a crt. To keep people from buying them just for replacement jugs they acid etched the words "Test Tube" on the face. Well, thanks a lot Sarnoff, old boy! You ruined my plans! The gentleman went on to say that his first color set was one which he bought from a moving company. They had broken the crt. For several years he ran it with the test tube before finally swapping in a new one. I should have asked him how apparent the acid etching was when watching it. You have to kinda look for it with the tube dark. I don't suppose anyone knows a way to polish away that etching? I was thinking of using this tube in my Zenith 25MC33, which has a bad blue gun. I would have to glue a faceplate on, since the test tube lacks one. I have a dud in the attic which could donate that.

Anyway, I'm happy with my finds, glad I got to meet this great gentleman, and save a truckload of stuff from the dump. I'll try to snap some pictures.

Sarnoff- Boy, he was a crackerjack, wasn't he ?!?

Perhaps your test CRT might get a case of cataracts?

I can see something like that being useful, when I was working on my ctc-15, I had to remove the chassis and reinstall it alot, to check things out. It wouldn't have been so bad if they had just made the tuner so it could be unplugged, but with that tuner precariously balanced ontop of the chassis while I was carrying it around, I found myself really wishing for one of those.

Could we please see photos of the test jig inside and out? I have never seen one and I think it's a great historical piece.
Thanks

Adam.
The tuner on that ctc15 can be mounted in the service position. {see picture}
This chassis is a ctc 16 but it mounts the same way.
ED

Adam.
The tuner on that ctc15 can be mounted in the service position. {see picture}
This chassis is a ctc 16 but it mounts the same way.
ED

That's nice, I should have thought of that.
Oh well, now I know what to do next time.

Some of you may have seen the RCA color training book showing a ctc-15 chassis in service position on top of cabinet. That cabinet appears to be almost IDENTICAL to a ctc-4 Director TV cabinet design. Interesting set, to me anyway both tv cabinets look nearly identical. Don't see much of that mahogany ctc-15 for sale much.

:drool:

Here are the pics. I didn't take one of the back of the jig but it really isn't much special to see. Just an empty cabinet basically. The meter was a later add-on offered by RCA; likely came after the xray scares of the late 60s? There is a note in the back that states that there may be vertical foldover problems when using with a rectangular crt chassis. This jig was used quite late; he is now using a fairly late model Toshiba as a jig.

In reference to wishing for cataracts, this tube does not appear to use a seperate faceplate so no luck :no: The biggest problem with keeping it as a jig is I don't know where I would put it. No room for a monster like this. I have a set of extension cables that another repairman gave me, which would allow practical servicing of some chassis' outside of the set.

---

i have an 18 inch rca test jig with the same inscribed on the tube. it is in a metal cabinet also

I've seen some stuff advertised for repairing scratches in eyeglasses - maybe that would work on the etching? (Don't remember if it was "only $19.99" on TV or what, but I'd check the drugstore.)

I've seen some stuff advertised for repairing scratches in eyeglasses - maybe that would work on the etching? (Don't remember if it was "only $19.99" on TV or what, but I'd check the drugstore.)

You also may want to contact a "glass doctor." who repairs rock chips in windshields. They have a filler material that they place in the chip to fill it up and smooth it out.

Sarnoff- Boy, he was a crackerjack, wasn't he ?!?

IOW, it is NOT perfect, to use in a TV set. According to what I have read, in some of my old electronic magazines(RE, PF reporter, electronics world and others), those tubes were sometimes GIVEN AWAY, with the purchase of a new roundie CRT. The ad described that they would have minor "mechanical defects, that made them not quite good enough for use in a TV,but fine for a test jig." I would assume that to mean a bad mask, purity problems or unable to be converged.

I've heard that, too. A jig would be very useful IMHO.

John

I had thought about that-really, it wouldn't make too much sense to practically give away a good crt while one with minor defects gets tossed. FYI, the test tubes have a different type number and everything. The label on the back says test tube and there is a warranty card showing when it was bought. The type # of this crt is 1828P22.

I had a 19" Magnavox jig given to me years ago but I eventually tossed it. It was a lot more manageable than this hoss, which would take one heck of a bench to be comfortable!

Here in Knoxville, Tennessee we had a tube rebuilding plant called Tennessee Valley Tube Company. Paul Mercer owned it and operated it since the '50's. It's been about 10 years since he went out of business and is now deceased. Paul was the salt of the earth (rare earth!) and when I was in high school, he would always let me come in anytime I wanted to and help out esp. on Saturday mornings. He would let me have tubes on credit until I got paid for them and we built many roundies to include a 30" Soveriegn metal tube.

Paul would get many 21" FJ's and other size tubes from RCA that were marked "test tube" on the faceplates. He would polish them out with rouge and you couldn't tell the difference. The only thing we could find wrong with them was the faceplate phospers would have pimples in them (3-5 that would look like small black dots) and from at least 24" of viewing or more you really couldn't see them. He used a CTC5 chassis in a Asbury or Dartmouth cabinet to put a blank raster on the tubes being tested. I tried to get that set from him but never did and don't know what ever happened to it either. I sure miss Paul and loved to talk color TV with him in the '60-'80's. He was also in the TV repair business in the '50's.

Test Tubes from RCAHere in Knoxville, Tennessee we had a tube rebuilding plant called Tennessee Valley Tube Company. Paul Mercer owned it and operated it since the '50's. It's been about 10 years since he went out of business and is now deceased. Paul was the salt of the earth (rare earth!) and when I was in high school, he would always let me come in anytime I wanted to and help out esp. on Saturday mornings. He would let me have tubes on credit until I got paid for them and we built many roundies to include a 30" Soveriegn metal tube.

Paul would get many 21" FJ's and other size tubes from RCA that were marked "test tube" on the faceplates. He would polish them out with rouge and you couldn't tell the difference. The only thing we could find wrong with them was the faceplate phospers would have pimples in them (3-5 that would look like small black dots) and from at least 24" of viewing or more you really couldn't see them. He used a CTC5 chassis in a Asbury or Dartmouth cabinet to put a blank raster on the tubes being tested. I tried to get that set from him but never did and don't know what ever happened to it either. I sure miss Paul and loved to talk color TV with him in the '60-'80's. He was also in the TV repair business in the '50's.

Thanks, Julian, great story!