My new RCA CTC-25!
 

After 5 long weeks, I finally had an opportunity to go visit my friend Danny in Atlanta again. He had set aside a few things for me, including a 1982 Sanyo Betacord, but the real treasure was an RCA CTC-25 "Winslow." We powered it up, and it had a "passable" but otherwise lousy picture. It had an RCA Colorama CRT and the emissions were almost completely dead. He said I should leave it there for now and he would replace the tube and fix a few other problems it has. I'll be going back February 20th to pick it up and to go to the swap meat.

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment...0&d=1454191019

I believe you would want this thread in the "rectangular screen tube television" section although I am not a moderator. I like the cabinet style of this set btw. Is there an additional speaker behind that cloth below the screen?

There is only one speaker, and it is below the screen.

That is a sharp looking set, and compact too. Also nice to have a friend that changes CRT's for you. :thmbsp:

Yep, Danny is a super great guy and I can't thank him enough for this TV.

I like the looks of the control area on those era RCAs!

Moved to rectangular.... :)

In order to transport this set in the Buick, the CRT will need to be removed from the cabinet and reinstalled later. Any information on that process will be greatly appreciated, as I have never reinstalled a CRT.

General CRT removal procedure: Remove back of cabinet, unscrew main chassis and unplug plug-able wires connected to main chassis (note where they go), if tuner sub-chassis unplugs (haven't seen that on an RCA) unplug it or remove tuner sub-chassis from cabinet (there should be a piece of metal on the back of the tuner chassis that can bolt to the screws on either side of the cord interlock for safer transport...do that), remove main chassis from cabinet, set cabinet face down and remove screws/bolts that hold CRT in (usually at the corners), unscrew convergence board, if possible lift the CRT, it's mounting and neck hardware and convergence board out as a unit (it's usually an unnecessary pain to remove, reinstall and properly readjust the neck hardware), have a towel, rug, or some soft thing to set the CRT on ready so CRT face does not get scratched.

I recommend wrapping the convergence board and it's wires around the deflection yoke shroud so they don't flop around, and recommend bolting tuner to main chassis for the same reasons. Be careful things don't bump things on the boards I had to do a lot of extra work and parts sourcing to a CTC-20 roundy because a previous owner did not bolt the tuner sub-chassis on and let it flop about and damage things.

RCA made only one year of that channel selector and fine tuning arrangement, as they were trouble prone. You pushed in the channel selector knob for VHF fine tuning. The outer knob was for UHF tuning. Also you had to get the indicator lamps for the tuner from RCA, as no one else made them. Plus they were hard to focus properly. :thumbsdn:

Nice catch! Sold a number of that same model back in the day.:yes:

Preachin' to the choir again, but don't forget the two ground stakes on the far-right end of the chroma board need to be reflowed. That's routine on any CTC-12, 15, 16, 17 and 25. When (not if) one of those grounds lets go, it kills the heaters on the two 6GU7s. That allows beam current in the CRT to avalanche, which ain't good.

You're gonna remove and reinstal the CRT? :eek: Here's a tip that's better to learn now than later: After a CRT replacement, the whole jug will gradually begin to tip backward, creating a larger and larger gap between the mask and the top of the CRT. We learned quickly to thoroughly tighten the steel band securing the CRT to its 'mounting ears'.

Yeah, Danny explained to me all the issues they had with this tuner. I won't be turning it very often. I'll probably just leave it in channel 15 all the time.

Old coot88, noted. Thanks for the info.

the good thing now tho... since it will either have to be run off a converter box or VCR, at least the tuner won't be an issue. They were a bitch in the day tho. Not a bad set otherwise. That chassis looks pretty clean. Did your friend clean it up, or is it "as found"?

This TV will be receiving channel 15 UHF. Possibly tied in with the VBT200. I'll have to ask him if he cleaned it up or not. But I agree, yes it is remarkably clean.

I absolutely cannot wait to bring this set home! I'm considering installing a small computer fan to help cool the flyback. I could probably just make do with hooking it up to a 9 volt battery when the set is turned on. Your thoughts?