Conrac CYA 17" Color Monitor

[John Hafer]

Hello, I am trying to find out about the Conrac 17" Color Monitor (CYA 17) that came out in 1963. Unlike all the other color television monitors, whether consumer or broadcast that were 21" roundie sets, this monitor was a 17" rectangular unit that could fit into a broadcast rack unit.

I first saw one when I was on a television station tour at WHEN-TV ch. 5 in Syracuse, NY in the spring of 1963. Even though, this was a Conrac set, it was dressed with a RCA logo and was mounted in a rack as it monitored their RCA TK-26 color film camera.

Any one know who made the CRT since it was rectangular and not round as there were no consumer 17" color sets out in 1963?

Attached is an ad from a broadcast magazine from Nov. 1963.

[old_tv_nut]

Guessing the tube had to be Japanese.

[old_tv_nut]

Toshiba site claims 17 inch tube in about 1960
http://museum.toshiba.co.jp/toshiba_...ts/1958tv.html

[Sandy G]

Yeah..We had a 17-19" RECTANGULAR Sears color set, c. 1963-64...It was a Dog, but it WAS color, & on the 3 days we had it that it worked, I remember it had a VERY good picture...The CRT never was the problem, it was always something else that would let go..

[reeferman]

Don't even ask how I found this.
The book "The Phosphor Handbook" (1999) found on the Google website had this to say (chapter 18, page 839, section 18.5.1).
Paraphrasing the book (cause I couldn't lift it) "In 1958 the first rectangular 17" color CRT, 70 degree was manufactured entirely of Japanese parts".
My question is: did they make a second CRT, was this a production CRT, etc.?
One thing for sure, I won't lose any sleep over it.
Phil

[J Ballard]

The 17" CRT for the CYA was made by Hitachi.

Conrac was shocked when Hitachi, without notice, discontinued the manufacture of that CRT. There was no advance warning, as legend ahs it. The company produced ads that ran in industry publications acknowledging that they had a delivery problem, but later struck a deal with RCA to make the CRTs. Conrac was promoting the controlled phosphor (tight tolerance) concept in order to allow closer matching of monitors. The SMPTE C phosphor set is the Conrac (C) coordinates.

Conrac produced modification kits for the CYA that would permit the newer RCA tubes. The original Hitachi tubes were 70 degree tubes, so the modification may have included a new yoke, FB,etc. I do know that there was a Mod "G" version that included many updates, including a DC filament supply.

Later, RCA stopped making the controlled phosphor tubes, and Conrac turned to Matsushita, who also later discontinued production of these low volume CRTs. The Model 6100 used Matsushita CRTs and yokes.

There was also a 21" version of the CYA, and maybe for the CYB.

Hope this helps.

JB

[rca2000]

"Just" $ 2450.00 in 1963?

That is nearly 19K in todays money !!

One can get a cheap NEW CAR--for that money--and right now--a MUCH better car--during model year closeout--for that same money.

[old_tv_nut]

A high price was certainly justified for a tube with controlled phosphors. They would be affected very easily by contamination, so applying them without getting contamination from/to a mass production run for TV sets could be a difficult project; might involve wasting material and time due to cleaning equipment before and after, etc.

Also, developing the controlled phosphor in the first place could be a problem. I wonder if Conrac negotiated shipping controlled phosphors from a single batch to the successive tube manufacturers? Seems I recall stories about the existence of just three barrels of the controlled phosphors that were used for all tubes.

[Findm-Keepm]

430CB22 was the Toshiba tube IIRC. It was always a special order tube, and listed by Empire rebuilders as a "studio" tube, along with camera viewfinder CRTs. ZERO interchangeability with any US(EIA) tube.

Same socket configuration as the 21CY/21FJ.

Cheers,

[rca2000]

Originally Posted by old_tv_nut

A high price was certainly justified for a tube with controlled phosphors. They would be affected very easily by contamination, so applying them without getting contamination from/to a mass production run for TV sets could be a difficult project; might involve wasting material and time due to cleaning equipment before and after, etc.

Also, developing the controlled phosphor in the first place could be a problem. I wonder if Conrac negotiated shipping controlled phosphors from a single batch to the successive tube manufacturers? Seems I recall stories about the existence of just three barrels of the controlled phosphors that were used for all tubes.

SO then--a garden variety 21FJ tube with sulfide phospors--would not be good enough here ?

And--has ANYONE_-seen one of these beasts still "in the wild"--today ?

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by rca2000

SO then--a garden variety 21FJ tube with sulfide phospors--would not be good enough here ? ...

Definitely not a sulfide red, which was the most orange of any of the reds used over the years and moved significantly more toward orange at high beam currents. The rare-earth red is actually quite close to NTSC red, and mainly appears wrong in later sets due to the large color demod/matrix adjustment needed to compensate for the yellower sulfide green phosphor.

[J Ballard]

Hi all-

Wayne could be right about the scarcity of controlled phosphors, but I do recall seeing many jars of different phosphor types at the RCA Lancaster plant.

In any case, controlled phosphor tubes were expensive to produce-the rectangular tube used in the Conrac RHA/RHB was around a kilobuck in the late 70s, but the networks were willing to pay for consistentcy. We owe people such as Tony Lind of RCA, Charlie Rhodes of Tektronix, and those at Conrac thanksfor their tireless effort in improving color display uniformity. If I have forgotten some other names, my apologies.

Charlie for one tried to strike a compromise between EBU phosphors and SMPTE C in order to reduce costs, but no one would budge. In the 1990s, NHK proposed a phosphor set that found its way into Sony hi-end products, but the networks and post community here in the US balked. They,too, were trying to produce a single tube that would satisfy everyone.

Regarding sulfide tubes, I had one in an old RCA TM-21 and it had a very pleasing, saturated colorimetry, but lacked the luminance of the newer rare earth type. It was sent out for regunning, but what came back was a rare earth tube! That's before I knew about Hawkeye-live and learn.

Regards,

J Ballard

[old_tv_nut]

Originally Posted by J Ballard

Hi all-

... We owe people such as Tony Lind of RCA, Charlie Rhodes of Tektronix, and those at Conrac thanksfor their tireless effort in improving color display uniformity. If I have forgotten some other names, my apologies...

Add LeRoy DeMarsh at Kodak to the list.

[J Ballard]

Oh, yes, Roy Demarsh from Eastman Kodak-"Mr. Colorimetry." Thanks. RIP, Roy.

W.N. Sprosson from the BBC also.

Regards,

JB

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by reeferman

Don't even ask how I found this.
The book "The Phosphor Handbook" (1999) found on the Google website had this to say (chapter 18, page 839, section 18.5.1).
Paraphrasing the book (cause I couldn't lift it) "In 1958 the first rectangular 17" color CRT, 70 degree was manufactured entirely of Japanese parts".
My question is: did they make a second CRT, was this a production CRT, etc.?
One thing for sure, I won't lose any sleep over it.
Phil

I wonder if this was the same tube used in the consumer 1958 model Westinghouse sets? I thought that was a 22" though. If they were different I wonder if our rectangular color CRT came out first?