1988 27" Curtis Mathes console with an RCA CTC140 chassis

[radiotvnut]

Free set number two is this Curtis Mathes console from 1988, that uses an RCA jug and an RCA CTC140 chassis.

Cosmetically, the cabinet has some moisture-related issues and you can see the main damage in one of the pictures. A new cabinet brace could be made, but given the chassis problems that I'm about to describe, it may not be worth it.

Electronically, it fired up with only sound out of one speaker and no horixontal sync. Then, the picture popped in, with a lot of random streaks flashing across the screen. Then, it lost horizontal sync again. The internal/external speaker switch was flaky and I shot it with cleaner, but that didn't bring back the audio on the silent speaker. When I turned the set off and back on again, the audio came back.

In it's day, the CTC140 was a high-end chassis, but as they age, they had issues with puking capacitors and glue becoming conductive, and I think that's what is going on here.

There's a good chance this one will get parted out and I'll give the cabinet to a dog bed person.

[JohnCT]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

Free set number two is this Curtis Mathes console from 1988, that uses an RCA jug and an RCA CTC140 chassis.

Cosmetically, the cabinet has some moisture-related issues and you can see the main damage in one of the pictures. A new cabinet brace could be made, but given the chassis problems that I'm about to describe, it may not be worth it.

Electronically, it fired up with only sound out of one speaker and no horixontal sync. Then, the picture popped in, with a lot of random streaks flashing across the screen. Then, it lost horizontal sync again. The internal/external speaker switch was flaky and I shot it with cleaner, but that didn't bring back the audio on the silent speaker. When I turned the set off and back on again, the audio came back.

In it's day, the CTC140 was a high-end chassis, but as they age, they had issues with puking capacitors and glue becoming conductive, and I think that's what is going on here.

There's a good chance this one will get parted out and I'll give the cabinet to a dog bed person.

The 140 has an external can tuner that can crack the grounds around the perimeter of the board and four or five central grounds. It's tight in there but I've done a hundred or more of these. Once done, they're good forever. If the tuner is cranky, it will work properly on the AV inputs unlike the later 17X series which needed good tuner grounds even for AV input usage. If your problems are there even on the AV inputs, the tuner is not the problem.

The conductive glue around the IF is a big pain in the heinie, but before you try removing it, resolder the small metal can coils around the dual IF chip which was a common issue.

In the case of bad solder on the coils and inside the tuner, the TV would be shock sensitive. The conductive mastic snot glue picture issues can appear a bit shock sensitive but usually not. Getting that glue off is a tedious job, but once the glue is off and those small coils reflowed, they're really solid and probably the best analog pix RCA had (better than the later 169).

John

[ESigma25]

I'm not up on my chassis numbers...would this be equivalent to a RCA ColorTrak 2000 or just a regular ColorTrak?

[JohnCT]

Originally Posted by ESigma25

I'm not up on my chassis numbers...would this be equivalent to a RCA ColorTrak 2000 or just a regular ColorTrak?

The 140 was their best chassis and was in the ColorTrak 2000 and also available in the short lived "Dimensia" line.

John