Many thanks to those of you who helped me with great advice to get my sound issue resolved on my CTC-44A chassis RCA console tv from 1970. Question now is, how good of a picture can be expected on a set of this era? Obviously I won't be getting plasma tv clarity - but it has the original tube (has had daily use the first 10 years of it's life, then rarely used since). The adjustments on the back of the set have been cranked up (brightness) to give more adjustment on the front adjustment knob for brightness. Does not need a brightner per the tech that looked at it - he said it had some miles on the tube - maybe some vacuum loss - he also backed down the green color as it was too strong - said tube wasn't defective or shot - but rather it was showing some wear. Colors tend to not be too accurate - for example dark dark blues can almost look blackish, etc. Not sure with how tv signals are these days if a new tube would help it, or if i am not going to get much out of a new tube that is better. Also not sure if I should have it tinkered with due to age - but also fear that another tube will be hard to find down the road should it totally crap out. Tech also said nothing could be done with the aspect ratio - some of the footers on CNN can get somewhat cut off - he said cable tv and today's signals were the culprit. Adjusted it some, but had to back off as it started to shrink the top of the picture on the set. Any advice as to how often it should be used to help keep it operational, or does it matter? Many thanks!

The best picture would come from a tube with less wear on it.

The tube that you describe sounds like it's getting tired. Usually sets have some kind of internal adjustments that can buy you some time, but if a TV tech looked at it and basiclly said that was the best that could be done, then you definately need new parts.

I think a new or rebuilt tube would probably help your situation. I don't think one would be too hard to find. I've seen plenty of those RCA's from the early '70's and they had (to me) great pictures provided the tube was good and everything was set up properly. Also, if that set has "instant on"; you may want to have that feature disabled. Instant on is a circuit that keeps voltage on the CRT filament even when the set is off. This eliminates warm up time but often decreases tube life. I've seen several of the early XL-100 modular sets with the "instant on" feature that had dead CRT's.

i have seen a bazillion rca tubes-they will produce a very nice picture as long as its decent.sylvania,zenith,philco also made great tubes of that vintage. did your tech check the crt? sometimes a good cleaning will do wonders. i have jolted those rcas back to life many times. never had luck with the sylvanias or philcos though. seems like zeniths are never bad. if you need a tube( 25v?)there are still more than a few around.good luck!

There should not be any problem with the "aspect ratio". If proper adjustment of the height and linerity controls do not solve the problem you likely have some leaky caps in the vertical section. Cable tv and "todays signals" are not the culprits.
With a good crt that set should produce a very good picture.

Bill R

a picture tube for that should not be a problem . If its a rca rectangular console then the tube should be easy to find . If you need a tube i might have a new one in my attic , email me with the part number . I have way to many picture tubes in my attic and hopefully someone can use some . That kinda why i saved them .