Would someone be so kind as to list for me the tubes found in an RCA-Victor 8PT (the boxy, 8" metal portable with the vent grilles on top)? I've searched, but couldn't find this information, though I thought it would be easy since it seems to be a pretty common tv.

Here you go, not only the tubes but the whole schematic.

http://vintagetvsets.com/schem/kcs100.pdf

Excellent! Thank you very much!

By the way, that's a great site you have there.

Hi: The earlier chassis used a 6CG7 as vertical oscillator/output, with associated component differences, and the second anode voltage is shown on the RCA schematic as 5800 volts, as opposed to 7000 volts for the later chassis, which provides a slightly brighter picture. Neat little set. I use mine to watch old b/w TV show and movie DVD's.
Kevin

A cute little bugger, and cleverly designed. If interested, you can read my restoration notes at:

http://www.antiqueradio.org/rca16.htm

I have a second one waiting for attention.

Regards,

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

I've had one of these for about nine years now. They are one of my favorite vintage models, true 50s styling, superb build quality and small enough to use and display almost anywhere. It is a very dependable set when properly restored.

Phil, thank you for that article; I'm sure your experiences will be of help to many. As an aside, does anyone know what the differences are between the versions of this tv that have the side-mounted bracket and the stand (as on Eric's site) versus the ones with just the rubber feet and no bracket (as the one on Phil's site appears to be)? Was one an earlier model, or was the stand just an extra-cost option? The "bracketless" ones don't seem to have any holes on the side for mounting it, which is what makes me wonder.

They come in 4 colors (Black, White, Red and Grey) and two styles, bracket and no bracket, I don't know if there are an early and late version of each but I suspect there are.
The no bracket version does not have the mounting holes so it can't be converted to a stand model.

They aren't painted, they are coated with a plastic that's related to Bakelite I think, I have an ad around here somewhere that says that.

I've lost count of how many of these thing I've accumulated, 10 or 12 maybe? and only one had a bad CRT, I think every one of them would at least fire up and get sound, most all had problems with the horizontal sync, just bad caps, a very well built set indeed!

I wonder how many of them RCA sold, must have been a million!

At that time RCA, and many others, traditionally introduced the deluxe model at mid year and followed up EOY with a "cost improved" version at a lower price. The "cheapo" was usually introduced right after Christmas to refill dealer warehouses.

That was a marketing scheme to encourage dealers to buy the cheap model to average down costs of existing inventory. It also was a way to get dealers who never bought in at the initial price to buy some without devaluing the premier dealers unsold stock. It was usually offered in limited quantities like six or twelve. It also gave the discount houses a price leader while minimizing aggravation for the exclusive dealers.