This RCA 12" B&W was given to me by a friend a few weeks ago. When I saw it, I figured late '70's or very early '80's; but, it actually is an '84 model and uses the KCS204 chassis. The only thing wrong with it is the power switch is stuck in the "on" position and an inline switch has been placed in the AC cord. Otherwise, it's a good playing TV to have been made in Taiwan. I know RCA was making these sets in the '70's; but, I was not aware that they stayed around until at least '84. Like I said, RCA must have made a zillion of these!

I'm not sure when they stopped making those 12" b/w sets, but I've had a few from the 80's. The newest 12" b/w I ever had was an Admiral from 87, I had a similar RCA I from I think 1980, and a 1982 12" b/w Zenith.

I did have a newer Thomson era 12" RCA B&W; but, it had a different chassis and was overall cheaper built. I think it was made around '88. There's an '80's 12" GE B&W at the SA for $15. It does not have the popular "XB" chassis that was used during the '70's and early '80's. This one looks like a rebadged goldstar; but, it does have a GE address on the back. The last 12" B&W I saw new was an ACTION brand from the mid '90's. It had a regular rotary tuner and ran off a wall wart. They were very poor quality sets and I think they sold for $29.99.

I just love 12" B&W sets. Right now I only have two, a 1978 GE and a 1978 Matsushita built Quasar which works great except the horizontal hold pot is going bad. I'm trying to get a hold of what I think is an early Seventies set which I think is among the last hand wired tube type 12" sets. It is in a yellow cabinet and has the picture controls on the right side of the cabinet. It is made before the detent type UHF tuner was required.

I have a few 12" b&w sets. One is a 1978 Magnavox (built by Philips Video Corp of Taiwan) which is totally discrete SS and is a good performer; and the other is a '75ish GE with the SF chassis. Also a good basic set, especially for a hybrid. One particularly interesting set I've got is a Panasonic speed-o-vision from about 1973-4. Its SS, and has instant-on! CRT is still really bright though.

I did find one of those RCAs once from 1981 or so, same exact set looks-wise.... They tend to last for a very long time. I threw it away though since I had way too many 12" b&w's at the time.

I saw 12" B&W sets at Fry's up to at least the late 90s. Cheap-o brands, though. (KTV, Kawasho, Alaron, etc etc). They were selling for $33 or so.

Charles

I'm not sure when they stopped making those 12" b/w sets, but I've had a few from the 80's. The newest 12" b/w I ever had was an Admiral from 87, I had a similar RCA I from I think 1980, and a 1982 12" b/w Zenith.
I've got a 1987 B & W Emerson 12". It's got a Goldstar tube in it. I bought it from goodwill 2.5 years ago. It had a short in it when I got it but it was a super easy fix. A wire had somehow made contact with a capacitor.

One really recent 12" B&W set I briefly owned was a KTV KTV1210CLR. I can't remember if the boilerplate stated it was made in 1992 or 2002. Two very unusual features for a 12" B&W were it's electronic cable-ready tuner with OSD, and it's cabinet color - CLEAR!.
I had brought the set for $5 at a thrift store while on vacation in Upper Michigan, to use for TV DXing, and left it at the resort when it was time to return home (the set was then thrown away).
The clerk at the thrift store told me that the set came from a prison in town, that they were the only sets sold in the prison store. The cabinet was clear so that the television set could not be used to conceal drugs or weapons.
Picture was not very sharp nor bright, DX performance was decent, however.

Rob

000

I wouldn't mind finding one of those 12" Zenith's from the '80's with the direct entry channel keypad. I've only seen one in person. It was at a yard sale back in the very early '90's. It played fine; but, they wanted $25 for it. I left it because $25 would have been all that I could have gotten at the time.

I'd like to find someone local to hand-off my 12" collection to. I have some tube/hybrids from Zenith, Magnavox, Philco-Ford, GE, RCA, and some later sets from Curtis Mathes & Boshei. I have one of those instant-on Panasonics, too, though I think mine has tubes. Most of them are sitting, unloved, out in the shed.

in 81,82 rca would run a promotion buy a color 25" console and receive a free 12" b&w tv. it generated a lot of sales we gave quite a few away. steve

Well, picked up another one from an older lady that my Mother knows. This one being a '77 model. The case looks almost identical to the '80's sets; but, the chassis is of an older design (KCS203). The chassis in this set actually had a plug in IF module, while the newer chassis (KCS204) is a single board design. When I powered up this set, it came to life with vertical height problems. Then, the picture collapsed to a horizontal line. This makes the third one of these little sets that I've found over the past year - an '84, '81, and '77. I ended up giving the '84 model away.

I'll post a picture of the '77 model soon.

Speaking of B&W sets from the late 70's, it turns out that the computer monitor that was sold with the TRS80 computer was a modified RCA B&W TV set. The "TRS80" plastic logo on the front hid holes in the cabinet where the TV tuner would have been, and there was a space where a speaker was to mount as well (behind the grillwork under the CRT).

They used a wide bandwidth opto-coupler to get the baseband video from the computer to the hot chassis modified TV set. a 6N135 IIRC.
http://www.videokarma.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=164961&d=1254204466
Of course any computer/TV/Star Trek geek is required to play episodes of Star Trek on one of these monitors...

I have a early-mid 80s RCA B&W 12" set that I bought new as a bedroom set. The interesting thing for me about this set is that it doesn't have the usual click-stop tuner, but instead one that is more like a radio tuner which is continuously variable, with a toggle switch to choose either VHF or UHF. I haven't seen anything like that before.

I'm not sure but that might be a Canadian market set then Greg. Wasn't a click stop VHF tuner mandated by the FCC? I know UHF wasn't until 1975 but...:scratch2:

I'm not sure but that might be a Canadian market set then Greg. Wasn't a click stop VHF tuner mandated by the FCC? I know UHF wasn't until 1975 but...:scratch2:

The mandate was that the UHF and VHF tuners must use the same "method" of tuning, so continuous was OK, so long as it was both bands.

Typical stupid government mandate I might add! I much prefer a continuous UHF tuner!

BTW, I have a direct access digitally tuned Zenith B&W set (and it's even more rare 19" brother) They are good performers for DXing, and you actually can fine tune them!

Oh, thanks for the info Carmine. I agree too..... Why is a UHF (or VHF) fine tuner even needed with a continuous tuner?! It really isn't IMO. I guess "Joe-sixpack/average tv watcher" liked the detents.....LOL.

In a location with plenty of UHF stations, the click-stop tuners were a big improvement over the random, continuous tuners of the past. Most non-detent UHF tuners were not very well marked with channel numbers, and the sets with the UHF tuner and indicator concentric with the VHF were the hardest to use.

Why is a UHF (or VHF) fine tuner even needed with a continuous tuner?! It really isn't IMO. I guess "Joe-sixpack/average tv watcher" liked the detents.....LOL.
Fine tuning on non-detent UHF tuners was really just a gear/tuning speed reduction. One thing I have never seen is memory (per-channel preset) fine tuning on a dial/detent UHF tuner. Varactor/push-button tuners fixed that problem.

... am I the only one that cannot see the photo in the first post? :no: I feel like I'm missing out on somethin here! :dammit:

I do, however, see the photo further down with Spock on the Tandy. :yes:

Since i can't see the photo of the RCA being discussed, I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that it's one of these below... because I do recall seeing LOTS of these over the years!

back when we got our Atari 2600, this little RCA was the only thing we were allowed to connect it to. There was always talk of video games burning out screens. Yeah, perhaps... if you ONLY played the same game ALL the time EVERY day. Funny... i never noticed any burn-in on this RCA. :no:

The set was eventually sold at a garage sale... still working just fine.

Yep, that's it. My origianl picture must have been removed during the AK to VK transition. The '84 and '77 models were in a white cabinet and the '81 is in a woodgrain cabinet.

back when we got our Atari 2600, this little RCA was the only thing we were allowed to connect it to. There was always talk of video games burning out screens. Yeah, perhaps... if you ONLY played the same game ALL the time EVERY day. Funny... i never noticed any burn-in on this RCA.
The video-game burn-in problem was primarily from the early black-and-white game units. They had truly bright white game elements on completely black backgrounds, and many people didn't think to turn down the contrast on their TVs for these games. Also, besides people playing the games for hours at a time, many of them were probably left turned on and displayed even when not being used.

The Atari 2600 was well-known when it was released for having anti-burn-in features, specifically game displays that changed colors at the end of each timed game. Air-Sea Battle was good enough to be a video work of art if left running after a game.

My first television was a little 12" RCA B&W. Originally, it was purchased in the late seventies as a second tv in my parent's bedroom. Then it was in the bathroom so my Dad wouldn't miss a moment of the Phillies. Finally, it came to me.

With just the rabbit ears, I could pull in some pretty distant stations. I used it for about five years, when I got my very own color set. My parents still have that little B&W, and my Dad loyally turns it on once a month for a half hour or so to keep those caps formed up nicely.

sets sold in the prison store. The cabinet was clear
Clear prison TVs pop up on eBay fairly regularly. One owner thought he had run across some rare factory prototype or custom deal. He wasn't so jolly when I told him it came from the joint and was probably sold for $10 at the pawn shop nearest the prison. I could have sworn these also came with color. Or maybe a seller was just making that up.

Phil

Here are pictures of the '77 RCA. It is receiving a low power UHF analog station. The vertical problem was caused by bad solder connections. The '81 model looks similar, except that the chassis is of the single board chassis type.

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff341/radiotvnut/2009_1003TVs0003.jpg

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/ff341/radiotvnut/2009_1003TVs0005.jpg

Clear prison TVs pop up on eBay fairly regularly. One owner thought he had run across some rare factory prototype or custom deal. He wasn't so jolly when I told him it came from the joint and was probably sold for $10 at the pawn shop nearest the prison. I could have sworn these also came with color. Or maybe a seller was just making that up.

Phil
Yes, there have been color prison (clear-cabinet) TV sets.

I really want that. I think I have one of those monitors around somewhere as well.

David

Speaking of B&W sets from the late 70's, it turns out that the computer monitor that was sold with the TRS80 computer was a modified RCA B&W TV set. The "TRS80" plastic logo on the front hid holes in the cabinet where the TV tuner would have been, and there was a space where a speaker was to mount as well (behind the grillwork under the CRT).

They used a wide bandwidth opto-coupler to get the baseband video from the computer to the hot chassis modified TV set. a 6N135 IIRC.
http://www.videokarma.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=164961&d=1254204466
Of course any computer/TV/Star Trek geek is required to play episodes of Star Trek on one of these monitors...

I've seen them with knobs above the tuners and knobs below the tuners....Had one of those myself back in the stone age, red cabinet, grey front/rear. Think it was a 1981 model. Not the most sensetive of reception being 60 miles outside the transmitters, but then again my 1979 JCPenney B/W 12" wasn't much of an improvement (but had a much cheaper feel to it!).

I recently went to a church rummage sale and they had two 12" colors, one Sony and something else. Only $50 each!! One said "ready to enjoy".

$50 each was a fair price - 15 or 20 years ago! Now, about $25 is all any 13" set will fetch. And, it has to be a newer model with A/V jacks in order to get that much. Sort of reminds me of when my church had a rummage sale in the late '90's. They had a mid '70's 19" Toshiba built Sears color set priced at $75 and an early '90's 19" Zenith remote color set priced at $125. Fortunately, they listened to me when I told them they'd never go at those prices. The people pricing those sets were a bunch of old ladies who probably had not priced a new TV in ages. And, most people who frequent rummage and garage sales are looking for a dirt cheap bargain.

$25???? Nooooooo! Start doing yard sales tomorrow. Every yard sale is guaranteed to have at least (one) bread maker, coffee pot of some description, curling iron and a 13"-19"-27" TV or all three priced at $2-15 each and work good. Don't take my word for it, Do'em!!!

Report back to me Monday, I'll be waiting....

Yeah, that $25 price is what it would bring after extensive advertising on CL, the local paper, and some exposure at the flea market. If it was at a yard sale, a 13" TV would bring less than $10. I know I have no intention of selling any semi-modern working color TV for $10 (unless it's that beat up RCA console that I currently have). It wouldn't be worth my effort to drag them home and repair them for that amount.

I have a early-mid 80s RCA B&W 12" set that I bought new as a bedroom set. The interesting thing for me about this set is that it doesn't have the usual click-stop tuner, but instead one that is more like a radio tuner which is continuously variable, with a toggle switch to choose either VHF or UHF. I haven't seen anything like that before.

Wow, I have one of those as a spare in my closet. I just went to try to find a model and the sticker has been peeled off of the back of my set. It is white plastic and simply says RCA on the black face, with "Electronic Tuning" underneath the RCA logo in small, red font. Funny how it's an "Electronic Tuning" model that is all BUT that. It's tuning is as manual as manual gets. I know, theoretically any tuning is electronic tuning. I just wonder why they made a set as recent as the 80's with a very backdated tuning method. I have only seen sets form the late 40's with continuous tuning.

I bought the set second hand for no real reason other than it semed unique, cheap, and works like a charm.:thmbsp: It main purpose is for when the electricity goes out in the winter. I hook it and the sattelite box up to a car battery, via a power inverter, and I at least have SOME form of entertainment as I lay bundled up with the indoor temperature steadily dropping (electric house).:thumbsdn: