The other day I was driving to Chick-fil-A, a rather hot button item these days, and saw that my neighbor had placed an old tv on his curb. I instantly thought, "well i knew this day would come, but i didn't know it would be today." So there you have it, my first "TV with legs." So what i have here is an RCA ctc-16a model GF 611 W. The cataracts is pretty bad but a good first set. I was wondering if anyone had a sams manual for it?

TMI! :o

I have most of the factory service manual scanned i can email you. Better that sams
Did you try it?

Cool. I really like the CTC-16's. Decently reliable and can have excellent pictures when working correctly. My avitar is one. The price was right.

Also theres some good info in this thread on many of the common issues with the 16. http://videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=255016
Try and read through the whole thing.

A few of us 16 owners should get together and do a full 16 thread. I know have way to much experience with this chassis, from common failures to subbing flybacks and other parts.

At this point with this chassis, the first things I would say is change the .01uf caps that drive the 6gu7s, the color burst crystal, the thermistor, and maybe the electrolytics. There are also a few white tubular caps, one in the vertical circuit that likes to short and smoke the 1000 ohm resistor. Its conected to the plate and under that chassis.

The first round screen set I ever had was a CTC-16. I removed the chassis and CRT, as the owner wanted the cabinet. It ran in my bedroom without a cabinet for about a year, until my stupid cousin that was WARNED repeatedly about not touching it... got shocked, and whined to his mother, who told my mom, who made me get it out of the house. It lived in my workshop/shed for years. Played well, and had good color. I made a brace for the bezel out of plywood and 2x4's.

The 2nd was a Zenith. No tuner, and I never got it working. I was about 11 at the time.

I've always had a special place in my heart for the 16's.

I seem to have several sets of knobs that would fit that. I had a CTC16E and a 16XL in HS. I learned much by working on and aligning them.

My lesson was not to use a 3A3C in place of a 3A3 because its shorter and caused arcing that could have destroyed the flyback.

ctc17: those factory service manuals would be great! I'll PM you my email.

That is a great thread, I'm going to take it all into consideration while I go through my chassis with a fine tooth comb.

I powered the set on, heard some static, the squeal of a crt, and only see some color when I turn the set off. I'm having a lot of fun with this set already.

I can get you the Sams in PDF if you want it.
Phil

I would check the crt before I spent one minute on the chassis. Sounds like the flyback is ok just need to verify the crt.

Ya i couldn't agree more. I'm taking the crt to get tested next weekend.

DavGoodlin: Some knobs would be great. We should talk price in about a week when I get some more info on my CRT.

I know I know, I should not put any money into this thing quite yet BUT i bought a NOS RCA flyback on ebay for 15.00!! It is the flyback that coincides with my 1V2 focus rectifier. So happy that I found this thing.... even if i don't need it.

I had that same issue with a Silvertone clone set. I had plenty of HV, but it would only light for an instant after turning it off. My boost rect diode was open. Replacing it with two of those Radio Shack 1KV rated ones in series fixed the issue and has held up for close to two years of regular use now.

Ok so I had the tube checked out and it is a dud..... so I figure I might as well sell the flybacks i have. Here is a link for the NOS:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/120971199639?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fsch%2F i.html%3F_sacat%3D0%26_nkw%3D120971199639%26_rdc%3 D1#ht_500wt_1288

Ok so I had the tube checked out and it is a dud..... so I figure I might as well sell the flybacks i have. Here is a link for the NOS:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/120971199639?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fsch%2F i.html%3F_sacat%3D0%26_nkw%3D120971199639%26_rdc%3 D1#ht_500wt_1288

If the CRT is shot, someone here probably could use the chassis. I had one shipped to me, once. It happens!!

Sorry you are having difficulties. Keep looking. One will turn up.