Anyone remember the RCA color portable that was VERY shallow? I think it was only about as thick as a medium suitcase, SS chassis.

Yep, I had one back around 1978 or79, I think it was a CTC53 or something close. The first inline RCA as I recall.

I had to install a rebuilt CRT but the set worked very well.

CTC52 maybe, the CTC53 was a tube set reminiscent of the older CTC36.

I remember those. There was another more boxy set, Colortrak era CTC74, Upper end of chassis was framed out and supported by a 3/8 rod stock, welded. Damn heavy too both these - IIRC pulling them off the high shelf (where the brought-in sets were) and noticing the sheer mass as it surprised you by dropping down. good handles too, not much more than dirty tuners, pincushion, trans and other heavy items on PCBs made for bad solder joints ..AIR
They seemed very different than the later XL100, maybe 1st gen circa 1972. CRTs were very odd, May-a-been a one-gun like the later 15-19" XL-100s?

I can't remember what model it was, possibly an XL-100.
It had the chassis with the little tiny video modules for each color, and I think it had a rocker switch at the top for power on/off.

wasnt that an accucolor hybrid set?heavy as hell!19 inch that always had dirty tuners and caps in the vertical.never much more than those issues.i lifted way too many of those down from the shelf.i think they weighed around 65 lbs

The one I had was all solid state, chassis similar to this one but in a portable:
http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=164124

I only had it a short time (year?) then I upgraded to a 1977? 19" model that came into the shop with the CRT neck blown off by lightning (so they said) now that was a heavy beast!

Pretty sure there is a picture of one posted here but I wouldn't know where to look.

I know the set... 100% solid state, has a steel handle and weighs a ton! I kick myself for not saving one in nice shape that sat in a TV shop where I worked in the 90s. Very rare these days, and I think that's because the CRT was terrible in that model. I think it was a 110-degree tube, with very primitive bonded yoke. It has a unique socket too; incompatible with any other CRT that I know of, and has it's own test socket with the B&K checkers.

Charles

I know the set... 100% solid state, has a steel handle and weighs a ton! I kick myself for not saving one in nice shape that sat in a TV shop where I worked in the 90s. Very rare these days, and I think that's because the CRT was terrible in that model. I think it was a 110-degree tube, with very primitive bonded yoke. It has a unique socket too; incompatible with any other CRT that I know of, and has it's own test socket with the B&K checkers.

Charles

Yep, that CRT number ended with a C01, not P22.
No memory trouble here, good recall - everyone!:thmbsp:

Had one of those on the bench one time. Heavy as an anvil it was, and it was the remote version. I forget what the original problem was, but the chassis had to come out, and the remote unit came out with the chassis.
After reassembly and power up, the set exhibited a wierd new problem that looked like ringing in the IF strip. Battled it for a week or more, and finally traced to to the remote pickup microphone. The ground connection had broken between the shielded mic cable and the mic casing. Resoldeded it securely and the problem was cured.

Dunno if this would be considered a shallow chassis or not. It has a handle but weighs a ton. The CRT is a bit weak, no doubt a victim of the instant on (which of course, now stays off)! I rescued it curbside about 25 years ago.

What Chassis is this? I could never find the number.

Thanks,

-Clark

Instant on? I thought the CRT heaters ran off the flyback on those. Could be mistaken though. Been a lotta years.

That is the one I had near as I can remember, the rocker switch at the top and the huge CRT socket are two things I remember clearly.

...

I've had a couple of those over the years. One was an early model that had "trans vista color" stamped on the control panel.

Instant on? I thought the CRT heaters ran off the flyback on those. Could be mistaken though. Been a lotta years.

Hmm, you are right. I stand (err, sit) corrected. The slide switch on the back of the set that I thought was an instant on switch is actually a low/high line voltage switch. I could've sworn this set had instant on. I guess that's what 20+ years does to my memory :scratch2:

-Clark

Hmm, you are right. I stand (err, sit) corrected. The slide switch on the back of the set that I thought was an instant on switch is actually a low/high line voltage switch. I could've sworn this set had instant on. I guess that's what 20+ years does to my memory :scratch2:

-Clark

I think those DID have instant-on... Not sure if it was switchable or not, but I can remember seeing the degaussing coil still bending the picture around as the screen was lighting up. There was a public scare in the late 70s about house fires from instant-on TVs, and many of them were modified to be no longer instant-on. I don't remember the RCAs having a fire reputation; rather I think it was mainly the Japanese tube hybrid sets which kept all the tubes at 3 or 4 volts, causing a constant load.

Charles

SCR's would go bad, convergence was always slightly off, and if I remember right, weird horizontal linearity.

SCR's would go bad, convergence was always slightly off, and if I remember right, weird horizontal linearity.


Terribly primitive inline gun, and useless convergence rings.

Charles