May be interested in a newer type of RCA Console Television? Anywhere from around 1992-1997 year Models. I saw someone's 1997 RCA Model Console and it looked really nice.

Check the thrift/second-hand stores/CL and you should have no problem at all finding one. Around here, I see more of them than I want to. That upright home theatre console that I turned down at the estate sale would have been a good one; but, it's too new for my collecting interest and all it would do is take up space over here. The CTC177/187/203 chassis was used in the low to mid level consoles. Most of the higher end home theatre consoles used the CTC169 and the later ones used the CTC179 and CTC197 chassis.

May be interested in a newer type of RCA Console Television? Anywhere from around 1992-1997 year Models. I saw someone's 1997 RCA Model Console and it looked really nice.

craigslist is flooded with sets that vintage for free.

What TC said.
Good thing you don't want a Zenith because those are exactly the years you would want to avoid. I don't think the RCA's were too bad though.

Biggest problems with the RCA's was the tuner connections. The CRT's usually held up OK.

If it were me I would look for a CTC169. IMHO
the best all around RCA chassis. Never saw one
with a bad pic. Problem is most were in 27" +
table models. All have an extensive jack panel
and are the top-o-line for the many years they
built them. Not a good set for a beginner TV
collector if it has problems so find a good
running one.

73 Zeno:smoke:

There was a shop around here who hated 169's and I told him, "Fine, I'll take everyone that you want to get rid of." He was always telling me crap like, "I replaced the HOT and the damn thing only worked a week, biggest POS RCA ever built." I thought to myself, "No, it's not a POS, it's just that you don't know how to properly service one." Knowing this guy, he was likely pulling used HOT's that were underrated off of junk boards

My experience with what usually happens is there are some small electrolytic capacitors in the power supply that fail and cause the B+ to rise to an excessive level. If you're lucky, the set will simply go into shutdown. If you're not lucky, the HOT will short and can also take out the power supply chopper transistor and the control IC. There is also a blue cap in the HOT area that will open and I've also seen diodes shorted in the HOT area, along with the bad HOT. It's also important that these parts be replaced with factory parts, if at all possible. Once you cover all your bases with the power supply and HOT, the set will usually run fine for years to come.

There was a shop around here who hated 169's and I told him, "Fine, I'll take everyone that you want to get rid of." He was always telling me crap like, "I replaced the HOT and the damn thing only worked a week, biggest POS RCA ever built." I thought to myself, "No, it's not a POS, it's just that you don't know how to properly service one." Knowing this guy, he was likely pulling used HOT's that were underrated off of junk boards

My experience with what usually happens is there are some small electrolytic capacitors in the power supply that fail and cause the B+ to rise to an excessive level. If you're lucky, the set will simply go into shutdown. If you're not lucky, the HOT will short and can also take out the power supply chopper transistor and the control IC. There is also a blue cap in the HOT area that will open and I've also seen diodes shorted in the HOT area, along with the bad HOT. It's also important that these parts be replaced with factory parts, if at all possible. Once you cover all your bases with the power supply and HOT, the set will usually run fine for years to come.
And I thought I was the only one that liked them ! Not a set that
you could bang out 20 a day but something to enjoy at leisure.
Physicaly a bit awkward but well built. Never had one beat me
& call RCA TA. Hardest one I remember was CR4118 IIRC. Very intermitant
with subtle changes in color & contrast.
Agree on OEM especially in the PS & Hoz of higher end sets.
Better to pay a little more & wait a few days than fix something twice.......

73 Zeno:smoke:

I have saw several RCA Console Televisions on my local Craigslist. However, haven't saw one quite like the 1993 or the 1997 models like I turned down a week ago and ended up in the ditch instead. All it had was the bad tuner problem they were known for. I am still thinking really hard about seeing if it can still be saved.

Thrift store here, east TN, not too terribly far from the NC border. (PM for location) has a 93 or so set, 25 or 27 inches (forget which). I think it is one of the bad tuner ones, but I turned it on and it does work.

I live in Northern Kansas.

Ah, bit too far then.