Got a 1974 19" RCA XL 100 from the same estate sale that I got the System 3 console. It came from the estate of an 89 year old "spinster" lady. Everything was spotless in that house. Anyway.... this set works perfectly and has a fantastic picture. I was surprised as I was never impressed with the pictures on those 70's RCA's. I'm too lazy to take this one apart to see what chassis number is in it. Does anyone know which one it has. It's a 1974 model and the model number is FS 480W My only complaint with RCA on this set, is that is has a "cool" 70's look about it, but uses those cheap-ass flimsy slide controls on the front. What was RCA thinking? I can't complain on the price I paid tho... it was 1/2 off day, so paid $12.50

That's in Sams 1380, showing CTC-71A...

Charles

Cool, thanks Charles. I'm surprised as I thought it would be somewhere in the CTC-60 series

had the back off the set today, and indeed Charles it IS a CTC-71A. I have to vent about RCA quality tho. I decided to use this set for a bedroom tv for awhile. I have it on a digital cable box. Picture is pretty good, but on occasion the picture will "ghost" and flicking back and forth on the channel control will help. I got tuner cleaner and cleaned the tuner and it STILL does it. Anyway.... my "vent" about RCA is that they used one cheap ass flimsy tuner and also ALL user controls on the front are a joke. The set has a pretty good chassis, and everything else seems put together well, but the controls the customer would have used the most are CHEAP. This set came from an 89 year old "spinster" and it saw little use. It never woulda held up to a family with kids. Yet another reason why Zenith was better than the other manufactures in the 70's.......

I got one of these sets from my Grandma on my dad's side, when she passed away. The volume slide control can be kind of a pain!
Does this have a wafer switch tuner or strips (can't remember). In either case I would use Deoxit on it...other cleaners cannot deoxidize the way Deoxit can, and in areas where air pollution is high you can get a lot of black oxidation that won't come off otherwise. Also try and get a lint free cloth and manually clean the contacts on the coil strips if it has them.

Also, this set has a power transformer but I think that the chassis is connected to power line (hot).

thanks Chad, I'm pretty sure it's a wafer type. I'll order some de-oxit. I haven't had the best luck with Radio Shack tuner cleaner? Does that stuff work at all?

RS tuner cleaner consists of a freon-like chemical (whatever they have replaced freon with these days) plus mineral oil for lubrication. I find though that the problem really is often oxidation which causes high resistance between contacts and a deoxidizer like Deoxit breaks up the oxides chemically. We also have found Tech Spray "Rid-Ox" to have very good deoxidizing properties, however it has a petroleum oil-type base whereas Deoxit DN5 has a drier, non-petroleum based solvent.

I'm bidding on some deoxit on eBay now. I wish I remembered the tuner cleaner my Uncle used to use in the shop in the 70's. I wonder if it's still available. I remember it was in a big yellow can, and I think it was called Tun-O-Wash. That stuff was really good! Anyway, I will try to clean the tuner with the deoxit if I win it. I couldn't deal with the RCA, so I switched out tv's in my bedroom and am now using my 1972 Chromacolor Hybrid set. MUCH better picture.

...

YUP!!!!! That's it Andy!!! Man.... the pix of that can brings back memories. I loved that stuff! I did a "google" search and Chemtronics is having a close out on Tun-O-Wash, but sadly they say it's CFC free now. :( Also as stated in my earlier post, I switched out bedroom tv's. RCA went back to the basement, and I brought up my Zenith Hybrid. My god that set has a good picture! You know how in one's collection you have a set or two that have just the best picture you've ever seen? Well... this one is it for me. I'd set it next to ANY new direct view set in a store and it would have a better picture than those. I am "cussing" it at the moment. I carried it up by myself from the basement, and altho it's only a 19" set, my back is killing me now. It's a heavy sucker!