I have a buddy that needed a newer console tv (remote,stereo,cable ready) and at a thrift store I found an RCA Colortrac 2000. Man was that set loaded with features. 3 antenna inputs, 2 video inputs, and dolby stereo, with bass and treble controls. The screen has a flat "Trinitron" look about it, and the picture was amazing. For those of you that are familiar with these, was it a true RCA? What chassis is likely in it, and how did they hold up? Also, were they RCA's "high-end" set? I thought it was a good deal for $50.00. The set that it replaced was a 1984 Zenith System 3 that had issues. I think the picture tube was going out. It had a greenish cast to it, and a big pink splotch on the screen that got worse the longer the set was on.

That was their high end line (similar to the Diemnsia line). It probably has a CTC-140, or CTC-169 chassis. If there's a large multi pin connector that looks like the European SCART connector near the A/V jacks, it's a 140.

Both can produce an excellent picture and are reliable apart from a few common problems. In my opinion, the 140 and 169 were by far the two best ever RCA designs (I prefer the 140). 1987 would have been when GE owned RCA.

The CTC-140 suffers from bad soldering in various places, particularly the power supply. The 169 sufferes from bad caps in the power supply which eventually causes the power supply to blow. They can have other less common power supply problems such as bad rectifier diodes.

Google groups will give you more information that you want on both chassis.

I picked one out of the trash in 1996, and used it for a couple years, then gave it to my brother who still uses it in his living room. The thing's indestructible!

I think 1987 is too early for the CTC-169....I'm betting 140. Great sets. The two most common problems I've seen:

Bad solder connections, and occasionally a bad diode on the diode SIP board. It's a little board about half way along the right edge (viewed from the back) of the PC board. It stands upright and is about 2 inches wide, and has 3 diodes on it. Lots of intermittents come from there.

Second is a cracked surface mount capacitor near the IF chip. Causes lots of squiggly lines and stuff when it fails, and of course it heals up for a while as soon as you touch it. Only a problem if you are using the tuner input.

If you ever work on it for anything else, resolder the horizontal drive transformer and the coil between it and the horizontal output transistor base.
(actually, do that on any set you work on......high failure rate area on lots of sets.)
There are a few other spots around the flyback where the solder sometimes gets nice and crispy. You'll know them when you see them.

I think you'll like that set. I still see them sometimes and most of them still have pretty strong CRTs. :thmbsp:

I agree it's probably a 140. I think 169 came around '92 or so. Those do have a nice picture! I used to hate troubleshooting the power supply though... It had about 25 separate supplies, and the schematic was spread over a million pages which makes it VERY HARD to try to understand the circuit!

Only thing I can add to the other posts is that I used to have a lot of failed pincushion boards, and I think there was an upgrade kit on that.

Charles

what picture tube does it use? I was surprised on how flat it looks. Didn't think the manufactures were trying to copy the "Trinitron look" that early.

This is probably a 26" tube, it is kind of in between the squarer 27" and more rounded corners of the 25". Have seen it on just a few RCA and Magnavox models.

My Grandma still has "our" set from when I was a kid that was just like that. Funny you should mention trinitron cause I still remember the guy at suntv telling my dad that it was a trinitron. They'd say anything to make a sale. Thanks for the memories gotta call Grandma now.

I hope this set doesn't need a repair already. My buddy said it turned itself off and then came back on a couple of times Sunday night. He's kinda dippy tho and there were some brief power surges Sunday (because of the high temps). We had it on for 6 hours Saturday and not a glitch. If it does it again, what might be the culprit? The picture & sound are too amazing to not have it repaired if it's broken....

Sounds like the connections on that diode board. There's also a tiny coil on that board, and sometimes it is a little hard to get the solder to stick to the wire, so double check it.

By the way, RCA called those CRTs (at least the 27") "Square Planar "flat"" and were from the COTY29 series.

(Combined Optimum Tube Yoke - 29mm neck)

They are 110 degree angle tubes which made them pretty flat. I never figured out how they made a tube with a nearly flat screen and that wide an angle of deflection without loosing a lot of quality in the corners. If you look closely you will see that the corners dont focus as well as the center. That's actually pretty common, but these looked pretty good. Now days, they just modulate the focus voltage to make perfect focus anywhere on the screeen

Can you tell I like these sets?

I picked up a 1987 Colortrak 2000 monitor/tv which turned out to be a CTC130C. Had 2 vid inputs and stereo with bass/treble/balance also.

I'd have to check the books to be sure, but I don't think the 130C had more that one antenna input. They used the MTT module for tuner/control function, and I can't remember ever seeing multiple rf inputs on that module. (But I saw tons of bad connections in those modules!) I think 1987 was the last year for the 130 series. I guess I need to dig out the old manuals, 'cause you got me wondering about it now.

The 130C had a seperate power supply off board to the right of the flyback, because the 130 series was a hot chassis, and this extra supply provided ground isolation for the A/V inputs. They also added some pin correction circuitry to straighten up the sides. I used to see a fair number of those with bad pin driver transistors.

Hey, Jstout66, do you know the model number on the set? Then we'll know for sure.

I'll get the model number the next time I go over there and post it. The set also has 4 antenna inputs. I think the set has been working okay as I haven't heard any more complaints, so I'm assuming (and hoping) it was the power spikes last Sunday.

Didnt realize that your set has multiple antenna connections: You are correct, as mine with the 130C had only one coax in.

I'll get the model number posted as soon as I get over there again. "My" set has UHF screws, then a "Converter" hook-up, and then 3 coax antenna hook-ups, along with 2 video hook-ups.

:worthless

Here's a pic for ya!

I got the model number off the set tonight. It's GMR2758P Would anyone know what the chassis number would be in this set? I was over at my buddies tonight to watch a few movies and the set did not act up once. He did say that on occasion it will turn itself off.

I have a buddy that needed a newer console tv (remote,stereo,cable ready) and at a thrift store I found an RCA Colortrac 2000. Man was that set loaded with features. 3 antenna inputs, 2 video inputs, and dolby stereo, with bass and treble controls. The screen has a flat "Trinitron" look about it, and the picture was amazing. For those of you that are familiar with these, was it a true RCA? What chassis is likely in it, and how did they hold up? Also, were they RCA's "high-end" set? I thought it was a good deal for $50.00. The set that it replaced was a 1984 Zenith System 3 that had issues. I think the picture tube was going out. It had a greenish cast to it, and a big pink splotch on the screen that got worse the longer the set was on.

I have a pair of Colortrak 2000 RCA television sets. Both use the CTC-121 chassis. Of course, they are fully solid state and not quite old enough to be considered antiques but given that parts are becoming hard to find one could say they are collectable. I'd give them another 30 year before I'd place historic vehicle plates on them. I bought my first one in 1986 and a second one came to me one day when a friend was moving in 1987. The picture tube faceplate is slightly spherical - not quite flat in both axis (traditional trinitron tubes used cylindrical glass (vertically flat but horizontally curved). Yes, they are amazing sets but cannot, in my opinion, produce as bright a picture as a trinitron and do require carefull corner convergence tweaking the get the picture perfect. However, on the upside these sets are more reliable than Trinitron TV's from the same era and the picture tubes are weather beaters ... extremely reliable. The only problem I've found is that one set had a bad picture tube socket contact...if anyone has a spare CRT board then please let me know 'cause I need a replacement socket!

I think RCA did a nice job designing the Colortrak. The sets I have both use a 25VGRP22 picture tube charged to 27KV on the ultor. However, bad solder joints sometimes appear in the tuner and can cause the video signals to fade suddenly causing the picture to mute (go to black level). However, it's an easy fix to resolder the joints.

The Colortrak 2000 sets I have were high end and part of RCA's SelectaVision series. I also have a matching SKT400 video disc player. Cool device that plays back a movie on something that looks like a vinyl LP.

For fun I took some still shots to show the picture quality of the 25" 1986 Colortrak compared to my 27" 1952 Philco. I restored the Philco 5 years ago. Nice chassis to work on. back then, in the early '50s the Philco was state of the art with separate chassis for video/sound/ and power/sweep output. It included a UHF tuner (one of the first). The Phiclo works surprising well side by side to the RCA and has excellent video response. You can see the CRT on the Philco is quite large for its day. Slightly larger than the RCA but, of course, more rounded on the corners. I think the black and white pictures actually look better on the old Philco compared to the modern color set :D

The Philco is great set to watch Turner Classic movies on in the evening...that and a large bag of kettle corn .plus some liquid refreshment... :banana:

Oh, ...by the way, the instrument to the right of a few of the pics is my Cambridge Instrument S-100 Scanning Electron Microcope. A great tool for examining electron gun assemblies and other such stuff that blows away my time, my wife's patience and definitely lots of space. :thmbsp:

Tom, Great info and nice sets!! For the socket you need,if you can't come up with a used one, you should call Moyers and give them the module/part number. They will have it. http://www.moyerelectronics.com/

An industrial version of those sets was used in schools for many years. I always thought it was odd to base a school set on such a high end chassis.