WHY is the RCA CTC-44 SO RARE today??

[rca2000]

In another post, I spoke about finding and saving an RCA CTC 44 set last Friday. I THOUGHT it was a CTC-40, cause of the "trans vista color" badge, BUT I was VERY pleasantly surprised to find out it is a CTC-44 instead. A VERY nice cabinet with folding doors, and speakers on each side. Not sure it it is remote or not yet, but looks like a matrix tube from the color of the phospor.

SO--WHY is it SO hard to find a CTC-44 today?? They seem MUCH harder to find than a CTC 40, which is nearly identical, save for a tube HV rect. I believe they must have been expensive--, and they were only made for 1971, and so, fewer were made. BUT--the CTC-40 is MUCH more common, and even the slightly older CTC-47, the RCA2000 set, at least for ME--has been easier to find!! I have ONE other 44, and I drove a LONG way to get it. It is in a MUCH less fancy cabinet, but still pretty nice. This one, it was almost in my back yard, --Monroe Ohio, about 20 miles away from me!!

Anyone else out there have a 44, or know why they seem so rare?? Or--is that just "around here"?

[radiotvnut]

I can tell you that the closest I've ever came to a 44 was the picture of one in a Sams Photofact. I did find a CTC40 back before I had sense. The yoke was burned, the CRT had cataracts, and the cabinet was not the best. I ended up dumping it when I couldn't locate a good yoke. Tube type 38's and 39's and the later upright chassis modular sets of the '70's were, back in the '90's, common as dirt around here. And, some still show up from time to time. I think the reason the 40's and 44's were not common around here is because this is poor mans country and most people were not going to spend the extra bucks for a solid state set. The few that were around have probably either been dumped or gutted for the cabinet.

[KentTeffeteller]

More expensive then (over $100 more) and many technicians were still learning how to repair them so TV shops sold the older chassis much more (most TV Dealers this chassis was a special order item then). It was also a one year only item.

[kx250rider]

I've only seen the 44 a few times, but probably just as much as the 40. But that was in the 80s, when they were mostly still in use. On the 47, I bet it's because those cost $2000, and were a hi-tech milestone in '68, and anyone who bought one was likely to appreciate what it was then, and likely preserved it. I've owned 3 or 4 of those, and I know of several in collections. 40s and 44s are still just old TV sets, sadly.

Charles

[andy]

000

[rca2000]

That CTC--44 I saved last month, is now in my garage. I put it there last week, when I needed my van to save a Zenith Roundie. (It is a 24Mc32, complete EXCEPT the back, and the CRT does NOT have cataracts--and may NOT be original--it has a 'light tint" to it.) and the CTC--44 had to be "temporaailly" put in the house garage. So...I decided to "check it out" some.

I removed the back....and Oh...what a pretty sight. I LOVE that wide, tube-style chassis. After a visual showed no obvious problems--I plugged in the set--and waited about 2 minutes for the tube to 'preheat" on instant-on. Then--Power up. Instantly--the raster came on. FULL HV, video, and sound. Just snow, since only ONE channel around here still broadcasts analog., in a semi-english and semi--spanish "tutorial" "informercial" about digital TV. I got a GOOD picture on that one, plenty of brightness and all. Obviously, the tube is good. Just ONE problem. Not a SPECK of color...NO rainbows, even. GREAT BW--but NO color-no matter how you fine--tune the channel, or floor the color control.

But still NOT bad. ALL of the "big stuff" , like the CRT, Fly, Power tranny and most circuitry--are fine. The HV quad must be good too--since I have fine HV. A BIT of retrace when the brightness is down...but not bad, and NOT visible when a picture is on normal brightness.

BOTH of my digital cameras are broke, so, no pix's now. I'll try and get some soon, somehow.

And NO--the set is NOT, nor will it be--for sale or trade. I would sell many of my roundies--about 10 total-- counting the one I just got-before I sell this.

[mhardy6647]

My recollection from my father's repair days were that they were (as he would say) "dogs"... I know they weren't his fave (nor was the CTC-40).