RCA's CTC-121 TV chassis... - Videokarma.org TV - Video

waltchan · #1 02-25-2011, 07:38 PM

Tell me more about RCA's CTC-121 chassis. It's made in 1983-1984. Was this RCA's most durable and reliable chassis, or is there something else that beats CTC-121. Did RCA peak in that year for durability?

sampson159 · #2 02-25-2011, 07:56 PM

those were really fine rca s.i had one in the mid 80s.lightning hit it and was a repair job.replaced fuse and that was it.owner didnt pick it up for about 4-5 months.i watched it in my bedroom for awhile.great performer

wa2ise · #3 02-25-2011, 11:26 PM

I've had these, needed to resolder the flyback, and the tuner connector. There's also an adjustment to null out chroma subcarrier-sound carrier beat I've had to tweak a little. But it's a good set.

radiotvnut · #4 02-26-2011, 12:54 AM

All RCA color TV from that era were generally decent. The main problems I remember were loose tuner connections, bad filter caps in the power supply, loose connections around the flyback and horizontal drive area, and a trimmer cap that would cause loss of color. For that era, the CTC120's were used in the basic RCA models. The CTC121 was used in RCA's better TV's that contained stereo sound and A/V jacks.

*zenithfan1* · #5 02-26-2011, 10:10 AM

Also, the CTC 121 has full I/Q color demodulation. Not many sets besides the CT-100 had that. I have a CTC 121 but the fly sqeals and some rainy day, I'll fix it and play with it again.

AlwaysLyceum · #6 02-26-2011, 10:37 AM

That is the best TV of all time!! (check out my user name and my profile picture!) The CTC-121 is amazing, and I have an over abundance of them, okay actually 3, but still. You want to know if it's rugged? Well, here I am standing on top of the beast!!! Granted, I was under 150 in 2006 when the picture was taken, but the TV wasn't mad at me whatsoever.

*zenithfan1* · #7 02-26-2011, 11:52 AM

LOL! Nice pics

Yours is the same as mine and I agree that they're great sets.

AUdubon5425 · #8 02-27-2011, 01:19 PM

I got a Colortrak 2000 for my Mother very similar to the one you're standing on - nice picture indeed. My buddy has a low-end CTC-120 XL100 console from '83, varactor knob tuner. Got it for his son to play video games on...it had a surprisingly clear picture as well.

bgadow · #9 02-27-2011, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

and a trimmer cap that would cause loss of color.

Wish I knew that 20 years ago...I had bought out everything this retired TV repairman had (well, actually, all his junk! He kept the good stuff, but I was young and didn't quite figure that out.) Among the pile was an RCA console from the early 80s. It was easily the nicest fixer-upper I had ever had at that point. I drug it inside and tried it out, and it worked like new. I couldn't figure out what was supposed to be wrong. I finally sold it to some friends, and they liked it so much that they went out and subscribed to cable for the first time. When switched from antenna to cable, though, the onscreen display wouldn't shut off. They wouldn't pay anybody to come out and fix it so just put up with it. Heck, they could have just run the cable through their vcr.

Later the color went out. I remember going over there one day, they were having a big get together and the room was crowded with people, and here I was with the back off the set trying to get the color to come back. No luck. They actually junked the set instead of paying to have a real repairman fix it. I always felt bad about that-I sold it for $100 and they only got a couple years use from it.

zenith2134 · #10 02-28-2011, 08:16 PM

That's a beautiful set. Mine was a 1984 model, 25", OSD, and MTS stereo with bass and treble controls under a door. Even the knobs were high quality as I recall.

waltchan · #11 03-01-2011, 01:15 AM

That's great to hear. The CTC-121 I have is RCA VJM2023M, a 1983 model. I put it away in my storage as I had difficulty finding the matching VHS VCR for the TV that was sold as part of RCA's 1983 lineup, which is 1983 RCA's stereo VJT700 VCR. I nearly attempted to throw the TV set to e-waste dump because I thought VJT700 VCR was entirely extinct due to Hitachi's (manufacturer) stupidity putting 6 belts in the chassis that created a lot of trouble for many people, which they had to throw out and not getting it repaired.

Generally, finding a specific VCR model is much easier to find than a specific TV model. People would sell a vintage VCR on eBay because it can be shipped inexpensively, but people would rather drop the TV down to e-waste without selling it. However, this one is the opposite. I found the TV first before the VCR. I have many vintage VCRs missing their matching TVs, and I haven't found one yet.

After three years of long wait, the first RCA VJT700 VCR show up on eBay (by luck), and I am now ready to play hundreds of unwatched VHS movies.

However, the BIG bad news is that the first RCA VJT700 showed up in three years is non-operable, and I don't even know what is wrong with it. Seller can't even describe the problem as he knows nothing about VCRs. If I CAN'T fix the VCR, then my CTC-121 TV set has an uncertain future.

, and I won't be able to watch any VHS movies. No, I will NOT even attempt to put in a different VCR for the TV as it creates an ugly, physical appearance.

Why did Hitachi-made VCRs break down a lot and freaked out many people to dump them, ending up being extinct and hard to find today?

waltchan · #12 03-01-2011, 01:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlwaysLyceum

That is the best TV of all time!! (check out my user name and my profile picture!) The CTC-121 is amazing, and I have an over abundance of them, okay actually 3, but still. You want to know if it's rugged? Well, here I am standing on top of the beast!!! Granted, I was under 150 in 2006 when the picture was taken, but the TV wasn't mad at me whatsoever.

I'm curious, but how did your college friends tolerate seeing a 25 year old TV? What did you do? When I was in college, a 25 year old TV is considered to be used for beer pouring to get a TV electrocuted while on, or students drop it to garbage can once their parents said goodbye and bought new ones.

matt_s78mn · #13 03-01-2011, 09:20 AM

Did the first generation Dimensia TVs use this chassis or were they the CTC-131?

AlwaysLyceum · #14 03-03-2011, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by waltchan

I'm curious, but how did your college friends tolerate seeing a 25 year old TV? What did you do? When I was in college, a 25 year old TV is considered to be used for beer pouring to get a TV electrocuted while on, or students drop it to garbage can once their parents said goodbye and bought new ones.

Well, in college people comment on how old school my TV was, as I had my Lyceum TV as my main set. I just said that they don't make them like this anymore, so everyone got a kick out of it. During the summers, I was security assistant in a residence hall, so when I would find TVs during summer trash pick-up, I had one friend in particular help carry these super heavy RCA sets up 3 flights of stairs within my dorm building. He was all about helping me, and got a kick out of seeing me rescue these TVs that I was so obsessed with (plus, the fact that they were working perfectly fine). No beer pouring was allowed inside my TVs!

wa2ise · #15 03-03-2011, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlwaysLyceum

Well, in college people comment on how old school my TV was, as I had my Lyceum TV as my main set. ... No beer pouring was allowed inside my TVs!

Back in the olden days...

(1970s) when I was in college, I didn't have a TV in my dorm room. Didn't really want one anyway, as there was not much broadcast that I wanted to see anyway, and it'd be distracting from studying. I had radios though. Not a fancy stereo set, but just table radios. Besides, I didn't want to risk anything valuable in a dorm anyway, it might get a beer treatment or stolen.