RCA TK-42/43 Cameras

[Mi40793]

Yes, a 1.5 inch vidicon in the mono channel on a 27. The 27/42 vidicons were magnetic deflection and electrostatic focus, so not quite as sharp focus as magnetic focus. I added enhancers to the mono channel, offset vertical centering one line to compensate for delay. TK27B had enhancer standard equipped. Beston built retrofit light servos.
TK27 color filters were poor. I knew a guy at ABC NY who had an optics company build new color filters for their 27’s. NBC not do that. NBC had a TK26 and TK27 at Englewood Cliffs Nj where they ran prime time 35mm, avoiding NYC film tax. First run of ‘Patton’ on NBC network was run on the TK26.
Yes, registration errors at edges of raster weren’t helped by enhancers on 3 tube cameras. Some cameras better than others. Philips yokes used on PC70 and TK44 were pretty well matched. We sometimes swapped yokes to try to match better. Late 1970’s RCA lost expertise in vidicons due to retirements, and I had to reject some tubes, bad alignment, focus.