RCA barn tv

[Jeffhs]

Originally posted by captainmoody
Remember the CTC 19 mini console I saved from the barn a few months ago? Finally got it going last night after replacing 2 6GH8 tubes to restore the color and the deflection yoke to cure the keystone picture. This is the picture of it right after without any adjustments to vert height or convergence yet (heck, I still haven't bothered!) Just glad to see the crt is so good still.

Yes, it's always good to know the CRT is good, especially in a color set. Those tubes are very expensive unless you can get one from a junker set. No wonder so many new "RCA"s and Zenith-branded Goldstar sets wind up by the side of the road these days when the CRT goes. I have a friend whose parents had a 25" RCA GuidePlus set in which the CRT went bad after only two years. Yup, you guessed it, they chucked it and bought a new set when the tube blew. By contrast, they had a Zenith System 3 color console that lasted some 15 years before it quit, and before that, an RCA color console (made by the genuine RCA of Camden, New Jersey, years before Thomson bought them out) that lasted many years (don't know exactly when it was new, though I'd guess it was perhaps '70s vintage or thereabouts) and finally gave up in the early '80s.

My own RCA XL-100, bought new in 1999, however, is used daily, still has its original CRT and works very well on cable. I also have a Zenith Sentry 2 19" table model in my bedroom which still has its original CRT (and has never been serviced) after almost ten years. It still has a very good picture after all that time (used only on cable, never with an antenna). With all the problems Zenith has had with sets made from 1992 on, I am very pleased, if amazed, that my set has been so trouble-free.

Sheeeesh--I'd better clam up before I jinx things. Just you watch. The next time I turn on that Zenith, the tube might blow or . . .

BTW, I wish I could have seen the pic of your RCA mini-console. I've seen many RCA color and b&w sets, but never a "mini" console like yours. Was that set a limited edition? I'll be waiting for the new server to come online so we can see your pics of the TV. Sounds like an interesting one.