RCA CTC-28 repair

[Chad Hauris]

Thanks for your observations and advice. I know there were a few RCA tube-type portables (maybe CTC-22 and 36) that used a circuit breaker system in the cathode of the horizontal output tube. The breaker had a thermal element connected in the H.O. cathode but it ended up opening the contacts to the power line, cutting off all power in case of a tube overload. Maybe it was somehow more sensitive to dangerous overcurrent than a fuse would be?

The later tube type portables mounted a thermal fuse near the horizontal output tube and I think it was in the cathode of the tube...it must have been able to detect overheating in the tube in case of no drive or flyback failure.
For some reason I don't think there were ever factory overcurrent devices in the horizontal output circuits of the console sets.

I had a flyback fire when I was a kid, in a CTC-31...luckily nothing else was damaged but I left the room with the set on and came back and it was filled with smoke and the set was playing with sound...I really wanted to get an overcurrent device on the flyback system which would try and help prevent this.

Also I remember reading in an old magazine about Sprague Orange Drops having a dual dielectric...paper and Mylar. I'm thinking in the present day they are just Mylar. I wonder if these old 60's era orange drops are more prone to the type of degradation in paper caps but maybe not quite so dramatically as the wax/paper type or the black beauties?