RCA Trans Vista CTC44A

[zeno]

CTC40 & 44 probably the best RCA colors built. Saw too
few of them in for repair. Oh well, the junk put the steaks
on the table I very nice find.

73 Zeno

[Sean730]

I just realized that I posted this in the wrong place! Should be in the Solid State forum.... My bad.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Sean730

I just realized that I posted this in the wrong place! Should be in the Solid State forum.... My bad.

We forgive and forget!
At least, you posted your great find.

[rca2000]

Originally Posted by zeno

CTC40 & 44 probably the best RCA colors built. Saw too
few of them in for repair. Oh well, the junk put the steaks
on the table I very nice find.

73 Zeno

Those two chassis, along with the very similar ctc-47, may indeed have been the best BUILT RCA SS color sets ever--but the first gen XL-100 chassis (CTC-46, 49, 48,54, 68, etc) And the 1st gen Colortraks (CTC 74 and 81), the ONLY RCA sets with a VRT power transformer, AFAIK, were not bad either. Not quite up to the Zenith flat-chassis quality, but not too bad either. After those--the build quality went downhill FAST.

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by zeno

CTC40 & 44 probably the best RCA colors built. Saw too
few of them in for repair. Oh well, the junk put the steaks
on the table I very nice find.

73 Zeno

If you had been in TV service when the CT100 and Predicta were introduced you could have gotten rich.

[zeno]

Originally Posted by Jon A.

If you had been in TV service when the CT100 and Predicta were introduced you could have gotten rich.

True but I did quite well anyways.
In the 70's every little town had a shop or two selling and service.
We ran a 2-3 week backlog, 1 week on road. Most "better" SS audio
was 4-8 weeks. What we didnt do up to the late 70's shows how much
there was to do :

NO Jap sets
NO carry in on consoles (no room)
NO solid state sets unless it was Zenith or Admiral
NO Sears

Exceptions were made for "good" customers....... We slowly started
doing that stuff in later years.
Then abt 1982 in march we noticed there were no longer repairs
stacked 3 high in the show room. By April we were waiting for
stuff to come in. New ball game, tubes history.......

Now if there were a shop doing the 60's-80's sets I would work
for $5 an hour

73 Zeno

[zeno]

Originally Posted by rca2000

Those two chassis, along with the very similar ctc-47, may indeed have been the best BUILT RCA SS color sets ever--but the first gen XL-100 chassis (CTC-46, 49, 48,54, 68, etc) And the 1st gen Colortraks (CTC 74 and 81), the ONLY RCA sets with a VRT power transformer, AFAIK, were not bad either. Not quite up to the Zenith flat-chassis quality, but not too bad either. After those--the build quality went downhill FAST.

Not to piss anyone off BUT........ I dont remember RCA chassis numbers
like I should. I hated that damn tilt down monstrosity (CTC74 & 81 ??) , you know, the one with the special fuse & cold joints. Maybe it was the weight & bulk of that beast. The others yes. I especially liked the 19" one with the "normal" horz sweep. Zenith & RCA built the best all around sets but others put out some damn nice product in the first few SS generations, and some dogs
Gives me an idea for a thread.

73 Zeno

[jbattles]

yep I hated those rca's too that trace and retrace sweep circuit. heavy as hell and beast to work on the 19" and 13" was no piece of cake either. in the early 80's tubes was history everything was solid state. I hate to say it but I chunked a lot of tube sets in the trash. I always did good my shop was in my home I was going good until walmart started selling new sets dirt cheap. in 2000 I pulled out of the biz and went to work in a grocery store., but the memories I loved and I miss it.