Just got a 1984 RCA VJM2023S (CTC-121) chassis

[waltchan]

Got this pretty baby. Picture may not show well, but this TV is in almost brand-new condition and hard to believe is 24 years old. This is a CTC-121 chassis. Anybody out there want to comment on the CTC-121 chassis?

It also shows the RCA VKT650 Hi-Fi VCR on top, which is the matching VCR for the TV.

[zenith2134]

I had a 121J which was a good set but developed a red short in the crt. These are just about my favorite RCAs of the post-1970s ones. Does yours have the auto brightness with the photocell? I think all colortraks came equipped with the feature. So cool that you scored the matching VCR BTW! Nice setup,

EDIT: If you have the original remote, thats just awesome... I'd love to see a picture.

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by zenith2134

I had a 121J which was a good set but developed a red short in the crt. These are just about my favorite RCAs of the post-1970s ones. Does yours have the auto brightness with the photocell? I think all colortraks came equipped with the feature. So cool that you scored the matching VCR BTW! Nice setup,

EDIT: If you have the original remote, thats just awesome... I'd love to see a picture.

Mines say 121E inside. Is there any difference between 121E and 121J? Yes, it has a photo cell that dim the brightness. I do have the remote, and it's similar to the Dimensia one where I can control which component.

[Blast]

Hey, fellow CTC121 owner! Mine is actually a JC Penney 685-2501J (which had a dark oak cabinet) which now resides in a medium oak RCA cabinet. If it didn't have a rear cover that says JCP it would pass for an RCA. It has the full A/V jack pack. I used to work on VCR/TV's in the '90's and got this for free in '91. It had 3 different problems, both audio and video, when I got it which kept me busy but that beautiful oak cabinet is what kept me pushing on.
I have what I believe to be the RCA version of the original remote that I bought new in '91. I don't remember which 121 it is but if I remember right it has a letter suffix that was only used for JCP models. Sometimes there weren't a lot of differences between the letter suffixes and other times there were. When servicing you really need to know which model you're working on, otherwise there are 'surprises'. Like an IDIOT, lost the service data I had for it. I had it 'customized' for the version of the chassis it is and was all annotated with all the repairs I've made over the years. RATS! Anyway, after it's last repair about 5 years ago it keeps on chuggin and, I dare say, has the same gorgeous picture it probably had new in '84 (unlike other sets I've had that turned 'green')! Although the amp is stereo, the tuner is not so this is a good canidate for a convertor box- maybe I can get another 20 years out of her. Enjoy yours as I have with mine!
Brian

[zenith2134]

Nice picture. I think the only differences between the letter suffixes are the optional equipment the sets came with. Some had dual tweeters/woofers and stereo inputs, some had the bass and treble controls and I think they all had onscreen display. (With channels in the 90s being labelled -A1-, -A2- for AV input).

I believe the first RCA chassis with MTS stereo was the ctc130 but maybe these had it available too?

[andy]

000

[wa2ise]

I've had 2 of these. I remember that I needed to tweak a coil in the IF to remove some sound carrier-color beat patterns. Otherwise they were great sets.

[Blast]

Originally Posted by zenith2134

Nice picture. I think the only differences between the letter suffixes are the optional equipment the sets came with. Some had dual tweeters/woofers and stereo inputs, some had the bass and treble controls and I think they all had onscreen display. (With channels in the 90s being labelled -A1-, -A2- for AV input).

I believe the first RCA chassis with MTS stereo was the ctc130 but maybe these had it available too?

My display indicates 91, 92 for A/V inputs but I think you are correct on all issues. And mine does have those features you mentioned- just no MTS stereo. There is no CTC121 that I am aware of with an MTS stereo tuner.

Another little note about differences in versions- the RCA cabinet that I have this JCP chassis in doesn't have the capability of holding a pilot light, like the JCP cabinet did. So if you're on a video input and you shut the video source off, once the TV's on-screen display goes away you don't know the TV is still on. I think this RCA cabinet had a chassis without the deluxe jack pack (ie: a video input) before I "merged" the two.

waltchan has a VKT650 VCR which I have worked on more than just a few of in my days of being a VCR tech. Most of their problems were just idler/belt failure. Nice HI-FI unit! I think was the next-to-top-of-the-line. There was a VKT700 that year which was probably the top of the line (blackface Dimensia unit). Both models are very rare as they were VERY expensive when new.

RCA's 'K' line was '84 (the model year newer than his 'J' TV), 'L' was '85, 'M' was '86 which I BELIEVE was the first year VCR's had MTS stereo tuners. RCA skips 'O' and I think the P-line ('87) was the first year for S-Video in the upper end models.

When I went to school there was only ONE TV- for the whole school. They rolled it around on a big cart and we only got to watch the PBS station on it every once and awhile. My kid's schools have TV's (and VCR's) mounted to the wall in every classroom- how things have changed, huh?

I keep forgetting to take a photo of my remote for the TV. I'm too lazy to get up.

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by Blast

waltchan has a VKT650 VCR which I have worked on more than just a few of in my days of being a VCR tech. Most of their problems were just idler/belt failure. Nice HI-FI unit! I think was the next-to-top-of-the-line. There was a VKT700 that year which was probably the top of the line (blackface Dimensia unit). Both models are very rare as they were VERY expensive when new.

VKT700 adds 5-head Hi-Fi versus VKT650 with only 3-head hi-fi. VKT650 may not be the matching VCR for the TV because the manufactured date was October 1984. The TV was manufactured in January 1984. It may be RCA VJT700 4-head Dolby stereo as a matching VCR. Have you heard of this VCR model (VJT700)?

[Blast]

Originally Posted by waltchan

VKT700 adds 5-head Hi-Fi versus VKT650 with only 3-head hi-fi. VKT650 may not be the matching VCR for the TV because the manufactured date was October 1984. The TV was manufactured in January 1984. It may be RCA VJT700 4-head Dolby stereo as a matching VCR. Have you heard of this VCR model (VJT700)?

Although this DOES pertain to televisions as well, I am at the risk of hijacking the thread (even though it WAS yours, walt) so I'll make it brief. VJT series ('83) included 250, 275, 400, 500, 700. VKT ('84) models were 275, 300, 310, 325, 326, 385, 400, 425, 426, 500, 550, 650, 700, 800, 900. All Hitachi built. I believe '83 was the first year for RCA branded VCR's built by Hitachi as prior years were predominantly Panasonic built (if not all). I have seen most all the aforementioned J and K models in the shop except the 800 and 900 which probably had VERY limited production due to being TOTL models, IMO. Manufacturing date was often the year before sale date, as you may know. The first three digits of the serial number in these (and MANY RCA's) indicated date built. First digit is the LAST digit of the year and the second two digits the week built. That would probably apply to your TV, also. My JCP branded RCA TV's serial number starts 343 indicating manufacture date as the 43rd week of 1983, for example.

When did RCA and GE merge (one bought the other, I don't remember who bought who)? Was it in '87? After the '87 'P' line, and about the time RCA/GE was bought by Thomson (in '88?), VCR's went to the 'R' line (VR250, VR520, VR560, etc.)and stuck with 'R' until at least 2001 when I quit the biz. So the 'R' lines are difficult to tell when they were built based solely on their model numbers (you have to use the serial number). But, I digress... And I will return this topic to televisions before I get looked at funny (or booted off).
Brian

[bgadow]

GE bought RCA then got rid of its own line and rebranded the RCA stuff as GE. I think your time frame is right for the changeover.

[Blast]

And wasn't '87 about the time that GE consumer electronics split from GE credit, and other divisions. Thomson only got GE consumer electronics, not white goods, or credit, etc. Going from memory only, here...

[waltchan]

Originally Posted by Blast

And wasn't '87 about the time that GE consumer electronics split from GE credit, and other divisions. Thomson only got GE consumer electronics, not white goods, or credit, etc. Going from memory only, here...

Actually, it was at 1986 when GE bought RCA, and then in 1987, GE sold RCA and GE consumer electronics to Thomson. And then in 1987.5, RCA VCRs were made by Samsung.

[Blast]

Originally Posted by waltchan

Actually, it was at 1986 when GE bought RCA, and then in 1987, GE sold RCA and GE consumer electronics to Thomson. And then in 1987.5, RCA VCRs were made by Samsung.

There was an '87 Samsung-built; the VPT200, other than that all RCA's VCRs were Hitachi built. The '88 model year had a couple of RCA-branded Samsungs (BOTL- VR250 and VR280) but Hitachi still made the predominant number of RCA branded models. For GE this year, Samsung and Panasonic were the makers.

The '89 model year brought Panasonic back to the fold for RCA branded units as they, Hitachi and Samsung has pretty similar number of models.

GE in '89, like '88 were still predominantly Panasonic with only a couple of Samsung models.

The Samsungs really started kicking in in 1990.

I speak only of VCR's and of number of models available, NOT sales volume by model. Some models very likely had higher sales volume than others (more than likely the low end models). I also speak of manufacture date as sale date would be 6-9 months later.

[waltchan]

Anybody know what is the successor to the CTC-121 chassis? Is it the CTC-130? When was the CTC-130 first made? I did a lot of research between the two chassis, and it appears that CTC-130 has a lot more problems than the CTC-121, especially the power supply. It's easy to find sites showing a problem in the CTC-130, but it's very hard to find problems in the CTC-121. What's the difference between the two chassis in terms of design? Is there any other chassis more reliable than CTC-121? Or is CTC-121 the best chassis ever made by RCA.