Update on '71 RCA Console TV - NEED TUBE

[joeseattle70]

Thanks again to everyone for your advice to help get this TV working again. The awesome professional who helped me had to replace the PW 400 board (was able to find a NOS one), the SCR transistors and capacitor, and rebuild the chroma board and video board. It has been determined that the picture tube has a short in it and that is what caused the severe component damage train wreck. It really blew out a lot of stuff and has taken months of his time as he’s had it to get this going again. The Yoke and Flyback were both just fine. I now have a new problem. He called his sources, and he cannot find a rebuilt picture tube - one was available at one of his sources in December, but we did not order it because we wanted to be sure the set would once again be operational. The original tube number is 25VABP22 (RCA part number). Based on all of your experience, do you know of a reputable source for rebuilt tubes? I was advised in 2007 when this tube was replaced to get one from Scotty at hawkeye, but they are no more. Any ideas?

[radiotvnut]

Find a beat up 25" Zenith chromacolor II set from the '70's and use the CRT from it. I say use a beat up one because we don't want to wreck a set that has potential. And, those Zenith tubes hold up very well.

[Eric H]

I don't know if any of these will work but this guy is selling CRT's for $5 each.

They seem to be mostly modern era color tubes.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-RCA-and-...9beb69&afsrc=1

[Kamakiri]

Check out my thread here and the pictures posted. I'll be paying the guy another visit Thursday if you want me to grab a set and pull the tube.

http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=253904

[dieseljeep]

I have a CRT from a newer model RCA XL100. I have to check the type number. The guy I got it from wrote "mint" on it. I tested it and it is perfect. Located in Wisconsin.

[joeseattle70]

Thanks guys! Believe it or not, I was able to source a rebuilt tube for the set this morning from a tube rebuilder on the east coast. Never thought I'd see the day that these sets would be hard to get parts for. Thanks to our government forcing HDTV, our hobbies are being crushed.

[radiotvnut]

Up until hurricane Katrina, the local parts house had a load of old delta gun color CRT's. Before Katrina, they moved the inventory to the store on the coast and that store was wiped out during the storm. During the late '90's-early 2000's, he was attempting to sell some of these CRT's for $20/each in order to get rid of them. I think I was the only one who bought any. The owner told me that the hospitals were the last customers to regulary buy CRT's from him. They had late '80's-era 20" Magnavox sets and it was still cheaper to replace the CRT's in them than it was to buy a new TV. I know someone who currently works in maintenance and he said that they no longer repair the older TV's. When one dies, they replace it with an LCD flatscreen. He said they still had a few CRT TV's that were at least 30 years old and still going.