Picked up a small XL-100 from 86

[Eric H]

I found this beat up old thing today for $6, I really had to think hard about spending the money on it being as it's in a boring black cabinet, but in the end I figured it would be good for parts or filling an empty vintage cabinet someday if it worked.

It's dirt has dirt, under the dirt it's still pretty grubby but if it had the Volume knob and the speaker grille it might be made presentable, oh, and it does work.

I borrowed the odd four prong ac/dc cord from my other beat up XL-100 portable and fired it up, the CRT is strong because it came right up and started tuning, this is one of the sets with the Red and Green bands that scan back and forth across the screen while it seeks channels, Green for 2-13 and Red for UHF.

I turned on my B-T Modulator and it locked right on to the signal, the picture is beautiful but there's not a bit of sound, maybe the exposed speaker has been damaged or maybe it has something disconnected, I don't know, a project for later I guess.

Note: the red and green bars seem wide in the pictures below because they were scanning when I took the picture, causing them to smear.

[maxhifi]

I've got one of these in good shape. Although it's made in Taiwan, a lot of the stickers say "printed in USA" inside the set. One of the last real RCA designed portables ever made I'd suspect. It's always had a great picture, I used to use it with an AKAI two piece VCR. My grandfather bought it to go with his '86 VW Westfalia back in, well, '86. Mine fell off a table, and broke the shaft of the volume control. A repair shop replaced it with a "push-pull" type control and an uglier knob.

[radiotvnut]

I have that same set that's also missing the speaker grille.

My set originally belonged to my friend who sells used stuff. He brought the TV by for me to check and I found it to be in excellent working condition. BTW, it still had the speaker grille when he first brought it by.

He sold it to some people for $10-$15, who promptly brought it back once they figured out they couldn't use a remote with it. I'd like to know what they expect for such a small amount of money. There was a time that a 12" B&W would bring more and we didn't have to worry about it coming back.

So, he sells it a second time and it again comes back for some stupid reason. This time, the speaker grille got lost in the shuffle. I was so ticked at people wanting something for nothing that I told him I'd buy it.

Other than the missing speaker grille, it's in very good shape and has a nice picture.

Several years ago, I had a similar red one that was a little newer.

[wa2ise]

I have the earlier version of your set, this one made in USA. It's a CTC115, pilot run.

I used to work for RCA at the time, at the Smirnoff Lab, back when RCA was a real company.

[radiotvnut]

I saw one of those early sets, with a side mounted knob style varactor tuner, at a rummage sale. It was very beat up and missing the door over the channel knob; so, I left it.

[Sandy G]

I often wonder HOW so many of these things get so "Abused" as they do-This l'il fella cost SOMEBODY a fair amount of coin in '86...I dunno about you fellers, but I always tried hard NOT to break stuff I paid my hard earned dough on..Did/do people sit around & TRY to destroy stuff ?

[Celt]

Sandy, I know people that what they don't tear up, they shit on.

[Sandy G]

Dan, (Sigh...) Yeah, I know the same kind of people...

[kvflyer]

Somewhat OT... I see some cars that have valves ticking, doors hanging low, smoking, bent up fenders and I often think, "I don't even know how to f*** up thing that bad even when I try! Guess you are right...

[Eric H]

Well it is an AC/DC set. (maybe I should move it to SS Portables?) so it probably got toted around a lot. Most of these I see have been somewhat beat up. I have a red one from 1987, also somewhat rough but not as bad as this one.

I think I know what the no sound issue is. It has sound through the headphone jack but nothing at the speaker, so either the jack is bad or the speaker. I didn't even get a click or a pop when poking the plug in the earphone jack so I'm leaning towards speaker.

[Eric H]

Originally Posted by wa2ise

I have the earlier version of your set, this one made in USA. It's a CTC115, pilot run.

I used to work for RCA at the time, at the Smirnoff Lab, back when RCA was a real company.

Nice one! I have a couple older mid 70's 15" sets with the wide rounded cabinet, like the one House had in his office, still working well but the tubes seem to have a lot of hours on them, takes a few seconds longer to fully warm up and track.