CTC 51K find

[polaraman]

Came across this little gem in a local Tv shop. I really was going to toss it on the pile but I gave it a second look. Was really surprised to see tubes when I flashed the light in the back. I would guess that this was made around 1972-73. The reapair card was stil in the back. Said the tuner needed to be repaired. I have yet to power it up. Will be bringing home a Sylvania portable tube TV set soon.


Been helping to clean out a local shop. No real huge finds so far. There is no telling what is at the bottom of over 30+ years of junk. It is junked up like the shop Charlie and I raided in Texas. A Zenith roundie is about to come home with me also.


polaraman

[polaraman]

Front

[Kamakiri]

Doug may have a parts set for that. Seems I remember Grumpy and I transporting one just like it to Dwight, only to find out the set's chassis was rusted badly, or something.......

[Whirled One]

Seems like I keep bumping into those CTC-5X "last-gasp" RCA tube hybrid color sets. Now I've got a CTC-51 (14" portable), a CTC-52 (16" portable), a CTC-53 (18" portable), and a CTC-55 (19" portable), all of which were either $2 - $4 at a local thrift store, or found on the curb. They're kinda fun, though. They're all very similar internally, and some of the more 'deluxe' models with lighted channel numbers are fairly nice looking sets. I've yet to encounter one with remote control, though. You are correct about the time frame they were made.

Anyone know if there was a console version of this basic design, or was the 19" CTC-55 the largest of this group?

[Chad Hauris]

Hey Whirled One, can you post a picture of that CTC-55? this is apparently an RCA tube type set using a high focus voltage tube and solid state tripler HV supply as opposed to the 3A3 of the others...have been looking for one of these for a long time.

So far as I know all the RCA tube type consoles were more of the old school design of the CTC-38 and 39, these did have some transistors in the IF section, but otherwise were old fashioned, using a 6BK4 regulator and traditional power transformer. Seems like perhaps Admiral and some private label sets used a portable series-string chassis with compactrons in a console cabinet with 25" crt.

[Whirled One]

Originally Posted by Chad Hauris

Hey Whirled One, can you post a picture of that CTC-55? this is apparently an RCA tube type set using a high focus voltage tube and solid state tripler HV supply as opposed to the 3A3 of the others...have been looking for one of these for a long time.

Sure! Here are a few pics of mine. As you can see, though, it still has the 3A3 HV rectifier as found in the others of its ilk.

Actually, the only real reason I picked this CTC-55 up was because it was in such remarkably *clean* condition. [Plus, I figured I may as well complete my "set" of this series... ] Also attached are pics of my CTC-53, which isn't in quite as good cosmetic shape, but I like the control panel design better, with the larger "blackout" area around the tuning knobs and the oddly-colored stripes on the speaker grille. Also, the rounded corners of the old-style 18V picture tube adds a certain character to it. This CTC-53 is currently sitting on a cart in the bedroom as a regular "watcher" set.

[Whirled One]

Y'know, this reminds me-- what I'd kinda like to find is a late-version CTC-52 like the one shown in the attached scan from a SAMS folder. Those two little rectangular buttons and the rounded corners of the trim plate around the controls really makes for a rather modern look for a mostly-tube TV, don't 'cha think?

Anyone here have (or have ever seen) one of these..?

[bgadow]

Whirled, I had to go check the date on that one-'73, eh? It sure does look a few years ahead of it's time. I had a later 70s RCA, solid state of course, & the styling was very close to this. I think such a new/old combination is pretty interesting & odd. Like how some companies used almost identical cabinets for both solid state & tube sets. As far as model pictured, I guess it would compete well against some of the hybrid Chromacolors. I thought the one I have, which is a '72 model IIRC, was from 74/75, it just looked newer. Well, I guess RCA had to compete with that. I don't think TVs got any better looking beyond the early 70s, thats for sure. Some were okay but they lost a lot of character. The CTC-53 in particular is a good looker, I feel. It just screams "early 70s". It would look at home on the set of "The Odd Couple".

What was RCA's last tube set? (someday we will all have to put our heads together & come up with a list of all the manufactures last tube sets; we know GE, of course.)

[Chad Hauris]

Thanks for the pictures Whirled...This must have been an earlier model than the one with the tripler. Polaraman found a CTC-63 in another thread that looks the same as the CTC-55 but has the solid state tripler.

I think that the CTC-63 is probably the last RCA tube type color model although there may have been another one in that series (around 1974). There may have been some RCA b/w tube sets made in 1975 but not later I don't think.

Got a Sanyo black and white tube set made in 1975 from a garage sale for $1.00.

It seems as though there was still a tube type Magnavox from 1975...I do have a 19" GE tube type color set from '75 too. This or '76 was probably the last years for most tube sets...would be interesting to see photos or Sams photofact images of tube sets from post '76.

[jstout66]

I think the CTC39 was the last tube set in a console for RCA. I'm pretty sure RCA went solid state for consoles only in 1971. They used tube chassis in portables for quite awhile tho. I don't even think they went the hybrid route in consoles. Zenith had a solid state console (the Super Chromacolor) I think in 1970 or 1971, but it seems they used a hybrid chassis after that. All solid state must have been pretty pricey or trouble prone because it seems the major manufactures had them quite early (Motorola and Zenith come to mind) but then it seems they went the hybrid route after that for a few years. I am curious about RCA tho. If anyone can find a tubed chassis in a console after the CTC-39 I would like to know which one it was.

[Chad Hauris]

Yes, I think that's right on the consoles...CTC-38/39 does have some transistors in the IF stages but is otherwise an old fashioned tube type design. CTC-39 probably was just resting on its laurels so to speak with all its R&D costs paid for as a cheaper alternative to the XL-100's until 1974 believe, using a 25V" rectangular tube in the last models made. The CTC-38/39 run was from 1968 to 1974, a very long run for that basic design. I have read that the CTC-38/39 were the biggest sellers among color sets of that time period.

What's kind of unusual is that I have only found one example of a 38 or 39 at a garage/estate sale and that was about 12 years ago. I do have some 38's/39's but they had been stored in an old TV shop for many years. Have come across a lot of Zenith tube sets and RCA XL-100's in the second hand market though...maybe all of those 38's/39's bit the dust on flyback failure.

Seems like the replacement for the CTC-39 as far as the basic console or the metal table model large screen color set was the CTC-68.

[Whirled One]

Originally Posted by bgadow

Whirled, I had to go check the date on that one-'73, eh? It sure does look a few years ahead of it's time. I had a later 70s RCA, solid state of course, & the styling was very close to this. I think such a new/old combination is pretty interesting & odd. Like how some companies used almost identical cabinets for both solid state & tube sets. As far as model pictured, I guess it would compete well against some of the hybrid Chromacolors. I thought the one I have, which is a '72 model IIRC, was from 74/75, it just looked newer. Well, I guess RCA had to compete with that. I don't think TVs got any better looking beyond the early 70s, thats for sure. Some were okay but they lost a lot of character. The CTC-53 in particular is a good looker, I feel. It just screams "early 70s". It would look at home on the set of "The Odd Couple".

What was RCA's last tube set? (someday we will all have to put our heads together & come up with a list of all the manufactures last tube sets; we know GE, of course.)

Yes, I think we all know the answer for GE. As for RCA, I heard they ditched their remaining tube set designs in 1974, but I could be wrong. I will say I've seen one 70's-era RCA tube (hybrid) TV with a click-stop UHF tuner, though. Saw it in a thrift store a year or two ago. I don't know the chassis #, but it was a 19" B&W portable, and very "plain-jane" in styling. The design of the UHF dial was rather strange, though; I've never seen another set with one like it. As I recall, the dial was made up of two overlapping transparent rings, one having the "tens" digits for the channel numbers painted on it, and the other dial having the "ones" digits. I remember it was fairly difficult to read, in part because there wasn't an index mark or a mask/window or any other indication of the actual channel number selected except by noting which pair of digits appeared the most right-side-up on the dial. Worse, the two digits for the selected channel tended to be out of regsiter (perhaps in part because the two rings rotated at different angles per step, since the "tens" ring only needed 8 numbers). ...And, as I learned while trying out the TV in the store, woe betide you if you should accidently try to rotate the dial the wrong way from channel 14, as the two number rings got *completely* out of step. I don't even remember how I got them aligned again. It was a really goofy design, which probably explains why I've never seen another one like it.

[jstout66]

Chad, I wonder why I NEVER see any CTC-38/39's at sales either. When I worked in my Uncles shop it seemed EVERYONE had one. They were SO common. My repairman Uncle never cared for those chassis at all tho. I've heard that from other repairmen as well. I keep hearing the same thing when I talk to the old timers, they loved the CTC-16, 25 and 31 ... but most thought RCA went on the cheap with the 38's. My personal memory of them would have been when the sets were about 10 years old. We would go out on housecalls and it seemed it was ALWAYS for flyback issues, and replacing many bad 6GH8's. I always thought they had a lousy picture and were poor performers. Unstable horizontal hold, bad alignment and a so-so picture. I know RCA cranked out a ton of them tho and sold them cheap, so I find it odd that I have never run across one at all the sales I hit up EVER.

[jstout66]

to add to my previous post, I remember why alot of them got junked on our end, and is probably why we don't see many now. By the time these sets would have hit 10 years old or so (1978-1984) and needed major repair, they were VERY obsolete considering what you could get during that time span. A new set would have been solid state, remote-control was more common, AND with cable TV and VCR's it would have been dumb to put so much many in a set that wasn't cable ready and had problems being compatible with a VCR. I remember when VCR's first came out, many people ended up getting a new set as well because the tube sets always seemed had a case of the "bends" when playing back a tape. I NEVER saw a CTC-38 that funtioned well with a VCR. And by the way... why do many tube sets seem to have problems when you use a VCR? I always wondered about that.....

[polaraman]

I have a CTC 39. I just found the convergence board that I was missing. The flyback is toast. I am looking for a RCA 119834 or Thordarson FLY 312. I actually will need two. I have my eye on a CTC 38 also.


polaraman