Help with power knob on an old RCA Colortrak.

[Chris Brown]

I have this old RCA Colortrak that is from the early 80’s. It’s worked great all these years (except one year long ago I remember having to take it to a repair shop). It was the first TV my parents bought after they got married (Married in 82) and it went from being the Living room TV, to being My TV, and then to each of my two younger brothers, the youngest of which it was still with up until a few days ago. It has one knob which controls both the Power and the Volume. You know, nothing special. If you turned it all the way to the left it would click and the TV would turn off, and vise versa. For the last few years I could tell that the knob was on its way out, so I hooked up an old cable box and told them to use that to power the unit on or off. Still, people were too lazy to do what I said and now the knob doesn’t work. It turns, but no longer makes the “click” that turns the TV on or Off… and it’s stuck on “Off”.

Now my parents are pretty much set on throwing it out if I can’t get it to work. I don’t want to do that because it is still a damn good TV (Picture never faded after all these years) and it has some sentimental value. I need to find a way to get it working again. I wish I had the time (or money) to restore the TV, but right now I’m looking for a simple cheap fix. I’m pretty sure the problem is only with that knob… maybe there is a way to turn the TV on and keep it that way (using the cable box to power the unit on or off)?

[kc8adu]

just jumper across the switch for now and find a replacement later.
should be easy to get a new switch and pot.
the ac switch is on the rear of the assy.