RCA CTC68WJ Lyceum Set

[matt_s78mn]

Greetings everone. I went to visit my folks in Nebraska over the weekend, and brought back my next project. I've had it sitting collecting dust in my dad's shop for about ten years now, so I figured he'd be happy to reclaim some space, and it would give me a great project (as if I don't have enough TVs already.) It's an RCA CTC68WJ Lyceum set. I've always thought these sets were very cool. It's built like a tank, and was sold to a lot of schools and other institutions. That's where I got mine anyway. It was in use as a spare tv at the high school I attended untill they wrote it off as surplus inventory and gave it to me. When I originally received it, it was in great working condition, but i seem to recall the last time I powered it up, it had nothing but a white raster. I couldn't find the power cord, so i'll have to rig something up, and as you can see in one of the pics, the speaker grille is kinda mangled. Anyone have a replacement? If so i'd be interested.

[Chad Hauris]

Thanks for posting pictures...when I was in high school I had 2 of these ctc-68's but at the time I couldn't figure out the problems with them and got so frustrated I put them in the trash! but I did save the grills, backs, chassis, knobs and cords. They are at my parents house way back in Ohio though.
Was lucky enough to find another one a few years ago that needed a new tripler.

Make sure the aux/TV switch at the bottom left rear is functional and in the correct position.

[matt_s78mn]

Originally Posted by Chad Hauris

Thanks for posting pictures...when I was in high school I had 2 of these ctc-68's but at the time I couldn't figure out the problems with them and got so frustrated I put them in the trash! but I did save the grills, backs, chassis, knobs and cords. They are at my parents house way back in Ohio though.
Was lucky enough to find another one a few years ago that needed a new tripler.

Make sure the aux/TV switch at the bottom left rear is functional and in the correct position.

Since I couldn't find the power cord, I'm going to remove the connector on the chassis, and replace it with a standard three pin connector from a computer power supply. That'll allow me to power it up again. I've got to dig through all my Sams stuff to find the schematic also (sure wish I had that better organized.) Also will be contacting moyers to see about a replacement speaker grille.

[matt_s78mn]

Ok so I found the SAMS, and rigged up a power cord, so the troubleshooting will now begin. After powering it up, it was just as I had remembered. A blank white raster and no sound. Switching between tv and av input mode makes no difference and I double checked the setup switch, as was pointed out to me earlier. I've attached a couple pictures, one showing the screen, and the other showing the chassis. I'm suprised it's as clean as it is, after sitting in storage in a dusty plumbing shop for the last ten years or so. Next thing I think I'll do is feed a cable tv and composite video source to it and see how far the signal gets. I'm assuming that with just raster and no sound, I should check the IF stages and go from there. Does anyone here with experience dealing with this vintage of sets have any suggestions?

[Eric H]

Have you checked the service switch? the flat white one next to the screen controls.
As i recall it has three positions, blank raster, flat line and normal?

[Eric H]

Never mind, I see you already tried that one but perhaps a little deoxit might help...

[Geoff Bourquin]

Since you've got no sound it isn't likely the problem is in a video circuit; if the set works OK with signal sent to the video input, I'd suspect the IF or tuner. If still no video, make sure all of the power supplies are alive.
Its been a long time since I've seen one of those, but I seem to remember something about the connectors that the modules plug into failing occasionally. I think the plastic cracked, allowing the contacts to loose touch with the modules.
Just thinking out loud here.

[Chad Hauris]

Also...do not spray anything into the module sockets...this can exacerbate cracking the plastic. I remember one time having to bend out the contacts from the socket and solder them to the module where one had cracked.

[matt_s78mn]

Did some troubleshooting and found a bad connection at the output of the tuner, so I now have video. I still have no audio, though. As I rotate the volume control, I hear static because the control is dirty and that's about it. So, that'll take a bit more troubleshooting. Thanks for everyone's suggestions so far.

[jpdylon]

try some de-oxit on the volume pot as a first try. just let it dry overnight before using the set again. Also check the connections around the sound board.