please identify this RCA remote. What TV?

[drh4683]

I found this remote at the same estate sale where I found the frech provincial RCA console. Its most likely for a b/w set. The TV was nowhere to be found in the home. The remote was sitting on the kitchen counter. I did see a couple TV carts in the basement with nothing on them (big surprize....)
The remote is a CRK-18A. Have no idea what the TV would have looked like or what exact year this is from. Any thoughs?

[kx250rider]

That was used in both B&W and color portables of the very late 60s and early-to-mid 70s. Particularly the 17" color hybrid portables which had only basic remote. So the answer is that it's correct for several sets over a period of about 4 years. Starting with CTC-44 maybe, and probably up to about CTC-68, and whatever KCS chassis was around that same time.

The G-2000 is the first set that I know of that used that style, but of course that one had 4 or 5 rocker buttons whereas this one shown is only two.

Charles

[andy]

That's a pretty advanced remote for a portable. Most remote sets I've seen from that time only had one or two buttons. Zenith seemed to be in love with 3 level, one button volume controls.

[kx250rider]

Originally Posted by andy

Zenith seemed to be in love with 3 level, one button volume controls.

True... Although I am a Zenith man, RCA always had the better up & down motorized volume pot while Zenith always had a stepper switch (1=mute, 2=can't quite hear, 3=too loud, 4=neighbor on phone with police)

Charles

[Chad Hauris]

Doesn't the manual volume control set the range of volume given from the space command stepper? I know on my 1979 Chromacolor II there is a volume knob behind the control panel that can be set to give the maximum volume the remote will go up to (although this one is an electronic ultrasonic remote).

[kx250rider]

Originally Posted by Chad Hauris

Doesn't the manual volume control set the range of volume given from the space command stepper? I know on my 1979 Chromacolor II there is a volume knob behind the control panel that can be set to give the maximum volume the remote will go up to (although this one is an electronic ultrasonic remote).

Yes, but it never seems to be set "just right"... The only way I finally solved it that I use a cable box with its own volume. So I leave the Zenith at a modest level with the cable box volume set to the upper/middle.

Charles

[andy]

Originally Posted by kx250rider

Yes, but it never seems to be set "just right"... The only way I finally solved it that I use a cable box with its own volume. So I leave the Zenith at a modest level with the cable box volume set to the upper/middle.

Charles

I love cable boxes with volume controls. They're great for making an old TV pleasant to use with today's 20 min/hr of ads. They also eliminate adjacent channel interference which is a problem on cable with old TVs.

My favorite cable boxes are the ones made by Zenith in the late 80's. They get most of the cable channels and some versions let you skip unwanted channels. It only takes a few minor modifications to permanently reactivate them.