What is this little RCA tube tv?
 

Hey guys, what is this little set? The labels are either damaged or missing.

This little set took me by surprise. For the longest time I set it way back on my project list since it appeared to be a cheap RCA solid state set. Unfortunately a lot of my projects I'm stuck on so I pulled this thing out just for a break from the same sets. I noticed the back lacked the normal "no user serviceable parts inside" so I took it apart and found a very rough but cool tube chassis. Sadly it has those annoying RCA connections that are always broken so I'm not sure what to do about that.

So what is this thing? Any ideas about when it was made or if it is worth repairing? It is overall a very rough set.

How about some pictures of the TV itself?

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That's the set that many seemed to think that it was a "Salesman's Sample"!
Many had a fancy wooden cabinet, that resembled a miniature console. They were a good working set if the CRT had low hours.

So since it is not in a wooden cabinet it's just a normal portable TV that uses the same chassis as the salesman sample? I looked up the sample sets and dang they're super cool. Too bad this one doesn't have the wood.

If I do restore this is there a place to find the broken board connectors? I have pulled apart a ton of old RCA sets and those white connectors are always broken.

Weird, looks like it should be SS - has to be one of the last tube B&Ws.

No such thing as a salesman sample, those were actual sets that were sold that just looked like little consoles.

The wood sets were part of the regular line. IIRC
there were 2 models of them.
Etch on these is a bit sketchy so go easy on it if you
do any soldering. The sets get as good a pix as any
"better" set.
BTW what part always breaks ?? I cant picure it.

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

That model had tubes in the sweep circuits and the audio output circuit.
I had stated the fact about the "salesmans sample" in my prior entry!

It might be the card-edge connector for the small P/C module. That is the part that always breaks. :scratch2:

Yep that's it. I hang out at a local scrap yard and every single older RCA that comes in has those connectors and they are always broken. Always.

There was a 15" that would burn up the vert board with
those connectors. Other than that I remember a few other
cracked ones but they still made good contact. If you have a
trouble maker maybe pull it & epoxy it. You could also build up the
solder on the connections but that may spread it out more.
Best cure is good NOS if you can find some.

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

Possibly 30 years since I worked on the last one. I wonder if you could take a scrap XL100 chassis that had the same setup for the modules and use the connectors.
I only had to replace one of those connectors that cracked away in a CTC48 or similar. :scratch2:

:thmbsp: Yep , for some reason the myth of those little console looking TVs being a "Salesman Sample" was really pervasive for a while and every so often someone still does advertise one as such on Ebay . I knew right from the beginning of that "Urban Myth" that it was false , Back when console sets were popular there were exactly 0 people going door to door selling TVs ! Now people selling "Rainbow" Vacuum cleaners and Encyclopedias , oh yea once a week at least they'd be ringing the doorbell , but from my earliest recollections TVs were sold in specialty TV stores and then later in places like Sears , and never door to door .....

Here's the miniature 9" RCA console TV. Kinda neat.

-Steve D.

I'll bet RCA had to grit their teeth to produce a TV with Compactrons.

The wooden cabinet looks like they just took the front panel of the plastic model and mounted it into the wooden cabinet.

Very cool looking little set.

And perhaps used the deep plastic back from the portable, as well. The pictures from this eBay listing show some construction details:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/RCA-Mini-Co....c100011.m1850

IMHO, a side view, with that back sticking out sorta spoils the illusion. :thumbsdn:

not affiliated, jr

That's the plan as of right now, but suddenly the local supplies of old TVs went dry. I used to pick up sets every couple days but now nothing.

Looks like an ideal prop for a doll house!

Based on the knobs and newer logo, that was a 1969 or 1970 model. And by then, meeting price points of under $100 for BW sets dictated cloning a basic design which mandated use of compactrons to the chagrin of RCA and delight of GE:D

Thanks to Steve for posting the mini-console and JR for the ebay ad, the distributor's salesmen enjoyed showing those off I bet. :thmbsp:

I don't either one scored in that respect! The last of the tube based RCA's used Japanese sourced tubes in their products.
I have a CTC51K, 1974 issue set, where all the original factory tubes were Japanese but the 3A3, which was original.
Those small B/W sets had Japanese tubes as well.

Dang 1974? I had no idea they made tube sets that late. I always just assumed that tube sets died off in the late 60s, but I wasn't around then :D .

The first SS color sets started appearing in the late 60's (the first B&W SS was the 1959 Philco Safari), and most makers dropped tube/SS hybrid and went full SS in 1975. GE kept making their all tube Portacolor (almost unchanged from its 1965 circuit design) until at least 1978...Tube monochrome sets stopped somewhere in the 70's