Help! CTC -16 problems

[nasadowsk]

Well, another pass at the alignment yielded a watchable picture.

The 41.65 marker is supposed to be at around 20%, but I can barely get it above 5% without pulling the 41.25 marker out of it's little rut. And if the 41.25 comes out, we get noise interference. The other markers are darn near spot on, though I can't get a flat top really. Both potentiometers for the traps are at an extreme end to get maximum trapping. Is this normal or not?

Still, it's close enough for now.

The sensitivity is poor. It's always been - this set has been by far the least sensitive TV I've owned, which surprises me because I always heard New Vistas were the last word in recption. But I can't get signal overload - easy to achive on other sets - at all. Even the strong channels get noise on this set.

The RCA KCS117A next to it, while not perfect (it's close though!) can get a snowless picture on 2 and 5, and a good picture (almost snowless) on 4, which has been a challanging channel since 9/11. In fact, of the low band channels, 4 is the acid test. And that set passes. The CTC-16, not even close.

The sync is horrid. It will barely lock on horizontal, and even then, the picture has severe jitter, to the point that the color goes out of synch. We're talking the picture shifting easily as much as 3 or so inches. Real quick jumps. I've set the frequency coil to nearly spot on with the 6KA8 out to kill the sync signals, and plugging it back, brings the picture in sync, but hardly steady.

Vertical sync is pretty bad, too.

The chroma section - well, it at least functions. Lots of sound interference in it, if I tune this out, I get smeared/delayed color.

And I've got streaking in the luminance section.


Ok - here's the questions

* What's up with the sync? I've swapped diodes, replaced the .01 cap accross the frequency coil in the horz. Current on the 6JE6 cathose is ~~ 180ma. Do I finger the horizontal section, or am I looking at a sync clipper/sepperator problem here?

* The New Vista tuner. Thumbs up or down? My Sylvania 580 chassis set (virtually the same, different tunner), wipes the floor with this set w.r.t. sensitivity. It's hands down a LOT better.

* Am I really looking at a problem with the AGC and sync circuits that I just can't see? Am I unfairly blaming the sweep sections when they're actually OK, but not getting good pulses?

* Sound interference in the chroma. How much is aceptable? Will I just have to align/resistor swap/fix it out? Should I go back yet again through the IF strip?

* There an 'eyeball' method to adjusting the 4.5mhz trap? Does this trap even DO anything?

* Which signal is the IF AGC on this set? I can't decide if it's E or F on PW500. AA goes to the AGC control, which then goes to bias the luminance section. What I want to do is manually 'peg' the IF and tuner at max, or high sensitivity, and see if I get the snow out then.

Thanks guys!