" Monster " RCA Victor 1960s colour TV set on British 'bay
 

Hello,

here is a "Monster" roundie on the British 'bay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Monster-RCA-Vi...item3ca83185d4

Unfortunately for local pickup: "Due to weight collection only please, bring a your forklift or better still a crane as this one is H.E.A.V.Y" :scratch2:

Kind regards,
Eckhard

Wow...Wonder how that bad boy ended up over there ?!? Too bad these things can't talk...I've often wondered where/who my R-390As went in their "lifetimes", too-what they "listened" to, who for...

Looks like a CTC-10 or 11 with UHF even! The back doesn't look original for some reason - not very much ventilation visible. Fixed up these sets make a great picture, and the "tabletop" sets in metal cabinets like this one are fairly rare on their own.

guess there are not too many console sets in the UK if that is a monster set.

Anyone notice the big power transformer in there? Are they on 50 cycle 220 in England?

Charles

The UK is 50Hz 220V. Also the set would have to have the UHF tuner as VHF was for 405 line transmissions only, and UHF was for 625 line.

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Lawsamighty, look at the size of that power transformer!

If not for that and the UHF tuning knob, it could pass for my metal case CTC-11A. That's what my back looks like, too. There are ventilation holes on the left side and along the bottom 1/3, just not very visible in that photo.

Phil Nelson

Sounds like a great deal for that side of the pond!

Hmmm... an RCA roundie with a funny accent! Interesting!

Our colour service in the UK started in 1967. Starting in the 1950s there were various colour trials on both 405 VHF and 625 UHF. There was some pressure to do colour on 405, especially from ITV who did not get 625 until 1969. The receivers for the early trials were inevitably based on US technology. Bush and Ekco (and others?) made experimental colour sets using round US CRTs. A few complete US sets were also imported. All sets sold to the public in the early days (from 1967 to about 1970) were made in the UK, often based on designs and components supplied by Mullard/Philips. All CRTs were rectangular, made by Mullard and Mazda.

There is some speculation that the set mentioned in this thread was sold at the recent BVWS auction at Wootton Bassett and subsequently placed on ebay.

PS: The official European mains voltage is 230V. This was a harmonisation of 240V in the UK and 220V in the rest of Europe. It is actually a kludge with the tolerances so nobody actually has to change anything. Most of the UK still has 240V but as transformers in the local distribution network are replaced the voltage will often be changed to 230V.

Here is a link to some pictures of items that were at the auction Jeff mentioned. You can see this television, and another RCA color set among some other very cool items.

http://www.bvws.org.uk/auctions/phot...2009/index.htm

Darryl

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I also notice that there was an RCA CTC-16 as well.

Innerstin' lookin' goodies on there...

Got that right Sandy.....

The pre-war Ekco TS701 made over GBP5000 (US$8000)
http://www.bvws.org.uk/auctions/phot.../ekcots701.jpg

If memory serves (well, the auction was nearly a week ago), I think they were used at ?Teddington? and converted several times, once to 405 and later to 625 PAL.

Looking in the back, there didn't seem to be much there, though that 22" screen is a real monster (I've seen CRT's whose screen was smaller than the neck of that tube!). The mains transformer was also a monster too, wonder how they stopped it interfering with the colour ?

There was very little interest in them during the auction, I guess most people were put off with the sheer weight and bulk of them as well as wondering what on earth to do with 'em (and besides, I already had a Decca 131 back projection set and a certain Ekco ;) in the back of the little Honda).

TTFN,
Jon

So you got the Ekco Jon. Congratulations! A very nice looking set, and hopefully with a good tube. One of those RCA's would have made a nice big brother for the Ekco set, and you could have converted it back to 405 NTSC ;-)

Darryl