My New CTC-7! The Whitmore and a mystery accessory....
 

I'm super excited to announce the addition of this amazing set to my overcrowded household. It is a very nice 21-RC-8975 "Whitmore" with remote. It has a strange attachment however.

It sits on a base with casters! This base appears to be commercially produced but not by RCA. It was made for this specific model too because it has "8975" written in grease pencil. While the TV is wood veneer, the base is hardboard with photo print sides and solid wood trim on front. The speaker grill is for looks only but there is a place cut out for a round speaker. There are no mounts however. But it matches the set perfectly!

Another thing I am not sure about is this 4 button remote. The books don't list it. the first 2 buttons are locking and jointly labeled "on/off/picture". The sound and channel buttons are momentary. It uses a 13.5 V battery and the buttons are METAL. It is sooooooo coool!

So next comes all the restoration. I've kept my "Darcy" alive for 30 years but I want to do this one really right. Caps up. As such, I'll be asking for a lot of advice because I am strictly amateur... Joe

Very nice find!

+1

Seems like a lot of roundie sets come out of hiding this time of year. Spring cleaning, maybe?

Ah HATE Yew !-Y. Sam, frustrated TV/radio collector...Seriously, EXCELLENT score ! Ya done GREAT !!

Cool set ! Good luck with it ! Does it work as found.....?

.

Congratulations on your most excellent find!

Niiiice!

An excellent find. This article has some CTC-7 restoration notes that you might find interesting:

http://antiqueradio.org/RCACTC-7ColorTelevision.htm

Mine worked pretty well after recapping and cleaning controls, etc.

That's one of the biggest wireless remotes I've ever seen. Second only to the old Philco radio Mystery Control!

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

http://antiqueradio.org/art/PhilcoMy...ntrolFront.jpg

I know RCA offered several optional base units for their various 50's era table model color sets. How do you know this isn't an RCA option?

-Steve D.

Congrats on your new CTC-7. We'll all be looking to see more photos as it's restored.

Phil Nelson - I just perused your page - http://antiqueradio.org/RCACTC-7ColorTelevision.htm and what a beauty! I love those old magazine ads, too.

Congrats on your new (to you) RCA CTC7 "Whitmore" color TV. :thmbsp: I'll be looking forward to seeing pictures of it in operation once it's restored. I am always interested in this type of restoration, where an old TV or radio is brought back to life after years or decades of storage or disuse. Once this set is restored and working again, it will work perfectly well with a DTV converter box and an antenna; just be sure the set's VHF tuner is set to channel 3 or 4 to receive the output signal. Since there is no more analog VHF or UHF TV in the U. S. since the DTV transition, it shouldn't matter which channel is used.

BTW, that "mystery accessory" you show in your post is actually a remote control unit for a Philco console radio; I don't recall what year. The controller must have come from Portland, Oregon since the tuning presets are all (or mostly) Portland radio stations. (I live near Cleveland, Ohio, but I do some AM radio DXing from time to time using a Zenith C-845 and am an amateur radio operator, which is how I know about Portland's radio stations.) If you can find the radio this controller goes with, you will have an excellent beginning to an antique electronics collection, if you don't have one already.

Good luck.

Yes, "Mystery Control" is what Philco named their wireless remote. You can read more here:

http://antiqueradio.org/PhilcoMyster...dioControl.htm

Regards,

Phil Nelson

...

I wonder if the battery is that crazy XX9 type. The used them in the first GE transistor radio. Three prong plug and a nine volt tap.

Why? At least in the Ft. Worth-Dallas area, which was was among the
very first to have color programming on every day. From 1954!

I actually appeared on a local color show in 1954 or maybe early 1955.
A kiddie's show.

Thanks Phil! Yes, I had been reading your excellent notes. BTW, I also have a '41 Philco BOL... (no remote with mine but a nice radio). And I will probably be picking everyone's brain as I go along. I'm strictly amateur and learning as a go (over the past several decades)

Wow, so maybe it is stock. I was thinking it probably wasn't because the gold V on it is flat and looks like a knock-off. And, unlike RCA V's, it was glued to the grill cloth rather than pinned. the base is print on hardboard too but the TV is veneer.

Andy, I actually have 2 (well, my CTC9A - Darcy is from early 1960) from this area. The Darcy lived in River Oaks and it looks like this one was in Montrose but I found it down near NASA. There has always been a lot of money in Houston. It isn't like in the northeast but we have our bits and pieces that turn up.

I need to pull it to double check but I believe it is. I think it only runs on one tap though so probably at the full 13.5 volts. It would be too convenient if it ran on the 9v tap! So far, I haven't found much on the remote. Looks like the "sound" may just be a mute. Not sure about the "picture" buttons since they are locking. it may just be on/off mute and channel select. If so, it has one heck of a big sub chassis for it!

That would be WBAP-TV in Ft.Worth. Here's their color logo I.D. from the 50's

-Steve D.

...

Wow! You are a very important showman here on Videokarma, if you appeared in those years in a color show! Let we know something of more! :)

You could try with the 12 Volts batteries that often are used in remote controls for opening gates. They're very little, but are quite strong and durable.

Your remote appears to be the same as used on my Grenoble CTC 7. The original battery and plug were intact and it was connected to the 9 volt tap. I swapped connectors for a standard 9 volt battery and it works fine. The only problem I had was two of the 5 K ohm relays on the remote chassis that were open. I was able to find modern relays and after adjusting contact clearance and using lighter springs it works great.

Great about the battery huh? What did you do about the physical aspect of the battery? Did you just stuff the housing so the cross supports for the screws sprung against something? I did notice the 9V tap was used and was thankful! Also, since nothing in the field manual even mentions this remote, what functions does it actually do? On/off/mute and channel or more?

First Run!
 

Wow! I patiently brought her up on my variac and took my time. This was what I was rewarded with! It has a long way to go but not bad for a first run after who knows how many years. I think there is a lot of good to work from here! I'm super excited. After a while the vertical linearity started shifting, etc.... some cap work to be done but STILL! WoW!

Wow is right. When I consider replacing components in a mostly-working original set like that, I keep in mind the old doctor's precept: "Above all, do no harm."

Phil Nelson
Phil's Old Radios
http://antiqueradio.org/index.html

That is a good picture - especially on original parts ! !

.

That is pretty darn good for an unrestored example.
I dig that the remote stores in the front control panel.

Big time.

I actually have that remote, but I don't have the set. If you want a picture of the battery let me know and I can take a picture of it. Very rare and expensive option. Awesome score on this set!!!

Scott

I wanted to preserve the original batter so I changed the connector to a standard 9 volt snap on & used a piece of foam rubber to keep it from moving around inside.

The left Picture buttons turns the set Off, the right one turns it On, then Mute and Channel.

That is very similar to what I did too. I had the original battery. I used some heavy card stock to make a sleeve for the new 9V battery. Then I soldered clips to a standard connector to slide onto the original plug. This way I was able to support the bottom brackets easily. Radiotronman, thank you for the offer of the image of the battery though!

You're welcome!

Scott