Rca 9-t-79

[MadMan]

I'm guessing that's the model number. Going off of this post. The chassis is still in my trunk. (Get to that in a bit.)

I went to the estate sale expecting the tv to either be sold or be too expensive, hoping they'd have some other old goodies. Well they really had nothing else of interest... besides a small handheld vacuum cleaner and a pair of pinking shears that I've been wanting for the odd time that I'm sewing something.

The tv was priced at $80. The conversation went thusly:
Me: "So it's half off tomorrow?"
"Yes, what are you interested in?"
"TV"
"It's $80, I'll take $70."
"Meh."
"How about $50?"
"Ok~"

It's complete, minus one or two tubes. It was filthy inside, nasty black sooty electronics dust. The crt plug cap thing is broken badly, but it was still plugged in. I called a friend to help move it, while I waited, I dismantled the set right in the middle of the estate sale. I figured having it in bits would be much safer, and easier - to move only an empty cabinet. Plus my friend is a klutz.

Dismantling was easy. I used the toolkit I keep in my trunk. Chassis was missing two bolts, other two were loose. It just got me covered in filth. Good thing I was in my work clothes.

The crt tests zero. 19AP4. Filament lights and getter flashes look fine. I'm going to say it's asleep and leave it the hell alone. I learnt my lesson already. I did clean it though. Mostly for practical reasons of not having a large filth-encrusted item in the middle of my clean bedroom.

The cabinet is in amazing shape, except the feet which look like they may have been wet once upon a time. They had it up on bricks in the basement. Not really that bad, I can probably cover up the damage. The top has clearly been re-coated. There's still scratches and handwriting under the clearcoat. Doesn't look bad though.

Speaker is there. Cone looks fine. Grille cloth is fine, too.

This will be a project for later. I have too many things cooking already. Incidentally, I already have a very similar set, with a rectangle tube. That cabinet had been cut in half. Presumably the chassis will be very similar... if I need some parts.

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Also, I promptly repaid the favor for my friend helping me to move this thing. He called me later in the day asking advice for a microwave he was repairing (appliance repairman). So I went over and helped figure that out. That was hard. But once I wrapped my head around the operation of the machine, it was very simple.