Another one (flipped) up and running

[Cory]

With a packet of 1N60 diodes on my doorstep I was finally able to get one of the RCA "coffee table" sets up and running like a champ. Of course the full-recap helped too!

Anyone else notice though that the RCAs with the printed circuits seem to be tougher to troubleshoot and more prone to failure than the other makes of the mid to late 50s? I have several RCAs like that and they all have issues. On this one, RCA combined three resistive tracks onto a single substrate with press-on plastic knobs for the vertical adjustments. Once I had things going, I noticed the picture liked to tug and shake at the top and sure enough, part of the vert height trace had arced away. Not much you can do besides installing a real pot on the back.

But hey, it works!

This one also has the New Vista script on the front, but I don't see any nuvistors. Interesting!

[Big Dave]

Surprizingly, the PC board on my 14" RCA portable is in pertty good shape, despite the heat this thing produces.

The chroma board on my CTC-16 had foil problems, wnich I was able to fix.

The Sylvania portable I have has a PC board that drove me nuts during the restoration. I resoldered more joints than I care to count, and the set is still not perfect.

I have noticed that most manufacturers that used PC boards from that era had problems of one kind or another, with RCA being notorious.

I did put more details on the PC board issues on the two BW sets on my website.

www.geocities.com/evilfurnaceman

[Charlie]

Cory,

Great picture on the RCA! One down, and how many more to go?