Today's Mystery Guest (RCA CTC-4)

[dtvmcdonald]

It is frequently said that these old sets don't really need realignment.
I've found that untrue. All my sets ... Pilot TV37, RCA 9-T-249, Emerson 610
and RCA CT-100 had abysmal alignment. True, many of the very sharp
trap frequencies were spot on, but the overall IF shape was in
every case completely wrong. Many RF channels were off too.

Its a lot harder to recognize on a B&W set, especially a narrow band
one like the TV-37. My opinion is that the best test on a B&W set
is the standard 100% color bars pattern (WYCGMRB). If alignment is spot on
you should have no problems with the relative brightness of the
bars versus fine tuning as you tune so the video carrier rides up from the
1/2 point to the 100% point. If its off, you will notice
problems. You can use 75% bars but 100% is a much better test.
This is what I fought with a long time on my CT-100.