20 inch GE CTC166CS chassis red smearing but strong CRT

[MRX37]

Originally Posted by JohnCT

No, the 166 was a fine performer with no known vices. Also, incredibly reliable.

That's what I figured. I know the quality took a nosedive after Thomson acquired RCA and GE, but the 1991-1992 sets were still well made. That's why I saved this set.

I remember having a problem like that with the jungle chip in several brands (I think Toshiba and Sanyo made most of the jungle ICs for the industry). If it uses the same one as the 169, I might have one. I scrapped out most of my analog chassis some years ago, but I have friends who might have an original jungle if you post the number.

The smearing is rather slight. I would think if the IC failed it would be a hard fail with significant changes to the picture.

If the smear is on just one color, it could even be a problem at the CRT socket board. A cranky kine drive transistor could do this or a shorted inductor on that one color. The inductor will read fine resistance-wise but a shorted turn will cause a smear.

It affects all 3 colors. I thought it was just red at first but its all 3 colors.