I'm beginning to think color sets are more trouble than they're worth.

[Zenith26kc20]

I don't begrudge the sets for their appetites. We've gotten used to the BPC's running 10+ years without problem and then their flybacks crash and they go to the trash. I use my tube colors about 5 hours a week, mostly to watch something good (not the usual nite time TV). The hungriest piece I have is a McIntosh MI-3 scope. If there is a 6EA8 tube within ten feet of it, it's like a cat on a mouse! It goes thru them quite regularly! Most docile is my RCA KCS 166 black and white portable. It just works.
Now to see how hungry my RCA "Latham" is going to be

[hi_volt]

.....In 1980 a CTC-16 would have been 15-16 years old, and the worst RCA chassis (CTC-38) would have been about 12.....

I had a CTC38 that I used as a daily driver for quite a number of years in the late 70's and 80's. One of the best and most reliable TVs I ever owned, for what it's worth...

[jstout66]

Boy you were lucky on that one hi volt. I shouldn't complain too much about them as they were our "bread and butter" in the repair field. But man.. they loved to eat flybacks and 6GH8's. That and the CTC-39 were RCA's last console TV tube chassis and RCA really went "on the cheap" when they cranked those out. However.. you could usually repair em in-house because for the most part it WAS a 6GH8, and if it was a flyback.. one of the easiest tube chassis to remove.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by jstout66

Boy you were lucky on that one hi volt. I shouldn't complain too much about them as they were our "bread and butter" in the repair field. But man.. they loved to eat flybacks and 6GH8's. That and the CTC-39 were RCA's last console TV tube chassis and RCA really went "on the cheap" when they cranked those out. However.. you could usually repair em in-house because for the most part it WAS a 6GH8, and if it was a flyback.. one of the easiest tube chassis to remove.

I never thought the CTC38,39's were that bad. The only HV rectifiers I had in my caddie were 3DB3's. Just about every RCA was hard on flybacks. The 19's 24's, 31's and the 20's were not as good as the 38 family. I have a CTC51K that isn't that great either.

[DavGoodlin]

RCA introduced the 2-board "cheap chassis" as a space saving to make the first 19" sets, the CTC19, then as a budget set, the last roundie CTC20, then the CTC 24, 31, 38 and 39. There were dogs and some lived longer, trouble-free lives.

A theory why some RCA's ate flybacks: All the substitution books said a plain ol' 3A3 could be replaced by a 3A3C, but it was shorter by 1/8", preventing the plate cap from fully seating into the fly. The resulting arcing was sometimes evidenced by poor horizontal lock.

[reeferman]

The 19's were definitely junk but put a lot of bread on the table.

[Sandy G]

Yeah, they ARE...That's why is sO GREAT when somebody restores one to its original glory & sets it up right...

[Zenith26kc20]

My 25nc38 has (had) a 95-2345 vertical output transformer. The thordarson is a 26S44. I've been using it a while now and it works fine!

[DavGoodlin]

Speaking of diehard Zeniths....My Aunt/Uncle had a Zenith 25MC33 (36??) it was ALWAYS on. It stayed on through lightning storms and everything else - I remember saying to my mom, see we don't need to turn the TV off during a storm!

They traded it on a slider-tuned-varactor Zenith in 1977 before I knew it. Saw my Aunt to show the her our new baby girl last Saturday and I asked about that set. I confirmed what I remember from many years back. (No wonder I never saw one at the curb, I only fixed a few Zenith Roundies, and get one for my collection in a heart beat!)

It was bought with wedding money in 1965, The store that sold it also sold most Zeniths to our family and, on rare occasions, serviced it as they did my parents and grandma's TV's, both 1971 Zeniths. The Owner made the house calls but had a good bench tech at the shop. I wanted to work for him, too. My Aunt said they only had it worked on a few times and not because it quit, no, it was tuner cleaning, weak tubes and control touch-ups usually done at once.

He said the reason this old roundie lasted so long was that it was left ON ALL DAY as opposed to OURS and grandma that turned TV on only to watch something (kind of what us collectors do today) and off again several times IN a day. Off when the news was over, off for mealtimes, off when the sun came out......kinda hard on everything when you think about it.