Freebie 1989 GE

[Jon A.]

Set is long gone.

[Dude111]

Wow she is beautiful buddy!

Yes they were correct... It did goto a house where someone would appreaciate and take good care of

[zeno]

Another RCA built set, good sets. Not sure on this one
but about this vintage the buttons on some were part of the cabinet.
So if the sets not remote the buttons broke out & you had to
replace the cabinet, cost abt $75 wholesale. No big deal
labor wise, a 10 mn job but you will never find a new one.
Treat those buttons with care !

Now you gotta find a real GE. Look for a PC or PM chassis.
AA, AB, AC & EC can be dogs....

73 Zeno

[Jon A.]

Which ones would have a PC or PM chassis?

I'll probably try to get a NOS remote for this one. I know what they look like thanks to the manual.

[radiotvnut]

That set probably uses a CTC146 chassis. I use an '89 GE that has a CTC136 chassis, the one with the seperate MTT tuner module.

IIRC, GE bought RCA in '86 and then GE soon closed it's plants and used an RCA chassis in many of their TV's, while others used either a Panasonic or GoldStar chassis. I think it was in 1988 when GE sold the consumer RCA/GE product line to Thomson.

With most GE TV's, you're pretty much safe on it being a real GE if it was made before '87; however, there are some exceptions (they had some 13" and 17" color TV's that were made by Matsushita). If you find an older GE with a PC, PM, EC, EM, YM, YC, YA, or older chassis; then, you'll have a real GE. IMHO, the PC was the best of the solid state GE's and were used in 19" and 25" sets. The YA and YC chassis were also not bad.

[zenith2134]

The GE 'PC' really is a great set. Real USA made, USA designed GE. I have a 19" here awaiting repair.
However, I have owned AA/AB/AC sets and feel they make a superb pic too. I have had a 10", 13", and two 17" ones, and they have only needed very basic repair to make a wonderful pic with deep vibrant colors and perfect sharpness and contrast.

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

That set probably uses a CTC146 chassis.

That's what I was thinking. Same button complement and setup procedures as the CTC157/159 but no A/V jacks. Just a nice, basic set. The 136, your control mileage will vary. I've seen two that you have then there was my beaten XL. This one kind of looks like my first color set but is likely superior to that one. Same year though.

[radiotvnut]

My two 136 sets are from '87 and '89. The '87 one is knob tuned and does not mention "Thomson" on the back. The '89 has electronic tuning and mentions "Thomson" on the back. I think there may have been an early version of the 136 with a single knob varactor tuner and the same chassis was installed in RCA-branded TV's (in both XL100 and colortrak models). I recall those MTT tuner modules being high as a cat's back, even 20+ years ago. Fortunately, most MTT modules can be fixed without having to replace them. The 146 was made up until around '92, when the CTC175/6/7 chassis with the problematic "tuner on board" came out.

[zeno]

Originally Posted by Jon A.

Which ones would have a PC or PM chassis?

I'll probably try to get a NOS remote for this one. I know what they look like thanks to the manual.

They came out abt 1982 IIRC. GE got it right on the PC. A low
price 19" with a damn good picture & only a few common failures.
The PM is an upgraded PC with switching supply & other
features.

The AA, AB & AC were 10-17" sets. They had the intermitant griplet
problem. By the AC they ran wires through the board, folded them
over & soldered them down. That took care of most the intermits..
Other than that they didnt have that many probs. Compared to
the Portacolor they replaced they were 100 times better.

EC was IMHO the worse of the lot. Constant griplet troubles.
Most had a 82 pos channel selector & guess what ? full of griplets !

Some older GE's were OK, but you HAVE to be sure to upgrade
the safety cap. They went & caused a lot of damage sometimes.
Also had a lot of bad yokes & vert boards. Most were all modular except the JA & a few others.

73 Zeno

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by zeno

They came out abt 1982 IIRC. GE got it right on the PC. A low
price 19" with a damn good picture & only a few common failures.
The PM is an upgraded PC with switching supply & other
features.

I'll keep my eyes open for those for sure. I reckon the PC is the better of the two.

[radiotvnut]

Back in '97, I received a phone call from the head of maintenance at the local Motel 6. He said they were in the process of getting new TV's and that he had 20 19" GE's. He said that most of them worked; but, not that great. He went on to say that the manager told him to get rid of them. He sold them to me for $5/each and they were all "PC" chassis sets with the standard two-knob mechanical tuner. I fixed 19 out of the 20 and sold them for anywhere between $40-$75/each. A lot of them had weak CRT's; but, most of them rejuvenated well. Most of the other problems were caused by the usual bad capacitors in the vertical and power supply circuits. A few months later, he called me to say that he had more TV's available; but, the place was under new ownership and they had different ideas on the pricing. He said they were thinking $50/each and I declined.

One you want to stay away from is the 25" Panasonic-built GE's. Every one of those that I saw had a weak CRT, bad flyback, and/or numerous bad connections on the chassis. IIRC, the flyback part number was TLF14423F. Those sets were made around '85-'86, in both table and console models. I never really cared for the picture on them, even when they worked right.

There was also a BC chassis, used in 13" and 17" sets of the '83-'84 time period. This chassis was also made by Panasonic. It had a decent picture; but, flyback transformers loved to go up in smoke in them.

Right before the end, there was an MK chassis 19" set (available in knob tuned versions and digitally tuned remote versions) that was also made by Panasonic. I don't recall seeing too many bad flyback transformers in this one; but, there was an orange HV disc capacitor that connected between the collector of the HOT and ground that would short and burn. The CRT's often didn't last long in these, either. After this chassis, everything pretty much shifted to Thomson and used a CTC-xxx chassis.

Panasonic made good VCR's for GE; but, they should have stayed away from building their TV's.

[Rod Beauvex]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

Back in '97, I received a phone call from the head of maintenance at the local Motel 6. He said they were in the process of getting new TV's and that he had 20 19" GE's. He said that most of them worked; but, not that great. He went on to say that the manager told him to get rid of them. He sold them to me for $5/each and they were all "PC" chassis sets with the standard two-knob mechanical tuner. I fixed 19 out of the 20 and sold them for anywhere between $40-$75/each. A lot of them had weak CRT's; but, most of them rejuvenated well. Most of the other problems were caused by the usual bad capacitors in the vertical and power supply circuits. A few months later, he called me to say that he had more TV's available; but, the place was under new ownership and they had different ideas on the pricing. He said they were thinking $50/each and I declined.

One you want to stay away from is the 25" Panasonic-built GE's. Every one of those that I saw had a weak CRT, bad flyback, and/or numerous bad connections on the chassis. IIRC, the flyback part number was TLF14423F. Those sets were made around '85-'86, in both table and console models. I never really cared for the picture on them, even when they worked right.

There was also a BC chassis, used in 13" and 17" sets of the '83-'84 time period. This chassis was also made by Panasonic. It had a decent picture; but, flyback transformers loved to go up in smoke in them.

Right before the end, there was an MK chassis 19" set (available in knob tuned versions and digitally tuned remote versions) that was also made by Panasonic. I don't recall seeing too many bad flyback transformers in this one; but, there was an orange HV disc capacitor that connected between the collector of the HOT and ground that would short and burn. The CRT's often didn't last long in these, either. After this chassis, everything pretty much shifted to Thomson and used a CTC-xxx chassis.

Panasonic made good VCR's for GE; but, they should have stayed away from building their TV's.

I wonder if those were also badged Quasar?

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by radiotvnut

One you want to stay away from is the 25" Panasonic-built GE's. Every one of those that I saw had a weak CRT, bad flyback, and/or numerous bad connections on the chassis. IIRC, the flyback part number was TLF14423F. Those sets were made around '85-'86, in both table and console models. I never really cared for the picture on them, even when they worked right.

There was also a BC chassis, used in 13" and 17" sets of the '83-'84 time period. This chassis was also made by Panasonic. It had a decent picture; but, flyback transformers loved to go up in smoke in them.

Not that long ago I had one of those infamous Panasonic consoles from 1984. A long time ago we had a 19" Panasonic with a red LED channel readout and six large rectangular buttons underneath, arranged in two columns.

[TVTim]

Free is the best price. Enjoy that cool set.

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by TVTim

Free is the best price. Enjoy that cool set.

Will do. Fortunately NOS OEM remotes are readily available. This set reminds me of how stoked I was to get my first (used) color set for Christmas 1992. It was also missing its original remote, not to mention the control door. Nevertheless, it was gold to me. I couldn't find a universal remote that listed the brand, but an RCA code worked. I got that remote at a Woolworth's in the former mall where I'm now taking my course.