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My new TV set
15 years ago
<puff>
Just your random technologically inclined wolfy here.
I just came into possession of an RCA XL-100 portable television set.
By "portable" I should probably revise that to "luggable hunk of '80s technology".
The set is from 1984, and the original owner purchased it new to use in his van. It's in excellent physical condition, with a minor cigarette burn up and right from the volume knob and a scratch above a screw holding the screen protector on the only cosmetic blemishes. It appears to have a 7" screen. The machine is physically capable of color, and includes "tint", "color", "Black Level", and "Picture" control knobs on the front, under the main bezel, with a volume knob and built in power switch on the bottom right of the front panel. Sound is in mono from a single speaker on the set's right side.
This particular TV features an electronic channel selector. It has a VHF-UHF select switch, and a channel guide along the bottom of the CRT bezel, which the set uses a colored bar while in operation to indicate which channel it's set to. A Green bar indicates VHF, and a red one means UHF. Three buttons allow you to scan up, scan down, or briefly display the color bar to see what channel you're on. A telescoping antenna is built into the back of the thing, and like any TV of the era, it includes VHF/UHF two-wire antenna screws on the back panel.
One cool thing is the power socket on the back. It came with two power cables, one for 115v AC household power, and one for 12v DC vehicle power. A minor modification was needed to allow this cable to work in my 12v power harness.
This particular TV set has an apparent chroma problem, as it only displays in black and white. The Tint knob has a very minor effect on the picture, but the Color knob is completely useless. I am not certain if the chroma decoder circuits are defective, or if my color adjust knob has failed. Until I find out, it's a perfectly good black and white television.
I just came into possession of an RCA XL-100 portable television set.
By "portable" I should probably revise that to "luggable hunk of '80s technology".
The set is from 1984, and the original owner purchased it new to use in his van. It's in excellent physical condition, with a minor cigarette burn up and right from the volume knob and a scratch above a screw holding the screen protector on the only cosmetic blemishes. It appears to have a 7" screen. The machine is physically capable of color, and includes "tint", "color", "Black Level", and "Picture" control knobs on the front, under the main bezel, with a volume knob and built in power switch on the bottom right of the front panel. Sound is in mono from a single speaker on the set's right side.
This particular TV features an electronic channel selector. It has a VHF-UHF select switch, and a channel guide along the bottom of the CRT bezel, which the set uses a colored bar while in operation to indicate which channel it's set to. A Green bar indicates VHF, and a red one means UHF. Three buttons allow you to scan up, scan down, or briefly display the color bar to see what channel you're on. A telescoping antenna is built into the back of the thing, and like any TV of the era, it includes VHF/UHF two-wire antenna screws on the back panel.
One cool thing is the power socket on the back. It came with two power cables, one for 115v AC household power, and one for 12v DC vehicle power. A minor modification was needed to allow this cable to work in my 12v power harness.
This particular TV set has an apparent chroma problem, as it only displays in black and white. The Tint knob has a very minor effect on the picture, but the Color knob is completely useless. I am not certain if the chroma decoder circuits are defective, or if my color adjust knob has failed. Until I find out, it's a perfectly good black and white television.
