Its been nice knowing you all

[Eli Polonsky]

On 1/19/04 9:18 AM, "Bill O'Neill" <billo@shoreham.net> wrote:

> In the vein of oldtimer-sounding, I've rediscovered my 1951 Zenith table radio
> (not valuable, tons still out there) with the metal pointer in the round
> center dial, AM/FM. AM works much better. I can't get this clean, round sound
> in any other radios.

There's still one of those sitting in disrepair in my dad's basement.

I don't know if my parents bought it new or used, but they acquired
it sometime in the mid 50's, probably just before I was born.

By the time I became more aware of radio in the 60's (as more than
just something my parents listened to classical music on as a
background), I realized that my parents were listening to that radio
with reduced sensitivity, and only getting the strongest closest
local stations on both AM and FM.

I found that if I opened it up and wiggled some tubes around, the
proper sensitivity that it was supposed to have, and all the weaker
stations, would cut in and out. The tube sockets were all badly
oxidized, tarnished, grungy, intermittent, etc...

When I could wiggle the tubes into a position that would work
properly, the reception on both AM and FM was excellent! The
fidelity was quite good for a table radio as well, I'd say that
when working properly it equaled the KLH FM mono table/bookshelf
radios that were popular then.

However, no matter what I did to attempt clean the tube sockets,
they would not stay clean for long. I could only get the full
sensitivity from the radio for a few hours to a few days before
having to open it and wiggle tubes around again. It eventually was
dropped and the circuit board cracked, and that was that.

My dad also has a DeWald AM/FM table radio from the late 40's.
This was one of the earlier FM receivers on the market. Though
this one technically didn't have anything wrong with it, the FM
tuner was primitive and never much good for any stations not
immediately local and powerful. I think this one still works.

Eli Polonsky