Jerry has been collecting radios since the 1940s. When he and his wife moved to their new house he had so many that he needed to build a separate 2-story building to keep them all. There are radios upstairs and downstairs, radios stacked on radios, consoles and table sets. There is new shelving stacked on the floor upstairs, a work in progress. But it will have to wait for a new owner. Things happen and priorities change and the beautiful house in the woods will soon be for sale.
So Jerry has been looking for a new home for his collection. Not posting it at the auction site or on Craig's List but, rather, offering it to other collectors that might finish what he started. Asking price - - $0.
We weren't the first to acquire items from Jerry's collection. Best I can tell, we were the last. I would have liked to have seen all of the treasures that had already been hauled away by collectors living nearer to him. By the time we got there consideration was already being given to using cabinets for firewood. (DO NOT do this- bad for your chimney - if for no other reason!)
I wonder if the others saw the little white tags on each radio listing the date of purchase and the price? Ten dollars, thirty-five dollars, and a date of purchase. I was about to throw away one of the tags as I refinished the first cabinet, but, NO. The tag was reaffixed under the rebuilt chassis. It is hard to believe that the one-of-a-kind, export, Zenith had sold for $35 - or even more so that it was left behind by the others. There must have been some really special radios stacked on top for it to remain at the bottom of a pile along one wall. No matter! I am happy to have it.
So Jerry has been looking for a new home for his collection. Not posting it at the auction site or on Craig's List but, rather, offering it to other collectors that might finish what he started. Asking price - - $0.
We weren't the first to acquire items from Jerry's collection. Best I can tell, we were the last. I would have liked to have seen all of the treasures that had already been hauled away by collectors living nearer to him. By the time we got there consideration was already being given to using cabinets for firewood. (DO NOT do this- bad for your chimney - if for no other reason!)
I wonder if the others saw the little white tags on each radio listing the date of purchase and the price? Ten dollars, thirty-five dollars, and a date of purchase. I was about to throw away one of the tags as I refinished the first cabinet, but, NO. The tag was reaffixed under the rebuilt chassis. It is hard to believe that the one-of-a-kind, export, Zenith had sold for $35 - or even more so that it was left behind by the others. There must have been some really special radios stacked on top for it to remain at the bottom of a pile along one wall. No matter! I am happy to have it.
1940 Zenith 9S1429 export model
With a small trailer in tow, we headed off to pick up the first of two loads of radios and parts. It was a long drive, about 200 miles each way.
First Load
Deep inside of the truck bed you can just see the radio (speaker) that became the first restoration of the bunch.
Saba 400 Automatic from about 1961
My interest/collection pretty much runs from the earliest radio and components to 1941 and then restarts with the high-fidelity components/receivers manufactured from around 1955 to 1978. Yes this includes the high-end solid state receivers and amps of the late 1960's and early 1970s. This remote-controlled Saba (wired remote) falls into this later high-fidelity category.
The unit has a single ended stereo amp using EL84s and 5 speakers. It receives broadcast band, Shortwave and FM. It does not have a multiplex (stereo) FM receiver but does have a powered socket for a multiplex adaptor - which I would like to find. It is a relatively rare unit probably attributed to the high original selling price.
The unit has a single ended stereo amp using EL84s and 5 speakers. It receives broadcast band, Shortwave and FM. It does not have a multiplex (stereo) FM receiver but does have a powered socket for a multiplex adaptor - which I would like to find. It is a relatively rare unit probably attributed to the high original selling price.
Paper and electrolytic caps replaced. Note the tiny light bulb on the lower right.
naThe large filter cans were restuffed, mostly to keep the top of the chassis looking neat. The one above just was not going to fit back inside of the can, so it was remounted as shown.
I did find a schematic for this radio which has more resemblance to an architectural drawing than the schematics I am accustomed to. I did not care for it much but it was essential in reversing the modifications that had been made to the motor-driven, remote/automatic control functions.
It sounds wonderful, especially for a table radio. Now all I have to do is hang onto it. In the past I have had several of these German-built, stereo sets displayed in the museum, often used for background music. None of them were put up for sale. Yet I sold them all to people making generous offers while visiting the display. So I am just going to have to resist reaching out and grabbing that wad of cash next time ;-)
P.S.
I almost forgot! Sombody had been fiddling with the motor drives on this radio. They managed to defeat one of the limit switches on the tuning drive motor. SO there was a broken dial string. There are 4 dial strings on this unit. Some of the strings have interaction to other strings/motors/dial indicator/springs/and so on. The design is either genius or sadistic - maybe both. Anyway, it is genius until a string breaks. Then the designer teases you with a little access port behind the dial string. You can SEE the string through this hole and that is about it!
AFTER restringing 3 of the 4 strings, making adjustments to the motor drive, guessing at the broken string length - well - quite a bit of time passed! I adjusted the motor limiters and all of the dials work.
THE second radio on the bench was the Zenith pictured at the top of this post. It is a rare, 9-toob, export Zenith. Rare, meaning that the picture above and those to follow are probably the only ones that you are going to find on the web - with an original, intact cabinet - one with the original photo-finish intact, at that. Export meaning that is has a switchable power supply transformer that would work in Europe as well as the US. It has nine tubes, including the dual display 6AF6 eye tube (two segments that open and close), push-pull 6V6 output and an RF amp. Overall, it is a very nice radio, which leads me to wonder why the export sets seem to be superior to the domestic sets.
I did find a schematic for this radio which has more resemblance to an architectural drawing than the schematics I am accustomed to. I did not care for it much but it was essential in reversing the modifications that had been made to the motor-driven, remote/automatic control functions.
It sounds wonderful, especially for a table radio. Now all I have to do is hang onto it. In the past I have had several of these German-built, stereo sets displayed in the museum, often used for background music. None of them were put up for sale. Yet I sold them all to people making generous offers while visiting the display. So I am just going to have to resist reaching out and grabbing that wad of cash next time ;-)
P.S.
I almost forgot! Sombody had been fiddling with the motor drives on this radio. They managed to defeat one of the limit switches on the tuning drive motor. SO there was a broken dial string. There are 4 dial strings on this unit. Some of the strings have interaction to other strings/motors/dial indicator/springs/and so on. The design is either genius or sadistic - maybe both. Anyway, it is genius until a string breaks. Then the designer teases you with a little access port behind the dial string. You can SEE the string through this hole and that is about it!
AFTER restringing 3 of the 4 strings, making adjustments to the motor drive, guessing at the broken string length - well - quite a bit of time passed! I adjusted the motor limiters and all of the dials work.
THE second radio on the bench was the Zenith pictured at the top of this post. It is a rare, 9-toob, export Zenith. Rare, meaning that the picture above and those to follow are probably the only ones that you are going to find on the web - with an original, intact cabinet - one with the original photo-finish intact, at that. Export meaning that is has a switchable power supply transformer that would work in Europe as well as the US. It has nine tubes, including the dual display 6AF6 eye tube (two segments that open and close), push-pull 6V6 output and an RF amp. Overall, it is a very nice radio, which leads me to wonder why the export sets seem to be superior to the domestic sets.
Zenith 9-S-1429 export model from 1940
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Like most 1940 Zeniths, it has a lot of rubber-insulated wire that had to be replaced. Pictured on left before (with push-button tuner removed) and, on right, with new rubber wire, restuffed caps and replacement resistors.
Above are the original and the replacement cables for the tone controls. Note, shielding - dual shielding in the case of one conductor.
A nice 10" speaker complements the push-pull audio amp.
The third restoration is a Scott boat-anchor from 1943.
The third restoration is a Scott boat-anchor from 1943.
Scott SLR-H from 1943
This receiver was built for the Navy and war-time merchant marine. It was designed to have very low emissions from the IF so that detection/location by enemy ships was unlikely.
It has 12 tubes including the eye tube, push-pull 6v6s for audio output and a 6K7 RF amp. The 6V6s are coupled to an output transformer designed to drive multiple speakers on the ship. The secondary (output) of the transformer has taps from 170 ohms to 600 ohms, so an additional matching transformer must be used to drive a modern, low-impedance speaker. It has a BFO. and tuning to CW or SSB transmissions is fairly easy. The radio was also designed as a ship-board entertainment system and has a phonograph input.
Boat-anchor is a good description. It is shielded almost everywhere and rack mounted in a substantial metal cabinet - I can't lift this one by myself. One of the interesting aspects of the shielding is the location of the metal 6K7 RF amp with the grid cap in the antenna section and it's base in the IF section. A portion of the tube's body is visible between the shielded sections.
Boat-anchor is a good description. It is shielded almost everywhere and rack mounted in a substantial metal cabinet - I can't lift this one by myself. One of the interesting aspects of the shielding is the location of the metal 6K7 RF amp with the grid cap in the antenna section and it's base in the IF section. A portion of the tube's body is visible between the shielded sections.
MUCH MORE to COME - - - - -
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