Need Zenith transistor portable radio ID, Circa 1980, same period as the R-70

[HamInaCan]

Hi everyone. This is a far shot and chance, because I don't have too much information.

When I was young, my dad bought me a Zenith portable transistor radio around 1980-1981. I am trying to remember the model number. Memory has failed me, I have no documentation on it and there is sparse to no information on the net for the last generation of radios, as I have searched for hours upon hours.

The info I have & remember from mind:

• Around the same time the Model R-70 (which has been discussed here a few times) was produced.
• More than likely was made in Korea for Zenith
• Tunes FM, AM and I believe, VHF Low Band
• Had an "S" power meter, most likely on the LEFT side of the selector dial, Power Meter needle moved vertically, not horizontally.
• The frequency dial and the S Meter were "angled" on the top of the radio. Meaning, the display was "sloped" and not your typical "box" radio with sharp curves.
• Pretty sure it was a 2 toned radio, one color was grey.

The AM receive was awesome, day & night. The S-Meter was great, seeing local daytimer AM's signing off and that signal dropping to nothing, or dropping from day to night towers, would see a drop in S-Units. The audio from it was loud and clear.

If I get lucky and one of you remember this model, you will save me a ton of hair loss and simply reconnect me to my youth and possibly locating one.

On a side note...... BOTH my parents worked for Zenith in Chicago. My mom worked at the plant on Austin and Dickens soldering in the mid to late 60s. My dad worked at the Plant on Grand Ave and Natchez Ave (which later was renamed "Zenetron"), manufacturing Hearing Aids up until the early 80s. Zenith layed everyone off and headed to Mexico.

Warm Regards.

[AUdubon5425]

There are a bunch of Zenith service manuals from that era on eBay right now - just looking at the covers may jog your memory as to which set you had. Also looking through the auctions may be helpful.

[HamInaCan]

Thank you for the swift reply.

I have scoured over 700 Ebay auctions of radios and manuals. No luck.

I think one reason there is a lack of information on this particular model.... it was at the tail end of their marketing radios, so it might have had a short model run, perhaps a year or 2 at most.

If I run across it, I will follow up.

Warm Regards.

Originally Posted by AUdubon5425

There are a bunch of Zenith service manuals from that era on eBay right now - just looking at the covers may jog your memory as to which set you had. Also looking through the auctions may be helpful.

[AUdubon5425]

Don't give up - it's taken me many months to ID something in my past.

[Reece]

I have no idea if your radio is in it, but there is a book for sale on this site entitled Zenith Transistor Radios.

http://www.alanjesperson.com/gn_books.htm

[HamInaCan]

Well, after a loooooong time, I found the model.


Zenith Royal 84

http://www.radioatticarchives.com/radio.htm?radio=8152

Now the fun part of locating one!

Best wishes to all.

[bgadow]

Great! I seem to recall having a service manual for this one, should you ever need it. (where was I when this thread started ?)

That is a distinctive enough set that I think if any of use spotted it, we would grab it. I'll sure remember it. It was just a couple years later than '80 that I disovered DXing and started searching for a set like this. I was just a kid; a Zenith like this one would have meant the world to me!

[Jeffhs]

Indeed. This set is a step up from the R-70, as the Royal 84 has the old 147-174 MHz public service band. On the Royal 84, the public-service band's dial scale is calibrated from 146 to 174 MHz; the low end of the band is actually part of the 2-meter amateur band, in particular the 2-meter repeater allocation. If you are interested in hearing 2-meter amateur repeaters, just tune your Royal 84 around 146 MHz. If there are any such repeaters in your area, you should hear them. In case you are not familiar with 2-meter repeaters, these are high-power amateur radio transmitters and receivers that take signals from low-powered hand-held radios and rebroadcast or "repeat" those signals over the repeater's high-power transmitter. In this way, amateur operators using low-power hand-held or mobile 2-meter FM transceivers can communicate over much longer distances than is ordinarily possible communicating over point-to-point (simplex) amateur frequencies. I belong to a radio club that operates such a repeater, located atop a medical center some 15 miles from me. This repeater has excellent coverage of the Lake County, Ohio area and also a good part of east suburban Cleveland. I don't know where you are located, but if you are in or near the greater Cleveland area, I'd suggest you tune in on this repeater. It is on 147.81 (input) 147.21 (output), although you don't really need to know the output frequency; just tune the dial until you hear either someone talking or a Morse code ID (all FM repeaters operate this way, so regardless of where you are, the procedure for finding a repeater on the Royal 84 will be the same). I am purposely omitting the transmit offset (which is normally either plus or minus 600 kHz) since you would be listening only to the repeater's output signal.