Late 1950s Zenith Deluxe Roayal 500 Radio

[Captainclock]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

I have ANOTHER theory on these-This was right at the beginning of "Soiled-State", they hadn't had time to figure out how to cut corners, make 'em "Cheap & Nasty" just yet..

Yep, my thoughts exactly, which means that they're still good Made in America Quality yet just before the el cheapo Chinese and Japanese stuff came around in mass quantities.

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by old_coot88

Prolly 1U4 and 1U5.
If one of 'em pops the filament, then they all go out since they're in series. Then the radio ain't active anymore.

jr

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

You fellers need to invest in a Zenith Trans-Oceanic...Or 2. You get one, most people ain't satisfied w/just one, be it a Tube or Soiled-State-either version. Zenith KNEW how to make a good radio, & the T/O was sort of their "Brag Piece". But oncet you get into Angel Modulation in a BIG way, yr ONLY recourse will be an R-390A. Winter DX season will be here before you know it, but PLENTY of time to score an R-390A, set up an Antenna, & get All Set for an exciting DX season..

I've got three of the tube transoceanics, 2 of them using the 7 pin mini tubes (1 needs a lytic wiring mistake fixed to work properly), and one using loctals. I also have got the red Halicrafters tube TO clone working.

When I want to seriously listen to SW and Ham radio I use a Sony ICF-SW7600GR (I prefer digital tuning so I can dial in to a new frequency if a station says it's about to change frequencies)....It is good with it's internal antenna, but connect it to a good long-wire antenna and it will blow away just about anything.

As for the quality of early Zenith SS radios it is not about cheapness (though once the cheap jap imports killed domestic SS radio manufacture that became a major factor) Zenith always wanted to make the BEST consumer radios and TVs for DX'ing/fringe reception, and that goal made it into most all American made Zenith products, and some of their foreign made products too.

I'm solidly outside of that station's FM coverage area 99% of the time.

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

When I want to seriously listen to SW and Ham radio I use a Sony ICF-SW7600GR (I prefer digital tuning so I can dial in to a new frequency if a station says it's about to change frequencies)....It is good with it's internal antenna, but connect it to a good long-wire antenna and it will blow away just about anything.

Better not say that too loudly!
There are plenty that believe that the finest radios ever made were made in America 50 (or so) years ago, and that anything "modern" or "offshore" or "digital" is pure garbage! Sorry, that is just not the case.
Now, I indeed love my small collection of "boat-anchor" radios, which includes a R-390a, SP-600 and products from Hallicrafters, National and others, but most of the time for dxing I use a Sony XDR-F1HD (China) for FM and an ICOM IC-8500 (Japan) for everything else.

jr

[Titan1a]

For REAL DX I use a Panasonic RF-2200 for AM. The FM sucks and the Shortwave is mediocre.

[rca2000]

DO NOT think the 1U4 or 5 are radioactive..

Only tubes like the 0A2 B2, C3--etc.. I THINK these ARE radioactive....

[Captainclock]

Originally Posted by rca2000

DO NOT think the 1U4 or 5 are radioactive..

Only tubes like the 0A2 B2, C3--etc.. I THINK these ARE radioactive....

Hmm, then I wonder why somone online would say that one would need to be careful around the old Zenith Transoceanic radios with the tubes in them then? Because I did honestly come across an article on one of these antique radio forums (not this one I don't think, maybe Audio Karma or ARF) that mentioned that some of the tubes in the Zenith Transoceanic Radios were Radioactive and that one needed to be careful not to break the tubes or one might risk getting radioactive poisoning.

[old_coot88]

I suspect they may have heard reference to the "regulator tube" used in some Transoceanics (type 50A1) that's used as voltage dropper/current regulator for the filament string, and conflated it with gas regulator types which are used for B+ shunt regulation in precision equipment, and do contain a trace of radioactive stuff. It promotes reliable ionization of the gas.
The 50A1, by contrast, is a thermally-variable resistor and contains nothing radioactive.

[Captainclock]

Originally Posted by old_coot88

I suspect they may have heard reference to the "regulator tube" used in some Transoceanics (type 50A1) that's used as voltage dropper/current regulator for the filament string, and conflated it with gas regulator types which are used for B+ shunt regulation in precision equipment, and do contain a trace of radioactive stuff. It promotes reliable ionization of the gas.
The 50A1, by contrast, is a thermally-variable resistor and contains nothing radioactive.

OK that makes sense. Sorry about the confusion, I didn't relize that it could of came from that. Anyways now that's cleared up maybe we should get this thread back on topic again. So anyways I've been having some issues with a scratchy volume control and was wondering how I might go about clearing that up?