Airline (Montgomery Ward) GSL-1079A Battery Pinout?

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

Zenith made a plastic AM/single SW band set that used a 1L6, and it unlike the Transoceanics will NOT work with a 1R5 sub....IIRC the heater wiring is shorted with the 1R5.

They made an AM only radio that used a 1L6, a big five tube portable.
That's probably, the one I remember.

[Robert Grant]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

They made an AM only radio that used a 1L6, a big five tube portable.
That's probably, the one I remember.

I remember being at an old radio swap, circa 2000, and seeing a relatively small Zenith portable (smaller than a GE 637), maroon in color, that had the tube complement 1L6 -> 1U4 -> 1U5 -> 3V4, though there did not seem to be anything "special" about it.

[Robert Grant]

Well, the question about whether or not the 1R5 can be substituted for the converter has been answered, as a previous owner has done exactly that (I do have a 1L6 ready for use if the rest of the set works well).

This radio may be newer that I had thought. Four of the tubes are branded "Wards Airline" and two of them carry the codes "62-09 188-5" (Early March 1962, Ken-Rad). Interestingly, Sonora had gone out of business in 1956, so I wonder if someone else took up production of the same model to supply Ward's.

The radio seems to be put together well enough. Unlike the Zenith Trans-Oceanics, this radio has shields over the tubes (except the 3V4 audio out), which connect to chassis via flanges surrounding the tubes.

While the non-bandspread tuning is generally considered a handicap, I can "tune by ear" fairly well and I should have access to the 22m (13 MHz) band.

I have found some other radios that appear to be "clones", so it may be possible to find the battery pinout in other Sam's folders:
344-6
356-11
417-4

Guess I might make a trip to the library.