Zenith 7H822 radio (AM/FM) question
 

I recall reading that this cute little set came originally with the old FM band, but was changed to the new FM band pretty soon afterwards. Does anyone know if this is in fact true? I could have sworn I’ve seen pictures of both…

It’s true, the original band was 55-102 mhz.

Are you sure? Fifty-five to one hundred two megahertz works out to 47 megahertz, which seems to me to be an awfully large stretch of the FM band for an emergency warning system. The original Conelrad emergency warning system only occupied two frequencies (640 and 1240 kHz) on the AM radio dial. I am 66 years old and remember well the old Conelrad system (those Conelrad, later Emergency Broadcast System, tests over the radio and on television used to scare the wits out of me when I was a kid), but no, I do not, ever, remember any such emergency warning system taking over more than 40 megacycles of the FM radio spectrum in this country. Unless the system to which you are referring was a very crude one (I am thinking it must have been if it had been put into place before World War II), I cannot for the life of me imagine such a system hogging over 40 megacycles. The frequency range sounds all wrong as well, as 55 MHz was just megacycle above the starting frequency of what would eventually, after WWII, be television channel 2 (54-60 megahertz).

Again, are you sure your information is correct? Forty-seven megacycles, after all, is a huge span of RF spectrum. I would also wonder who would even be able to hear emergency warnings on those frequencies, as I am sure most if not all radios of the time did not tune 88-108 MHz, let alone 55-102 MHz. This sounds like one heck of a good science-fiction scenario for the old CBS-TV sci-fi series of the '60s The Twilight Zone!

Sheesh, did this go off the rails!

1) The earlier FM band was 42-50 MHz

2) This question about FM has nothing to do with the AM band CONELRAD system.

I just wanted to know if this particular set came out originally with the old FM band, and was changed along the production run to have the same cabinet, but with the current FM band.

Jeff, Here it is from my collection with both FM bands and AM long before CONELRAD. There are a few other low FM's by others post WWII before the change. Good performer on AM, new FM. Waiting for Armstrong to come back for low FM. Everything after this was new FM only. Nas...I think this set arrived later with only two bands for a short while. I stand to be corrected

Dave you are right your set was offered with and without the pre-war FM band...I had both versions and because of cabinet damage to the 3 band version I transferred it's dial and chassis to the 2 band cabinet to make my keeper.

Ok, I was talking about this cute little sucker. I swear I’ve seen a version with the old FM band, somewhere…