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Old 11-05-2004, 02:26 AM
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Jeffhs Jeffhs is offline
<----Zenith C845
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Fairport Harbor, Ohio (near Lake Erie)
Posts: 4,035
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chad Hauris
I would replace the selenium rectifier in the power supply with a silicon diode with a 50-100 ohm 10 watt resistor in series with it. Was working on a Magnavox 50's FM set that would not tune above 98 mhz and the FM sensitivity was really poor: replaced the selenium with new silicon diode and performance is much better.
Chad, I have a 1963 Zenith radio with a selenium rectifier. The set still works well, no problems (yet) with the rectifier or anything else. Sensitivity is great, it sounds fantastic, so I really don't want to go into it unless I have to. What could go wrong with a selenium that has been working well for 41 years, no problems? I would think if the thing hasn't shorted by now, it should go for years. I always thought the only way seleniums ever went bad was if they were accidentally shorted (as you once mentioned happened to a Zenith radio you had, in which a headphone jack worked loose and fell on the stack); never thought they could short or open on their own.
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Collecting, restoring and enjoying vintage Zenith radios since 2002

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