modernizing?

[Electronic M]

You gave evidence to what I already knew (women were a good portion of the assembly line workforce in electronics), but have failed to convince me Zenith's employees were underpaid or worked in 'sweat shop' conditions (which is what I objected to).

The 5R10 IS ham/pro SW listening gear. It is however the stripped down bottom of the line model. I've got it's big brother with more features (such as a BFO which only HAMs had use for back then), and tubes. After WWII FM replaced SW as the additional band of consumer interest and high end SW sets were limited to Ham's and passionate SW listeners mostly. If that were a consumer model it would not have a metal cabinet like that (Wood for the nice models and plastic for the cheaper ones had been basically standard since just before WWII).

SW has always been an international broadcast and ham band, and is still in use by many analog stations, but unless you are near the coasts, or atmospheric conditions are right you are not likely to receive much since there are few stations in the USA.

The reason the Japs kicked our buts was dumping and our squishy politicians not enforcing our trade laws properly (carmine has gone over that here on VK in depth a few times).

I currently have about 150 vintage radios (over 100 being tube) most of which I've worked on, and have had many pass through my ownership over the years.

You do nice neat work.