Regency RC-600 UHF converter

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I recently picked up this Regency UHF converter on ebay. I think it's nicer looking than some of the more common models.

The seller did an excellent job double boxing it. The last two converters I got off ebay arrived damaged


I recently discovered that the Riders TV service manuals include UHF tuners I dug through them and found this listed under IDEA.
Click to see the larger version.


According to 'batterymaker' - "Industrial Development Engineering Associates, Regency's earlier name--the plant's very near where I live. Same place where they made the infamous TR-1 transistor radio."

The power transformer and big metal tuning drum make it heavier than I had expected. There's not much to go bad in these so I slowly powered it up to reform the electrolytic and fired it up. We do still have a few analog UHF transmissions in my area and I have used other vintage UHF converters successfully before.
At first, I got nothing until I read the Riders more carefully and realized it outputs on VHF channel 10. All the others I've used were on channel 4 or 5.


Now, I got some fuzzy video but no sound. I tried it on another TV with the same results. Time to check the tubes. The 6BK7 tested OK, but I found a 6T4 in place of the 6AF4. It is a valid substitute and both tubes tested OK ,but I replaced them anyway. Bingo!

It doesn't work as well as the Motorola Strata-tuner below it, but it's certainly watchable.


If nothing else, it makes for an interesting decoration