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Letter Re: Restoring Older Shortwave Receivers
James:
A note on the Zenith
Trans-Oceanic [tube-type general coverage receiver]s:
I've been collecting these and refurbishing them on bad weather days. I replace
all the
paper and electrolytic
capacitors,
check
the tubes, clean them up, and tune up the coil tower with an old tube RF signal
generator. The paper capacitors are very prone to failure. Then I construct
a replacement battery pack using ten 9 V batteries and 5 "D" cells.
I plan to make a 12 VDC charger
for these that I can run off my PV panels.
So far I've
done nine of these. I am putting them along with instruction manual, schematics,
battery pack into Space Bags with a desiccant pack and storing them. I figure
these will be more valuable with time. Now: the special high frequency pentagrid
converter tube for these, the 1L6, is getting really scarce.
I'm buying all I can on eBay if
the price is right. There is a US Army manual of Korean War
vintage with complete instructions on repair. There is an interesting variant
of these, sold for only one year, the "Meridian" that is a general
coverage shortwave receiver with the same tube set. These are rare as hen's
teeth. I'm refurbing my second right now. Next one I see on eBay, I'm getting
it. Regards,
- Doc Holladay
