I was born in 1951, so that's probably why I see true beauty in that radio! Love the look, I wish it were setting in my living room!

You crack me up with your dry humor,about the people listening to mindless wrap going a long ways in life.Made my day.started laughing out loud ,my wife wondering if I'm nuts,no it's just Shango giving me the best laugh I've had in awhile.

I loke the look of the Zenith over the RCA unit. Everyone has different tastes I suppose. Thanks for showing some great units and detailed repair works as always.

I have a 1946 Zenith console with both FM bands as well as AM. It was a very familiar sight to see the wires that had the crumbling insulation. It was in the 70s that I got it, I was in high school and took on the task to rewire it totally. Very intricate job but very successful. While I was doing it, I did a full recap, wax paper and electrolytics and used all Sprague Orange Drops to replace the wax caps.To this day, it still works fine. Regarding the Armstrong FM band (42.5-48.5 mhz), that band became part of the Public Service Lo band. I live in Connecticut and the State Police used some of those frequencies. The California Highway Patrol also used them as every April-May, they would come in crystal clear here in CT.

I can never get enough of the troubleshooting stuff, love it. That's interesting about the filter capacitor position affecting operation, I don't think I've ever come across that before. A happy ending for a classic Zenith console.

That 40Mhz band is neat. Our DOT and some local bus lines still uses that old VHF low band here. Making mistakes is just part of the hobby sometime. we've all done it. You're still a great technician. As always great video!

I have a Stromberg Carlson AM/FM set from around 1950 that uses permiable (slug) tuning for both FM as well as AM, there is no tuning capacitor in the tuner. It's a little different then that Zenith one, it has a rack and pinion gear that moves the slugs in and out of the coils rather then that rocking plate affair the Zenith has.

'People who like that will go a long way in life"..lol...best statement of the video...

Loved following the camera's eye around as you were giving it the smoke test. I think it's beautiful. Zenith really had their cabinetry down. I still have the absolutely gorgeous mahogany cabinet from our old home TV, a 1952 model. Perfect condition, but no chassis or picture tube. I've been toying with the idea of mounting a flat panel LCD TV I have laying around in place of the old screen. Like to include a modern mini AV amp-switcher-tuner to fit behind the door that hid the old TV controls.

Shango, I love how you will admit when you are wrong and show people that restoring this stuff, even by a professional, will have faults and some complications. I always appreciate these videos as I know working on this stuff isn't a 2 hour event, but takes much longer with the joys of editing.

I think that SPIDER EGG SACK needed replacement. Can't wait 'til the annual shango066 Hollyweird Holloweenie parade!

Here is something interesting you may or may not know, You live in California right? The wildfire water and fire suppressant drop planes out there and throughout Nevada use VHF-Lo band 42 - 48 MHz to coordinated with fire crews on the ground so they don't dump on the crews but on the fires instead. Also there are still plenty of rural fire departments on Lo band out there. Now if you are adventurous you could realign the 42 - 48 MHz band to 50 - 54 MHz and get 6 meter ham..

yup. the original cobra carts were called radionic. good luck finding them

Good work! I feel like I need to take some of my pre war radios on the shelf waiting for restoration. Usually I buy old radios that are in real bad condition. And then it is a good challenge to restore them. And then what a satisfaction if I managed to save another rarity :) Sometimes it would take ages, but I usually empty all old capacitors and install new ones inside, so it would look very original even underside. Thanks for an inspiring video :)

I have one similar to this, a 9H081, but a real oddity. Apparently long ago, something happened to it's cabinet, and whoever owned it liked it enough that he built a custom tombstone style table cabinet for it, out of an old tv cabinet. The tv tube chart is still inside. With the 12" speaker behind a daisy flower design cut into the wood front, wavemagenet antenna and all, it has a magnificent sound for a "table" set. It's one with the miles of rubber wire, though.

I have been playing around with Internet Radio now for several weeks. I found a project to build one using an ESP32 coupled with a VS1053 decoder board and a small amplifier. The amount of old radio out on the web is tremendous. My build can add up to 70 presets, and has a small digital oled screen added so I can keep track of my place. Hooking one of these up to these wonderful old radios could really take a person back, playing a station such as "Have Gun Will Travel" or "Gunsmith" "Suspense" is also there along with classic comedy such as "The Great Gildersleeve, and Fibber McGee and Molly. There are also some classic rock stations, I found one that plays the tapes from AFVN (Armed Forces Radio Vietnam) from the years that I served over there during the war. Man does that take me back, in fact I sent a link to a buddy of mine from Nam who recently suffered a stroke and lost much of his long term memory. For some reason, I am the only one from his Army Days that he can remember, but after he listened to a few days of that station, much of his memory of that time is beginning to wake up. The human mind is a wonderful thing if treated right. As you may be able to tell, I am an official "OLD FART" who grew up listening to the radios you rebuild. Back then the Radio was to us, what television was to the 70's. Our home place was built in 1908 by Grand Dad and was never wired for power, so we had a battery pack radio for entertainment, kerosene lamps for light, and a windmill near the barn for water. It was a great time, and man those old radio shows really take me back to my youth.

This Zenith needed to find a good repair tech and it did.

I love turntables especially the cobramatic I had one when I was a kid and it sounded so good with a 10in speaker

Bet that this radio will shock most of the people with a sound quality that they are not expecting or have never experience before, result of listening to crappy phones, laptops, cheap PC speakers and BT speakers. I mean, I dont think that people is chasing any sound quality today, all the good PROSUMER audio brands are gone, or resell garbage. Audio systems from these days just wont pass from a light show and some miserable punch experience. And on the other side there is no music to feed them ... LOL. I guess trhe punch and the light are good enough ! Amazing job Sir as usual.

Great video. You have almost inspired me to get all my Zenith radios working. I need to get off my ass, and move around. Cheers. You need to try accessing the workings of the Log Cabin mine. Mostly an unmolested mine on top, and I think you are the rope guy.

Nice! Take note newbies....we all do it. Gotta love a crafted man who has humility and shows what all of us...and if your trying to get into old electronics...can....and will happen! I have done a lot of stupid things, let alone a simple hookup mistake. Love that you teach by showing that an expert...but anyone can make a mistake. Love how you have always had a great attitude to help those who may be new or don't know it's ok. I'm going to try and do better on that myself.

Ok I love how he always leaves his mess ups in the video. That's makes it real,not like the people that cover up, or cut out the mess ups they do.

I know you say the radio it's ugly looking but I think it's been stripped. I have this exact same radio only an older model turntable with the 2 tone arms on it and I like it . I think it looks more attractive when it's finished not when the wood is stripped like that.

That cartridge in the tone arm is made up of a kind of variable capacitor that the needle is attached to and vibrates one of the capacitor plates that FM modulates that oscillator, the audio is then detected and recovered from that point ! It funny but I have one of the higher end models of this same year with a separate power supply and audio amp with push pull 6V6 's or 6K6's I kind of forget what tube it is at the moment but 6V6's come to mind with 6SN7 inverter and 12AX7 or 12AT7 preamp.

I love how KZfaq shows me only the latest posts in 2020. I have the tabletop version of that radio, an 8H032, with the "Radiorgan" tone buttons on the side. Mine sounds great, and it only has a pair of 4 inch speakers, so I can imagine how the floor version sounds with that huge speaker. Those old FMs were not made for today's highly compressed, "smiley face" EQ'd FM broadcasts, so they can get overwhelmed if you play hip hop through them. But in So Cal, KUSC and KJZZ, (classical and jazz) they really like!

You have the best repair videos on youtube!

In my younger radio shop days we called this "screwdriver drift"!

That ol' girl sounds great! Nice work, thanks for taking us along!

LOL, I've never seen anyone using hacksaw for recapping before.

I like your videos here from Brazil,your English is very easy to understand,and you teach very wel how to fix the problems.Good to see tubes devices I never seem before this down this land.

man i dig that plum color they use on the tone arm

WOW, so this radio handled BOTH the made-obsolete Armstrong FM band and the now normal 88-108 MHz FM band. Very rare to find *ANY* radio that covers the older band....because they were forced into obsolesence and became utterly useless. The story of Edwin Armstrong is a completely fascinating story. This guy invented FM and the superheterodyne system and built his own transmitter and 180 foot tower he used to climb up on in the New Jersey palisades, across from NYC. He had an FM demo lab high in the Empire State bldg for a year or more. Ultimately, however, he pissed off Sarnoff who litigated him to death and used his influence to move the FM band, once the tech was accepted, away from 50 MHz to the now 88-108 band. His creative career spanned from Lee DeForest (who, while he may have invented the triode vacuum tube had not the foggiest idea how it worked) to the 50's) One of the greatest pioneer inventors of electronics.

I know old radios are not your forte, but this one including the 78 player needs to be restored , any old Zenith is worth restoring.

thats a cool radio man and a cool video,venturing back into electronics after wrenchin on cars for 30 yrs,thanks a lot for sharing,it really does help a greenhorn like me!

59:20 that Jazz channel sounded almost unbelievably good for a 1948 radio, holy crap. Z-E-N-I-T-H Made in the USA baby

Armstrong was a genius, he invented the superhet and FM. Shafted by RCA he jumped from a windoe.

Love the video and that you admitted the mistake. Not only is it something anyone could have done but seeing other people admit their mistakes makes me feel better about my own! Funny hearing the news clips about Irma, as I type this it's just over a year later and I'm sitting here in North Carolina in the path of Hurricane Florence.

Very nice sounding set. You did a good job on that one.

Love the hard core rap coming out of the 70 year old vintage radio. Just imagining our grandparents jamming to that. Great video, Shangoman.

I appreciate that you don't edit out mistakes, and are willing to talk about them.

MMmmmm Little Debbie PCB Swiss rolls... that cap in the wrong spot is so totally something I would do. but I'd have chucked it in the pool. the electrolytic is a great example of the importance component placement and wire dressing

Fantastic - that rubber cable sleeve is everywhere EDIT; In Europe I mean anyway, it's natural rubber I think and seems now is the time it is all disintegrating - heat is not it's friend obviously. This was a great vid.,

Your persistence is admirable.

Nice job. Those radio's are huge, you'd need a fine big old house to stick those in.

I am so paranoid of doing just what you did. I recapped an old Zenith and wound up checking the entire circuit to find what I did wrong. It turns out that the mica caps had gone bad, so rare! Replacing them did correct the problem. One thing I worry about is that the schematics don't always match how the radio is actually wired. I did learn that you need to take more pictures from more angles if you want to be able to see how it was actually wired originally. Very useful when you are doing extensive work on something. It would have saved me a lot of time on this old radio if I had done that.

Interesting video. Cool radio. Thanks for filming.

I replaced filters an old tube scott integrated once and it did the same thing. They HAD to be mounted closer to the original location or all kinda weirdness came out of the speakers......

Both 1948 models, but you won’t find an Armstrong sticker on the RCA.

Well the air intake being on its side didn't help that heat gun at all lying on the ground.

great job on fixing the problem sounds really good

It's got Zenith knobs- they look similar to the ones on their 50s table radios.

Over under cans like dishwater before clouds break glass. Good tires just fly grey mater doesn’t matter before Easter stops.

That is a really good sounding console. Hand it to zenith the quality went in first. I hope he keeps that in his shop for a good long time. Tuned to a strong power house FM station it would stay tuned fairly well.

Every Zenith radio with FM is slug tuned. The early FM band was Edwin Armstrong's "Yankee Network" which was primarily heard on the east coast. I own a table top Zenith 3 bander. A few years back I was lucky enough to hook up with some folks and actually see Armstrong's FM tower in Alpine, NJ. Can see it here - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ir51h9mgzN-ylnU.html

Very nice video to watch! Thanks!

As much as you know about electronics, you can bring any radio back to life, it's going to happen, placing a component on the wrong place. But you found the problem and corrected it. Even the best makes the occasional goof. I can go over my work a dozen times, trying to find out why it's not working only to have a "duh" moment and catch my "oops, forgot to put that resistor in there!"

The cabinet dept in chicago zenith was a place to be i loved that place g

Zenith: The quality goes in before the name goes on.

Oooooh! A Zenith Cobra record player that’s roached.

ROFL at your description! Original cost - $1 Transport cost - $15 Looks expensive and has very strange turntable (Marketeering) + $15000 Getting talked down to a reasonable value - $14980 Total profit!... $4

The hacksaw was my favorite part. Can't beat his videos.

these antique jobs always seem to take up more space, than the appeal of them~

The IF cans all improved when you screwed them out, looks like someone "tightened" it.

I love that wood! That radio is the same age as my good wife of 50 years

"Sharon's a mile mozzeroni like I buy Mother's Day cuz if I'm aggravated Barbers backups in the First Parish bonfire. Get the alcoholic Musketeers with your mom give you some little yeah let me do that as well water the brown believe evil" LMFAO

Cool Bakelite plastic on that Zenith.

I love old Zeniths with FM.

I can verify that the sound is very good. I listen to this video on a Marshall Stockwell speaker. Nice. 73de LA5IRA :-)

I really respect your honesty.......good stuff......everyone makes mistakes.....those that don't are liars or don't know they made one.

Amazing idea, cutting out that cap.... nice shortcut

Whoo... Panasonic EB electrolytics. The Jackon is an imposter!

well....I wasn't going to watch much of this - but after reading your description.....I had to....heh

Some of the Soviet military valves are excellent, lovely glass and construction is heavy weight. Some come with low profile valve bases which look cool.

So funny @1:01:37 I started mocking Shelly Wade just before you started. Lol

That is the reality of repair alright, all it takes is one little thing to throw it off! Nice repair, sounds great! Censored rap on the radio is hilarious, so much dead air! What even IS that description though? XD

Thanks 🙏 for showing us the old zenith radio 📻 and if everyone wants to send me an old am fm tabletop radio please and thanks 🙏

Hmm tasty ! love the decapping process. Great video.

nice diligence!

Impressive sound quality

Respect the rare cobramatic!!!

Runs better than me! I was born in 1948!!!! Yikes!

mmm...Tasty.. I loved it. I like your videos a lot man.

Wires look like they could use some Liquid Electrical Tape, maybe?

Duran Duran still rocks

incredible,very good

Now what would be neat would be to 86 the turn table and put in an 8 track player. I like honest people who admit to their own mistakes.

Those FM bands are from Edwin Armstrong's battle with RCA: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Howard_Armstrong

Verify that the ferrite slug is actually going in and out as you turn it; the ferrite could be cracked. Also verify continuity of that coil and make sure it’s not open, or a dead short. If all else fails, disconnect one lead of the inductor, then measure it with an LCR meter with the slug midway. Now you can calculate the capacitor needed for resonance at 10.7 MHz. That should get you pretty close if you have to shotgun the IF caps.

Is there anything on that old FM band that you can pickup?those old Zenith FM are great when you have them working well.

Nice! You should fix the turntable and get it to work. If not, you should hack it with the 4-speed record changer which would be a good modification.

ooh, i'd love that beast !!! the control panel look like one of those crappy crosley fake vintage things ;-)

I can never help but think they original owner is long dead. at my age with my parents dead it's hard not to think about mortality. Interesting radio but I can see why you don't like it.

This was only a couple years after Roswell. By 1955 we had stolen the integrated circuit tech from the little green men and it was appearing in All American 5 sets.

In the middle 60's here in Arkansas we would get wolf man jack after midnite

Good man. Good man

You have to love the made in the usa on it.

It may look ugly but it sounds fantastic good job

It looks like someone had a go at stripping and refinishing that Zenith's cabinet, if I'm not mistaken it would have had a faux wood grain finish on the vertical moldings on either side of the front panel/record player door. If not for that then you can tell by the roughness of the finish, and the open grain under it. Yes, $20 or less sounds like the right price, if one really just has to have a post war radio-phono combo console unit with the record player in the middle, though it's design is rather uninspired. The Philco ones are much nicer looking, they had a tilting front panel to open the record changer, hidden behind the speaker grill, up until 1948, after that they joined Zenith on the ugly drawer/door in the middle designs. That being said it's an interesting unit in the fact that the tuner has both the pre war and post war FM bands, though it would be tempting to make a table radio cabinet for it. The changer is probably repairable, turntables can be re-flocked, but in the end it's still a 78 only player.

Fix the turntable. I have an early Cobramatic that is in beautiful cosmetic condition, but I can't get it to work. That is the first adjustable direct drive turntable, and the most aesthetically beautiful one EVER made. To me and many others, it is as iconic as the Philco Predicta. Please do a video on fixing one. It would REALLY help me out. Thanks.

Edwin Armstrong invented FM radio and for all his genius and efforts was sued into penury by David Sarnoff and bastards at NBC legal. He committed suicide for all the turmoil he endured watch Ken Burns “Empire of the radio” about these events on Amazon Prime. To Edwin Armstrong we salute your genius and tenacity RIP