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Sunday, April 28, 2013

Retro Sunday! The Zenith 882H

On today's trip to the past, we need a couple of things to help get there. First, one of the best books on the subject in my opinion:

 And if at all possible the schematic for the object in question:

Then to the heart of the matter:


One of the first things in restoring old radios is to "recap" it. The old wax and paper capacitors (called condensers back then) are notorious to fail over time. I chose a functional rather than cosmetic approach. Lets face it no one is going to see this without some effort:

Yeah, everywhere there is a "CXX" up there needs to be replaced.

So after recapping, restringing the dial cord and replacing a resistor or two what do you get?

Why one of these!


The "Chippendale" or the Zenith G882H to the gearheads out there. For $279.95 (American) It's all yours! Zenith made these from 1949 to 1952. This one came from a wonderfully eclectic antique store in Johnson City, TN that sadly is no longer there. I bought it in 1991 and restored it in 2002. It is still running the tubes that came with it.

So after consulting the manual
We turn it on!




Sometime later, I will show you how to run an iPod through it.  And since the Retrotechnologist has clued me in for period correct wiring, I guess I will need to replace the power cord (again)! 

We will get to the strange black thing on top of the radio another Sunday!

I have a long week coming up with 4 12 hour days. Blogging will probably be intermittent at best!

Have a great week everyone!

19 comments:

  1. Beautiful old piece oaf Apmericana! Nice that it still works too!!!

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  2. Very cool Keads.
    You have my admiration. I tried building radio shack electronics kits as a kid. Never did get one to work right.

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    1. Thanks kx59. My radio shack kits worked though =)

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  3. Very cool!
    Not being electronical - the first thing I though of Mad Magazine's Guide to TV repair...

    "Disconnect fleagle, then realign slog bitsko fignut. Remove other burning hand from high voltage cage..."
    "Dus-Pec - actually, this is only a dust spec. Blow it away."

    Priceless!

    gfa

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  4. Beeee-ah-utiful!

    Do you have sources for odd bits for 1930s radios? I'm missing a knob on mine. The radio was given to me by a neighbor who didn't want it because, in his words "It doesn't work." The guy wasn't old enough to know that you had to let radios and TVs with tubes in them warm up before they will come on.

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    1. Yes I do PH. Shoot me an email or call with the specifics. We MIGHT get lucky!

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  5. I've found some pretty interesting and very old books on radios and electronics at Half Priced Books. I'm just in the "learning" stage but that stuff is fascinating. Right now there's the start of a rework of a very old console radio in the basement.

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    1. If you need any help, let me know. I would be interested to see the books as well.

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  6. Off Topic, but on your blogroll, someone hijacked Tango Juliet's blog addy to advertise when T. quit blogging. You might want to check and remove it. He's still around and we chat, he was just too busy to do the whole blog thing regularly.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Thanks B. Glad to hear he is ok. Missed here though.

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  7. Very nice!

    After the kids move out next month, I'll have a lot more room to work, and I'll finally be able to restore my Drake 4-Line "twins".

    And then on to my Hallicrafters SX-117, HT-44, and PS-150!

    And I've got another 10 or 12 "project" radios out in the garage, and then the tower gets installed, and KIO hexbeam gets here, and.....

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    1. I've also got one of the leather-cased Zenith Trans-Oceanic radios. It's 100% functional electrically, BUT when I moved in with my wife, it got left outside a few nights, and the leather got covered with dew pretty heavily, so now I have to take it all apart and learn about leather restoration!

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  8. Very, very cool. Wish I had your (and drjim's) gift. I just buy and play 'em. Well done.

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    1. Thanks my friend. It is a labor of love.

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    2. Yes, indeed, a labor of love.

      It's like restoring old cars. You don't do it with the expectation of making a profit, but rather because you want to see them running as they were.

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