John Eng's Dead Tech Rescue - 1960's Goodbye Vacuum Tubes and the End of "Made in USA".

1960's Goodbye Vacuum Tubes and the End of "Made in USA"

By the 1960's transistors were rapidly taking over:

New tube radio sets were new cabinets having the same chassis and design. Most were AC/DC transformerless sets. Clock Radios were popular since people needed a nice looking radio for the bedroom or kitchen. FM and AM sets were rising in popularity. New designs with tubes in the 1960's was in the use of stereo multiplexing for true stereo sound, and the development by GE of the Compactron Tube- three or more tubes in a tube mainly for space `saving and fewer parts count. In addition, RCA came out with a tube the size of a thimble called the Nuvistor for TV tuners. In the 1960s a new set of AA5 tubes were developed that used 33% less power. For car radios an old concept in the 1920's was resurrected by using "space charge" tubes so a radio will run directly off a car battery (NO MORE HIGH VOLTAGE), to cut cost by avoiding transistors. That idea lasted about 3 years. By the mid 1960's transistors totally dominated radios with tubes hanging on until the early 70's for TV. Radios and TV'S were either partly or completely made overseas. Only Zenith made an effort to keep "made in USA" an important reason to buy it's products.

1960s Tube Radio INDEX

Click on the links below

Page 1 Cover Page- Table Radios- Table Radios

Page 2 Other Radios- Japanese Imported Tube Radios

Page 1

Table Radios

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SHOWCASE

The Last Packard Bell Stationized Radio in 1962?

Packard Bell, Los Angeles was one of the few radio manufacturers that added the Call Letters of major stations west of the Rocky Mountains. The story was that Herb Bell (one of the founders) added it on at the request of his mother who had a hard time finding her favorite station. Being a west coast radio manufacturer, Packard Bell initiated this back in the late 1930's. By the 1950's Packard Bell prospered and became nationally known so the "Stationized" concept was discontinued in the early 1950's. Apparently they made a few for California only sales in the 1960's.

Packard Bell 5R10 (1962). Packard Bell, Los Angeles CA. A rare 1960's "Stationized" radio. The more common 5R9 is identical but not stationized. Another interesting mark is that this radio even says " 5 Tubes" on the label. Could be the last model of "Stationized radios.

A Rarity for 1963- Chassis and point to point hand wiring! All the tubes original Packard Bell branded.

ABOVE: Only California stations listedBELOW: Lift up the metal plate reveals the 5R9 version.

Westinghouse

In the 1960's Westinghouse, in my opinion had some of the most functional yet very decorative radio models. From the Glo-light clock radios to the Space Saver radios, these radios were nicely laid out inside and out and look nice in any room.

Westinghouse Space Saver Series Radio-Intercom Combo H219TL (1967). Master is the clock radio. A 5 tube AA5 transformerless radio.

Compact but nicely arranged layout. By this time many of the parts in this set were imported from Japan.

Westinghouse Twin Speaker Radio Pair. Left: H704T5 AM Radio and Right: H715T5A (1960) FM only.

Inside the H704T5 AM Twin Speaker model.

Side and Back view of Westinghouse H704T5 and H715T5 Twin Speaker sets.

ABOVE: Press to talk switch. It can be locked in talk so your favorite radio station can be heard on the master and remote unit.

Westinghouse H219TL Intercom Connections on back side.

ABOVE: The tube version on the left (H201T) and the newer sold state version (RLA1020B) on the right. Even the inside layout is similar.

BELOW:Inside the H715T5 FM Twin Speaker Model. This set uses a silicon rectifier and two ceramic couplate thick film modules.

Westinghouse H943LN6 (1964) Glow Light Series, by Canadian Westinghouse, Hamilton ONTARIO. 6 Tube FM- FM AFC / AM Clock Radio. Uses Diode rectifier and 12DT8, 12BE6, 2- 12BA6, 12AV67 and 50C5 tubes.

Nice clean mid 1960s look! Very functional layout of controls.

Neon bulb provides backlighting of clock face.

Westinghouse Space Saver Series Radio H201TS (1967). A 5 tube AA5 transformer less radio. The series later evolved into transistors. The tube series came in two styles, White on yellow-gold cabinet and blue on white cabinet. Compact but nicely arranged layout. By this time many of the parts in this set were imported from Japan.

ABOVE: Fairly compact electronics. Well laid out. Uses a adjustable oscillator coil which is fairly uncommon but has much more accurate alignment. BELOW: Lots of open space which allows a 4 inch speaker.

ABOVE: Neon bulb provides the evening glow for the clock and clock knobs. "Hence Night Gow Series".

ABOVE: Typical FM/AM radio for this time period. Notice solid state germanium rectifier on lower right. FM tuner is preassembled with 12DT8 tube. Very basic superheteroudyne FM circuit. Some parts are imported from Japan.

Last USA made radios.

POWER SAVING AA5 RADIOS

Power saving tubes were introduced that reduce power consumption by 33%. These were the last tube design change of the famous All American 5 (AA5) tube radio

Top Row: 1962 RCA 1-RA-11 "Accent"Bottom Row: (1962) RCA 1-RA-25 (L) and 1-RA-23 (R) "The Hardy"Other models are 1-RA-26The RCA 1-RA-23 and 25, radios used 18FW6, 18FY6, 18FX6, 34GD5 and 36AM3 power saver tubes

Slanted circuit board. RCA built the cabinet around this concept, simplify mechanical needs as much as possible and minimize assembly costs. Problem was that the direct drive of the tuning and volume controls required a lot of initial torque, sharing the plastic molded standoffs over time.

One of the LAST Tube Radios!

By 1967 the last of the remaining manufacturers would end production of tube radios. By 1967 tube sets were bare bone models.

PHILCO R-701 (1967) Philco, division of Ford Motor, Philadelphia PA, price $14.95. Basic AA5 radio with clock. This model was close to midget size. In the early 1960's Ford bought Philco, hoping the aquisition would help Ford have state of the art electronics in their cars.

Straightforward layout with most if not all parts made in Japan. Clock function is very basic. Good chance that this set was also assembled in Japan. Notice how small the IF transformers are, smallest I have seen for a tube set.

Silver Rot on IF Tranformer Capacitors

BELOW: All four caps were going bad. I removed all of them and installed 100 pF disc caps as shown. Realigned the transformers and the set works very well and surprisingly sensitive.

What silver rot looks like. The maker of the capacitors did not encapsulate the silver micas. The exposure to the air turned the silver film to black. This was a common problem in the 1950's film capacitors could be used to shrink the size of iF transformers. I was surprised that in 1967 this would still be a problem.

True AM FM Stereo Table Radio

ARVIN 35R58 (1965) Multiplex FM Stereo/AM RadioVery interesting design. Transformerless 9 tube radio using2 independent series heater strings.

Uses 50HK6, 50C5 and 12DT8 for the 150mA heater string and the 18FW6, 18FY6, 18FX6, 18GD6, and 2- 20EZ7 tubes for the 100mA heater string. The 50HK6 tube is the right channel power amp and has a heater tap to operate a 6.3V #47 pilot lamp. The 50C5 is the left channel power amp.
Printed Circuit Layout

About as simple as it gets.Uses integrated couplate to replace capacitors and resistors (forerunner of the integrated circuit). Only 4 external capacitors and 6 external resistors.

TUBE SET BECOMES TRANSISTOR SET

When transistor designs drove costs down, many manufacturers took tube size cabinets and put transistor circuits inside. Result was a bulky cabinet with mostly empty space. Philco was luckier, their basic tube clockradio was very small and fitting it with transistor circuits seem to fit in nicely.
PHILCO F339K: Philco, division of Ford Motor, Philadelphia PA. (Made in Taiwan). A six transistor radio. The cabinet is almost identical to the tube version R701 on the left.

ABOVE, tube version on left and solid state version on right. BELOW: Even though the cabinet is midget in size, look how much room inside using transistors instead of tubes.

ABOVE: Uses six Matsushita transistors: 2SA102 Converter, 2 x 2SA101 IF Amplifiers, 2SB175 Audio Amplifier and 2 x 2SB475 Push-pull Output. On the lower left is a full wave selenium rectifier.

Admiral

Admiral Y3158 and Y3364: What a difference a year makes?

LEFT Y3158 (Green) and RIGHT Y3364 (Pink)

Admiral Y3158 (1962) "The Capri" Admiral Corporation, Chicago. Economy AM Clockradio using energy saving 100 mA AA5 tubes. Clock has 0-60 minute radio on timer, radio or clock alarm wakeup and 5 minute snooze button on top of cabinet.

Nice clean PC board layout of components. Surprised that Admiral decided to use better quality bakelite tube sockets.

Radios in the 1960's were designed with some shock protection. The use of a interlock connection. When you remove the back cover the AC cord is also disconnected.

Admiral Y3364 (1963) Admiral Corporation, Chicago. Newer model but basically identical to Y3158. Economy AM Clockradio using energy saving 100 mA AA5 tubes. Clock has 0-60 minute radio on timer, radio or clock alarm wakeup and 5 minute snooze button on top of cabinet.

American Brand completely made by a Major Japanese company

Admiral Y3607 FM/AM Clock Radio (1964) and Admiral Y3909 FM/AM Radio - Admiral Radio Corp, Chicago
Made in Japan by Hitachi. This is a 6 tube radio with FM, FM-AFC and AM. Uses 17EW8 / HCC85, 12BE6, 2 x 12BA6, 12AV6 and 50EH5. Uses 2-1N60's, 1N85 and selenium rectifier. Clockradio has 0-60 minute radio on timer and has radio and clock alarm wakeup mode. Non clock version has phono input.

ABOVE: Y3909 (Left) and Y3607 (Right)

ABOVE: Y3909 non clock model.

INSIDE the Y3607 (Below)

WIRED SIDE OF Y3607 and Y3909 (BELOW)
All capacitors are ceramic disk and mylar film. The FM Tuner is the shield part on the left side.

ABOVE: Definitely made in Japan! Anodized chassis were quite common in Japanese radios. The IF transformers are more square sided than in US made types. Five of the six tubes are standard 7-pin US type tubes. The 17EW8 on the far right is a nine pin dual HF Triode for the FM Tuner (normally is shielded).
RIGHT: Added neon lamps to see the dial pointer in dim light.

Admiral Y3656 AM Clock Radio (1963-64), Admiral Corporation, Chicago. Uses 150mA AA5 tubes. Clock has 5 minute snooze button on top of cabinet.

Lots of room and a nice layout of printed wire board. Admiral was importing parts from other countries and assemble them in US.

ABOVE and BELOW: Y3601 clock model.

Admiral Y2996-2999 (1960) Admiral Corporation, Chicago. Midget 4 tube superhet radio, using 35W4, 50C5, 12AV6, and 12BA6. Basic but very compact.

Shown is the Y2998 (Aqua) and Y2999 (Charcoal)

ABOVE: Inside is very clean and basic, Case is about 4" H X 4" D and 8" W. BELOW: electronics mounted on a 4" X 4" board. Note the single IF transformer and thick film filter couplate .

Sarkes Tarzian

Originally a Rectifier Manufacturer, in Bloomington Indiana, Tarzian experimented with converting AM radios into FM in the 1950's. He ventured into radio manufacturing for a very short time. He and his family were and still is heavily into Indiana broadcasting.

Sarkes Tarzian 723-511 FM/AM (1962-63) 6 tube Superheterodyne Table Radio. Transformerless set. Sarkes Tarzian, based on my research never made AM only sets.

The FM section and audio is wired on the main chassis. The AM RF and IF sections are mounted on a printed circuit board above the tunning capacitor. Notice that two slide switches serve as the band selector. A modified piece of hardboard is used as a lever arm to switch the slide switches simultaneously.

Under the chassis details the shielded sections. Notice the lack of FM IF transformer and ratio detector transformer. Sarkes Tarzian has all the IF coils mounted underneath. The radio uses a silicon rectifier which happens to be made by Sarkes Tarzian. The empty section on the right is where the AM printed circuit board is located above the chassis.

Sarkes Tarzian 723-530 FM Only (1962-63) 5 Tube FM Superheterodyne Radio. FM wiring and layout is very similar to the 723-511 set above. The cabinet is all winter white (Photo lighting makes it look gray)

Notice no IF transformer cans. Underneath the chassis the IF coils are in shielded compartments.

Interesting Radios from Sylvania

SYLVANIA AT-30 Interesting Set- Uses Power Saving AA5 Tubes (18FW6, 18FY6, 18FX6, 32ET5 and 36AM3) but has deluxe styling (faux twin speaker speaker radio with slide rule tuning).

Zenith in the 1960's

Zenith Motto:

"The quality goes in before the name goes on it!"

Zenith (Chicago) throughout it's history has been known for its quality and performance. They were never the lowest price sets nor the most expensive, but when you owned one often you could tell the difference from other sets including televisions. Zenith was the last American manufacturer to hang on to hand wired chassis and made or assembled in the USA. This continued into the 1970's when they had to trim labor costs to stay competitive.

Zenith L615W (1965) the "Chairman": High Sensitivity AM Radio. Features tuned RF amplifier stage. Six tube transformerless using 2-12BA6, 12BE6, 12AV6, 35C5 and 35W4 tubes. It's predecessor is the H615 from the 1950's which used a 35L6GT octal instead of 35C5 miniature. Has tone control and large 4X6 speaker.

Unique one piece plastic enclosure. This model is easy to open and access the tubes.

ABOVE AND BELOW: Definitely a premium set. Large 4X6 speaker. Zenith avoided printed wired boards on their table and larger models and continued with hand wired chassis for years to come.

Zenith N723 (1965) 6 Tube AM/FM Table: Same circuit design for almost 8 years. Tubes are 12BE6, 12DT8, 2-12BA6, 12AU6, 14GT8 and 35C5. Still uses selenium rectifier from the 1950's. Has built in AFC. Classic look and clean layout makes this a collectible. Zenith hung on to hand assembled chassis into the 1970's. Zenith used a 4 X 6 speaker over the more common and tinnier 4" square speaker found in the competition. This model has built in bass boost, providing a more booming sound, emphasizing the lower frequencies.

Embossed or painted wood grain cabinets was the style of the 1960's.

Zenith used permeable or inductive tuning over a variable capacitor for FM. Permeable tuning provides solid vibration proof on the mark tuning, but is more expensive and takes up more space. Zentih was one of the few who still did point to point wiring (which they advertised frequently).

Transformerless, 7 Tube set (35C5, 14GT8, 12AU6, 2-12BA6, 12BE6 and 12DT8) with a silicon rectifier shown on the lower right corner.

Virtually all radios used printed wired boards except Zenith which remained handwired on a chassis.

BELOW: Place one radio on the left, and set switch selector to left channel and do the same to the radio on right. Tune each radio to same station until stereo light comes on strong, set each volume level, and set speaker phasing switch on back for best stereo reproduction.

Zenith was still using outdated selenium rectifier for the power supply. Much smaller, more efficient and reliable silicon rectifiers were available. Also notice that Zenith used permeable or inductive tuning over a variable capacitor. Permeable tuning provides solid vibration proof on the mark tuning, but is more expensive and takes up more space.

WIRED SIDE OF L615
"Hand Crafted" chassis, is what Zenith tauted throughout the 1960's.

Other Zenith T2542 photos

Unlike most table fm am radios, Zenith N723 incorporates a large 4X6 speaker for a richer sound

Painted on wood grain was popular in the 1960's

AC Line Cord FM Antenna. This was becoming standard in AM/FM table radios. A capacitive coupling between the AC cord and FM antenna input was used allowing the AC cord to serve as an indoor FM antenna. One has to make sure the AC line was straight and not near signal interfering of blocking areas of the room. This set can use a 300 ohm external antenna.

HAND CRAFTED electrical wiring on a piece of sheet metal. Seen this basic layout on basic low end or budget sets. The whole panel is mounted to the cabinets so Tuning and Volume controls are directly come directly out the cabinet.

Stereo from a Table Radio?

Zenith MH910 (1963) MULTIPLEX FM Radio with AFC. You need to buy TWO to have true stereo. Each radio has a built in speaker stereo separator. Has stereo beacon light and R-L and mono selection on front panel.

Interesting how Zenith made a mono FM set into a stereo capable set with the addition of a multiplexer. The unusual thing about this idea is that instead of an additional audio stage and speaker for R and L channels one has to spend extra by purchasing another one for stereo.Then one has to position and tweak both sets for stereo by turning both on, setting the same volume and tune both exactly to the same station.

Zenith T2542 FM-AM Wood Table Radio (1966) "The Composer"7 Tube transformerless set electrically identical to the N723 above. Tubes are 12BE6, 12DT8, 2-12BA6, 12AU6, 14GT8 and 35C5. Still uses selenium rectifier from the 1950's. The cabinet style and circuit goes back to the K731 model from the late 1950's. This version incorporates some changes like ratio detector and AFC circuits. Unlike the N723, this model adds a tone control and a treble reproducer to complement the 4X6 speaker, to provide a more balanced sound. 1966 price was $59.99.

BELOW: To the left of the speaker is the reproducer for the treble connected to a crossover network.

BELOW: The chassis is model K731 1950's vintage. The lower right is the selenium rectifier (replace with silicon rectifier and appropriate voltage dropping resistor. Originally the capacitors were a mix bag of molded paper, ceramic dick and dipped film capacitor. Got rid of the molded paper caps. The FM tuner (lower left) is a permeable type for rock solid precise tuning.

Zenith M504 (1966) " The Tango". Came in white, beige and charcoal. Zenith's most basic tube radio based on the standard AA5. However Zenith used tunable oscillator coil along with a padder cap to spread the tuning allowing for easier tuning. In Zenith's last year of tube sets, hand wired chassis was still the standard and matched IF transformers for very good selectivity illustrates Zenith quality even at the budget level.

Back cover of the M504

From Canada

Electrohome 6TF4 AM/FM Tube Radio (1966)Dominion Electrohome Industries LTD, Kitchener, Ontario. Suggested Retail Price $59.95 (CAN).
A transformerless superheterodyne AM/FM Radio using only 4 tubes (all multisection European universal tubes) plus a solid state rectifier. A truly minimalist radio that performs well. Came in Teal Blue and Mocca cabinet colors.

Often in Canadian built radios, I see a mix of USA and European parts.
BELOW: 4 European Universal Tubes that do the work of 6-8 tubes. UCC85/26AQ8, UCH81/19D8, UBF89/19FL8, UCL82/50BM8. The filter capacitor is USA type by Mallory.

BELOW: Typical mid 1960's components, using ceramic disk and mini electrolytic capacitors.

Fleetwood 5070: (1964??): Fleetwood Radio Corp- Montreal, Quebec. 5 tube AA5 clock radio. Uses 12BE6, 12BA6, 12AV6, 35W4 and 50C5. Features clock illumination for night time and vertical slide rule gear reduction tunning.

ABOVE: All components mounted on PC board and tube shields on 12BA6 and 12AV6 tubes. Notice the small loopstick on the left. Uses a mixture of Japanese, USA and Canadian parts.

1960's Finally Safer Transformerless Radios

Since the introduction of transformerless radios during the Depression, the design and wiring of these sets always posed a shock hazard to the user and service personel. Manufacturing of such sets often did not follow AC power source convention or take in consideration that when a set is plugged into the wall socket, there was at best a "50-50" chance of getting an electrical shock. Finally by the mid 1960s the use of safety interlocks, printed circuit boards and polarized AC plugs that only allow the set to be plugged in a certain way minimize such accidents.

It was often done, especially in areas where reception was not as good, for the user to connect a wire from the radio chassis to the earth ground such as a water pipe or the screw that holds the AC power protective plate. If the radio is plugged in you can get an electrical shock even if the radio was turned OFF.

If manufacturers followed the National Electrical Code from the 1930s to the 1960s and not tried to find the cheapest or easiest manufacturing solution, I wouldn't be presenting this Showcase.

The second picture shows that, if I happen to touch the chassis and a metal item that is connected to the earth ground like a water faucet, pipe, screw on the AC outlet plate etc, I risk getting a lethal electric shock. The service manual (and probably the instruction manual) for this radio says not to connect this radio to ground for this particular reason.

A Tale of Two Possible Connections

Shown below is the chassis of a 1939 Sonora TSA-155 radio.This set was originally designed with the switch connected to the chassis ground or return.
The first picture shows the AC voltage potential between the radio chassis and the earth or AC generator ground. The reading is 0.312 volts AC
When I reverse the AC plug connection and measure the same points, the second picture shows the new reading of 118.8 volts AC.

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