Zenith 8H023 find

[1922VV111]

After my unfortunate gamble of a Philco record player on eBay it was nice to find something LOCALLY!

This 1946 model Zenith may be the oldest radio I have with FM on it! It even has that odd early version of FM on it too.

I wonder what would have been on that original FM band and if any recordings of it still survive?

And NO I did NOT plug it in!

[electra225]

The old FM band was used for TV. IIRC, it was for channels 1-6 on TV. The new FM band is between channels 6 and 7 on TV. I won't swear to this being 100% accurate, but it is at least similar to what happened. Perhaps our resident broadcasting guru will chime in here and set us all straight. If you have a signal generator that will generate the frequencies of the old FM band, it is conceivably possible to use it as an oscillator and broadcast music from your stereo to the radio on the old FM band. They don't use those frequencies for TV anymore.

[TC Chris]

The odd FM band was the first one set aside for FM (pre-WW II). Later it was coveted for TV channels and FM got new frequencies. That radio was a transition-period device.

I've got a pre-war Philco floor-model radio with the old band only. Long ago when I was young and stupid (as opposed to being just generally dim now), I figured that if I just cranked away on the oscillator screw, I'd swing it int the new band (spoiler: didn't work).

Chris Campbell

[1922VV111]

The odd FM band was the first one set aside for FM (pre-WW II). Later it was coveted for TV channels and FM got new frequencies. That radio was a transition-period device.

I've got a pre-war Philco floor-model radio with the old band only. Long ago when I was young and stupid (as opposed to being just generally dim now), I figured that if I just cranked away on the oscillator screw, I'd swing it int the new band (spoiler: didn't work).

Chris Campbell

So is that band what became the VHF band like some Zenith Transoceanics have?

[TC Chris]

So is that band what became the VHF band like some Zenith Transoceanics have?

No, the VHF band is the higher-frequency one where the NOAA weather broadcasts, VHF-FM marine bands, and I think the CB frequencies, etc. all lie. I just went and looked--mine covers 161-146 mHz.

On my local sailboat, the "stereo" is an old mono Ray Jefferson RDF unit. For RDF, you would use either the long-wave radio beacons or AM radio transmitters. Marine navigation charts show locations of transmitting antennas both for their visual navigation use and for RDF location. I use the unit for its FM broadcast band, together with a 5" portable speaker in a plastic case, one of those "rear shelf" speakers from the '60s. It's notably lo-fi, but I listen to the music, not the equipment anyway.

Chris Campbell