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Motorola TT21 - 1967

Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2023 8:25 pm
by Motorola minion
I figured I would post this, even though it post-dates Motorola's legendary tube equipment. It is USA made, appearing to be a plastic cabinet radio stuffed into a wood cabinet. I posted a GE of the same year that was similar except the entire radio chassis was made in Japan.

The funniest thing was seeing two 7-pin tube sockets on the underside of the chassis, only enough punched out on top side to put a transistor in. All hand-wired, with some dip-soldered on a vertical section for the audio. No transformer - hot chassis using only a dropping resistor and diode for DC power supply.
TT21a.jpg
TT21b.jpg
Then I noticed the luminescent backlit panel was dead, called "visilite". This glowed a green-blue, like on my Sylvania RM300.
TT21 .jpg
This was in a CL ad, though I saw it was SS, I could not resist for $20. It only needed cleaning, some alignment and a 5mf cap on volume control.
The very familiar Zenith (mini-console) table radio likely outsold these 10 to 1 :P
1967 table model.jpg

Re: Motorola TT21 - 1967

Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2023 2:30 am
by hermitcrab
Never saw a motorola like that, are these tube chassis converted to solid state? funny but I also have that Zenith :)

Re: Motorola TT21 - 1967

Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2023 8:23 pm
by Motorola minion
hermitcrab wrote: ↑Wed Feb 15, 2023 2:30 am Never saw a motorola like that, are these tube chassis converted to solid state? funny but I also have that Zenith :)
My grandparents had that Zenith in Florida as their only plug-in radio, after having several forgotten consoles in the 30s-50s.
It sat on a large antique blanket chest in the dining room and when on, tuned to "beautiful music". Thought it was from same place as their Zenith color TV of the same year, selected to match ;)