I was browsing on ebay a few minutes ago and came across a listing for a Zenith "racetrack" 5-tube broadcast receiver, model H511W. The seller said that "(the radio) works but has a lot of AC hum." Works? I don't think so. I've been around radios and electronics most of my life and know beyond the shadow of even the most unreasonable doubt that a radio with AC hum is not in working condition (the main 3-section filter cap in the power supply is either shot or failing; besides, a radio with that much hum will produce nothing but garbled sound, if it gets any stations at all). I wonder just how much (or how little) the seller knows about radio, or whether he/she is just trying to unload the set ASAP and doesn't care how they do it. Sheeesh. I see this every once in a while on ebay and can't help wondering. As my subject line says, what some people won't do . . .


The link to the ebay auction for the H511W radio mentioned above:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=38034&item=6527069859&rd=1

Kind regards,

Many people are non technical and have no idea where the hum would come from...I don't think they are being completely dishonest as they are getting some stations but there is also hum...but this kind of poor performance is not "working O.K." to me though.