Chris, am wondering if you might have a pic of the first set my folks had that I remember. It was either a late 50's or early 60's Zenith portable B&W and it had a most unusual tuner.....the channel numbers would display in a checkerboard pattern of alternating black and clear windows.......as you changed the channel the number would pop up and then disappear only to show up in another square.

Does any of this make sense? By the way, this was a VHF only set. Thanks!

Anthony