[Jeffhs]

Even if you cannot get your set to tune above channel 44 (which seems strange, seeing that yours has the keypad and programming controls behind the trap door on the front), there is still a way to get every station in your area regardless of how many channels the set's own tuner can receive. If you have cable, just have the cable company put a converter box in, set the TV's own tuner to channel 3 or 4 (whichever station the box is set to output to), and there you are. (I have an RCA 19" set in my living room I use this way with a digital cable box; it works great on the cable system in my town.) Of course, as Andy mentioned, if your TV is cable-ready and will receive most if not all cable channels in your area, all you need do is hook up the cable directly to the antenna connector in back of the set, set the CATV/antenna switch (if there is one) to CATV (cable) mode, and again, as the saying goes, you are good to go.

Of course, if you want to get premium channels such as HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, etc. you do need a cable box ahead of the set (your cable company's technicians will know how to rig this up). However, if you go this route, you will almost certainly have to select channels (broadcast and cable, as well as the premium channels) through the cable converter, as I am not aware of any kind of setup which uses the cable box only for the pay channels. I don't know how the cable TV system is set up in your area, but the cable system here uses cable boxes with a selectable "RF bypass" option on the setup menu. However, I'm not sure how it is used; to bypass the box so that the set can be used on a standard antenna, or whether it bypasses the box to connect the TV directly to a VCR or other video source such as a video game or DVD player. I don't know whether or not this will allow the use of the box as a dedicated tuner for premium channels, while still permitting the use of your TV's own tuner (and your original Zenith remote) for cable and broadcast channels; I'd check with the cable company for more info on that.

BTW, I just took a look at the picture you took of your set's channel keypad and programming controls. There is in fact a sticker right on the inside of the control panel door (as Andy mentioned there should be, and in fact as all TVs with programmable tuners ordinarily have, so as not to leave a set owner in the dark if he or she should lose the instruction manual), which will more than likely tell you all you need to know about programming the tuner, channel scan and possibly other functions.

The Space Phone function is a rarity among Zenith TVs. It was included in Zenith's high-end sets for just a couple of years in the '80s, then disappeared, as did the zoom feature. If you have a telephone line at your summer home, all you need do is hook the phone jack on the back of the set to the phone jack on the wall or baseboard with an extension cable (using a line splitter if you want to use a standard phone at the same jack), and you're in business. I'll never forget seeing an ad for Zenith Space Phone, which appeared in national magazines shortly after this feature was introduced. It showed three men sitting on a couch in a suburban living room, watching a football game (I think) on a TV equipped with Zenith Space Phone. The men were engrossed in the game when suddenly, the sound of a ringing telephone cuts in over the audio, through the speakers. One of the men hands the remote to the man in the middle and says, "Hubie, answer the television." Man, those Zenith ad copy writers had some wild sense of humor.


Kind regards,