Quote:
Originally Posted by dieseljeep
I have the earlier model, as well. The 12DT8 was shorted and wouldn't oscillate. The original owner, probably never used FM.
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I wouldn't be surprised. When this radio was new, FM radio itself was still very new; the few stations that were operating at the time in the US were mostly in large cities. Canton, Ohio (where the radio and its eBay seller are presently located) is a smaller city located about 70 miles from Cleveland, so it probably didn't get its own local FM stations until some time in the '70s. I doubt this radio would have been able to receive Cleveland FM stations (most of which were playing automated beautiful music formats at the time) at that distance with just the line-cord antenna, so it would make sense that the set's first owner would listen to only AM nearly 100 percent of the time.
However, I don't know why simple disuse of the FM section of the radio would cause the 12DT8 to short, although I have heard of cases where these tubes become "lazy" and slow to start when they are not used for long periods of time. If that set's 12DT8 would not start at all, it may have been dead or close to dead, which would account for no reception on FM. Also, when these tubes get the least little bit of dirt or oxidation on the pins, they will refuse to operate; this can be verified by wiggling the tube in its socket and seeing if that doesn't get the set working again. My Zenith C845 (my avatar) had a problem just like that recently (no reception on FM); I took the back off, reseated a couple of tubes, and the radio promptly began to play just as nicely as you please. It's been working just that well ever since.
