Zenith C-845: no reception on AM or FM

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

Inquire at the TV shop in the next town, and see if they have a 12AT7 and a 6BJ6.
Replace them both, especially the 12AT7. The B+ might a little low, so a weak 12AT7 might not oscillate. Look up the 1960 Beitmans and put it in memory, for future reference. You could do a preliminary troubleshoot with just a DMM.
Also clean the band selector switch with some good contact cleaner.

No one at that TV shop knows or cares anything about tubes or tube radios, so they wouldn't know what I was talking about if I mentioned any kind of vacuum tube. (I found this out when I asked them for help about 10 years ago with my Zenith H511-Y radio.) The shop was established in 1947, but these days all they sell (and repair under warranty) are flat screen televisions.

As to the schematic, I have one for my C845 but I cannot read it. To make matters worse, there is no one in my town who can help me with either reading the diagram or repairing the radio, even if I knew where the problem was. I would not know where to start with troubleshooting, either, even if I could; besides, I don't have the patience for troubleshooting unless it's something very simple, like an open fuse resistor or a bad tube.