Eclipse Over Texas, April 2024

I had already been to a total eclipse back in 2017, so I couldn’t decide if I wanted to go again. There was a lot going on with my family and getting to a good viewing location looked like a headache. But, in the end, I joined several people with whom I attended last time, driving to Sanders Cove Recreation Area, north of Paris, Texas.

Zenith 6G601 ‘Sailboat’ Radio – Part 3

Can I just plug in an 80-year-old radio and expect that it’ll work? How do I know if the tubes are good? What can go wrong with these old radios? Are they safe to operate? These are questions I had when I bought my first antique radio, and Radio Jeff was kind enough to tolerate my many ignorant and pesky questions. In this 3^rd installment of the Zenith 6G601 ‘Sailboat’ Radio, where I have restored three of these to good operating condition and am working on the fourth, I will discuss my testing of the tubes, replacing rotted wires, testing and replacing some capacitors, and mention replacement of some cosmetic features.

Zenith 6G601 ‘Sailboat’ Radio – Part 2

In my previous post, I presented a little background information on portable radios and some specific information about the Zenith 6G601 ‘Sailboat’ Radio. In this post I will show the electrical design and a couple of things to beware of if you plan to work on an old radio. This post ran longer than expected so, it will be in Part 3 where I explain how I determined which components to change and mention some cosmetic fixes.

Zenith 6G601 ‘Sailboat’ Radio – Part 1

When I was in high school, I spent a summer in the Sea Scouts. On Wednesday evenings I’d meet other scouts and row large 8-man boats in Lincoln Park Lagoon or go sailing on Lake Michigan. It left an impression and certainly provided a foundation for my love of kayaking and canoeing, twenty-five years later. My recent interest in old tube radios began with a 1946 Zenith TransOceanic multi-band radio, but later, when I saw the 1942 Zenith ‘Sailboat’ radio, I found myself daydreaming about the summer of rowing and sail-boating and, my more recent boating trips.

Antique Vacuum Tube Radios

A little over one year ago, I visited the home of a former co-worker. He told me that he had an antique radio collection. Given that I’m an electrical engineer and, that I have a collection of old camp stoves and lanterns and such, I was curious as to what he had. I was surprised to see the variety of radios he had and that there were so many, many, many more that he didn’t have.

Eclipse, Utah 2023

We saw the total eclipse in Wyoming back in 2017, but some of the same friends wanted to go check out the Annular Eclipse and we thought we should join them. We decided to travel to Muley Point in Utah so that we were in the direct path of the eclipse.

Indiana and Kentucky – Family Visit

My father turned 89 years old this year. I was unable to make it in for a birthday party, but still wanted to visit. The timing looked good for a late September trip, so Lisa and I jumped in the Mustang and headed cross-country to Indiana.

Taos – Auto Tour, September 2023

In late September, Lisa had an idea to do an auto tour to Taos, New Mexico to see the aspen leaves changing. It turns out we were probably one to two weeks early for that, but our 2-day, 1-night trip was a fun weekend getaway. We would all leave our 4x4s at home this time and instead, we drove our Mustang, Troy and Teresa drove their new Acura and Marty and Tamala drove their BMW. This would be an auto trip!

Stout Creek, Kerr Gulch – Backpacking, September 2023

Kerr Gulch, Stout Creek and Stout Creek Lake are south of US-50 at the northern end of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in Colorado. I went on a 3-day backpacking, 5-day car-camping, hiking and pack mule trip (I was the pack mule) in early September, with my three sons and another familiar face from other travels this summer. It was quite the trip.

Perseid Meteor Showers – August 2023

August is that time of year for viewing the Perseid Meteor Showers. Lisa and I, and another couple, Troy and Teresa, headed up to the mountains to check them out. We traveled to an area near Monarch Pass in Colorado.