Hello All,

Just bought an early Zenith Royal 50 today at an antique mall... Very clean in/out with original manual, case, earphone ( minus plug which inserts into ear ), and original "Made In U.S" sticker on back... Only fault I noticed was a small chip missing on upper portion of right side---until I got it home ! Something must have penetrated the radio where the "chip" was since the antenna ferrite rod is broken, corner of PCB chipped, & lug of volume ctl. broken completely off including phenolic... Just can't believe I didn't notice all this while I had it apart for inspection ! Pretty much "trashes" idea of repair unless I can find a junker with good loopstick & volume control... Radio itself would display well, but have no interest in having it just for show... If I can't find a parts set for next-to-nothing will probably try to sell this one to someone who has the parts to get it together... Pics later... Guess we all have this type of thing happen once in a while, but I got two "bummers" in a row recently... Kinda sours the interest...

John

You need to accumulate a few low cost/value Transistor sets to use as donors.

Set that one aside until you do, because with a chip out of the case and broken parts, it won't fetch much more from anyone else than it's worth to you right now.

Fixing the case might be the first priority. I think I read here about using JB Weld as material to repair missing plastic from a case. I've used "Plas-T-Pair" with good results, but I bought it ages ago, and don't know if it's still available.

Hello Fifties,

Surely you know that the early Royal 50's didn't use a "common" volume-on/off control or loopstick & that finding those parts or junk sets would be next to impossible other than here at ARF... The case chip is not easily noticeable since radio is all black... Have heard that this is a pretty good performer for a small, inexpensive set and has decent sounding audio to boot---so leaning towards keeping it...

John

John;

Is this what your board looks like;



Those parts and others are fairly common between many of the earlier American made Transistor sets, but if you don't have a variety of them in your boneyard, maybe just wait until a junker Royal 50 comes along, and "use two to make one good one".

Richard

BTW, knowing your penchant for Transistor sets with front end RF amps, dig these;

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MOTOROLA-7X25W- ... 1c24793f88

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MOTOROLA-7X25W- ... 3f148a02ec

When they are recapped and tuned up, they'll blow the doors off damn near any other portable set.

Hello Richard,

PCB similar, but is earlier model with oval transistors... Will hopefully get pics posted by weekend.

Saw those Motorola's---already have two 8X26E's & like their styling much better, but their audio lacks "fidelity" though they pump out plenty of volume... Also, when signal strength weakens slightly, sound becomes a little "grainy/gravelly"---identical on both, which doesn't happen with my other tuned RF amp stage equipped sets...

John

Radio is now listed for sale... Hopefully someone who has the necessary parts to repair will get it.

Well, since there wasn't any interest from classifieds, decided to keep this neat set... Pulled the PCB this morning, got out my bag of trusty lead clippings & repaired damaged traces, and radio received a couple local stations loud & clear with damaged ferrite & original electrolytics---amazing how good ( and loud ) this radio sounds considering its small size & speaker ! After disassembly, noticed ferrite rod is missing a small triangular section in center, so need to find one---posted a WTB... Think I can modify audio circuit to accommodate the broken ground tab on pot since wiper & switch is good...

Sure there are some here who have one or more of these---how are they sensitivity-wise when working correctly ? Am already impressed with the audio for its size & age...

John

Here are some pics:

Hey John - Will a ferrite rod from a beater radio work for ya?

~ Mitch ~

Betcha didn't know that Zenith made the front of this set in two different styles;

I haven't recapped either one yet, so can't really comment on their performance, but I did restore a Royal 20 (the tiny one), and it screams, so I imagine this model would pretty well do the same, once it's brought up to snuff with new 'lytics and IF/RF alignment as necessary.

John,

I looked in my bag of antenna Ferrite coils and found this little guy.
The size - length, height, and width, seem to be nearly identical to what is in my two Royal 50's, so I am thinking that even if the two coils aren't exact, you could carefully remove yours, remove the one off this, and use this Ferrite with your coil.

Given the disappointment when I sent you the Motorola retaining screw in a white business envelope, and the post office destroyed it, if you want to go ahead and send me a stamped and self-addressed manila padded envelope to put this in and return to you, that should work.

Richard

Thanks Mitch & Richard...

Richard, I could probably find a small foam lined box to send you or make something... Thanks very much---that looks nearly identical ! Yes, I did find out during research that they did have different styles of the Royal 50 during the early 60's---looks like the newer models were "fancied up" a bit... How sensitive are yours as they are ?

John

The one like yours isn't any better right now than a garden-variety 2-Transistor Boy's Radio. The other one performs about equal to any other six Transistor set from that era.

Once I have serviced them, I am reasonably sure they will be better than average, as most Zenith product usually is.

PM for my address (unless you still have it), whenever you have your mailer ready .

Thanks Richard---rounded up a small box & foam today at work, but have to check USPS minimum size requirements... Will PM you soon.

Ive been finding all kinds of stuff for transistor radio while looking for what I needed. this guy has ferrite coils
https://www.scitoyscatalog.com/Merchant ... ory_Code=R

Thanks TubeAMP,

Checked out his site---he has a lot of hobbyist radio items... Those ferrite coils wouldn't fit in this radio as space is fairly tight---it uses a fairly thin ferrite bar... Have already sent shipping materials to Fifties, so hope all makes the round trip !

John

I was a feared that they might be too big. worth a shot though

Just got the ferrite antenna coil from Fifties today---appears to be exactly same size as in radio ! Thanks again, Richard !

Looking forward to getting it installed & hope windings are the same as mine were partially off of the broken ferrite & when I tried to carefully rewind to test radio, the insulation came off much of the fine stranded wire...

John

just recently read that super glue works on broken ferrite rod repair

Super glue works very well in repairing broken Ferrite bars. I've used that method several times myself.

This radio's ferrite has a missing triangular-shaped piece & is not repairable---that's why another was needed... Yes, did realize superglue would repair a "clean" break---thanks...