[Frank]

Before you can play this radio, you have to replace all of the wax paper capacitors, and replace the capacitors within the bakelite blocks. All electrolytics need to be replaced as well.

This is a very complex radio, and will require a lot of time. The components are packed into a tight space. I am doing mine now. My lower chassis is done, and I am now working on the upper chassis, with about 60% of it done.

The RF deck will be a challenge, as there are several wax capacitors that are placed in an inconvenient place. I got lucky and was able to replace mine without removing that sub-chassis. There are holes on top to cut the ground wires to two of the toughest capacitors to replace. I was able to cut and resolder new ones through the holes.

First, you should contact Chuck Schwark of this forum to get all of the service data for that model. He will also send you a copy of the owners manual for it. You need this information to repair this radio. Don't try to figure it out through trial and error. It is much to valuable a radio to experiment with.

Go to Chuck's site and read about rebuilding the block capacitors. They are not hard to do, but it is important that they get rebuilt, or the radio will never work. All of the data for this process is there.

He also has an explanation for what magnetic tuning is. It's sort of a drift control that was used when tuning with the station selection mechanism. The mechanism is not perfect, so this helped lock in a station.

I would guess that you will spend less than $75 in parts to rebuild this radio, but you will have many hours of your time invested in it. But, this was Phico's answer to the Zenith Stratosphere, so it is well worth the effort.

Frank.