Motorola Model 10T28M Radio
My wife found this tube-powered AM/FM set for me.
Guessing by the "jet-age" styling, it must have been made in the late
1950s or 1960s, although there's
no date on the label and this radio doesn't appear in my collector books.
This is a high-quality radio.
Dual speakers, plus sturdy construction and a solid mahogany cabinet,
make it very heavy for its size.
Inside are eight tubes (6BE6, 6BA6, 6BA6, 6AU6, 6AL5, 6AV6,
6AQ5, 6X4) plus the EM81/6DA5 magic eye tube.
The radio has good tone, thanks to the dual speakers,
My favorite feature of this radio is its magic tuning eye
(not glowing in this photo), which appears in a little window to the
right of the dial, right above the "batwing" Motorola logo.
Magic tuning eyes were quite popular in the 1930s and 1940s. The green glow
begins at each side of the tube, and as you home in on a station.
the glowing parts gradually meet in the center, making the
brightest glow. Tuning eyes are usually connected to
the AVC (automatic volume control) circuit, which maintains
a reasonably constant audio volume for radio signals of different strengths.
The tuner tended to slip a bit, until I cleaned
the mechanism. The stringing
scheme is fiendishly complex, wrapping
around the side of the chassis as well as the front. A
second, shorter cord comes off the main string pulley and disappears
into a shielded box on top of the chassis (perhaps the FM tuner).
The tuning mechanism has so many contact points and moving
rollers that the string is under a lot of tension. It
twangs almost like a guitar when you pluck it!
After owning this radio for a couple of years, I sold it at a local swap meet. The new
owner was very happy to acquire it.
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