09-12-2020, 07:35 PM
I thought I would share a better picture of my RCA 1R81 since I got it back today. The restoration on both this radio and my little Belmont 6D311 went very well, in fact my Belmont plays better than my buddy's now! 
The performance of this RCA is truly impressive and makes me wish at least one of my same year Zenith AM-FM radios would work. I have two of the big Zeniths from this same era with bad coils and the dreaded SMD! It seems like RCA must have finally got their act together with this series of AM-FM radios and Sarnoff must have finally decided that FM wasn't going away and they needed to catch up. They seem to have done well with this radio. I have had only two other earlier RCA AM-FM radios and one had bad IF cans (SMD!) while my 8R71 is an ok FM performer and still seems to be more an AM radio with FM tagged on. The 1R81 sounds good, doesn't drift and picks up channels very well. Only nitpick I have is that it uses an early version of a rod antenna for AM and it works TOO well! Picks up every bit of noise in the house between channels! Might have to try the AM out at the building later to make sure. It didn't do that at my buddy's shop, even with the lights. It does have a little bit of hum and the guy even put better electrolytics in it as he thought so too, even though all voltages check out. Using my little voltage reducer box brings it down to even more normal levels.
The performance of this RCA is truly impressive and makes me wish at least one of my same year Zenith AM-FM radios would work. I have two of the big Zeniths from this same era with bad coils and the dreaded SMD! It seems like RCA must have finally got their act together with this series of AM-FM radios and Sarnoff must have finally decided that FM wasn't going away and they needed to catch up. They seem to have done well with this radio. I have had only two other earlier RCA AM-FM radios and one had bad IF cans (SMD!) while my 8R71 is an ok FM performer and still seems to be more an AM radio with FM tagged on. The 1R81 sounds good, doesn't drift and picks up channels very well. Only nitpick I have is that it uses an early version of a rod antenna for AM and it works TOO well! Picks up every bit of noise in the house between channels! Might have to try the AM out at the building later to make sure. It didn't do that at my buddy's shop, even with the lights. It does have a little bit of hum and the guy even put better electrolytics in it as he thought so too, even though all voltages check out. Using my little voltage reducer box brings it down to even more normal levels.
No matter where you go, there you are.
