01-11-2026, 07:50 PM
I went ahead and made (a bit late, I used an approximation of it: I did not have clips and plugs to make it)an adaptor for a DMM to emulate the one that they recommend for Zenith FM radio alignment.
The adapter (that was supposed to work with a VTVM) consists of:
- a coaxial shielded cable.
- The probing end: 2M resistor in series with the central conductor, with a flexible wire (I used silicon jacketed wires for all terminations) and a hook clip at the end.
- The shield extends over the resistor and the wire between the end of thecable and the hook is fairly short. This is due to the requirement in the service bulletin that the probe ends going into the radio be shielded.
- The shield itself is soldered to a flexible wire with a small alligator clip, to hook to the chassis.
- The end of the cable is heatshrunk, for teh length of 1Ft or so, to not short anything inside the radio.
- The meter end had the central and the shield connected to two banana plugs with flexible wires.
The cable is fairly long as I noticed the DMM, in close proximity to teht radio, induces noise. And this is a good one, a Fluke 189.
The whole cable
The probing end
The DMM end
The DMM with the cable
The DMM with the cable probing shorted, showiong 2M.
So, the next time I need to align an FM...especially a tabletop Zenith one...
The adapter (that was supposed to work with a VTVM) consists of:
- a coaxial shielded cable.
- The probing end: 2M resistor in series with the central conductor, with a flexible wire (I used silicon jacketed wires for all terminations) and a hook clip at the end.
- The shield extends over the resistor and the wire between the end of thecable and the hook is fairly short. This is due to the requirement in the service bulletin that the probe ends going into the radio be shielded.
- The shield itself is soldered to a flexible wire with a small alligator clip, to hook to the chassis.
- The end of the cable is heatshrunk, for teh length of 1Ft or so, to not short anything inside the radio.
- The meter end had the central and the shield connected to two banana plugs with flexible wires.
The cable is fairly long as I noticed the DMM, in close proximity to teht radio, induces noise. And this is a good one, a Fluke 189.
The whole cable
The probing end
The DMM end
The DMM with the cable
The DMM with the cable probing shorted, showiong 2M.
So, the next time I need to align an FM...especially a tabletop Zenith one...
People who do not drink, do not smoke, do not eat red meat will one day feel really stupid lying there and dying from nothing.




