... aka Sherwood slummin'.
Last week this RCA MI-12116 Type ST-5 (1st file) caught my eye on that auction site. A quick google search turned up this 1959 RCA commercial broadcast catalog with the ST-5 on page 82 (http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Catalogs/RCA/RCA-Catalog-4-1959.pdf). RCA marketed it as an off air monitor or FM tuner for commercial sound distribution systems. It looked pretty cool to me and was in great shape. When looking at the interior photo (2nd file) I knew I had seen this tuner somewhere else. Well being the Sherwood collector I immediately thought S2000. Turns out it actually is a rebadged Sherwood S2000 II (3rd file is my S2000II). As has been my recent experience with Sherwood tube tuners this one had virtually all original tubes. These were a mix of black plate RCA's, GE and Sylvania's. Only 2 were obvious replacements: a very new looking Russian 61NP eye tube (original 6BR5) and a newer Sylvania 6X4 rectifier tube. The original tubes showed mid-1959 date codes that match the tuner serial number: 91007. These tubes match the brands closely in my S2000II with mine being Sherwood logo'ed RCA's, GE, and Sylvania's.
There were a few differences between the RCA and my S2000II. The RCA has 6X4 a rectifier and a 12AT7 while the S2000II has a 6V4 rectifier and 12AZ7a. The RCA has no AM bar antenna, though it does have the chassis holes for the bar antenna mount. The RCA also has no cover which along with the missing bar antenna makes sense since these were meant to be rack mounted in radio stations which were often steel framed structures where a bar antenna would probably not be optimal. It does have the standard FM antenna connection with a hi/low AM antenna attachment point (4th file). This is a guess and hopefully one of you readers can confirm that the high/low refers to high/low impedance AM long wire antennas?
After a slow start on the variac I got good FM and good AM, with wide setting AM being especially good sounding on my local oldies AM station.
Bill C.
Last week this RCA MI-12116 Type ST-5 (1st file) caught my eye on that auction site. A quick google search turned up this 1959 RCA commercial broadcast catalog with the ST-5 on page 82 (http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Catalogs/RCA/RCA-Catalog-4-1959.pdf). RCA marketed it as an off air monitor or FM tuner for commercial sound distribution systems. It looked pretty cool to me and was in great shape. When looking at the interior photo (2nd file) I knew I had seen this tuner somewhere else. Well being the Sherwood collector I immediately thought S2000. Turns out it actually is a rebadged Sherwood S2000 II (3rd file is my S2000II). As has been my recent experience with Sherwood tube tuners this one had virtually all original tubes. These were a mix of black plate RCA's, GE and Sylvania's. Only 2 were obvious replacements: a very new looking Russian 61NP eye tube (original 6BR5) and a newer Sylvania 6X4 rectifier tube. The original tubes showed mid-1959 date codes that match the tuner serial number: 91007. These tubes match the brands closely in my S2000II with mine being Sherwood logo'ed RCA's, GE, and Sylvania's.
There were a few differences between the RCA and my S2000II. The RCA has 6X4 a rectifier and a 12AT7 while the S2000II has a 6V4 rectifier and 12AZ7a. The RCA has no AM bar antenna, though it does have the chassis holes for the bar antenna mount. The RCA also has no cover which along with the missing bar antenna makes sense since these were meant to be rack mounted in radio stations which were often steel framed structures where a bar antenna would probably not be optimal. It does have the standard FM antenna connection with a hi/low AM antenna attachment point (4th file). This is a guess and hopefully one of you readers can confirm that the high/low refers to high/low impedance AM long wire antennas?
After a slow start on the variac I got good FM and good AM, with wide setting AM being especially good sounding on my local oldies AM station.
Bill C.
