Radiophile.com - Silvertone 6405

Silvertone 6405, 1940

Tube complement: 12A8GT mixer/oscillator, 12K7GT IF, 12Q7GT detector, 35L6GT audio output, 35Z5GT rectifier.

The two thumbwheel dials, one for on-off-volume and one for tuning, are located just to the left and right of the slide-rule dial. A strange thing about this radio: Its designers went to the trouble to include a pilot lamp, but didn't provide any means for its light to escape the cabinet. In a completely dark room, a bit of light can be seen around the edges of the opaque dial scale, but under normal conditions, the lamp's illumination is invisible. The slightly later Silvertone 3251 has a small hole in the center of the dial scale, which corrects the problem.

This is another radio with an upside-down chassis. Since dust couldn't settle on it over the years and foster corrosion, the chassis is clean and shiny, just like the day it left the factory.

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From the 1940 Sears & Roebuck Spring/Summer catalog.