1962 Zenith black & white TV - Fantastic remote!

In this chapter we take apart and fix a beautiful Space Commander 400 remote from 1958 which matches the 1962 black and white console TV. I was so impressed by the quality and engineering of what Zenith created that I have named it: Fantastic remote!

[@kramermccabe8601]

I had this remote as a kid in the 80s on the bw tv I had in my bedroom

[@isbestlizard]

Fallout level technology :D

[@Auritech]

so that's why they call them "clickers!" 😆

[@davedrezTV]

Yes! The clicker!

[@MikeGervasi]

High pitched chimes. I would have never guessed.

[@SergeiMosin]

I get this intensely satisfying feeling of exploration from opening these old devices up and rooting around to see how they work. Favorite one I ever opened was probably a cuckoo clock from the 50s. It was ridiculously intricate and so much fun to see how each piece interlocked

[@davedrezTV]

I agree completely! It is a thrill to look inside old devices and marvel at the engineering and designs... I'll bet that cuckoo clock was super complex.

[@queens.dee.223]

What an amazing device. Batteries not included -- or even sensical! Is the pitch that's audible to us the one that the TV "monitors" or is there an overtone (I think is the term)? I'd imagine dogs didn't like these remotes at all! It's amazing how things were built before planned obsolescence. I wish more things were user-serviceable these days. Thank you for sharing this piece of history!

[@davedrezTV]

The pitch of the chimes are all ultra-sonic so they are well above our hearing... generally speaking they are are 40,000 hz. The ding we CAN hear would be the striker hitting the end of the chime, like any two pieces of metal hitting each other. It isn't too loud so it's not objectionable. My doggie doesn't seem to notice the high frequencies, which at first seemed odd to me, but that's the way it is. Better that way!

[@tomj4506]

FYI Zenith had a SC catalog back abt 1980. It showed all the remotes to date with oart ##'s & subs. Watch E-bay. For some reason tones changed over the yrs so a hand unit may not match the function. Ex is SC 100. One button came in silver, yellow or blue button.. Same function but different freqs. In the end they switched battery ( 9V) for a few yrs. IR remotes came with the intro of JVC / Zenith VCR's.

[@davedrezTV]

There is more information about the electronics of the 1962 Space Command chassis in this previous video, if interested... kzbin.info/www/bejne/aqKYeZSfjciLqLM

[@NevadaDesertSkies]

So it worked by creating a chime of a certain tone that the TV would "hear" and based on the tone, change the channel or volume?

[@davedrezTV]

Yes, that's right... check out this video that has a full description of how it works! kzbin.info/www/bejne/aqKYeZSfjciLqLM

[@NevadaDesertSkies]

@@davedrezTV that's incredibly smart. No battery required!

[@vinylhound43]

While Zenith was doing the chime type remotes in the late 50s, competitor Magnavox briefly used a frequency transmitter style remote in its first generation “Phantom”remote control. It was transistorized and required a 22 volt battery to power it! By the early 60s, Magnavox, too, had adopted the chime style remote thereafter (for at least the rest of the 1960s).

[@60gregma]

We had a Quasar TV that had a 2 button remote very similar to Zenith. Jingling a set of keys on a key ring would change the channel on that set.

[@davedrezTV]

@@60gregma I've tried jingling keys in front of this Zenith set and that doesn't happen with it... The Zenith frequencies are very ultra-sonic. Roughly around 40 khz. Maybe that is the difference? I would expect that the operating frequencies were patented so other manufacturers would have to work around that.

[@computerdude8726]

i have a remote and it works do you have any ideas on what TVs it works on

[@davedrezTV]

These remotes would be unique to a vintage Zenith set with Space Command. So the remotes would be fairly interchangeable from 1958 to the period of time when they went to IR remotes... maybe mid 1980's...

[@ralphups7782]

i think that the latch, is/ was a child lock 9:11/37:07. because i could just imagine all those kids back in 1962 getting hold of the remote after watching an episode of "Star track" and going around with friends who had stole there pop's tv remote.

[@davedrezTV]

Thanks for that information... that makes perfect sense!