What is the gizmo attached to the power cord?

It is tied to what appears to be one of two antennae screws. The picture of the inside cover reveals some electronics that in turn attach to two wires that go to a housing mounted to the tuner. Im thinking that this provides some antennae capability through the power cord, by virtue of being in direct proximity to the power cord, since the power cord only has two not three power wires.

OR, maybe its a clamp that simply secures the power cord, and doubles as an antennae connection, since the radio did have a short length of wire that also connected to both of the screws.

I'm no expert but I think it has something to do with using the line cord as an antenna?

This the ant pickup for the fm section.

Terry

Antenna instructions (for antenna board terminals, F and G) are written on your back panel.
As it stands, it is utilizing the power cord as an antenna.

For an indoor or outdoor FM dipole antenna - attach as directed.


Purchase or make an indoor FM-dipole antenna...
viewtopic.php?p=3018373#p3018373

Greg.

larger photo: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/mcoAAOSw ... -l1600.jpg

Those were used by the millions on a lot of different brands of FM radios back then.

It is indeed a capacitive coupling device using the line cord for an FM antenna, and in strong signal areas it works really well but sometimes you need to position the cord for best reception on any given station.

Thanks.
Did notice that the clamp produced audible static when touched by a metal object, even when the clamp was disconnected from the antennae terminal screw.

Right, the length of the power cord some say affects the reception. Since we moved some furniture around, my Zenith C845 is plugged into an extension cord, so I wonder if reception has changed? I haven't noticed, but should do some tests maybe.

Update: I'm getting excellent reception with the radio plugged into a 6 foot extension cord, literally no dead spots between local and distant FM stations.
I'd try without, but have to move the radio so any test would be flawed.

Update #2, I set up the Zenith C845 with the power cord clamp antenna, so that the original cord could be plugged into either the wall outlet or a 6' extension cord stretched out to reach the radio.

I was able to tune in plenty of stations using only the factory cord. I tuned in to a Vancouver rock station that usually gets walked on by its neighboring stations. Then I unplugged the radio and after about a minute, tubes resting, plugged it into the extension cord. Jagger and Keith came on louder!
I tried it twice. A 2-strand household extension cord improves reception, for me at least.