Accidental Zenith Transoceanic 520A

[adelatoast]

Hi--

I don't collect radios or even know anything about them, but I recently bought a neat old shortwave radio at a thrift store for SUPER cheap.

Turns out, it's a Zenith Transoceanic 520A, according to its interior labels and the USA stamps on the case and the chassis. It has the number 1009 printed on the interior as well (serial number?).

It is in reasonably good shape, except for having been painted blue, then white. The original tan/khaki color can be seen on the bottom where some of the paint either didn't stick or was worn away.

Can this thing be restored, or is it hopeless? I was going to give it to a kid to mess with, but am reconsidering that idea...

Thanks for your input!

[bob91343]

Of course you can restore it, if you are willing to go to the trouble. These radios are considered good ones; when they work properly they indeed are fun to use. They generally don't have BFOs so you can't listen to SSB or CW but for foreign broadcast, WWV, and a few other purposes they are fine. More importantly, they are a piece of history and should be treated as such.

Too bad about the paint job; that will add some extra work. Also, many of those models included an antenna accessory called a WaveMagnet, with a connecting cable.

Running them from batteries isn't a good idea, since most of the batteries they used are no longer available, but they usually included a 110V power supply.

[bgadow]

I'm thinking your best bet might be to sell it as-is rather than trying to remove the paint; you might not profit enough to cover all the hours you'd put into it.

Any Transoceanic is a good radio; some of the first old radios I had as a kid were T-O
's or similiar. I ended up destroying them, but the good news is that they sparked my hobby.

[adelatoast]

Thanks, guys, for your responses.

Just so you have an idea of what I'm trying to describe, here is a link to my Flickr set featuring this radio: http://www.flickr.com/photos/1185969...7629672868273/

Now I'm not sure what to do with it. I suppose selling it is actually the best option -- it would get restored properly and have a nice place in someone's collection -- I just feel kind of attached to it now that I started researching about it!

--Adela

[Buzzsaaw]

Hi,

That's a great Radio!.. Lot's of fun.

There's a fine group where you can find out lot's of information on it:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thetransoceanicfanatic/

I've got a 600 TO.. I did a full restore. Love it!

Battery "kits" are still available :

http://home.comcast.net/~morrised2006/radios/radio6.htm

and also:

Batteries from Bill Morris.. email batterymaker@gmail.com I'll have to check to see if he's still making them...
And the results:.. No, He is not making them now.


Buzz