A new find--Two Zenith Transoceanic 3000's

[stereofisher]

Got two of these off the 'Bay a couple of weeks ago. I keep loosing bids on the 3000's and bid on two simutaneously figuring one would drop out. Figured I'd get outbid and won both. Won 'em both. They are much better than a 1000 I cleaned up and resold on Ebay. Paid for one of the 3000's. Actually, one is a 3000 and a 3000-1 which you can hook up an AC adaptor.

The AM section is better than the 1000 was. I may have had a mediocre 1000 though. The 3000-1 had a bad driver transistor. They are easy to replace since they plug in. Robbed my parts radio. Honest seller.

The second one came from a less than honest seller. Said it was missing the battery case and had a broken ant. terminal inside the set. Failed to mention the batteries leaked and the telescopic ant lost half the chrome and was brass color. I had a parts unit that took care of the ant. Luckily it cleaned up nicely. The acid did not hurt the inside of the cabinet or underneath

Both are decent radios. Brings my radio collection two TA's, a Wards set and a GE radio I posted here. Will try some pics.

Eric

[Ed in SoDak]

Very nice! I have two myself. One is as clean as yours in the pic. the other is ugly-grade and FM doesn't work, but it plays on the other bands. Have you tried a long wire for an antenna?
-Ed

[drh4683]

the 3000 is a great radio. My favorite of all the TO's. Enjoy!

[Jeffhs]

I am presently bidding on a Zenith Royal 1000-1 TO myself. Was outbid a half dozen times (I think by myself five times, and by $1 by another buyer, at which time I placed another bid in a hurry, only to be outbid every time until the sixth try). I checked, however, just before starting to write this, and found that I am still the high bidder. If this holds up another eleven hours or so, I should win. Should I get the radio I will post a picture of it here; from the pics of it on ebay it looks great for a set made almost 50 years ago, and its present owner says it works well on all eight bands.

The set I'm bidding on is AM/SW, no FM. Why wasn't FM included in the Royal 1000? The FM band is included on most if not all later models of the solid state TOs. Also, what if anything is the difference between the Royal 1000 and the 1000-1? I read somewhere (on an antique radio website specializing in these models) that the only difference between the two sets is that the 1000-1 has been modified for use with an AC adapter (wall-wart) and the plain 1000 is battery only. The set I hope to win will ship with the original Zenith wall-wart adapter.

How good a set was the Zenith Royal 1000? Did it have any issues, major or otherwise, that affected its performance? I understand (from reading the item description on its ebay listing) that this was the first solid-state Trans-Oceanic portable by Zenith, and was made in the late '50s. Was this possibly why the Royal 1000 does not have FM? It seems strange to me that a transistor portable with seven shortwave bands and the standard BC band would not also have FM coverage; after all, FM had been around for almost ten years by the time the Royal 1000 was introduced, and the set couldn't have been cheap. If this set went for anything over $100 when new, I would expect it to have FM, even if it was made in the late '50s. Go figure.

Heathkit also marketed their version of the SS TO in the 1980s that was a Zenith solid-state TO lookalike, even down to the rotating drum dial linked to the bandswitch. This radio was in several of Heathkit's catalogs of the early '80s, when the company was owned in part by Zenith. The radio was a definite Zenith design, but, IIRC, it had the Heathkit name on the dial scale window.

[stereofisher]

You are right. The 1000 was built in the late 50's. There were very few FM stations back then. Got a 1000 because I was not paying attention. Wondered why it went for $67 on the Bay. Got it and cleaned it up. Like most of the Transoceanics it had some pitting on the chrome. Sort of reminds of an old car. Figured I got it--fix it up. The AM on this one was just OK. Did find a really COOL AM station in Canada. AM 740, CHWO. They play just about anything. Big band,swing, oldies--you name it great station. Also found WKBW 1520 in Buffalo.

That was the best thing about my 1000. Found those two stations. Sold her on Ebay and broke even. Got two 3000's. One was not working and had a bad driver transistor. The transsitors plug in and I used one from my parts radio and it came alive. Since I was always getting outbid on the 3000's I figured I was safe and bid on two. Never learn, I got them both. The second one did not have a battery case. Got one from my parts radio. Its seller was not as honest and said it was a clean set. Found some corrosion inside the cabinet and the bottom. It cleaned up though. I like these better than the 1000. Better AM and it has FM. They are both much better than my 1000 was.

Don't think much of the newer 7000's. Had one when I owned a Zenith Dealership. Can't figure why they go for so much on Ebay. They did not make many of them. The last ones were made in Taiwan--yech! I did not like the build quality.

If you are interested in a 3000 PM me. Batteries included. You pay the shipping. Dont need two.

Eric

[Jeffhs]

Eric, I just sent you a PM.

[Ed in SoDak]

If you have to place multiple bids to be top bidder, all it means is the other bidder placed a higher proxy bid that took a few minimum bid increments to beat.
-Ed

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by stereofisher

You are right. The 1000 was built in the late 50's. There were very few FM stations back then. Got a 1000 because I was not paying attention. Wondered why it went for $67 on the Bay. Got it and cleaned it up. Like most of the Transoceanics it had some pitting on the chrome. Sort of reminds of an old car. Figured I got it--fix it up. The AM on this one was just OK. Did find a really COOL AM station in Canada. AM 740, CHWO. They play just about anything. Big band,swing, oldies--you name it great station. Also found WKBW 1520 in Buffalo.

Eric

I live very close to the south shore of Lake Erie (within a mile). My TO1000 gets AM740 and KB-1520 just fine. Can hear 740 all day and night, but a station some 50+ miles south of here "owns" 1520 during the day. Once that station signs off, though, I hear KB1520 Buffalo just fine. They have a DJ ("'Your LEADER!' Big Jack" Jackson Armstrong) on that station, who used to be on a 50kW rock station in Cleveland (WKYC-AM 1100, now WTAM) in the mid-'60s through 1970. My TO1000 is the only one of my transistor sets that gets KB1520, though. That alone speaks volumes for the TO series' great sensitivity and selectivity on AM (and shortwave as well; I often hear WWVH "behind" WWV on 10 and 15 MHz on my TO1000 even during the day, just using the internal whip antenna).

I think it was a darn shame the TO series went out of production. They were excellent radios , the likes of which we will never see again from Zenith . However, I have heard that GE still makes the Superadio, the latest version of which is the Superadio III. But I also read in another post to this forum that the Superadio III is not as good as its predecessors. I find this odd, since one would think later versions of a great radio like the Superadio series would outperform earlier models. What is it about the Superadio III that makes it inferior to the two sets preceding it? Did this set not have external antenna terminals, did it have an inferior RF amplifier stage, fewer IF stages, etc.? Even in this day of costcutting and cutting corners by today's GE (Thomson), et al., I'd think the company would have thought at least twice before doing this with the third generation of a high-performance set such as the Superadio series. If Zenith had done anything even remotely resembling this with their TransOceanic series (the American-made models; I realize the D7000Y and at least one other late-'70s model were made in Taiwan and were not as good as the earlier sets), I'm sure they would never have heard the end of it. I have a Zenith H480W stereo clock radio on which the FM band finally gave up last year, after 25 years. Yup, you guessed it. The radio had been manufactured in 1980 for Zenith in Taiwan. OTOH, I had a Zenith 12" solid-state black-and-white TV, made for Zenith in Mexico in 1978, which lasted 22 years and was still working with its original CRT (great picture too) when I got rid of it (no space for it in my apartment) five years ago. Go figure.