Help Id'ing a Zenith T/O Royal 1000

[barrynsue]

I need some help.

Have a 1958 Zenith Transistor Royal 1000. I don't know much about these but I am confused as to whether it is a 1000 or 1000-D. Looking on the 'net, it appears as though some say the bronze and silver makes it a 1000-D but the chassis states 1000. Pics below for those who may be able to assist.







Thanks,

Barry

[Fisherdude]

Hi Barry,

Here's what I can help you with:

The Royal 1000
Introduced in December, 1957, as a 1958 model. There were six different chassis layouts, reflecting rapid changes as the new transistor technology developed. Last offered as part of the 1963 line.

The Royal 1000-D
Announced in a July, 1958 press release as a version of the 1000, but with a $25 option for a long-wave band. This is probably your best clue as to the difference between the original 1000 and the D model. Both were marketed and sold simultaneously. There were at least seven chassis variants in the D model. Last sold as part of the 1962 line.

The Royal 1000-1
Announced in a December, 1963 press release as part of the 1964 line. The "-1" indicates the addition of an input jack for a 12vdc outboard power supply. Last shown in the 1968 line. Two chassis variants, 9HT40Z2, and 9HT40Z8.

So:

1000: No longwave band.
1000-D: Longwave band.
1000-1: 12vdc input jack.

Hope this helps!

Clay

[Sandy G]

Nice clean one, no matter which one it is.

[wajobu]

Barry,

I have no information to offer except encouragement...

Beautiful radio and photos

[Sandy G]

Seems like I read somewhere the 1000s & 3000s are prone to flaking & pitting on the chrome- This one looks fine, though.

[barrynsue]

Thanks everyone. The chassis is stamped R-1000 but I read conflicting accounts as to what is a a "d" model and the 1000. One site sated that a D was both bronze and silver along w/ the stamped leather. Mine has the bronze/ silver but no stamp of genuine leather. This was somewhat confusing so I though I would ask. I see there is no LW so I assume it to be a 1000.

It works great -picking up stations all over the world. The metal is in super condition too with no issues that I can see. If there is a drawback to the radio at all, it is the fact that it requires NINE "D" batteries! That is endemic to the design however and not with this particular radio.

Even with as many as I have sold, I am still learning about the radios I purchased. It took long enough just to learn basic vintage audio and throw the antique radios into the mix and I am somewhat lost. They sure are beautiful and it is amazing how the earlier radios had so much in the way of tuning capabilies. They are wonderful!

Barry

[radioactive]

well i cant offer any information myself but i will say thats one nice radio

[barrynsue]

I have WAY too many sitting around that I don't have much info on! I know there are other forums that are much more active when it comes to antique and vintage radios but appreciate the attitude of all of the folks here better.

All answers have always bee very much appreciated and thanks for putting up with me. Being a novice makes it much more difficult when posting info and I hate sounding so stupid. However, I am learning.

B

[mr_fixer]

The Zenith Royal 1000 series are my favorite Trans-oceanic, I have repeatedly tested them for sensitivity against my other radios and the R1000 beats my royal 3000, 7000 and just barely beats my Panasonic RF-5000. A Royal 1000 will beat a Grundig satelite 700 or a sony ICF-2010 in reception. They may use 9 c cells but those cells will last almost forever, I once forgot and left mine on at low volume and it was still playing after 24 hours, I am still using those same batteries.
Logan

[Fisherdude]

Hi Logan!

Thanks for that extra detail. I have several tube T/O's, and I've sorta had the hots for one of the later SS models. I have the Bryant & Cones "T/O Book", and it gives a lot of details, but it never really comes out and says: "This is the one you want!" about any single model.

I was thinking about a last version of the R-7000. Do you really like the 1000 better, all things considered?

[Jeffhs]

I also have a T/O Royal 1000-1 that works very well, except the dial cord broke last year sometime, a couple months or so after I won the radio on ebay. Mine is on its second set of batteries since I got it; it would probably still be on the first, except a short in the AC adapter jack drained the first set within perhaps an hour or two. Haven't replaced the second set yet. Someone on another forum (Google, IIRC) told me that the solid-state T/Os draw very little current, so a set of batteries should last a very long time, even if the radio is accidentally left on all night. I think that's amazing--a big radio such as the T/O drawing so little current, so that the batteries will last "practically forever" as MrFixer put it. That's something I would expect from a small pocket transistor portable, but not from any set the size of any of the SS T/Os.

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Fisherdude

Hi Logan!

Thanks for that extra detail. I have several tube T/O's, and I've sorta had the hots for one of the later SS models. I have the Bryant & Cones "T/O Book", and it gives a lot of details, but it never really comes out and says: "This is the one you want!" about any single model.

I was thinking about a last version of the R-7000. Do you really like the 1000 better, all things considered?

All of Zenith's T/Os were excellent radios. All but one were made in the U.S. by the original Zenith Radio Corporation of Chicago; the exception is the R-7000, one of the last if not the last TransOceanic portables. It was made in Taiwan for Zenith so it was not hand-wired, as were all other prior versions. The R-7000 is built mostly on a PC board, as were all offshore-made T/Os and other Zenith AM/FM sets of the 1980s. I have two Zenith radios which were manufactured (in Korea and Taiwan, respectively) to Zenith's specifications, a nine-transistor model R-70 and an H480W clock radio, both 1980 vintage; in the early eighties I also owned a Zenith integrated stereo system which was made in Korea as well. All three had the lion's share of the circuitry on a PCB.

Zenith, which by this time was building all its radios offshore, also introduced a small, wood-cased AM/FM radio in 1982, which had bass/treble tone controls and a tuning meter. This was absolutely the last radio the company made and marketed before it got out of the radio business for good; as the expression goes, the rest is history.

The tube T/Os were good sets. I had one (H-500, chassis 5-H-40, 1951 vintage) I got at a hamfest about 25 years ago for $20. It worked well, but the cabinet was in bad shape. I would have held on to it if I hadn't gotten concerned as to where I'd find tubes for it; since it had 1- and 3-volt tubes (all but one of the tubes had 1-volt filaments; the audio output, IIRC, was a 3V4) I thought I'd be up the creek if one or more tubes burned out or shorted. This was years before I knew about AudioKarma and about 15 years before I discovered the Internet, so I knew I'd probably be in a bind if I needed any kind of obsolete battery-radio tubes; the only radio parts store near me at the time (which has long since gone out of business ) didn't have tubes that old. I didn't know about the technique of wiring ten 9-volt transistor batteries in series to get 90 volts (to replace the B-battery pack in the tube T/Os or any tube-operated battery radio, for that matter) at that time either, so I would have been at a loss to get my set going on batteries.

If I knew then what I know now about AK, however, the chances are I'd have held onto my 1951 T/O for years. Oh well. That was one reason I bid on and eventually won (on ebay) the Royal 1000-1 I have today. It's seven years newer than the H-500, but it is solid-state and works just as well as, if not better than, my tube set ever did. Probably should have held out for a Royal 3000, however, as that model (and all others to the end of the T/O series) had FM. Would it have added that much more to the price of the Royal 1000 (which sold for about $250 when first introduced in 1958) to have included FM on it as well? There wasn't much on FM at that time, but I think most major cities had at least one such station by the late fifties, so most listeners within reasonable listening range (read urban or near suburban) could get something (if only one or two stations) on the then new postwar 88-108 MHz FM band. The Royal 3000 was introduced, IIRC, in the sixties, at a time when FM was relatively new yet as well, but many owners didn't like the idea of the back cover bulging out about an inch or so due to the FM subchassis; presumably this problem was corrected by the time the R-7000 came out.

[Old1625]

That's a fine example of a T/O Royal 1000. I bought one from a second-hand shop over 30 years ago. It looked as if it had been used to slay an elephant--unsuccessfully, but it still played perfectly, and gave me years of enjoyment. I used an old IF can and made a low-power Hartley oscillator, which I mounted on the back by soldering the works to a pot that controlled the frequency. This way I could listen to SSB as well as AM. To tweak it I just reached around the back and diddled the knob to make the voices sound human.

Much later I bought another 1000 from the estate of a customer of mine who had all kinds of audio equipment by Scott, Fisher, etc.... This second T/O is in like-new condition, and--like the battered one--works perfectly.

Great radios!

[Old1625]

I remember seeing the price of one of those radios in an ad in an old Pop-Sci or Mech mag, and IIRC it was around $250.00! That was a lot of money back then, and likely several weeks pay for the average working man.

Edit: Oops! My bad; I see that Jeff beat me to the mark on that price....

[Sandy G]

T/Os were ALWAYS "Expensive Propositions", & as such, typically went to homes where they didn't get banged around indiscriminately like lesser radios. They were advertised in upscale magazines of the day, usually in an "adventure" setting, w/the owners on a faraway beach, beside their private plane, etc.