Zenith Trans Oceanic

morewatts said:

David, I'll try a cross post over in the section. Oops, I'll need a new account over there. sigh.
Can anyone tell me exactly what this thing is? Just a big shortwave radio? Will it be worth the cost to ship it to someone?
Carl

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Though not complete as a single, they are collectible. The 117Z3 is highly sought after as they are rare and hard to find. If you have the original batteries in them still, those too are worth some money. It is difficult to qupte a value on them, but I have had a few of those over the years, and they are top performers for portables. 2 I sold via Epay about a decade ago went for about 150 for a black one and 175 for a saddle brown one (US). So they are worth the shipping to a collector.

In their day, their performance as a reciever was as good or better than low end HAM recievers of the day.

You might check out the ARRL website for a hamfest in your area and maybe rent a table. The markets are soft still, but you might get interest at 50 each as-is. If the naugahyde is immaculate, you might be able to ask a little more than that, but without them being complete, that is about top end for the middle of the US. You might get higher on the coasts.

I've had about every model except the 1st "bomber" version and they were all great radios with the exception of the first SS it was ok but not great. These radios are absurdly reliable. I had TO's in such poor shape I knew they were toast, plugged them in and they would play. Some Deoxit on the band switches badda boom badda bing you gotta playing radio. My favorite is the G-500.

http://www.radioera.com/images/G500a.jpg

jaymanaa said:

I whole heartily agree. I have a Zenith stand up (1936 I believe) with a wave magnet "box" antenna in the back that you can turn to point it. It easily picks up English stations overseas, and others that I can't understand the language, maybe German. I've often wondered what it would do with a proper outdoor long wire or the like.

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Yes a good outdoor antenna will do wonders for the am broadcast band if you have the room a good dipole will amaze you.if not and your serious about dxing etc theres magnetic loops.i just recently picked up a pixel technologies magnetic loop (pro 1B) for shortwave and its great.theyre not cheap but they work great for nulling out interference. They also sell a am antenna for the broadcast band and is cheaper.

http://www.pixelsatradio.com/product/ultimate-am-broadcast-band-antenna/

Nice radios Sony, I need to start listening to my Zenith 7S558 again.

altinkster92 said:

nice radios sony, i need to start listening to my zenith 7s558 again.

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Yep