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Seller claims his Sony CRF-230 is better than the Zenith Trans-Oceanic though he doesn't explain how he arrived at this conclusion. I suspect both are great radios.
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This radio is of much higher quality than the Taiwanese-built TO on this page. The earlier TO's are wonderful radios that didn't outperform all others of its day, but lasted and lasted, and could be considered a radio that you could keep until the grim reaper called.
I have two Royal 3000's, one that my father bought in 1965, and one from flea-bay that I restored (1968 vintage).
I love them.... Works of art.
They remind me of shoebox Chevys.
They endure thanks to their beauty - and remind us how great American craftsmen were. (and still are)
This Sony is a better conceived machine than the 7000. Rich looking too. The 7000 is cheap looking in stark contrast to the earlier Trans Oceanics.
I'll take the Sony.
Posted by: Shorty | October 16, 2009 at 07:17 AM
Shorty, so some TO's were built in Taiwan? I thought they were all American built. Thanks for the heads-up.
Posted by: herculodge | October 16, 2009 at 08:13 AM
Jeff: Not all the 7000's were built in Taiwan, just the latter ones. (I'm pretty sure) Examine the pics from bigapple59's 7000, and right there is a sticker showing the radio's origin.
I recommend the book: "The Zenith Trans-Oceanic, The Royalty of Radios" ISBN 0-88740-708-0
It has vital info for TO collectors. A beautifully illustrated record with many vintage ad reproductions within.
Amazon has it.
Posted by: Shorty | October 16, 2009 at 09:24 AM
Shorty, if I read that book, it will whet my appetite for a $500 model. I'm already jonesing for a Sony CRF model of some sort.
Posted by: herculodge | October 16, 2009 at 09:32 AM
The Sony on ebay is not a 320 but a CRF-230. The 230 is a 60ies radio, the 320 a late 70ies design. Big difference...
Posted by: Xtof | October 17, 2009 at 02:59 AM
Yes, it's a 230. Thanks for the correction.
Posted by: herculodge | October 17, 2009 at 05:06 AM
The CRF-230 was quite an advanced portable in its day, a flagship model pretty much in "price (almost) no object" class with build and a price tag to match. For most of the shortwave range it used a variable low 1st IF between 1.6 to 2.2 MHz (which was then converted to 455 kHz), I'd guess with both RF and IF tracking. Ceramic filters found use in the IF section, and the narrow bandwidth still manages clean 5 kHz separation, no mean feat for a set of this day. The other ranges are no worse. Inside, everything is neatly shielded. Literature states that there are over a hundred alignment points.
The only big minus would be the wasted readout accuracy, as the shortwave scales are only marked in 50 kHz intervals, miles apart on the film scale - 10 kHz tickmarks would have fitted easily.
Posted by: Stephan | October 22, 2009 at 09:53 AM
Great info, Stephan. Thanks.
Posted by: Jeffrey McMahon | October 22, 2009 at 09:57 AM