I found my 1958 Zenith transoceanic Royal 1000 SW radio in the back of the closet the other day. This was the first transistorized portable SW radio, (the transistors plug into sockets and are removable because, well, thats the way they did it with vacuum tubes, so ...) It was the first portable to use 'D' cell batteries rather than the odd high voltage short lived 'brick' batteries previous portables needed. I stuck in 9 (!) D cells, and despite having been on the shelf for at least 15 years, it fired right up and tuned in stations in Germany, Kuwait, and Russia.

Intrigued, I did a search on the web and found comparison tests between these old units and new, $250 solid state digital tuner SW portable radios. The tests say the 1958 Zenith matched or exceeded everything the new radios accomplished, with the exception that the digital tuner was easier to use, and the newer ones had better between station noise filtering. On the other hand, all the Zenith compnents are 45+ years old - wonder what the results would be with fresh components! The Zenith also had better tone quality in the tests.

How many of you have older electronics that have held up well (in contrast to modern telephones, computers, etc.)?

__________________
John

2003 Firemist Red/grey leather SL 500
2015 Palladium Silver/black mbtex GLK 350
1987 Smoke Silver/burgundy mbtex 300E Sportline (SOLD)

Click to see 87 300E