On Sunday, July 21, 2013 11:53:06 AM UTC-5, Michael Black wrote:
On Sun, 21 Jul 2013, Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:



Michael Black wrote:

Someone just posted an ad locally for a transistor era Transoceanic, he

only wants $250 for it. I think he did say "negotiable" but when you

start so high, it likely isn't coming down much.



It may well be worth it. It depends upon condition. If it is sitting

in the original box, unused, untouched, a collector would probably pay

more than that.



If it was used for many years, and put on a garage shelf where it has

accumulated, dirt, dust, and small crawly things, no matter how well

it has been dusted off, it's not worth anywhere near that.



In between, well, that's your guess.



Except, it's a transistorized one, which I gather were quite plentiful,

and of course more recent. Perhaps if someone was just collecting they'd

pay the price, but some of that $250 has to be due to the name, as Peter

points out, their circuitry was never extraordinary.



Some years back, I came upon a random issue of ELementary Electronics at a

garage sale, one I'd never seen before, so I bought it. And on the back

cover was a Radio Shack ad for an Astronaut 8 portable radio. Suddenly I

had an urge for one of those, remembering drooling over that sort of radio

forty years ago, they just seemed so cool. But I know they aren't great

radios, so I sure wouldn't spend much on them.



I did find last year a Radio Shack DX-40, a portable AM/FM radio with 2

shortwave bands, about the same level as the Astronaut 8 except no public

service bands. I paid two dollars for it. An average sort of radio,

there were endless radios of that type back then, both desktop and

portabel.



So I guess I am collecting, but not interested in paying the price. And

as I said in that thread about the GPR-90, I'm doing pretty well finding

shortwave radios at garage and rummage sales over the past six years or

so, radios much better than that transistor Transoceanic or the Radio

Shack portable, and all under $20 and mostly under $10. And it is odd,

except for the analog portables, these aren't the low end receivers that

one might expect. I've yet to see a Radio Shack DX-160 in real life, I

wouldn't mind yet I know I'd be disappointed (but seeing it in the ads as

a kid, it certainly looked great). I find Grundig Satellite digitally

tuned receivers for $2 and a Sony SW-1 for ten. I've seen people offer

digitally tuned sw receivers on the local Craig's list for virtually

nothing, couldn't be bothered arranging a time to go and get them. On

the other hand, someone keeps trying to sell a Grundig 350 portable for

$90, as if the better model that superceded it wasn't available for a bit

more new.





Michael

www.antiqueradios.org/transoceanics.htm (Phil's old radios) or Google,,, Zenith Transoceanic Radios) I own a Zenith Transoceanic transistor radio. It doesn't work, didn't work when I bought it a bunch of years ago at Goodwill. I have another similar looking big Zenith radio, but it is AM/FM. Guess what? It doesn't work either. Looka here, on those Zenith Transoceanic transistor radios, (according to Phil's old radios website) don't be toteing that radio around by the handle,ergo the plastic handle might crack and break.