"ve3..." wrote:

Over the years I have purchased way too many short wave radios, most of
which ended up in the garage. A few I keep at hand for various needs
and I thought my experience might be of interest to those bitten by the
"gotta have it" bug.

Well, my radio collection has been distilled down to the keepers, but
I don't know that I will claim that they are ultimate keepers since
the one I've had the longest has been with me only 9 years.

Not enough time, in my opinion, to consider it a "forever" radio. For
all I know, it may still die of some flaw.

BTW, R-392, IC-R8500, RX-340.

R-392: Built like a tank, weatherproof, easy to repair.

IC-R8500: Excellent fundamentals, built like a tank. Possible fatal
flaw: component in PLL often blows out, but I've not had it happen to
me.

RX-340: Built reasonably well, does just about everything you could
ask of a radio.

--
Eric F. Richards

"Nature abhors a vacuum tube." -- Myron Glass,
often attributed to J. R. Pierce, Bell Labs, c. 1940

Three that didn't make the cut

The radios I selected were inexpensive and easily found and still work
after 10 years abuse and are pretty good at their niche. Three that I
still use off and on but don't recommend as keepers are the DX-394, the
DX 398, and the Zenith 3000.

DX 394. I got this one on sale at Radio Shack for $140 and couldn't
turn it down. I use it as a bedside radio and it works ok but the
modifications required to overcome the well-known engineering
deficiencies are more than I want to get into. I removed the "chuffing"
circuit (easy). Of course, it is not a portable.

DX-398. Art Bell was touting these in 90's as "awesome, incredible, the
last radio you will ever have to buy" It was the biggest disappointment
of any radio. At $200 it was not cheap like I usually get. Basically,
its shortwave performance on the whip sucks. It has been desensitised
for some reason and in my area is useless. I think they may have made
it for the European market where signals are strong and overloading is
a problem. It performs well on AM and FM and ironically I still use it
to listen to Art Bell and Co.. I have the 18 pushbuttons lined up with
various clear channel stations that carry Coast to Coast and as one
station fades I punch up one that is still readable until it fades and
so on. At least I didn't buy it from C.C.Crane so that is some
consolation. The bail is very flimsy and has broken off (typical) and
the battery cover is lightly fastened in place and falls off if you
look at it sideways. I have put some Scotch Magic Tape as a hinge that
holds the cover in place. It is too large to fit in the hand
comfortably and should have a strap of some sort.

Zenith TransOceanic 3000. A fine radio and fun to play with but its too
BIG and HEAVY. Weightlifters would like this model but I got tired of
lugging it around and finding a place big enough to sit it. It looked
good in those National Geographic ads on a sailboat surrounded by
nautical types in dress whites so you can get a vicarious vibe from
1960. Sensitive, nicely bandspread, and easy to fix.

There are way too many lesser breeds that I won't mention





























Zenith TransOceanic 3000.