Zenith Transoceanic T600 Receiver
Transoceanic model T600. Vintage 1954.
While not strictly classified as boatanchors, the Zenith Transoceanics are some of my favorite old sets for short wave listening. The bands are push-button selected, cover primarily the international "world-band" broadcasters, and are laid out so that no bandspread is needed.
The ads in period National Geographic and Holiday magazines always evoked for me a sense of traveling adventure. Here is a Zenith ad from 1955.
- The sets are quite sensitive with just the built-in telescoping whip antenna if aligned and operating properly. The "wavemagnet" loop antenna (the black plastic piece on top of the case behind the handle on this model) comes with a pair of suction cups and has a length of red twin-lead antenna wire attached. It can be lifted out and attached to a window of an apartment building or railroad car for better AM Broadcast reception.
Tube complement on this model is 3V4, 1U5, two 1U4, the expensive 1L6, and a 50A1 ballast tube. The T600 has a phono input connector, a front-panel headphone jack, and a dial light using a separate battery. A momentary-contact slide switch (on the left side of the front panel) turns on the dial light. The 600 models also have a spring coil-reel arrangement for coiling the line cord. The tube Transoceanics were designed for three way power (AC-DC-battery). The example above has the factory adapter plugged into the chassis to allow the set to be powered by either 115 or 230 volts. The gray rectangular plastic cover on the inside of the lid contains flip charts and operating information.
Schematic and alignment information for the 600 series can be found in Sams Photofact 254-13.