Classic GE RCA and Zenith Radios

By FARMERIK

At tag sales, flea markets and even on E-bay, bargains can be found on working portable radios which sound good and can receive far away broadcast stations.The three companies named in the title made high quality radios in the USA. They originally came in many sizes and price ranges, but you can rely on any one of those brands. Other companies also made very good radios in Europe, such as Grundig, Norde Mende and Philips. Many smaller companies made some models which were high in quality and others which were not. So this article is to tell you what to look for.

Antique radios used tubes, and although some were battery powered, they needed a number of sizes of hard to find disposable batteries or a heavy wet cells, which would be recharged by a windmill generator or gasoline powered generator like the once popular Delco units. As commercial power reached rural America, it was used to power radios in the home. Tube radios are much less likely to be damaged by lightning or even EMP, but they use far more power.

This article is focused on battery powered transistor radios made in the 1960's and 70's. A good quality radio which has been taken care of, will usually still work fine. If it had leaking batteries left in it, was exposed to large amounts of dust or dirt, or stored in a very hot or wet location, that will damage a radio. A type of capacitor, called electrolytic, can change value with age, and mechanical switches and tuning mechanisms can also wear out. Modern switch contact cleaners and lubricants can maintain the controls much better than what was available when these radios were new. A quality radio which works well, is very likely to continue to do so for a long time. Radios made in the USA later needed to compete with low priced imports, and the quality and ability of the models gradually declined, while Asian imports were improving.

Most non working radios COULD be fixed, unless a special part is needed. You clean the controls and if needed replace the electrolytic capacitors. That is usually all they need. You may be able to find someone local to help you. Sending a radio off to a professional repair shop is normally too expensive. There will be variations in how well a radio this old will perform, but they can work very well indeed. Just buying a few extra radios will be cheaper and simpler.

Zenith Radio made the legendary Transoceanic [TO] series for decades. It was the Cadillac of portables built in the USA. It had separate SW meter band coverage for the higher SW frequencies, a low or 'Tropical' SW band and AM. Later models added FM in the 3000 and 7000 series.They can bring very high prices, and are prized by many radio enthusiasts. Zenith's TO radios inspired many copies made by other companies. Zenith also made the less expensive InterOceanic which covers all SW frequencies up to 18 Megacycles, or 18000 Kilohertz.

[In the 1960's, Megacycles and Kilocycles were renamed MegaHertz and KiloHertz after a Radio pioneer.]

The AM FM and SW performance of the InterOceanics radios is quite good. This is a huge and heavy model, powered by 8 D cells. The speaker is large and efficient, so it can be heard well across the room. Zenith offered a large number of various sized smaller models. Many tune AM and FM only, but a few had some SW or directional antennas used for navigation on small boats and planes. The radio which got me started collecting Zenith portables is a very ordinary model you can easily hold in one hand. It is powered by four AA cells, but gets tons of far away stations, and sounds very good for its modest size. Like most all of these portables, the earphone jack will drive an efficient 8 inch speaker. As a general rule, Zenith portables use very little battery power, and sound good for both voice and music. They are not home stereo sound quality, but quite pleasant and not tiring to listen to. Zenith pioneered shirt pocket size radios too, and they are very collectible.

RCA made some very good portables as well. They offered the plain looking Globetrotter series, which are extremely good at receiving far away stations. They don't sound as nice as the Zeniths, but get the really weak signals. Some were AM only, which is OK since FM does not go that far over the horizon. I am pretty sure they offered a SW model to compete with the TransOceanic, but I have never owned or repaired one of those.

GE made all sizes of radios, including models to compete directly with the Transoceanic's. They do a very good job with far away radio stations. To my ear, they don't sound quite as pleasant. They generally have smaller internal batteries, and are more likely to have a built in power supply to plug into the wall. The larger GE's can be turned up quite a bit louder than Zenith or RCA portables. That makes them ideal in a large or noisy room, or for the really hard of hearing, with an external speaker.

Later, the very popular GE Superadio series I, II, and III was made. They are very good radios for listening to far away stations, but I don't know how long they had any real connection to General Electric. They are not built like the old radios. Most who own these think he earlier the version, the better it works and is made. My GE Superadio III was made in China by Thompson Electronics who had bought the GE name. At the end of production, it was sold as an RCA model. The RCA and Grundig names used on radios now sold in the USA are not connected to the original companies. In fact most new portable radios are made in China, including some SONY models. In my opinion, China is starting to make some higher quality radios, but it was low prices which attracted companies to make radios there.

Heathkit made a copy of the last TransOceanic which was so close I heard they had patent infringement problems. It may have actually worked better too. They are collectible and bring high prices. By using unique designs, the old Heathkit company made very high performing radio equipment at much lower prices. Some of it had reliability problems, and the kits did not all go together as promised. Heathkit also made AM and AM FM portables which get far away AM stations. I have a few of those which work very well. They also made table top communications receivers, some of which worked on batteries, and home 'stereo' receivers that got far away stations.

Magnavox was the USA branch of Philips from Europe. While the Magnavox brand here wasn't high end, they did have good engineering, and the Magnavox portables I have had work well. I have a couple of the inexpensive AM FM SW portables with a 4-12 Mc band from the 70's. They are a step up from most common inexpensive portables with that coverage, but not the equal of GE, RCA and Zeniths.

Later in the 80's and 90's Magnavox/Phillips simply brought in the Philips line from Europe, which were good values and performed well. They were competitive with the similarly priced Grundig and Panasonic models.

Later Japan made a wide variety of very good performing radios, but never as rugged as the USA models from the 60's and 70's. SONY and Panasonic models in particular still command high prices, but Sanyo, Toshiba, and Craig made good radios too. SONY and Panasonic made some of the most advanced portables ever made, outside of Europe.

The top of the line Grundig radios made in Germany are my favorite sounding large portables. They also will drive an external speaker. They are rugged, complex and every part is engineered just for the radio. They are the most difficult radio to fix, but for many years they work superbly. After that, you are out of luck. Premium NordeMende radios also sound and work very well. Both companies also made simpler models with very high performance for their price range in the 70's and 80's. These models may or may not be considered collectible, and like the high end models, it is very unlikely that anyone here could get parts to repair one. I had a NordeMende which sold for less than half the price of a premium Panasonic around 1980. It got more AM and SW stations and sounded much better. I can't really recommend either as a long term solution for listening to far away stations. Grundig continued to make really top end radios into the 1990's. My Satelit 700 was made by Grundig in Portugal, but after that the quality declined. The US distributor bought the Grundig name, and had radios made for them to sell here as Grundigs.

Radio Shack made both portables and inexpensive communications receivers which can be run off an optional D cell battery pack. In general, the portables are not that good, but they did offer an AM Tuned Radio Frequency [TRF] knock off of the RCA Globetrotter, which does perform well, but nothing like the original. The communications receivers range from simple and inexpensive like the DX100, to the DX 150 and 160 series analog radios which can work quite well, and later digital models. Those can hear side band signals used by Amateur Radio [Ham] operators, but are not highly regarded by them.

Montgomery Wards and Sears both did extensive testing of every product they sold. They were founded as mail order companies which would give you your money back if you were not satisfied. By the 1960's and 70's, they were not as fussy as they had been. Some radios they sold were good and others were nothing special. Fewer of there customers lived in very rural areas, far from radio stations.

Other name brand US companies like Westinghouse made portable radios. They certainly knew how to design and build things, but were not dedicated to radio, so the results varied. I have seen an occasional cheap brand radio which is very sensitive. They can get far away stations as long as the frequency of the station is not close to a much stronger signal. Selectivity is the important feature which is harder to design into a portable transistor radio, It is also hard to get good sound out of a small radio. With skill and money, these problems can be overcome.

All but the very best AM radios can benefit from a 9-12 inch external loop antenna. Usually it is just positioned near the radio, rather than connected by wires. An upright loop is directional, so it can be pointed toward one station, and not hear interference from another station on the same frequency, but in a different direction. Small loops also have a tuning condenser, so they can be adjusted to boost the signal on the frequency you have tuned the radio to. With one of these, even a poor radio can get far away stations. With a better radio, I just use a loop antenna if the signal is fading, or atmospheric conditions are poor.