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Reviews For: Zenith Transoceanic R7000-2

Category: Receivers: General Coverage

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Review Summary For : Zenith Transoceanic R7000-2
Reviews: 2MSRP: 379.95
Description:
The R7000-2, produced in 1981, was Zenith's last model in its long-lived, well-respected line of Transoceanic multiband portable radios. LW, MW/AM, SW, FM broadcast, and two bands of VHF for air/weather. BFO, AFC/ANL, RF Gain, Squelch, signal/battery S meter, FM tuning meter, whip antenna, folding front containing a user's manual.
Product is not in production
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# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0025
KF7WCU Rating: 2021-11-13
Last of the Great Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This radio is what it is the last of a great era of an American based company with its deep roots in both world wars and the cold war, used in numerous real spy and espionage operations on both American and Russian fronts more than ever disclosed to the public.

This radio (R7000-2 )was the first attempt to compete against Sony which was producing very good component shortwave radios. Most of the world does not realize that Sony - originally ( 1950 Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation) was part of the US secretly held "company contracts" with Japan and they produced and made government components a few years after WW2. Sony was given a contract to use Transistors from Bell Labs with Sony making its first transistor radio- the TR-55 in 1955 and later the TR-63 which sold in the US markets. The irony is the US did make the first transistor radio in 1954 but was not a branded success.

Zenith was stated in Chicago by Ralph Matthews, Karl Hassel, and later Eugene F. McDonald - ( A lieutenant commander in in WW1 for the naval intelligence service) and was founded in 1923. The call sign 9ZN "ZN'th" is where the name Zenith came from.

When I use this radio and compare it to the 1000 it is obviously night and day. The R7000-2 needed a better barrel switching system ( make sure you check these and glue up/oil where needed. The Radio is what it is (A Portable consumer higher-end shortwave receiver for its time). The 1000 is a quality built wire to wire based radio solid as the day is long.
The sound and tuning of the R7000-2 is 100% better than the 1000.

But But But ... If I were in a jungle in South America give me the 1000 every time.

Home- Give me the R7000-2

I have repaired all of the Zenith and Sony shortwave radios over the years and honestly I love all the vintage radios... Zenith older radios were so easy to repair caps and transistors where like tubes to pull check and replace. Some of the Sony brands take a genius skill with master hands to get in and repair. Especially the micro components on the ICF.... don't breath or they will blow away. I am at 100 for 100 so I will knock on wood for the moment.

I change most of the lights to LED for brighter viewing with the components still left untouched in case someone in the future wants to revert back to original.

The R7000-2 glows much better with the LED rather than the dim lights and looks beautiful. I had to clean and repair most all the components of this unit. All caps over 50% and some dead. The bearings were missing in the dial barrel the plastic switching systems on the barrel drive cracked. Very poorly constructed and I re -engineered the system and made of better quality.

if the switching assembly is in tact and you have the springs and bearings "The two small bearings and spring assembly to hold the switching of the bands has too strong of a spring cut it by 1-1.5 coil(s) enough so that by pushing the gear together it gives pressure to the bearings but not so much tension it will work smoothly. the problem is the switching assembly was made of poor plastic and should have been metal, cheap sad ending to a once defined "quality production company"."

If you get anything from my extends gibberish and one of these little gems fall into your hands. don't turn the frequency switch until you inspect.

1. Power ( power regulator caps and components ) ( all Caps replace)
2. Barrel switch plastic components
3. Front barrel switch for positioning ( has two spring with small ball bearing that plastic breaks after years of constant force.
4. contacts on barrel switches break due to uneven force bad glue, etc..
5. Have fun

N0TLD Rating: 2020-11-15
A great receiver. Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have been enjoying a beautifully maintained/fine condition R7000-2 for some time now, and I felt it needed its own little place here in the reviews.

I've been a Zenith TO fan for many, many years, collecting (and mostly restoring) every tube model, as well as the transistorized models (1000, 3000, Royal 7000/D7000Y).

But this radio is a much rarer find than any of the other transistor TOs -- each of those were made in the hundreds of thousands, but the R7000 (both -1 and -2 versions) had a combined run of only about 75,000 -- and an **affordable** example of this radio had eluded me for a long time. Not long ago a surprise offer came along and I couldn't resist the price and its condition.

The R7000-2 is simply a great analog multiband, superior in performance to any of the transistorized TOs before it (though they are all excellent).

FM is loud and clean and sensitive, with an AFC switch to help lock onto an iffy signal, and is as good as FM gets in models of that era and style.

AM/MW is a bit less sensitive on its internal ferrite antenna than I'd expected, but with the help of a good loop (in my case the Quantum Loop V.2) it really shines, and is very selective. The FM AFC switch doubles as the ANL switch in AM and SW and it is fairly effective, I must admit. Often they are barely noticeable when you switch them in, but this one does work quite nicely.

The Fine Tune control works in AM and SW, and of course is a real help on the SW bands for ham SSB signals. Switch in the BFO, coarse tune the band, hone in with the Fine Tune, and there y'are. It is a bit drifty for a while, but I have experienced it being a lot more stable after about 35-40 minutes of use. Unlike a lot of other analog multibands of the type and era -- e.g. Panasonic's Command RF Series (2200, 2600, 2900 etc) -- the R7000-2's SSB is NOT an exercise in fatiguing frustration but is genuinely pleasant to use after it warms up.

Having an RF Gain switch/knob is a nice addition to any multiband radio, and is just as helpful here. You can keep it switched off and have full gain, or switch it on and vary the amount as you need it... and it affects all bands except the two VHF bands.

I haven't had much need to use the Squelch switch/knob but it certainly works just fine.

Audio is loud and clear, warmer to my ears than any other transistor TO, and the Tone knob is very effective.

It has a Wide/Narrow bandwidth switch -- I don't know the actual numbers on those two but they seem well chosen -- as well as a Dial Light/Battery meter switch, and two meters -- S meter/Battery level and FM Tuning, each very easy to read, especially when lit; the dial light stays illuminated when running the radio from AC power, but not when running it on batteries. When illuminated, this radio is truly beautiful, its orange and ivory/white design is vivid and easy on the eyes.

The whip antenna is a long, robust antenna typical of the Zenith TO line, flipping up from the top of the radio.

Unlike other TOs, the R7000-2 only has a bandspread for the 26 - 29 MHz band. When this radio was produced, CB was smack in the middle of its peak popularity in the U.S., and Zenith must have figured having the easier ability to hone in on CB signals would be a selling point. I've used it listening to SSB talk on 10 meters.

This is a heavy portable, by the way. Even without the 8 D batteries, it weighs quite a bit more than it looks like it should, and more than any of the other transistor TOs, in my opinion anyway. It is definitely a solid, well-made radio.

I'd certainly wanted one for a long time, and expected it should at least perform competently, in keeping with the the ZTO tradition (at least as far as the transistorized models go), and yet, other than pretty looks, I don't really know what I was expecting before I finally acquired one... but I sure didn't expect it to be as fine a radio as it has turned out to be. A very nice surprise, and a really great multiband receiver. This last-of-a-great-line beauty, even with all its quirky differences from the previous offerings in the series, is well worth acquiring.