Best radio & television books according to redditors

A few things:

1. Old radios don't usually run on as high a voltage as tube amps do. Most of the time, old radios don't have a power transformer and the filament voltages of all the tubes add up to somewhere between 110V-120V, so they don't need a transformer. High end radios sometimes have transformers, but not this one.
   
   
2. Yes, the capacitors are likely bad and you're right, those silver square things are capacitors. However, those are air capacitors for tuning the circuit and they don't go bad. The big black cylinder marked Zenith is the electrolytic capacitor used for filtering the AC, and it most likely is bad. That's a multistage cap with two or three sections inside, so you'll need two or three capacitors to replace it. There will be 8-12 other caps in the chassis, too.
   
   
3. Replace the cord, but also think about replacing it with a three wire cord so it'll be grounded. You should ground earth to chassis in case something shorts.
   
   
4. Don't just replace the old tubes. Most of the time, the capacitors are just bad in old radios. I've restored a bunch of sets like this and the tubes tend to be fine. Don't replace anything unless you're sure it's bad.
   
   
5. Get the old resistors out of there, too. They're all carbon comp and in all the years I've worked on electronics (since '98), I have yet to find an old carbon comp resistor that was still in spec. Plus they change value when they heat up. Go with metal film or wirewound, if possible. Those are much better.
   
   Check out some radio restoration books, like this one and you might want to pull some of the old Navy NEETS guides that cover tubes. Those are around the Internet and usually in free PDFs. A good place to buy parts is Antique Electronic Supply. I like to use Orange Drops as replacement capacitors, which they have. Also, you can order from the usual suspects, Newark, Mouser and Digikey.
   
   If you want a subreddit that solders, drop by /r/diyaudio. It's mostly hi-fi, but the tube fiends there love old radios, too.

It is a shortwave and AM receiver, not a ham radio. The ham radios transmit as well as and receive.

I'd be careful of plugging it in and trying it if you don't know that it works already. Old tube radios can do a good job of killing you if they have a major problem.

Value? Yes, this radio is popular. One that works well and is in good condition can go for $200 or so. Super great condition is $300 or so. It is hard to tell from the photo since we can only see a tiny part, though I can see the faceplate isn't cracked around the screws. That happened a lot with this model. That's a good sign.

Untested and unworking, but complete? Maybe $80-$100.

The bottom line is, someone will definitely want it. It is a very cool radio with a long history. Somebody even wrote a book about them: http://www.amazon.com/Zenith-Trans-Oceanic-John-H-Bryant/dp/0764328387/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1451588096&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=trans+osceanic

If you're a big fan of this radio line I recommend this great book about them;
http://www.amazon.com/Zenith-Trans-Oceanic-John-H-Bryant/dp/0764328387/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453160820&sr=8-1&keywords=zenith+transoceanic+radio
I have a H500 model and it works great, awesome sound quality. Would love to grab one the 70s/80s era models too.

I also agree that Microwave Transistor Amplifiers by Gonzalez is a great book. It's very much a microwave/RF theory book and my brother just aqcuired it. I'll be able to refer to it for a while but may one day add it to my collection as well. I just bought Cornell Drentea's Modern Communication Receiver Design and Technology. Drentea's book was aimed to be a textbook but is not quite what one would consider a textbook so it never really took off. However, It's a great book for the practical application of transceiver design techniques and is a great reference to anyone interested in RF circuits design, not just RF theory (lets use what we know!).

That's a neat looking radio. I like it. What does the tag on the chassis look like?

It looks like someone replaced the grill cloth but aside from that it seems pretty original. I wouldn't plug it in again. There are capacitors used to filter out the 60Hz hum from the AC that dry out (electrolytic) and leak (wax) which can cause them to blow open or start on fire. Until those are replaced, applying power to it is a risky proposition. If you ever feel like taking on a project, Antique Radio Repair and Restoration is a good book if you can find it. I can't really tell from the pictures whether it still has the original shellac finish, but if it does the refinish job can be fairly easy. You can find out if it's shellac by applying a small amount of alcohol - preferably denatured alcohol from the hardware store - to an inconspicuous spot. It will dissolve the shellac and get sticky. Polyurethane won't and is also a pain to get off.