P.S.

I have also owned the military R-390/A. While an excellent receiver ,
I found cranking on the heavy tuning dial (which moves a complex Rube
Goldberg mechanical assembly) too cumbersome for serious DXing. It's more of
a "sittin'" receiver and not a "tune-in'" receiver.

Smokey

"Smokey" wrote in message
...
Lenny,

7 years ago I got rid of all my newer "state of the art" stuff. You
are
right on the mark!---the lowly, maligned tube gear is a lot more fun to
use.
What I didn't know until I seriously started using 35 year old receivers
was
that performance was JUST AS GOOD as the newer stuff. As I see it, the
only
thing you lose is the digital readout of frequency and to anyone who ever
learned how to use a slide rule in 7th grade, THAT should not be an issue.
A few years back, in the IEEE Spectrum Magazine they ran a wonderful
article titled, "Tubes Versus Transistors" in which, from an electrical
engineering standpoint, clinically compared the two. The result? Tubes
provided better audio.
Anyway, there are several receivers I have bought and sold over the
past 40 years. At one time I have just about owned every general coverage
receiver made by Hallicrafters, Hammarlund, Collins, National, RME, newer
companies like Drake and some of the kit companies like Heath, Knight and
Lafayette (although Hallicrafters did produce kits on some of their
products).
The GENERAL COVERAGE receivers that I keep going back to and buying
again a National NC-183 or NC-183D, Hallicrafters SX-42 and any Collins
gear with the model number starting with "51" (51S1, 51J, 51J3). A very
close second place is the Hammarlund HQ-180, HQ-180A or HQ-180AC and
Hallicrafters SX-100.
Obviously these are only my subjective opinions. Good luck!

Smokey

"Lenny" wrote in message
news
I'm thinking more and more about the beautiful vintage tube receivers of
the
past.
I love the purposeful look, the glow of the tubes, and, of course, the
performance.
So, I'm looking for suggestions on some of the best tube SW receivers
that
are readily available on
E Bay and elsewhere.
Specifically, the Collins's, the Hammarlunds, and the
Hallicrafters.(Please
educate me on the other classic makes)
My price limit is $500 give or take.
Oh, and I know nothing about poking around the insides of these things
so
I
need one in turnkey condition.
Right now, I own an Icom R75 with all the Kiwa mods.
Is it possible that some of the old receivers offer similar performance?
I'm mainly interested in international broadcasts and to a lesser
extent,
ham and utility monitoring.
So, start recommending.
Thanks, and I hope this can be a fun topic.
Lenny