On Mar 3, 8:23�pm, Dave Heil wrote:

Hallicrafters had a number of contenders in the post war
period. �Some of these include the SX-100, the SX-115,
the SX-88 and the SX-42. �Even
the Raymond Loewy-desgined, inexpensive S-40B would have
been on the list.

Agreed. Also the rare PRO-310.

I find it impressive that Hallicrafters made so many different
receiver models in so few years (say, 1945-1960).

Collins had two-and-a-half styles during the fifties: �
There was the big
and clunky series of transmitters and receivers all painted
in a very
dark St. James gray wrinkle finish. �These included the 51J
series of
receivers, the 75A series, a series of high power and
low power AM/CW
transmitters and the KWS-1 SSB high power transmitter.

I would not describe them as "clunky". They were big and heavy because
that's what the job required at the time.

Included in that list is the 75A-4, a pioneering receiver that
is still a good performer, and which can be modified to be
an excellent performer. (The mods involve using a better
tube for the RF amplifier upgrading the 6BA7 mixers).

The 75A-4 is the first receiver I know of that included passband
tuning as a standard feature.

�Then came the
intermediate styling of the tiny KWM-1 SSB transceiver. �

Yep. I don't think Collins ever repeated that!

That was
followed by the light gray, low profile styling of the KWM-2/2A and
S-Line in the late fifties.

Which changed the game completely.

Japanese manufacturers did not gain more than a
toe hold in the U.S.
amateur radio market until about 1969 or 1970

That's true.

Only in low-end, inexpensive stuff sold by the likes of
Lafayette Radio, did the JA stuff do well. �Most of their
"communications receivers" weren't really that.

Lafayette HA-350, anyone? Henry Radio Tempo One?

There were also Japanese parts sold through Lafayette and others, such
as vernier dials, knobs, panel meters and other parts. Allied
also got into that game.

WW II was only over for fifteen years by 1960. �
Icom was not a big
player in the U.S. in other than the 2m FM game until the late
seventies. �Yaesu had a head start on Kenwood in
SSB transceivers sold
in the U.S. �Kenwood (actually still Trio at the time) made some
inexpensive gear sold by Lafayette and others.
�Kenwood HF gear didn't
really start selling much until the early/mid-1970's.

IMHO what turned the tide were two now-classic HF rigs: the Yaesu
FT-101 and the Kenwood TS-520.

Actually these were families of rigs, and the early ones weren't any
great shakes, particularly the FT-101. But the companies learned and
improved, and by the time of the FT-101E and the TS-520S they were
pretty decent. Not Drake or Collins quality, of course, but not Heath
either. And they offered things American rigs did not.

Consider the TS-520S, for example. It did the usual 80-10 meter SSB
job pretty well. But it also gave a choice of AGC fast/slow/off, an
optional narrow CW filter that was pretty good, RIT/XIT, 160 meters
and WWV/JJY, fan-cooled finals, plus a built-in AC power supply.

I don't see "smarts" entering into the mix as much as low
price. One
could save hundreds of dollars on an HF transceiver made
in Japan
compared to the price of one made in the U.S.

Not just price but price/performance/features combo. For example, try
to think of a US-made HF amateur transceiver that had the following:

- 100 watt output class
- 6146 finals, not sweep tubes
- Sharp CW filter
- RIT/XIT
- AGC off/slow/fast

Early Japanese suffered
from awful receiver performance. �

Particularly IMD in their SS products. They could not compete with
tube designs. They got better, though.

That made it possible for outfits like
R.L. Drake to stay in the market until the mid-1980's.
�It also made it
possible for companies like Ten-Tec to grow from what was
essentially
the producer of inexpensive QRP rigs to a maker of full featured
HF rigs.

40 years of Ten Tec ham rigs. Incredible.

Digi-Key got its start about the same time as Ten Tec - 1968 or so.
Their name comes from the fact that the company got started by selling
digital ICs (RTL!) in small quantities to hams so they could build
solid-state Morse Code keyers. Then they just kept growing, but the
name stayed.

When I became a radio amateur 44 years back,
I used junk. �That didn't mean that everyone used junk.
Much of the high end stuff of that era is
quite capable of doing a good job today. �My Hallicrafter
HT-32B uses
the crystal filter method of sideband generation. �It puts out nea
rly
100 watts and it features 1 KC readout.
�The Collins 75A-3 it is paired
up with uses selectable mechanical filters and it too has 1 KC
readout.
Neither can be considered "stark utilitarian".

Exactly. Nor are they overly ornate. They are functional and
attractive just as they are.

�The
manufactured radio equipment of the past is what it is.
�It doesn't need
the extras.

The same is true of a lot of homebrew gear. Look up the stuff made by
one of my Elmers, master homebrewer W2LYH. (several QST articles).
Great stuff, high performance, no ornamentation, Sounded great on the
air, too.

I'm not one who believes that things have to match. �
I go for function
first in my primary station. �Everything else is secondary.

Same here!

73 de Jim, N2EY