RadioBanter - View Single Post

Dave Heil[_2_] · March 5th 08, 08:09 PM posted to rec.radio.amateur.moderated

wrote:
On Mar 3, 8:23�pm, Dave Heil wrote:

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

Loads and loads. Most were variations on a common theme with styling
changes though octal tubes might have been replaced by loctals or
miniature 7 or 9 pin types.

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.

Well, I meant in contrast with the smaller, much lighter S-Line stuff.

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 'A-4 was the best of the period. The models with the Collins
vernier tuning knob were the best of the best.

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

I think you're right. My 75A-3 came with a Universal Service
(predecessor to today's Universal Radio) PTO mod which plugs into the
NBFM socket. The Collins winged emblem was removed, a hole drilled in
the spot and a long 1/4" shaft from the PBT box ran through the hole.
An engraved plate was mounted on the panel and the shaft was fitted with
a miniature knob. A mod for the AGC time constant was also added. The
thing is nearly the equal to a 75A-4.

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

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

It was a funny duck. It had almost a military look to it.

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.

Everybody began jumping on that band wagon. Heathkit came up with the
"poor man's S-Line"; Drake introduced the 1-A, 2-A and 2-B and TR-3;
Swan introduced monoband and multiband transceivers; Hallicrafters and
National also began producing smaller, lighter separates and transceivers.

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?

The Lafayette HE-10, HE-30, HE-80 were Trio rigs. The Tempo One was a
Yaesu FT-100. The FT-50 and FR-50 were sold by another firm.

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.

Sure thing--and don't leave out Olson and Radshack.

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.

I'd toss in the Yaesu tube-type rigs such as the FTDX-560 and 570.

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.

They did offer extras but you should look at the TS-520's receiver
specs. They're dismal. The FT-101 series would have been pretty good
had it not been for a flaw in leaving the noise blanker connected even
when it was turned off. That's a flaw Yaesu continues to make. It is
one of the problems with the FT-1000 series.

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.

Yep. It served pretty well as an everyman's rig and would have been
much better if the receiver section had been better design. The
Japanese were not the only ones with this problem. Heath's early solid
state receiver, the HW-303 was an absolute clunker in this regard.

Hammarlund made one valiant effort to stave off the JA's with the
introduction of the solid state HQ-215. I have one of those and it is a
pretty darned good receiver. It has an edgewise drum dial with 1 KC
readout, has fixed, selectable USB/LSB and a variable BFO for CW. It
has a preselector in the front end, offers AUX band positions and places
for three Collins mechanical filters. The mixing scheme is the same as
the S-Line and it has the same 200 KC band segments. There are
input/output ports on the rear panel so that the receiver can be slaved
to a 32S-whatever transmitter for transceive use. I think it was first
offered about 1967.

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

That's quite a number of preconditions. I don't think there were any.
The Heath SB-102 comes close. The Drake TR-4CW comes close (6JB6's).

Early Japanese suffered
from awful receiver performance. �

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

They got a lot better over the years. I ran the FR-101 with the FT-101E
for a couple of years. It did pretty well.

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.

....and about thirty years of high performance gear.

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.

They've done phenomenally well. Many of the old line distributors are
just plain gone.

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.

Agreed. I've often wondered if any of the modern gear will be
functional/repairable in forty or fifty years. My guess is that it will
not.

�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).

I know a few guys who still operate the W6TC HBR series of receivers
that they or others constructed. I also of quite a number of quality
homebrew linear amps which are still put on the air on a regular basis.

Great stuff, high performance, no ornamentation, Sounded great on the
air, too.

....and still sounds great on the air.

Dave K8MN