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August 28th 08, 01:02 AM
posted to rec.radio.amateur.boatanchors
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Cardwell Model 54 Receiver
"Richard Knoppow" wrote in message ... "Alan Douglas" adouglasatgis.net wrote in message ... I can add some information, based on research done back in 1980 by H. L. Chadbourne of La Jolla, CA. Quoting from a letter of his to me: "...I saw the name Ray Morehouse with call letters attached to one of these ads [the QST ads] , so I looked him up in a recent callbook and wrote him. Had a very nice letter back. He'd worked for Cardwell from 1924-1947. He had a little on the receiver, but referred me to Moe Joffe in Los Angeles for more. Moe was directly in on the project. ...Allen D. Cardwell...toward the war's end...wanted to broaden the product line. He talked with Grenby Mfg. Co. of Plainview, CT about some sort of joint venture, with Cardwell doing R&D and Grenby as the manufacturing arm. Grenby had started in 1940 and during WWII made mainly parts for Pratt & Whitney. It was a sort of machine shop operation. However at one point Lockheed gave them an electronic assembly to make, and they liked the work, so decided on it for postwar. Hence the Cardwell discussions. But the two firms could not reach agreement and the talks ended by Grenby buying out Cardwell and moving the firm to Plainville. Mack C. Jones, who had been an engineer with Raytheon during WWII, was hired by Grenby as Ch. Engineer, and he suggested the 54 receiver project. Moe Joffe was under him. "I had a fine phone conversation with Joffe and hope some time to interview him in person. He said the 54 was a very advanced set, but was not put into production because of its extremely high cost, $700 - $800 a unit. The market did not seem to be there at the time--possibly again, the huge supply of surplus put a damper on new sales. Joffe eventually went on to Squires-Sanders and their communications receiver projects." I have Morehouse's letter here also; he said he didn't know what became of the 54 prototype. Alan Very interesting and more than is known about some other projects. Note that the cost of the SP-600 and 51J receivers was up in the this range. The 51J is advertized in the 1950 edition of the ARRL Handbook at $875, a veritable fortune at the time and the SP-600-JX was also up around $900. However, I think both had a market base in military sales and civilian sales were just extra. It would be interesting to know more about the Cardwell receiver. Evidently it was single conversion which would have put it at a disadvantage in comparison to the Collins and Hammarlund products. There is an ad featuring the Cardwell 54 in the 1947 edition of the ARRL Handbook with a fairly large illustration but I can't tell for certain if its a drawing or a retouched photo. It might be a photo of a prototype or possibly a mock-up. If anyone has a Radio's Master or Allied or other large catalogue of the time please see if you can find this rx advertised there. I know such an ad existed but don't know what year. The question, of course, is whether the receivers were actually available, the above post, and lack of any actual receivers, suggests they were not. -- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles WB6KBL Do any of you guys know the SP400? I had one in the sixties. Nice glow to the meter! |
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