My restored, aligned GPR-90 is coming home tomorrow - excite to try the beast on my long wire antenna! Will report later, maybe post a video.

On Mon, 1 Jul 2013, wrote:

My restored, aligned GPR-90 is coming home tomorrow - excite to try the
beast on my long wire antenna! Will report later, maybe post a video.

I paid $20 for mine at a garage sale last August. I didn't get out to the
garage sales early, so by the 1pm or so I expected to find little. I turn
down a street where a sale had been advertised, and a couple of houses
away I could see a shortwave receiver, I couldn't tell what brand or
model, but clearly it was a classic. I get close, it's a TMC GPR-90. I
figure it will be way over my price range, but I ask and they say "$20".
I say "I expected three or four hundred" and they still said "$20". It
was too good a price to ignore. So I haul it home on foot and bus, the
other plans for the day cancelled.

And it sits there, other things in the way. The rectifier tube is loose
in the base, so I have dig out that box of tubes and hope I have one. And
the fuseholder is missing, the piece that screws in with the fuse. That
may have come off on the trip home. So until I find those pieces, it's
not even getting turned on.

I don't know if it will need much work. Physically it's in great shape,
maybe a bit of rust on the bottom. No case, but that doesn't bother me.

I assune that if I'd not come along at that point, it would have been
tossed. There have been garage sales at that house before, but this time
it was younger people, relatively so, and I guess they were the kids
clearing out the hosue. When I did a search when I got home, I found an
earlier ad from the same area offering a GPR-90, so it had to be them.
They tried at $100 and had no luck, so I was the last call I suspect.

I've been going to garage sales since about 1990. And I never saw
shortwave receivers until one rummage sale in 2006, a Grundig Satellite
500. I find one about every year now, some just average analog portables
with a band or two, but some digitally tuned and fairly high grade, and I
pay almost nothing. I even got a Grundig mini 300 for 2.00, right after
getting a Sony SW-1 for ten dollars. The mini is an odd thing, single
conversion and analog tuning, and not a great receiver, but it has a
frequency counter so no need to fuss with dials. By making it extremely
complicated, the unit becomes much simpler. It's probably as bad as my
hallicracters S-120A I got in 1971, except with the frequency counter
dial, I can actually tune to a specific frequency. The GPR-90 is the only
tube receiver in the bunch. I would have expected to find a cheap
receiver like the Hallicrafters S-38 or even a Radio Shack DX-150 long
before finding a GPR-90.

Michael

The Generations change.

The old people dies and the young people thinks that they see dollar signs and that you can get rich off a old broken piece of junk.

When they realize that there is almost no one interested in it, they either sell it for what they can get out of it, or they throw it in the garbage.

The dumpsters at some hamfests are full of unwanted boat anchors.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Not much call for a AM radio - not much to listen to anymore.

But if you can find a general coverage receiver that does the Amateur HF bands, there is still a lot to listen to when the bands are open.

Hook it up and enjoy.

If you do not have a amateur radio license, get one.

If you can fix a old radio, I'm sure you can study and pass a couple of 35 question, multiple guess tests...

On Tue, 2 Jul 2013, Channel Jumper wrote:


'Michael Black[_2_ Wrote:
;806491']On Mon, 1 Jul 2013, wrote:
-
My restored, aligned GPR-90 is coming home tomorrow - excite to try the

beast on my long wire antenna! Will report later, maybe post a video.
-
I paid $20 for mine at a garage sale last August. I didn't get out to
the
garage sales early, so by the 1pm or so I expected to find little. I
turn
down a street where a sale had been advertised, and a couple of houses
away I could see a shortwave receiver, I couldn't tell what brand or
model, but clearly it was a classic. I get close, it's a TMC GPR-90. I

figure it will be way over my price range, but I ask and they say "$20".

I say "I expected three or four hundred" and they still said "$20". It

was too good a price to ignore. So I haul it home on foot and bus, the

other plans for the day cancelled.

And it sits there, other things in the way. The rectifier tube is loose

in the base, so I have dig out that box of tubes and hope I have one.
And
the fuseholder is missing, the piece that screws in with the fuse. That

may have come off on the trip home. So until I find those pieces, it's

not even getting turned on.

I don't know if it will need much work. Physically it's in great shape,

maybe a bit of rust on the bottom. No case, but that doesn't bother
me.

I assune that if I'd not come along at that point, it would have been
tossed. There have been garage sales at that house before, but this
time
it was younger people, relatively so, and I guess they were the kids
clearing out the hosue. When I did a search when I got home, I found an

earlier ad from the same area offering a GPR-90, so it had to be them.
They tried at $100 and had no luck, so I was the last call I suspect.

I've been going to garage sales since about 1990. And I never saw
shortwave receivers until one rummage sale in 2006, a Grundig Satellite

500. I find one about every year now, some just average analog
portables
with a band or two, but some digitally tuned and fairly high grade, and
I
pay almost nothing. I even got a Grundig mini 300 for 2.00, right after

getting a Sony SW-1 for ten dollars. The mini is an odd thing, single
conversion and analog tuning, and not a great receiver, but it has a
frequency counter so no need to fuss with dials. By making it extremely

complicated, the unit becomes much simpler. It's probably as bad as my

hallicracters S-120A I got in 1971, except with the frequency counter
dial, I can actually tune to a specific frequency. The GPR-90 is the
only
tube receiver in the bunch. I would have expected to find a cheap
receiver like the Hallicrafters S-38 or even a Radio Shack DX-150 long
before finding a GPR-90.

Michael
The Generations change.

The old people dies and the young people thinks that they see dollar
signs and that you can get rich off a old broken piece of junk.

When they realize that there is almost no one interested in it, they
either sell it for what they can get out of it, or they throw it in the
garbage.

The dumpsters at some hamfests are full of unwanted boat anchors.

Well you should have been around forty years ago, when the stuff was
really unwanted. It was tubes, it was am only, and nobody wanted it,
which made it cheap. Endless stuff that is now expensive passed around
for little or nothing. And that attritiion helps to make the current
equipment more expensive, since supply has gone down as demand goes up.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Not much call for a AM radio - not much to listen to anymore.

The GPR-90 was a mid-range receiver, not up there with the R388 but better
than a lot of stuff. It's not an "AM radio", it's a shortwave receiver.
And like so many of that era, it lacks a product detector but you can use
it for SSB by turning down the RF gain, turning up the audio gain.

But if you can find a general coverage receiver that does the Amateur HF
bands, there is still a lot to listen to when the bands are open.

Hook it up and enjoy.

If you do not have a amateur radio license, get one.

If you can fix a old radio, I'm sure you can study and pass a couple of
35 question, multiple guess tests...

You are clueless. You haven't noticed me posting in other newsgroups?

I'm sure by your CB handle I've been licensed longer than you, since June
of 1872, and the test was a lot harder here in Canada since it wasn't
aimed at the beginner.

Michael

On 07/02/2013 09:33 AM, Michael Black wrote:
On Tue, 2 Jul 2013, Channel Jumper wrote:


'Michael Black[_2_ Wrote:
;806491']On Mon, 1 Jul 2013, wrote:
-
My restored, aligned GPR-90 is coming home tomorrow - excite to try the

beast on my long wire antenna! Will report later, maybe post a video.
-
I paid $20 for mine at a garage sale last August. I didn't get out to
the
garage sales early, so by the 1pm or so I expected to find little. I
turn
down a street where a sale had been advertised, and a couple of houses
away I could see a shortwave receiver, I couldn't tell what brand or
model, but clearly it was a classic. I get close, it's a TMC GPR-90. I

figure it will be way over my price range, but I ask and they say "$20".

I say "I expected three or four hundred" and they still said "$20". It

was too good a price to ignore. So I haul it home on foot and bus, the

other plans for the day cancelled.

And it sits there, other things in the way. The rectifier tube is loose

in the base, so I have dig out that box of tubes and hope I have one.
And
the fuseholder is missing, the piece that screws in with the fuse. That

may have come off on the trip home. So until I find those pieces, it's

not even getting turned on.

I don't know if it will need much work. Physically it's in great shape,

maybe a bit of rust on the bottom. No case, but that doesn't bother
me.

I assune that if I'd not come along at that point, it would have been
tossed. There have been garage sales at that house before, but this
time
it was younger people, relatively so, and I guess they were the kids
clearing out the hosue. When I did a search when I got home, I found an

earlier ad from the same area offering a GPR-90, so it had to be them.
They tried at $100 and had no luck, so I was the last call I suspect.

I've been going to garage sales since about 1990. And I never saw
shortwave receivers until one rummage sale in 2006, a Grundig Satellite

500. I find one about every year now, some just average analog
portables
with a band or two, but some digitally tuned and fairly high grade, and
I
pay almost nothing. I even got a Grundig mini 300 for 2.00, right after

getting a Sony SW-1 for ten dollars. The mini is an odd thing, single
conversion and analog tuning, and not a great receiver, but it has a
frequency counter so no need to fuss with dials. By making it extremely

complicated, the unit becomes much simpler. It's probably as bad as my

hallicracters S-120A I got in 1971, except with the frequency counter
dial, I can actually tune to a specific frequency. The GPR-90 is the
only
tube receiver in the bunch. I would have expected to find a cheap
receiver like the Hallicrafters S-38 or even a Radio Shack DX-150 long
before finding a GPR-90.

Michael
The Generations change.

The old people dies and the young people thinks that they see dollar
signs and that you can get rich off a old broken piece of junk.

When they realize that there is almost no one interested in it, they
either sell it for what they can get out of it, or they throw it in the
garbage.

The dumpsters at some hamfests are full of unwanted boat anchors.

Well you should have been around forty years ago, when the stuff was
really unwanted. It was tubes, it was am only, and nobody wanted it,
which made it cheap. Endless stuff that is now expensive passed around
for little or nothing. And that attritiion helps to make the current
equipment more expensive, since supply has gone down as demand goes up.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Not much call for a AM radio - not much to listen to anymore.

The GPR-90 was a mid-range receiver, not up there with the R388 but
better than a lot of stuff. It's not an "AM radio", it's a shortwave
receiver. And like so many of that era, it lacks a product detector but
you can use it for SSB by turning down the RF gain, turning up the audio
gain.

But if you can find a general coverage receiver that does the Amateur HF
bands, there is still a lot to listen to when the bands are open.

Hook it up and enjoy.

If you do not have a amateur radio license, get one.

If you can fix a old radio, I'm sure you can study and pass a couple of
35 question, multiple guess tests...

You are clueless. You haven't noticed me posting in other newsgroups?

I'm sure by your CB handle I've been licensed longer than you, since
June of 1872, and the test was a lot harder here in Canada since it
wasn't aimed at the beginner.

Michael

You forgot to turn on the BFO. BFO level is frequently too low for
demodding SSB hence the need to reduce RF gain.

dave wrote:
You forgot to turn on the BFO. BFO level is frequently too low for
demodding SSB hence the need to reduce RF gain.

Yep, easy to see from the jpeg that there's a BFO present.

I seem to remember having to repair an old KnightKit
tube radio that worked OK otherwise - bad capacitor in
the BFO. Person I bought it from didn't know what one
was so he wouldn't have had any reason to know it wasn't
working when he owned it.

On Tue, 2 Jul 2013, dave wrote:


You forgot to turn on the BFO. BFO level is frequently too low for demodding
SSB hence the need to reduce RF gain.

No I didn't. It should be a given that you need the BFO. I was making
the point that it's one of those radios of the time that didn't have a
product detector, so you had to do what all the books said to do. A few
years later, most receivers did have product detectors. Indeed, the
GPR-90 came along right at the cusp, so you could get an external unit
that added a product detector (and I think some extra selectivity) and
some really fine tuning. The receiver has the an IF output jack on the
back, even has a jack for feeding audio back into the receiver (though the
TMC adapter had a built in audio amplifier). Other receivers had similar
units. The R388 and the R390 didn't have product detectors, though they
are considered some of the best receivers from the time (and perhaps for
all time).

But with that level of receiver, turning down RF gain wasn't a real issue.
I had no problem receiving SSB, even on six meters, on the SP-600 I had
forty years ago.

ON the other hand, that Hallicrafters S-120A (the transistorized model)
that I got in the summer of 1971 had a horribly weak BFO, so by the time
I'd attenuated the incoming signal (a pot between the antenna and the
receiver), there weren't many signals left strong enough to receive.

"Michael Black" wrote in message
news:alpine.LNX.2.02.1307021228560.22267@darkstar. example.org...

I'm sure by your CB handle I've been licensed longer than you, since June
of 1872, and the test was a lot harder here in Canada since it wasn't
aimed at the beginner.

Michael


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please, share your secret for such longevity. You must have learned code
directly from Samuel F.B. Morse.

On Wed, 3 Jul 2013, Brenda Dyer wrote:



"Michael Black" wrote in message
news:alpine.LNX.2.02.1307021228560.22267@darkstar. example.org...

I'm sure by your CB handle I've been licensed longer than you, since June
of 1872, and the test was a lot harder here in Canada since it wasn't
aimed at the beginner.

Michael


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please, share your secret for such longevity. You must have learned code
directly from Samuel F.B. Morse.


Sorry about that. It had to be 1972, since until April of that year, you
had to be fifteen or older to get a ham license in Canada. I've never
been able to find out if that rule had been there from the beginning or
had been added at some later point.

When I first read about amateur radio, I'm not sure if it was in Jack &
Jill magazine or a magazine for scouting here in Canada, I can't remember
whether I was 8 or 9. But right from that point it was something I
wanted, but I knew right at that point that I had some years to wait.
Then in December of 1971, I'd been a member of the ARRL since April of
that year, I read in the paper that the rule about age was being removed.
It turned out to come into effect only in April. In May I took the test,
failed at receiving code, then took the code test again (we didn't have to
take the whole test over) in June, and passed. So if I wasn't the
youngest ham at the time, I had to be among the youngest, not much time
for someone younger to take the test.

Michael

On Tuesday, July 2, 2013 12:33:10 PM UTC-4, Michael Black wrote:
On Tue, 2 Jul 2013, Channel Jumper wrote:





'Michael Black[_2_ Wrote:

;806491']On Mon, 1 Jul 2013, wrote:

-

My restored, aligned GPR-90 is coming home tomorrow - excite to try the



beast on my long wire antenna! Will report later, maybe post a video.

-

I paid $20 for mine at a garage sale last August. I didn't get out to

the

garage sales early, so by the 1pm or so I expected to find little. I

turn

down a street where a sale had been advertised, and a couple of houses

away I could see a shortwave receiver, I couldn't tell what brand or

model, but clearly it was a classic. I get close, it's a TMC GPR-90. I



figure it will be way over my price range, but I ask and they say "$20".



I say "I expected three or four hundred" and they still said "$20". It



was too good a price to ignore. So I haul it home on foot and bus, the



other plans for the day cancelled.



And it sits there, other things in the way. The rectifier tube is loose



in the base, so I have dig out that box of tubes and hope I have one.

And

the fuseholder is missing, the piece that screws in with the fuse. That



may have come off on the trip home. So until I find those pieces, it's



not even getting turned on.



I don't know if it will need much work. Physically it's in great shape,



maybe a bit of rust on the bottom. No case, but that doesn't bother

me.



I assune that if I'd not come along at that point, it would have been

tossed. There have been garage sales at that house before, but this

time

it was younger people, relatively so, and I guess they were the kids

clearing out the hosue. When I did a search when I got home, I found an



earlier ad from the same area offering a GPR-90, so it had to be them.

They tried at $100 and had no luck, so I was the last call I suspect.



I've been going to garage sales since about 1990. And I never saw

shortwave receivers until one rummage sale in 2006, a Grundig Satellite



500. I find one about every year now, some just average analog

portables

with a band or two, but some digitally tuned and fairly high grade, and

I

pay almost nothing. I even got a Grundig mini 300 for 2.00, right after



getting a Sony SW-1 for ten dollars. The mini is an odd thing, single

conversion and analog tuning, and not a great receiver, but it has a

frequency counter so no need to fuss with dials. By making it extremely



complicated, the unit becomes much simpler. It's probably as bad as my



hallicracters S-120A I got in 1971, except with the frequency counter

dial, I can actually tune to a specific frequency. The GPR-90 is the

only

tube receiver in the bunch. I would have expected to find a cheap

receiver like the Hallicrafters S-38 or even a Radio Shack DX-150 long

before finding a GPR-90.



Michael

The Generations change.



The old people dies and the young people thinks that they see dollar

signs and that you can get rich off a old broken piece of junk.



When they realize that there is almost no one interested in it, they

either sell it for what they can get out of it, or they throw it in the

garbage.



The dumpsters at some hamfests are full of unwanted boat anchors.



Well you should have been around forty years ago, when the stuff was

really unwanted. It was tubes, it was am only, and nobody wanted it,

which made it cheap. Endless stuff that is now expensive passed around

for little or nothing. And that attritiion helps to make the current

equipment more expensive, since supply has gone down as demand goes up.



Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.



Not much call for a AM radio - not much to listen to anymore.



The GPR-90 was a mid-range receiver, not up there with the R388 but better

than a lot of stuff. It's not an "AM radio", it's a shortwave receiver.

And like so many of that era, it lacks a product detector but you can use

it for SSB by turning down the RF gain, turning up the audio gain.



But if you can find a general coverage receiver that does the Amateur HF

bands, there is still a lot to listen to when the bands are open.



Hook it up and enjoy.



If you do not have a amateur radio license, get one.



If you can fix a old radio, I'm sure you can study and pass a couple of

35 question, multiple guess tests...



You are clueless. You haven't noticed me posting in other newsgroups?



I'm sure by your CB handle I've been licensed longer than you, since June

of 1872, and the test was a lot harder here in Canada since it wasn't

aimed at the beginner.



Michael

That is amazing... What type of a Time Travel Machine do you have?